The Life of the Caterpillar 



pillars at the back, however delicately we 

 may go to work, feel a disturbance which 

 makes them curl up or even let go. 



There is a yet greater difficulty : the leader 

 refuses the ribbon laid before him; the cut 

 end makes him distrustful. Failing to see the 

 regular, uninterrupted road, he slants off to 

 the right or left, he escapes at a tangent. If 

 I try to interfere and to bring him back to 

 the path of my choosing, he persists in his re- 

 fusal, shrivels up, does not budge; and soon 

 the whole procession is in confusion. We 

 will not insist : the method is a poor one, very 

 wasteful of effort for at best a problematical 

 success. 



We ought to interfere as little as possible 

 and obtain a natural closed circuit. Can it 

 be done ? Yes. It lies in our power, without 

 the least meddling, to see a procession march 

 along a perfect circular track. I owe this re- 

 sult, which is eminently deserving of our at- 

 tention, to pure chance. 



On the shelf with the layer of sand in which 

 the nests are planted stand some big palm- 

 vases measuring nearly a yard and a half in 

 circumference at the top. The caterpillars 

 often scale the sides and climb up to the 

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