The Life of the Caterpillar 



amid the rumpled wrapper of the eggs, an 

 additional family as numerous as the swarm 

 that is already out. The total laying must 

 therefore amount to five or six dozen. I trans- 

 fer to another receptacle the precocious band 

 which is already dressed and keep only the 

 naked laggards in the tube. They have 

 bright red heads, with the rest of their bodies 

 dirty white; and they measure hardly a 

 twenty-fifth of an inch in length. 



My patience is not long put to the test. 

 Next day, little by little, singly or in groups, 

 the belated grubs quit the chrysalid bag. 

 They come out without breaking the frail wal- 

 let, through the front breach made by the 

 liberation of the mother. Not one of them 

 utilizes It as a dress-material, though it has 

 the delicacy and amber colouring of an onion- 

 skin; nor do any of them make use of a fine 

 quilting which lines the inside of the bag and 

 forms an exquisitely soft bed for the eggs. 

 This down, whose origin we shall have to in- 

 vestigate presently, ought, one would say, to 

 make an excellent blanket for these chilly 

 ones, impatient to cover themselves up. Not 

 a single one uses it; there would not be 

 enough to go round. 



200 



