82 ON SOME LEPIDOPTEROUS LARV^ 



tation resembling nettle-rash. I have twice suffered from 

 incautiously handling this species — once from touching the 

 larva itself, and the second time from pulling down with my 

 fingers some old cocoons in the corner of a breeding-cage. 

 It has been supposed that the larva ejects an acrid fluid 

 from certain glands at the root of the tufts of hair, and that 

 this is the cause of the irritation. That it has these glands 

 I have no doubt, as they occur in several species, and in 

 some cases also in the imago, but this will not account for 

 the effect produced by hairs woven into a cocoon months or 

 years old : a glance at the hairs under a microscope will 

 convince anj^ one of their formidable character, and that 

 they are quite sufficient to produce irritating results. 



This unpleasant form of protection is shared by many 

 other species, such as the Tiger Moths, the familiar Woolly- 

 bear being a very good instance. We may also note the 

 Scarlet Tiger Moth and the Jersey Tiger Moth. The fauna 

 of the Channel Islands contains many insects which do not 

 occur in England, and until recent years the Jersey Tiger 

 Moth was one of these ; but it now appears to have quite 

 established itself in South Devon, and is found there in some 

 numbers every year. The Oak Eggar (L. qicercus) larva is 

 another instance of protection by means of abundant hairs. 

 It feeds on bramble, and quite exposed to view. So also is 

 the larva of the common Vapourer Moth, which sometimes 

 infests apple and other fruit trees to a great extent. This 

 is remarkable for the great tufts of hair borne by the adult 

 caterpillar, very loosely attached, so that an aggressive bird 

 which pecked at the larva would be certain to fill its beak 

 with a host of dry and prickly hairs, sharp as needles and 

 intensely irritating. The female moth of this, as in a few 

 other species, is destitute of wings, and never stirs from the 

 cocoon from which she has emerged, but lays her eggs upon 



