The Life-History and Anatomy of Moths 
spines, horns, or bulbous projections. The hairs and spines 
with which some larvae are ornamented possess stinging proper¬ 
ties. This is true of some genera among the Saturniidce and the 
Cochlidiidce in temperate America and of many genera in the same 
families and among the Lasiocampidce in the tropics. The sting¬ 
ing hairs of a large caterpillar found in tropical Africa arc 
employed by the natives in preparing the poison which they 
put upon their arrows. The inflammation caused by these hairs, 
even in the case of specimens long dead, I know from personal 
experience to be very severe. 
The coloration of caterpillars is often very striking and beau¬ 
tiful, and in most cases is such as to adapt them more or less to 
their surroundings in life. Cases of protective mimicry are very 
numerous. A beautiful illustration of this is seen on Plate I, 
fig. 15, where the singular form of the caterpillar, combined with 
its green tint, suggests the serrated edge of the leaf of the elm, 
upon which plant it feeds. There is almost endless diversity in 
the modifications of form and color in the larval stages of moths, 
and they are as characteristic as are the forms and colors of the 
perfect insects. 
There is much diversity in the social habits of the larvae of 
moths. Some are gregarious and exist in colonies which disperse 
at the time of pupation; but there are a few singular instances, in 
which the communistic instinct perdures, and leads the entire 
colony to form a common cocoon, or envelope of silk, in which 
each individual subsequently spins a smaller cocoon for itself. In 
1893 I had the pleasure of communicating some information in 
regard to this curious phase of insect life to the pages of the 
journal of the Cambridge Entomological Club (See Psyche, Voh 
VI., p. 385). This habit is characteristic of certain genera of 
African moths, but has not thus far been observed as occur 
ring in the case of any American species. 
THE PUP /E OF MOTHS 
When the caterpillar has gone through its successive molts 
and attained to full development it undergoes the transformation 
known as pupation. From a life of freedom and motion it 
passes into a condition in which freedom and almost all power 
of motion are lost. The flexible and more or less agile body is 
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