The Life of the Caterpillar 



Apart from sight and smell, what remains 

 to guide them in returning to the nest? The 

 ribbon spun on the road. In the Cretan laby- 

 rinth, Theseus would have been lost but for 

 the clue of thread with which Ariadne sup- 

 plied him. The spreading maze of the pine- 

 needles is, especially at night, as inextricable 

 a labyrinth as that constructed for Minos. 

 The Processionary finds his way through it, 

 without the possibility of a mistake, by the 

 aid of his bit of silk. At the time for going 

 home, each easily recovers either his own 

 thread or one or other of the neighbouring 

 threads, spread f anwise by the diverging herd ; 

 one by one the scattered tribe line up on the 

 common ribbon, which started from the nest; 

 and the sated caravan finds its way back to 

 the manor with absolute certainty. 



Longer expeditions are made in the day- 

 time, even in winter, if the weather be fine. 

 Our caterpillars then come down from the 

 tree, venture on the ground, march in proces- 

 sion for a distance of thirty yards or so. The 

 object of these sallies is not to look for food, 

 for the native pine-tree is far from being ex- 

 hausted: the shorn branches hardly count amid 

 the vast leafage. Moreover, the caterpillars 



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