THE GREAT PEACOCK 191 



waiting, the female died, having first deposited her 

 barren eggs upon the woven wire of her cage. Lacking 

 a female, nothing could be done until the following year. 



I determined next time to take suitable precautions and 

 to make all preparations for repeating at will the experi- 

 ments already made and others which I had in mind. 

 I set to work at once, without delay. 



In the summer I began to buy caterpillars at a half- 

 penny apiece. 



The market was in the hands of some neighbouring 

 urchins, my habitual providers. On Friday, free of the 

 terrors of grammar, they scoured the fields, finding from 

 time to time the Great Peacock caterpillar, and bringing 

 it to me clinging to the end of a stick. They did not 

 dare to touch it, poor little imps ! They were thunder- 

 struck at my audacity when I seized it in my fingers as 

 they would the familiar silkworm. 



Reared upon twigs of the almond-tree, my menagerie 

 soon provided me with magnificent cocoons. In winter 

 assiduous search at the base of the native trees completed 

 my collection. Friends interested in my researches came 

 to my aid. Finally, after some trouble, what with an 

 open market, commercial negotiations, and searching, at 

 the cost of many scratches, in the undergrowth, I became 

 the owner of an assortment of cocoons of which twelve, 

 larger and heavier than the rest, announced that they 

 were those of females. 



Disappointment awaited me. May arrived ; a capri- 

 cious month which set my preparations at naught, 

 troublesome as these had been. Winter returned. The 

 mistral shrieked, tore the budding leaves of the plane- 

 trees, and scattered them over the ground. It was cold 



