52 NATURE’S CRAFTSMEN 
sounds and they creep to bed. Thus, the tiny 
tent that was the size of a hazelnut in the begin¬ 
ning grows in two weeks to the size of an apple. 
If it has been well established in a central posi¬ 
tion, the processionaries may go on enlarging it 
into elaborate quarters. The chances are, how¬ 
ever, that they will pitch two or three tents before 
the approach of fall warns them that they must 
build a snug habitation for winter. This work is 
gone at with great ardor. A site in the very tip 
of the bough is selected, and here by weaving a 
network of silk about the leafy clump a structure 
is fashioned that is stout enough to defy the 
fiercest blasts of Boreas. When completed it is 
as large as a two-quart measure, and by creeping 
into the milk-white mattress in the center, com¬ 
posed of thick ropings of silk around a cluster of 
leaves, the little caterpillars can keep as snug as 
the proverbial bug in a rug. 
“ By this time, too, their own mother would 
never recognize the pine processionaries. For 
they have donned their winter garments—a plain 
little coat of whitish-yellow, with six funny little 
red patches on the back, surrounded with scarlet 
bristles. Set in the midst of each red patch are 
specks of gold which add not a little to their 
unique decorations. That the caterpillars are 
proud of their new wardrobe is very evident. 
There is a little veranda on the top of their house, 
