The Life of the Caterpillar 



mit the virus to act. It is even probable that, 

 by means of slight scratches which would 

 otherwise pass unnoticed, they assist the action 

 of the stinging fluid. 



Shortly after handling the Processionaries, 

 a delicate epidermis becomes tumefied, red and 

 painful. Without being immediate, the action 

 of the caterpillar is prompt. The extract 

 made with ether, on the other hand, causes 

 pain and rubefaction only after a longish in- 

 terval. What does it need to produce more 

 rapid ulceration? To all appearances, the 

 action of the hairs. 



The direct stinging caused by the caterpillar 

 is nothing like so serious as that produced by 

 the ethereal extract concentrated in a few 

 drops. Never before, in my most painful mis- 

 adventures, whether with the silken purses or 

 their inhabitants, have I seen my skin covered 

 with serous pustules and peeling off in flakes. 

 This time it is a veritable sore, anything but 

 pleasing to the eye. 



The aggravation is easily explained. I 

 soaked in the ether some fifty discarded skins. 

 The few drops which remained after the 

 evaporation and which were absorbed by the 

 square of blotting-paper represented, there- 

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