The Processionary : the Nest 



to the fact that the danger is not yet known. 

 Things will be different to-night, when the 

 busy work begins again. However dull they 

 may be, the caterpillars will certainly notice 

 that hugh window which freely admits the 

 deadly draughts of winter; and, possessing 

 any amount of padding, they will crowd 

 round the dangerous gap and stop it up in a 

 trice. Thus do we argue, forgetting the ani- 

 mal's intellectual darkness. 



What really happens is that, when night 

 falls, the indifference of the caterpillars re- 

 mains as great as ever. The breach in the 

 tent provokes not a sign of excitement. They 

 move to and fro on the surface of the nest; 

 they work, they spin as usual. There is no 

 change, absolutely none, in their behaviour. 

 When the road covered chances to bring some 

 of them to the brink of the ravine, we see 

 no alacrity on their part, no sign of anxiety, 

 no attempt to close up the two edges of the 

 slit. They simply strive to accomplish the 

 difficult crossing and to continue their stroll 

 as though they were walking on a perfect 

 web. And they manage it somehow or other, 

 by fixing the thread as far as the length of 

 their body permits. 



39 



