late, when I had nothing to ask of it, but
another, no matter what, provided it was a prompt guest at the wedding
feast. Was I to find such an insect?

CHAPTER XV

THE OAK EGGAR, OR BANDED MONK

Yes: I was to find it. I even had it already in my possession. An urchin
of seven years, with an alert countenance, not washed every day, bare
feet, and dilapidated breeches supported by a piece of string, who
frequented the house as a dealer in turnips and tomatoes, arrived one
day with his basket of vegetables. Having received the few halfpence
expected by his mother as the price of the garden-stuff, and having
counted them one by one into the hollow of his hand, he took from his
pocket an object which he had discovered the day before beneath a hedge
when gathering greenstuff for his rabbits.

"And this--will you have this?" he said, handing me the object. "Why,
certainly I will have it. Try to find me more, as many as you can, and
on Sunday you shall have lots of rides on the wooden horses. In the
meantime here is a penny for you. Don't forget it when you make up your
accounts; don't mix it with your turnip-money; put it by itself."
Beaming with satisfaction at such wealth, little touzle-head promised to
search industriously, already foreseeing a fortune.

When he had gone I examined the thing. It was worth examination. It was
a fine cocoon, thick and with blunt ends, very like a silkworm's cocoon,
firm to the touch and of a tawny colour. A brief reference to the
text-books almost convinced me that this was a cocoon of the _Bombyx
quercus_.[4] If so, what a find! I could continue my inquiry and perhaps
confirm what my study of the Great Peacock had made me suspect.

The Bombyx of the oak-tree is, in fact, a classic moth; indeed, there is
no entomological text-book but speaks of its exploits at mating-time. It
is said that a female emerged from the pupa in captivity, in the
interior of an apartment, and even in a closed box. It was far from the
country, amidst the tumult of a large city. Nevertheless, the event was
known to those concerned in the woods and meadows. Guided by some
mysterious compass, the males arrived, hastening from the distant
fields; they went to the box, fluttered against it, and flew to and fro
in the room.

These marvels I had learned by reading; but to see such a thing with
one's own eyes, and at the same time to devise experiments, is quite
another thing. What had my penny bargain in sto