Aug, 16—Among the worst pests in the Weihaiwei hills is a species of stinging caterpillar which clings beneath the leaves of the scrub-oak and stings anything which touches the fine heirs with which it is covered: its heraldic motto should certainly be "nema me impune lacessit", or something of that sort, for you merely have to brush against it with your bare skin to get a prickling sting which will last you for days: Chinese children either rub the place with a round stone (presumably to press the hairs out) or with dock leaves—just as we cured nettle stings in the days of our youth. Being interested in these creatures much against my will, I have noted one of Nature'g curious compensation: ithe black ants seem to be one of the most down-trodden of all insects; men and other animals tread upon them as they walk; small beetles dig pits fof them to fall in; and other insects prey upon them at will: yet, with their hard skins, they can handle these caterpillars with impunity as no other creature can! Just at this time of the year the caterpillars, both green and black varieties, are small; so when the young ants are requiring food the scavengers of the nest hunt among the leaves for the caterpillars and drag them off to their larders:., once "nipped" and made to fall off their native leaves they are easily dragged away by a party of enthusiastic bearers, Only later, when the caterpillars have grown into veritable Gullivers among the _Lilliputians, does any difficulty arise, for they have become too heavy and strong to be disturbed by an. ant's nip; even so, when one of them meets with an accident and falls to the ground, the liputians gather in force and roll it home the proverbial bacon.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.