Processionary Caterpillars i57 



Tliis base fed tlie tail of the procession continuously. Those 

 on the march were mo\-ing very slowly (probably the unexpected cold 

 and snow rendered them unusually sluggish), but, as I watched, I 

 saw caterpillar after caterpillar taking his place in the line, as soon 

 as the adx'ance had been sufficient to alk)W a fresh indi\idual to add 

 himself to the tail. \\'hat time the procession began to form, I 

 have no idea, but it was now well into the afternoon — say three 

 o'clock — and at least a third of the caterpillars were still waiting 

 to take up their places. It seemed likely that the light would fail 

 before the procession would be complete from end to end. 



I had an umbrella, and selecting somewhere about the middle 

 of the processionary line, I gently separated the caterpillars into two 

 divisions, pushing the broken end of the leading-half some distance 

 to the left, and of the tail-half to the right. The effect was almost 

 instantaneous and very remarkable. The rear caterpillar in the 

 front line seemed to butt the next one, and so on, so that a visible 

 wave passed forward over the line until it reached the leader. When 

 he received the impulse he stopped, and the procession came to a 

 standstill. 



A similar but reverse process took place with the broken rear 

 half. Directly the temporary leader lost touch with the front 

 column, he backed on to his rear man ; he again on to the next, 

 until the message had passed backwards over the whole line, and 

 tinallv reached the seething mass of caterpillars at the base. They, 

 in their turn, evidently became aware of the mishap that had befallen 

 the marching division. Their movements, which had been rather 

 violent so long as the line was intact, did not entirely cease, but were 

 reduced to a slow and tranquil roll, until they were notified that the 

 line was open again. Meanwhile, the two broken ends began 

 sweeping from side to side — they were only a few inches apart — 

 until they effected a junction. Then the wave passed up and down 

 the line as before, this time indicating " all's well," and the 

 procession was resumed. 



I have described at some length the first processionary march 

 we observed, but we must have met at least six or seven other 

 processions in full swing, as we continued our way up the soft road 

 to the top of the hill. They were, in fact, so common that we ceased 

 to bother to look for them, and had to exercise some care to avoid 

 treading on them, their bodies being rather inconspicuous against 

 the mottled grey surface of the road. 



It is worthy of remark that of all the processions we saw, we 

 never found one completed — finished from end to end. However 

 long the joined-up line was, there still appeared to be a large and 

 imfinished tail of caterpillars twisting and struggling in a depression 

 on the road. 



We never saw any marching on the rough waste land bordering 

 the road ; nor crossing on to the road from the common ; nor crossing 

 the road at right angles. All we saw were moving up the road in 



