The Processionary: the Eggs 



rubbing them repeatedly with a hair-pencil. 

 They stand up, like a fleece stroked the wrong 

 way, if the sheath is rubbed gently upwards, 

 and retain this bristling position indefinitely; 

 they resume their original arrangement when 

 the friction is in the opposite direction. At 

 the same time, they are as soft as velvet to 

 the touch. Carefully laid one upon the 

 other, they form a roof that protects the 

 eggs. It is impossible for a drop of rain 

 or dew to penetrate under this shelter of soft 

 tiles. 



The origin of this defensive covering is 

 self-evident: the mother has stripped a part 

 of her body to protect her eggs. Like the 

 Eider-duck, she has made a warm overcoat 

 for them out of her own down. Reaumur 

 had already suspected as much from a very 

 curious peculiarity of the Moth. Let me 

 quote the passage : 



"The females," he says, "have a shiny 

 patch on the upper part of their body, near 

 the hind-quarters. The shape and gloss of 

 this disk attracted my attention the first time 

 that I saw it. I was holding a pin, with which 

 I touched it, to examine its structure. The 



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