HARDVVICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



193 



HOBNED BRITISH CATEBPILLAES. 



'HE British Islands, 

 as compared with 

 other countries, 

 cannot be said to 

 be rich in curious 

 or grotesque cater- 

 pillars, though we 

 have some very 

 singular forms 

 amongst our na- 

 tives. It is now pretty gene- 

 rally known, even to those 

 who make no pretensions to 

 be lepidopterists, that we have 

 many hundred species of that 

 order of insects, some exceed- 

 ingly abundant, and others 

 only known to be British by 

 one or two specimens ; and a 

 number of gradations as to 

 scarceness or commonness in- 

 termediate between these ex- 

 tremes. "We have an over- 

 whelming preponderance of 

 moths over butterflies ; against 

 sixty-five of the latter, the former can muster 

 something like eighteen hundred species. The 

 splendidly illustrated works which have been pub- 

 lished descriptive of foreign butterflies, and the 

 changes they undergo, show that more singularities 

 occur amongst the caterpillars of butterflies than 

 amongst the moths. Therefore it follows that had 

 we more butterflies in Britain, we should be able to 

 show more remarkable caterpillars than we can 

 exhibit at present. I say advisedly, at present, 

 because there are some folks who are attempting to 

 acclimatize here certain foreign species. These, as 

 far as they have gone, do not, however, hold out 

 much hope that "illustrious foreigners" of the 

 lepidopterous race of beings are likely to settle 

 permanently here. But if we have not so many 

 choice insects to hunt after as a resident in Brazil, 

 in India, or in China, on the other hand we have this 

 compensation that we have fewer insect annoyances, 

 No. 81. 



and we can go out to catch or to observe insects 

 without being scorched by a tropical sun, or dashed 

 to the ground by a tornado ; or, worse still, finding 

 ourselves made a sudden target for the arrow or 

 spear of the wild wanderer. 



As yet we have no classification of caterpillars 

 generally, according to their outward aspect ; nor, 

 were it done, would it help us at all to discover 

 what insects they were to be the parents of, for 

 caterpillars which are most different from each other 

 in appearance, in some cases produce moths nearly 

 related. 



Of the adornments — for such they may justly be 

 deemed — which are displayed by some of our British 

 caterpillars, a goodly list could be made. Besides an 

 almost endless variety in colour and markings, we 

 have additional distinctions in the way of hairs, 

 spines, warts, humps, lappets, tubercles, and horns. 

 It is of the chief of these, rejoicing in the last pecu- 

 liarity, that I have now to write, and in the fore- 

 front we must place the caterpillar of the Swallow- 

 tail. This butterfly (Papilio Machaon), recently 

 commented upon in this periodical, is an insect of 

 some importance, as our only representative of a 

 very large exotic family. The caterpillar is to be 

 found throughout the summer feeding on marsh 

 plants, especially on the hog's fennel, or milk- 

 parsley. Some who have kept them in confinement 

 have fed them on the leaves of carrot or rue. The 

 velvety skin, which is studded with fine bristles, is 

 beautifully marked with spots and bars in black 

 and orange upon a green ground ; but the second 

 segment is the most singular part of the body. Erom 

 this, when it chooses, the Swallow-tail caterpillar 

 thrusts forth, through a slit in the back, a two- 

 forked horn (as we must call it), which is something 

 like the letter Y in shape, and half an inch in 

 length when fully shown. This weapon — if weapon 

 it be — owes its efficacy to the fact that it is hollow, 

 and if the forks of the horn do not actually exude a 

 fluid, they at least give forth a strong scent, which 

 may drive off insect enemies or parasites. It may 

 be so, and that is all we can conjecture about the 

 purpose for which it is intended ; though Bonnet, in 



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