AT THE MICROSCOPE, 117 



How very different, again, are the hooks on the wings from 

 those of the great Humble-Bee, marking an insect of feeble 

 flight ! I have not unfrequently seen them in the autumn, or even in 

 sunny days in the winter, hawking over the common here, in 

 search of a suitable nidus for oviposition : this is the naked- 

 skinned caterpillar. By means of the serrated claws, the frigh- 

 tened creature is held, notwithstanding all its writhings, till the 

 egg is laid in its body : the eggs are described as being of a 

 singular form, somewhat bean-shaped, as Fig. ii, and attached 

 near one end to a long, slender, and curved peduncle, by which 

 they are attached — unlike the majority of the eggs of this family — 

 to the surface of the body of the larva of Ceriira veniila (the Puss 

 Moth). When the eggs are hatched, the larva remains in this 

 situation, the extremity of the abdomen being retained within the 

 shell of the tgg^ as in Fig. 12, whereby they are enabled to suck 

 the juices of their victim (Westwood, Mod. Intr., Vol. II., p. 145). 

 I have never been fortunate enough to see this, but hope E. L. or 

 some of our entomologists will tell us more about it. It appears 

 there are five described species. The singular, somewhat curved 

 mark on the eyes, shaped like a hollow club, differs from any- 

 thing I remember to have noticed elsewhere, and it seems to me 

 difficult to explain the meaning of it. 



Pro-Leg of Larva of Puss-Moth.— A remarkably fine and 

 interesting specimen, and derives additional value from its 

 having been prepared and named by an entomologist. The 

 notes accompanying it, too, are exactly the sort of thing I am so 

 desirous our members should give when putting their specimens 

 into the boxes. The contributor has exactly hit my idea of what 

 is wanted in these notes — anything throwing light on the subject 

 of the slides. We are just naturalists who make use of the 

 microscope in our investigations. The graphic description of the 

 Puss-Moth Caterpillar's tenacious clinging to whatever it may be 

 upon is rendered clear enough on careful investigation of this slide.* 



It may be interesting to call attention to the different modifi- 

 cations of hairs presented in the specimen for different purposes. 

 There are, on the general surface of the skin, small, triangular, 

 sharply-pointed " scah-hairsJ' Then there are also about nine 

 spine-like hairs^ whose use may be considered to be chiefly for 

 protection, short, strong, and stout. In addition to these, and 

 above them, are a number long, flexible, translucent, whip-like, 

 which agree in these characteristics with hairs whose recognised 

 use is to inform the insect of the nature of the objects with which 

 it comes into contact — ^" sensory hairs." And, lastly, it is not 

 difficult to prove that the powerful claws themselves are but hairs, 



* These notes will appear in our next part. — Ed. 



K 



