Three weeks later, new skin is forming, but is covered all over with painful little pimples. The swelling diminishes; the redness persists and is still very marked. The effect of the infernal paper lasts a long time. At the end of a month, I still feel an itching, a burning irritation, which is intensified by the warmth of the bed-clothes. At last, a fortnight later, all has disappeared but the redness, of which I shall retain the marks for a long time yet, though it grows gradually fainter and fainter. It will take three months or more to vanish altogether. We now have some light on the problem: the Processionary’s virus is certainly an offthrow of the organic factory, a waste product of the living edifice. The caterpillar discards it with his excrement. But the material of the droppings has a twofold origin: the greater part represents the digestive residuum; the rest, in a much smaller proportion, is composed of the urinary products. To which of the two does the virus belong? Before going farther, let us permit ourselves a digression which will assist us in our subsequent enquiries. Let us ask what advantages the Processionary derives from his urticating product. I already hear the answer: “It is a means of protection, of defence. With his poisoned mane, he repels the enemy.” I do not clearly perceive the bearing of this explanation. I think of the creature’s recognized enemies: of the larva of Calosoma sycophanta, which lives in the nests of the Processionary of the Oak and gobbles up the inhabitants with never a thought of their burning fleece; of the Cuckoo, another mighty consumer, so we are told, of the same caterpillars, who gorges on them to the point of implanting in his gizzard a bristling coat of their hairs. I am not aware if the Processionary of the Pine pays a like tribute. I do know of at least one of his exploiters. This is a Dermestes, [23] who establishes himself in the silken city and feeds upon the remains of the defunct caterpillars. This ghoul assures us of the existence of other consumers, all furnished with stomachs expressly fashioned for such highly-seasoned fare. For every harvest of living creatures there is always a harvester.