IMPERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 23 



consisting of pine leaves united and inwoven with the 

 silk which they spin, in a single line : in following each 

 other they describe a multitude of graceful curves of 

 varying figure, thus forming a series of living wreaths, 

 which change their shape every moment: — all move with 

 a uniform pace, no one pressing too forward or loitering 

 behind; when the first stops, all stop, each defiling in 

 exact military order •^. 



A still more singular and pleasing spectacle, when 

 their regiments march out to forage, is exhibited by the 

 caterpillars of the Processionarij moth Lasiocampa prO' 

 cessionca. This moth, which is a native of France, and 

 has not yet been found in this country, inhabits the oak. 

 Each family consists of from 600 to 800 individuals. 

 When 3'oung, they have no fixed habitation, but encamp 

 sometimes in one place and sometimes in another, under 

 the shelter of their web : but when they have attained 

 two-thirds of their growth, they weave for themselves a 

 common tent, before described '°. About sun-set the 

 regiment leaves its quarters ; or, to make the metaphor 

 harmonize with the trivial name of the animal, the monks 

 their cocnobium. At their head is a chief, by whose 

 movements their procession is regulated. When he 

 stops, all stop, and proceed when he proceeds ; three or 

 four of his immediate followers succeed in the same line, 

 the head of the second touching the tail of the first : 

 then comes an equal series of pairs, next of threes, and 

 so on as far as fifteen or twenty. The whole procession 

 moves regularly on with an even pace, each file treading 



' Bonnet, ii. 57. '' Vol. I. 47.1. 



