THE CATERPILLAR AND THE MOTH 



months' solitary confinement in this most inhuman posi- 

 tion. Yet, if artificially liberated, the prisoner takes 

 no advantage of the freedom offered. Though it can 

 move a little, it remains coiled (A) and will fold up again 

 if forcibly straightened, thus asserting that it is more com- 

 fortable than it looks. 



It is surprising that these infant caterpillars can remain 

 inactive in their eggshells all through the summer, when 

 the warmth spurs the vitality of other species and speeds 

 them up to their most rapid growth and development. 

 External conditions 

 in general appear to 

 have much to do with 

 regulating the lives of 

 insects, and if the tent 

 caterpillars in their 

 eggs seem to give 

 proof that the crea- 

 tures are not entirely 

 the slaves of environ- 

 ment, the truth is 

 probably that all in- 

 sects are not gov- 

 erned by the same 

 conditions. We have seen that some of the grasshoppers 

 and some of the aphids will not complete their develop- 

 ment except after being subjected to freezing tempera- 

 tures, and so it probably is with the tent caterpillars- 

 it is not warmth, but a period of cold that furnishes the 

 condition necessary to the final completion of their de- 

 velopment. Whatever may.be the secret source of their 

 patience, however, the young tent caterpillars will bide 

 their time through all the heat of summer, the cold of 

 winter, and not till the buds of the cherry or apple leaves 

 are ready to open the following spring will they awake 

 and gnaw through the inclosing shells against which their 

 faces have been pressing all this while. 



Fig. 166. The young tent caterpillar fully 

 formed within the egg by the middle of 



summer 



A, the young caterpillar removed from the 



egg. B, the caterpillar in natural position 



within the egg 



