94 



OF SOCIABLE CATERPILLARS. 



Pityocampa, another moth which congregates in a 

 common receptacle of pine leaves, united by filaments 

 of silk which they spin, is also of this military order. 

 They follow each other in a variety of mazy turnings, 

 M'hich gives the most animated picture of ever varying 

 living wreaths. The whole chain of caterpillars move 

 in unison, and at a proper distance from each other, 

 in the most perfect order ; and when their leader 

 stops, the whole halt in an instant* 



A DIVISION OF PROCESSIOXARY LARV.E. 



The Processionary Moth affords a still more 

 amusing picture, when it sets out in quest of food. 

 It is a native of France, and feeds on the leaves of 

 the oak. They live in families of from six to eight 

 hundred individuals. In their earliest stage they 

 have no settled habitation, but pitch their tent 

 wherever their fancy directs ; and it is not till they 

 are two-thirds grown that they form a domicile large 

 enough for the whole community, which I have 

 already described. It is generally about sunset that 



Bo K NET, ii. 57. 





