ORDER X. LEPIDOPTERA. — PROCESSION-MOTHS. Sol 
could have done in the woods. I was yery much amused and pleased at 
watching them for many days. I hung the branch on which I had brought 
them against one of my window shutters. When the leaves were dried up, 
when they had become too hard for the jaws of the caterpillars, they tried 
to go and seek better food elsewhere. One set himself in motion, a second 
followed at his tail, a third followed this one, and so on. They began to 
defile and march up the shutter, but being so near to each other that the 
head of the second touched the tail of the first. The single file was through- 
out continuous; it formed a perfect string of caterpillars of about two feet 
in length, after which the line was doubled. There two caterpillars marched 
abreast, but as near the one which preceded them as those who were march- 
ing in single file were to each other. After a few rows of our procession- 
ists, who were two abreast, came the rows of three abreast; after a few of 
these came those which were four abreast; then there were those of five, 
others of six, others of seven, others of cight caterpillars. This troop, so 
well marshalled, was led by the first. Did it halt, all the others halted : 
did it again begin to march, all the others set themselves in motion, and fol- 
lowed it with the greatest precision. . . . That which went on in my study 
goes on every day in the woods where these caterpillars live. . . . When 
it is near sunset you may see coming out of any of their nests, by the open- 
ing which is at its top, which would hardly afford space for two to come out 
abreast, one caterpillar. As soon as it has emerged from the nest, it is 
followed by many others in single file; when it has got about two feet from 
the nest, it makes a pause, during which those who are still in the nest con- 
tinue to come out; they fall into their ranks, the battalion is formed ; at 
last the leader sets off marching again, and all the others follow him. That 
which goes on in this nest passes in all the neighboring nests ; all are evacu- 
ated at the same time.” 
But the most interesting and important member of this genus is 
B. Mori. —The Silk-worm Moth. This seemingly insignificant insect 
has now become one of the most important to man of all domestic animals. 
It was originally a native of China, and the neighboring parts of Asia, and 
was there bred and domesticated for a long time before it was known in Eu- 
rope. Now, the manufacture of silk is one of the most important sources 
of wealth to many parts of that continent. At first, silk stuffs were sold 
for their weight in gold; but they are now comparatively cheap. The Silk- 
worm is a caterpillar, which, in due time, undergoes its metamorphoses, and 
becomes a moth, like others of the genus. At birth, and for the first ten 
days, the color of the worm is blackish or obscure. As it grows, it casts 
its skin at stated periods, and turns whitish or bluish, and, when ready to 
spin, becomes yellow. It is covered with scattering hairs, and has a little 
