The Life of the Caterpillar 



scorching received, cease to be trustworthy' 

 witnesses. When they are not burnt, when 

 they are kept at a distance by a glass chimney, 

 they perch as close as they can to the light 

 and there stay, hypnotized. 



One evening, the female was in the dining- 

 room, on a table facing the open window. A 

 lighted paraffin-lamp, with a large white- 

 enamel shade, was hanging from the ceiling. 

 Two of the arrivals alighted on the dome of 

 the cage and fussed around the prisoner; 

 seven others, after greeting her as they passed, 

 made for the lamp, circled about it a little and 

 then, fascinated by the radiant glory of the 

 opal cone, perched on it, motionless, under 

 the shade. Already the children's hands were 

 raised to seize them. 



"Don't," I said. "Leave them alone. Let 

 us be hospitable and not disturb these pilgrims 

 to the tabernacle of light." 



All that evening, not one of the seven 

 budged. Next morning, they were still there. 

 The intoxication of light had made them for- 

 get the intoxication of love. 



With creatures so madly enamoured of the 

 radiant flame, precise and prolonged experi- 

 ment becomes unfeasible the moment the ob- 



272 



