2i8 THE IDYL OF THE SPLIT-BAMBOO 



cause them to be thought in the final stage ; but they 

 now crave more food than before and fairly cram 

 themselves with the leaves supplied to them. At 

 this stage you should begin feeding the leaf suited 

 to insure the very best quality of gut. I have found 

 this to be, first, fleshy, juicy leaves from the plum 

 tree, and a close second, the prickly leaves of the 

 long blackberry, which the caterpillars munch down 

 with much gusto. You ought to have left, in spite 

 of accident, disease, and death, at least half or two- 

 thirds of your hatching, or some two hundred or so 

 healthy and flourishing crawlers. Listen as they 

 eat, after you have put in fresh leaves for them in 

 the morning; the sound will remind you of a gentle 

 fall of rain in Summer. 



If they ate before, they cram, gorge, distend, stuff 

 themselves now. In a week or ten days they should 

 be ready for the final moult, from which they emerge 

 hungrier than ever. Their color is much as before, 

 but the size of the head seems enormous. In a week 

 or ten days more they have grown to be four or five 

 inches long and are very plump and sleek; then they 

 cease feeding and prepare for the important process 

 of spinning. First they empty the digestive system 

 entirely, excreting a thick, syrupy fluid. Up to this 

 time the excrement had been fairly firm, and this 

 marked change in its consistency is an indication that 

 spinning may be expected soon. 



During the last stage it is a good plan to put the 



