THE GREEN WORLD 239 



position, not oddly writhed and twisted anyhow the 

 very counterfeit of death as they lie, but neatly 

 curled into a round, like sleeping cat. Curled thus, 

 the cinnabar's caterpillar remains dead-still for several 

 minutes. Shake a little party off the ragwort, and for 

 two or three minutes not one of them stirs. Then the 

 first ventures to uncurl, straighten out, and begin to 

 crawl up a stem of ragwort or of any other plant near 

 by ; a second and third follow within the next half- 

 minute or so ; but one or more will be still curled up 

 and motionless at the end of the fifth minute, perhaps 

 through the shock. This is the sole act of seeming 

 intelligence which inclines me to put the caterpillar of 

 the cinnabar on a higher plane than the climbing 

 plant. 



True, a caterpillar will often weave a snug and 

 beautiful cocoon for passing its chrysalid state in. 

 But how does this argue more consciousness, a higher 

 mind, than certain actions of plants? Look at the 

 plant's arrangements for the carriage and disposal of 

 its pollen ; look at its seeding devices ; above all, 

 look at its resolution to produce seed, though, by 

 robbing it of its blossoms, we try to prevent it making 

 seed. With its system of nerves, the caterpillar may 

 be more sensitive to pain than the plant, but, even so, 

 I am not sure this points to a higher intelligence, to 

 the possession of some sort of mind. On the whole, 

 the intelligence of the bryony is no bad match for 

 that of the caterpillar, and in either case one may 



