THE CATERPILLAR AND THE MOTH 



till they became so inert they seemed reduced to lifeless 

 masses of soggy wool. On the afternoon of the 17th the 

 temperature moderated, the sun came out a few times, 

 the wetness evaporated from the trees, and most of the 

 caterpillars revived sufficiently to move about a little and 

 dry their fur. Though a few had been washed off the 

 carpets by the violence of the storm and had perished 

 on the ground, and in one camp about twenty dead were 

 left behind on the web, the majority had survived. 



For several days after this, during better weather, the 

 caterpillars of these families continued their free exist- 

 ence, feeding at large on the opening buds, but returning 

 during resting periods to the webs, or constructing new 

 ones at more convenient places. Often each family split 

 into several bands, each with its own retreat, yet all re- 

 mained in communication by means of the silk trails the 

 members left wherever they went. 



The camping sites were either against the surface of a 

 branch or in the hollow of a crotch. Though the carpet- 

 like webs stretched over these places were spun appar- 

 ently only to give secure footing, those at the crotches 

 often roofed over a space well protected beneath, and fre- 

 quently many of the caterpillars crawled into these spaces 

 to avail themselves of their shelter. Yet for twelve days 

 none of the broods constructed webs designed for cover- 

 ings. Then, on the morning of the 20th, one family was 

 found to have spun several sheets of silk above the carpet 

 on which its members had rested for a week, and all were 

 now inside their first tent. These caterpillars were near- 

 ing the end of their first stage, and two days later the 

 first molted skins were found in the tent, fourteen days 

 after the date of hatching. 



In Stage II the caterpillars have a new color pattern 

 and one which begins to suggest that characteristic of the 

 species in its more mature stages (Fig. 148). On the upper 

 part of the sides the dark color is broken into a series of 

 quadrate spots each spot partially split lengthwise by a 



[269] 



