The Arbutus Caterpillar 



beyond this line, until all that lies on this side 

 of it is eaten up. 



As it advances, the flock throws a few 

 threads across the denuded portion, where 

 nothing remains but the veins and the epi- 

 dermis of the opposite surface. Thus is 

 woven a gossamer veil serving as a shelter 

 from the fierce rays of the sun and as the 

 parachute which is essential to these weak- 

 lings, whom a puff of wind would carry away. 



As the result of a more rapid desiccation on 

 the ravaged surface, the leaf soon begins to 

 curl of its own accord, curving into a gondola 

 which is covered by a continuous awning 

 stretched from end to end. The herbage is 

 then exhausted. The flock abandons It and 

 begins again elsewhere In the near neighbour- 

 hood. 



After various temporary pastures of this 

 kind, In November, when the cold weather Is 

 at hand, the caterpillars settle permanently at 

 the end of a bough. Nibbled one by one on 

 their upper surfaces, the leaves of the terminal 

 bunch draw close to their neighbours, which, 

 excoriated in their turn, do the same, until 

 the whole forms a bundle, which looks as If It 

 had been scorched, lashed together with mag- 



153 



