THE PSYCHES 



with the skin; next, the mixed stuff dusted with woody 

 matter, which saves the silk and gives strength to the 

 work; and lastly the outer casing of overlapping sticks. 



Although all the Psyches wear this threefold garment, 

 the different species make distinct variations in the outer 

 case. There is one kind, for instance, whom I am apt 

 to meet towards the end of June, hurrying across some 

 dusty path near the houses. His case surpasses that of 

 the first species, both in size and in regularity of arrange- 

 ment. It forms a thick coverlet of many pieces, in which 

 I recognise fragments of hollow stalks, bits of fine straw, 

 and perhaps "blades of grass. In front there is never 

 any flounce of dead leaves, a troublesome piece of finery 

 which is pretty frequent, though not always used, in the 

 costume of the first species I described. At the back 

 there is no long projection beyond the outer covering. 

 Save for the indispensable collar at the neck, the whole 

 Caterpillar is cased in sticks. There is not much variety 

 about the thing, but, when all is said, there is a certain 

 beauty in its stern f aultlessness. 



There is a smaller and more simply dressed Psyche 

 who is very common at the end of winter on the walls, 

 as well as in the bark of gnarled old trees, whether olive- 

 trees or elms, or indeed almost any other. His case, a 

 modest little bundle, is hardly more than two-fifths of 



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