A tramp falls asleep in the woods. He dreams of observing a range of insects that stand in for various human characteristics in terms of their lifestyle and morality: the flighty, vain butterfly, the obsequious, self-serving dung beetle, the ants, whose increasingly mechanized behavior leads to a militaristic society.
Wilfrid Grantham
The Lepidopterist / First Snail

Edmund Willard
The Tranp
Pamela Standish
The Chrysalis
Frank Birch
Mr. Beetle / Commander of the Yellows

Maire O'Neill
Mrs. Beetle / Philanthropist
Charles Peters
Robber Beetle/Journalist
Rupert Bruce Lockhart
The Ichneumon Fly / Inventor
Sheila Kay
The Larva

Leslie French
Mr. Cricket / Second Snail

Wendy Toye
Mrs. Cricket
Wilfrid Grantham
The Lepidopterist / First Snail

Edmund Willard
The Tranp
Pamela Standish
The Chrysalis
Frank Birch
Mr. Beetle / Commander of the Yellows

Maire O'Neill
Mrs. Beetle / Philanthropist
Charles Peters
Robber Beetle/Journalist
Rupert Bruce Lockhart
The Ichneumon Fly / Inventor
Sheila Kay
The Larva

Leslie French
Mr. Cricket / Second Snail

Wendy Toye
Mrs. Cricket