A FAMILIAR GUEST 13 



them ! By mere chance a few years since I hap- 

 pened upon some of these bamboo brushes in a 

 Japanese shop large, long-handled brushes, with 

 pure white hair nicely stiffened to a tapering 

 point, which was neatly protected with a sheath- 

 ing cover of bamboo. A number of them were 

 at my elbow, a few inches distant, in a glass of 

 water, and on the table by the vase beyond were a 

 dozen or so in a scattered bundle. 



Normally each of these brushes is closed at the 

 end by the natural pith of the bamboo. I now 

 find them all either open or otherwise tampered 

 with, and the surrounding surface of the table lit- 

 tered with tiny balls, apparently of sawdust. I 

 picked up one of the nearest brushes, and upon 

 inverting it and giving it a slight tap, a tiny green 

 worm fell out of the opening. From the next 

 one I managed to shake out seven of the caterpil- 

 lars, while the third had passed beyond this stage, 

 the aperture having been carefully plugged with a 

 mud cork, which was even now moist. Two or 

 three others were in the same plugged condition, 

 and investigation showed that no single brush 

 had escaped similar tampering to a greater or less 

 extent. One brush had apparently not given en- 

 tire satisfaction, for the plug had been removed, 

 and the caterpillars, eight or ten in number, were 



