slaves of their ribbon that they are, cannot
make up their minds to do so. I leave the famished ones at half-past
ten, persuaded that they will take counsel with their pillow and that
on the morrow things will have resumed their ordinary course.

I was wrong. I was expecting too much of them when I accorded them that
faint gleam of intelligence which the tribulations of a distressful
stomach ought, one would think, to have aroused. I visit them at dawn.
They are lined up as on the day before, but motionless. When the air
grows a little warmer, they shake off their torpor, revive and start
walking again. The circular procession begins anew, like that which I
have already seen. There is nothing more and nothing less to be noted
in their machine-like obstinacy.

This time it is a bitter night. A cold snap has supervened, was indeed
foretold in the evening by the garden caterpillars, who refused to come
out despite appearances which to my duller senses seemed to promise a
continuation of the fine weather. At daybreak the rosemary-walks are
all asparkle with rime and for the second time this year there is a
sharp frost. The large pond in the garden is frozen over. What can the
caterpillars in the conservatory be doing? Let us go and see.

All are ensconced in their nests, except the stubborn processionists on
the edge of the vase, who, deprived of shelter as they are, seem to
have spent a very bad night. I find them clustered in two heaps,
without any attempt at order. They have suffered less from the cold,
thus huddled together.

'Tis an ill wind that blows nobody any good. The severity of the night
has caused the ring to break into two segments which will, perhaps,
afford a chance of safety. Each group, as it survives and resumes its
walk, will presently be headed by a leader who, not being obliged to
follow a caterpillar in front of him, will possess some liberty of
movement and perhaps be able to make the procession swerve to one side.
Remember that, in the ordinary processions, the caterpillar walking
ahead acts as a scout. While the others, if nothing occurs to create
excitement, keep to their ranks, he attends to his duties as a leader
and is continually turning his head to this side and that,
investigating, seeking, groping, making his choice. And things happen
as he decides: the band follows him faithfully. Remember also that,
even on a road which has already been travelled and beribboned, the
guiding caterpilla