THE PSYCHES 73 



it into atoms. Out of these they made themselves a frock 

 of cork-grains, as faultless as though they and their ancestors 

 had always made use of this material. The novelty of the 

 stuff, which perhaps no Caterpillar had ever used before, 

 made no difference in the cut of the garment. 



Finding them ready to accept any vegetable matter that 

 was dry and light, I next tried them with animal and mineral 

 substances. I cut a strip from the wing of a Great Peacock 

 Moth, and placed two little naked Caterpillars upon it. For 

 a long time they both hesitated. Then one of them resolved 

 to use the strange carpet. Before the day was over he had 

 clothed himself in grey velvet made of the Great Peacock's scales. 



I next took some soft, flaky stones, such as will break 

 at the merest touch into atoms nearly as fine as the dust 

 on a Butterfly's wing. On a bed of this powdery stuff, which 

 glittered like steel filings, I placed four Caterpillars in need 

 of clothes. One, and one alone, decided to dress himself. 

 His metallic garment, from which the light drew flashes of 

 every colour of the rainbow, was very rich and sumptuous, 

 but mightily heavy and cumbrous. Walking became laborious 

 under that load of metal. Even so must a Byzantine Emperor 

 have walked at ceremonies of State. 



In cases of necessity, then, the young Caterpillar does not 

 shrink from acts of sheer madness. So urgent is his need 

 to clothe himself that he will weave mineral matter rather 

 than go naked. Food means less to him than clothes. If I 

 make him fast for a couple of days, and then, having robbed 

 him of his garment, place him on his favourite food, a leaf 

 of very hairy hawkweed, he will make himself a new coat 

 before satisfying his hunger. 



This devotion to dress is due, not to any special sensi- 

 tiveness to cold, but to the young Caterpillar's foresight. 

 Other Caterpillars take shelter among the leaves, in under- 

 ground cells, or in the cracked bark of trees, but the Psyche 

 spends his winter exposed to the weather. He therefore pre- 

 pares himself, from his birth, for the perils of the cold season. 



K 



