The Life of the Caterpillar 



To sum up, they accept any vegetable mat- 

 ter that is dry, light and not too resistant. 

 Would they behave likewise towards animal 

 materials and especially mineral materials, on 

 condition that these are of a suitable thinness? 

 I take a Great Peacock's w-ing, left over from 

 my experiments in the nuptial telegraphy of 

 this Moth, 1 and cut from it a strip on which 

 I place, at the bottom of a tube, two little 

 caterpillars stripped of their clothing. The 

 two prisoners have nothing else at their dis- 

 posal. Any drapery that they want must be 

 got out of this scaly expanse. 



They hesitate for a long time in the pre- 

 sence of that strange carpet. In twenty-four 

 hours' time, one of the caterpillars has started 

 no work and seems resolved to let himself die, 

 naked as he is. The other, stouter-hearted, 

 or perhaps less injured by the brutal stripping- 

 process, explores the slip for a little while and 

 at last resolves to make use of it. Before the 

 day is over, he has clothed himself in grey 

 velvet out of the Great Peacock's scales. Con- 

 sidering the delicacy of the materials, the 

 work is exquisitely correct. 



'Cf. Chapter XL of the present volume. Translator's 

 Note. 



326 



