CATERPILLARS INNUMERABLE 129 



of your neck. When they are quite full-fed, 

 the buff-tips come down apparently with the 

 intention of getting themselves squashed by the 

 feet of our fair damsels. In some Continental 

 countries it is said to have the full processional 

 habit, marshalling its army in fours and marching 

 from one place to another with the honours of 

 war. 



One of the most striking of our sociable cater- 

 pillars is the small egger. I have seen their con- 

 spicuous tents four or six times as common as 

 milestones in the hedges along a high road, and 

 that for many miles through Buckinghamshire 

 and Oxfordshire. The web they weave is as 

 tough as scribbling paper, so that some force is 

 needed to tear it asunder. But the caterpillars 

 are usually obliging enough to be present in large 

 numbers on the outside of the envelope, which 

 they cover thickly on the sunny side at the hour 

 of the sun-bath. Until it has changed its fourth 

 skin the caterpillar is comparatively dowdy, 

 being coloured in subdued reds and browns, but 

 at that stage a striking transformation occurs, 

 the new skin being brilliantly marked with scarlet, 

 edged with white. When, among the dowdy ones 

 basking on the outside of the tent, one or two 

 of the brilliant ones are seen, it is difficult not to 

 think that here are two distinct species playing 

 some strange role together. Evidently, when the 

 scarlet and white have been donned, each cater- 

 pillar becomes able to take care of itself, the 



