A large horizontal watercolor of insects in the East Asian manner — but combining the ink-wash tradition with more descriptive, naturalistic rendering. Along the top edge, five caterpillar forms — each one green and segmented, their bodies curving in different directions, each with fine ink legs — are arranged in a loose row as if on a branch or leaf. The caterpillars are remarkably specific: the color varies from yellow-gold through green to gray-green, the segmentation is carefully indicated, and each one has a small rounded head.
At left center, a spider — the most precisely observed insect in the entire collection, its eight legs rendered with individual care, its body rounded and dark with a suggested abdominal pattern. Nearby, a spider web rendered in pale gray ink: concentric rings connected by radiating lines, the structure perfect. This web is drawn with the same meditative regularity as the Eye of Everything spiral — Sidney understood the web as a radial structure worth rendering completely.
At right, a large grasshopper in teal-green watercolor with carefully drawn legs, antennae, and a visible eye — the most naturalistically observed single insect in the collection. Its scale relative to the caterpillars suggests either a different distance or a shift in the observational register.
Above the spider, a loose cluster of tiny ant or fly forms — barely marks, each one barely distinguishable as an insect — suggests the small life that surrounds the more prominent creatures. The composition is alive in multiple scales simultaneously.