48 
NATURE’S CRAFTSMEN 
insect can execute anything so geometrically per¬ 
fect and regular. What law of beauty and order 
impels her to this matchless workmanship? 
“ The eggs hatch in September, and from each 
little muff comes three hundred or more tiny pale 
yellow caterpillars, with black heads almost twice 
as large as their bodies. Immediately they begin 
to feed upon the pine needles on which their nest 
was placed. These gone, instinct swings them 
promptly into line and the little processionists 
follow their leader in search of fresh pasture. As 
he goes, this little captain whom chance has thrust 
to the fore dribbles a tiny white thread from his 
mouth, and sticks it fast. Behind him the next 
one dribbles his thread and so doubles the slender 
rail that is yet so faint no eye can trace it; a third 
trebles it, and so on until all in the procession 
have added their bit, and there stands revealed in 
the wake of the passing van a fine white thread, 
which is no more nor less than a little silken tap¬ 
estried roadway which later serves as a guide rail 
to carry the little creatures back. For, when all 
have eaten their fill, they begin to think of slum¬ 
ber, and naturally the nest is the proper place for 
this business. So instinct again teaches them to 
fall into line; the leader after much blind reach¬ 
ing and hesitation feels beneath his lips the silken 
rail that marks the homeward path and makes 
haste along it, picking up silk as he goes. After 
