Poisonous Animals of tiiic Dkskrt 



379 



"They are also called mule-killers, from the absurd superstition 

 that the dark-colored saliva they eject from their mouths is fatal to 

 the mule." 



There is also about as much reason in this prejudice as there 

 would !)e basis for saying- that the "tobacco juice" of the grass- 

 hopper is a deadly poison. The praying mantis is really a preying 

 mantis. Lying in wait for the insects ujwn which it preys, it uses 

 the long grasping forelegs, borne on the up-reared front part of the 

 body (whence the name "rear-horse") for seizing the hapless vic- 

 tim. It is distinctly a useful insect and innocent of harm. Indeed, 



one of these 

 makes a most 

 interesting pet 

 if kept in a 

 small cage and 

 supplied w i t h 

 flies or other 

 small insects. 



Last of the 

 insects to be 

 mentioned will 

 be certain moth 

 larvae known as 

 flannel moths. 

 These are 

 "woollv cater- 

 pillars" whosti 

 hairs are so 



Pig. .-).— Flannel moth larvae on English ivy. Thiee-fifths thick and oddly 

 life size. Photograph from life. nrrau^'ed as lO 



give great resemblance to a bit of flannel. (Fig. 5). 



Hidden beneath the thick covering of long, soft, harmless hairs, 

 however, are groups of stiff l)ristles or spine-like hairs. These will 

 penetrate and break oft' in the skin, producing a rash much like 

 that caused by a nettle, hence called nettling hairs. Two species 

 of these flannnel moths are known further east, but have not been 

 reported from Arizona. In September, 1917, however, specimens 

 of flannel moths, which may or may not prove to be one of the 

 kinds already known, were sent to the University from Tombstone, 

 by Mrs. Julia R. Axtell, with the report that they had destroyed a 

 fine wall of English ivv, and that "In some way it seems to poison 



