A note on n-gerbes and transgressions

In this note we provide an explicit interpretation of a class of (q-1)-gerbes with multi-layered connections in terms of transgression of a fibrewise closed q-form on a fibration to a closed (q+1)-form on the base manifold, with the basic example of the Euler class of an oriented vector bundle in mind (q \geq 0). Picken's and Ferreira-Gothen's n-gerbopoles are discussed from this point of view. Furthermore, string structures (`a la Cocquereaux - Pilch and `a la S. - Wurzbacher) are briefly addressed and recast within the proposed framework.