450 MEANS OF DEFENCE OF INSECTS. 



the other, agitate the elevated part, whether it be the head or the tail, as 

 if to strike what disturbs theni.^ The giant caterpillar of a large North 

 American moth (^Ceracampa regalis) is armed behind the head and at the 

 back of the anterior segments with seven or eight strong curved spines 

 from half to three fourths of an inch in length. Mr. Abbot tells us that 

 this caterpillar is called in Virginia the hickory-horned devil, and that when 

 disturbed it draws up its head, shaking or striking it from side to side ; 

 which attitude gives it so formidable an aspect, that no one, he affirms, 

 will venture to handle it, people in general dreading it as much as a rattle- 

 snake. When, to convince the Negroes that it was harmless, he himself 

 took hold of this animal in their presence, they used to reply that it could 

 not sting him, but would them.^ The species of a genus of beetles named 

 Malachius endeavor to alarm their enemies and show their rage by puffing 

 out and inflating four vesicles from the sides of their body, which are of a 

 bright red, soft, and of an irregular shape. When the cause of alarm is 

 removed, they are retracted, so that only a small portion of them 

 appears.-^ 



Insects often endeavor to repel or escape from assailants by their motions. 

 Mr. White, mentioning a wild bee that makes its nest on the summit of a 

 remarkable hill near Lewes in Sussex, in the chalky soil, says : — " When 

 people approach the place these insects begin to be alarmed, and with a 

 sharp and hostile sound dash and strike round the heads and faces of 

 intruders. I have often been interrupted myself while contemplating the 

 grandeur of the scenery around me, and have thought myself in danger of 

 beinu; stung.""* — The hive-bee will sometimes have recourse to the same 

 expedient, when her hive is approached too near, and thus give you notice 

 what you may expect if you do not take her warning and retire. — Hum- 

 ble-bees when disturbed, whether out of the nest or in it, assume some 

 very grotesque and at the same time threatening attitudes. If you put 

 your finger to them, they will either successively or simultaneously lift up the 

 three legs of one side ; turn themselves upon their back ; bend up their 

 anus and show their sting accompanied by a drop of poison. Sometimes 

 they will even spirt out that liquor. When in the nest, if it be attacked, 

 they also beat their wings violently and emit a great hum.^ 



These motions menace vengeance ; those of some other insects are 

 merely to effect their escape. Thus I have observed that the species of 

 the May-fly tribe (Trichoptera^) , when I have attempted to take them, 

 have often glided away from under my hand — without moving their limbs 

 that I could discover — in a remarkable manner.^ M. de Villiers informs 

 us that different species of moths of the genera Orthosia and Cerastis 

 never avail themselves of their wings to escape the dangers which threaten 

 them; but if you attempt to seize them immediately let themselves fall 

 to the ground, and then begin running with such rapidity, that it is very 

 difficult to obtain possession of them.^ And in like manner various Cur- 



» Reaum. i. 100. « Smith's Abbot's Ins. of Georgia, ii. 121. 



3 De Geer, iv. 74. * Nat. Hist. ii. 268. 



5 F Hul)er in Linn. Trans, vi. 21P. Kirby, 31on. Ap. Angl. i. 201. 

 8 Kirby in Li?in. Trans, xi. 87. note *. 



^ Kvidently by the action of the numerous spines on the legs all directed backwards, jus^ 

 as an eat of barley will mount up the sleeve of a coat. 

 8 Ann. ib'yc. Ent. de France, xi. bull. xii. 



