The Life of the Caterpillar 



It is well to substitute premeditated experi- 

 ments for chance facts. 



The little pockets of which the dorsal slits 

 form the entrance are encumbered, as I have 

 said, with hairy refuse, either scattered or 

 gathered into flakes. With the point of a 

 paint-brush I collect, when they gape open, a 

 little of their contents and rub it on my wrist 

 or on the inside of my fore-arm. 



I have not long to wait for the result. 

 Soon the skin turns red and is covered with 

 pale lenticular swellings, similar to those pro- 

 duced by a nettle-sting. Without being very 

 sharp, the pain was extremely unpleasant. By 

 the following day, itching, redness and lenticu- 

 lar swellings had all disappeared. This is the 

 usual sequence of events; but let me 

 not omit to say that the experiment does 

 not always succeed. The efficacy of the 

 fluffy dust appears subject to great varia- 

 tions. 



There have been occasions when I have 

 rubbed myself with the whole caterpillar, or 

 with his cast skin, or with the broken hairs 

 gathered on a paint-brush, without producing 

 any unpleasant results. The irritant dust 

 seems to vary in quality according to certain 

 130 



