Each seizes the fragment, tugs at it, commences to swallow it without further ado.

There is no actual battle; no violent assaults, as in the case of dogs disputing a bone.

Their efforts are confined to the attempted theft.

If the legitimate owner retains his hold they consume his booty in common, mandibles to mandibles, until the fragment is torn or bitten through, and each retires with his mouthful.
As I found to my cost in bygone experiments, the pine-caterpillar wields a violently corrosive poison, which produces a painful rash upon the hands.

It must therefore, one would think, form a somewhat highly seasoned diet.