INSECTS
several sections which spread out over the foliage. The tent is soon deserted. For one, two, or three hours the repast continues, the diners often returning home late at night. Observations indicate that this is the regular habit of the tent caterpillar in its earlier stages, and perhaps up to the sixth or last stage of its life. In at least nine instances the writer noted entire colonies back in the tent for the night at hours ranging from nine to eleven p.m.; but sometimes a part of the crowd was still feeding when last observed.
In describing the life of a community of insects it is seldom possible to make general statements that will apply to all the individuals. The best that a writer can do is to say what he sees most of the insects do, for, as in other communities, there are always those eccentric members who will not conform with the customs of the majority. Occasionally a solitary tent caterpillar may be seen feeding between regular mealtimes. Often one works alone on the tent, spinning and weaving long after its companions have quit and gone below for the midday rest. Such a one appears to be afflicted with an over-developed sense of responsibility. Then, too, there is nearly always one among the group in the tent who can not get to sleep. He flops this way and that, striking his companions on either side and keeping them awake also. These are annoyed, but they do not retaliate; they seem to realize that their restless comrade has but a common caterpillar affliction and must be endured.
Many of these little traits make the caterpillars seem almost human. But, of course, this is just a popular form of expression; in fact, it expresses an idea too popular—we take an over amount of satisfaction in referring to our faults as particularly human characteristics. What we really should say is not how much tent caterpillars are like us in their shortcomings, but how much we are still like tent caterpillars. We both revert more or less in our instincts to times before we lived in communities,
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