THE CATERPILLAR AND THE MOTH
open leaf bud was encountered, dangling in loose webs, but spinning threads everywhere. Yet, in each brood, the individuals kept within reach of one another, and the trails of silk leading back to the main branch always insured the possibility of a family reunion whenever this should be desired.
One morning, the 27th, one family had gathered in its scattered members and these had already spun a little tentlike web in the crotch between the
Fig. 145. First tent made by young tent caterpillars. (About half natural size)
crotch between the main stem of the supporting twig and two small branches (Fig. 145). Some members were crawling on the surface of the tent, others were resting within, still others were traveling back and forth on the silk trails leading outward on the branches, and the rest were massed about the buds devouring the young leaves. The establishment of the tent marks the beginning of a change in the caterpillars' lives; it entails responsibilities that demand a fixed course of daily living. In the lives of the tent caterpillars this point is what the beginning of school days is to us—the end of irresponsible freedom, and the beginning of subjection to conventional routine.
Every tent caterpillar family that survives infancy eventually reaches the point where it begins the con-
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