The Processionary : the Hatching 



in proportion. Its diameter is twice that of 

 the body. This exaggerated size of the head 

 implies a corresponding strength of jaw, 

 capable of attacking tough food from the 

 start. A huge head, stoutly clad in horn, is 

 the predominant feature of the budding cater- 

 pillar. 



These macrocephalous ones are, as we see, 

 well-armed against the hardness of the pine- 

 needles, so well-armed in fact that the meal 

 begins almost immediately. After roaming 

 for a few moments at random among the 

 scales of the common cradle, most of the 

 young caterpillars make for the double leaf 

 that served as an axis for the native cylinder 

 and spread themselves over it at length. 

 Others go to the adjacent leaves. Here 

 as well as there they fall to; and the gnawed 

 leaf is hollowed into faint and very narrow 

 grooves, bounded by the veins, which are left 

 intact. 



From time to time, three or four who have 

 eaten their fill fall into line and walk in step, 

 but soon separate, each going his own way. 

 This is practice for the coming processions. 

 If I disturb them ever so little, they sway 

 the front half of their bodies and wag their 



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