The Processionary : Meteorology 



his own way, is tried by the passage of those 

 huge funnels which form in the atmosphere 

 and hatch the storm. 



Could the insect, with its exceptionally 

 delicate organization, escape this kind of im- 

 pression? It is unbelievable. The insect, 

 more than any other ceature, should be an 

 animated meteorological instrument, as truth- 

 ful in its forecasts, if we knew how to read 

 them, as the lifeless instruments of our obser- 

 vatories, with their mercury and their catgut. 

 All, in different degrees, possess a general im- 

 pressionability analogous to our own and exer- 

 cised without the aid of specific organs. Some, 

 better-gifted because of their mode of life, 

 might well be furnished with special meteoro- 

 logical apparatus. 



The Pine Processionary seems to belong to 

 this number. In his second costume, when 

 the segments bear on their dorsal faces an 

 elegant red mosaic, he differs apparently from 

 other caterpillars only by a more delicate gen- 

 eral impressionability, unless this mosaic be 

 endowed with aptitudes unknown elsewhere. 

 If the nocturnal spinner is still none too 

 generously equipped, it must be remembered 

 that the season which he passes in this con- 

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