MEANS OF DEFENCE OF INSECTS. 457 



the spines that cover them are touched, clear lymph from hs pierced tuber- 

 cles.^ — Willughby has remarked a curious circumstance with respect to a 

 water-beetle (^Acilius sulcatus), which ought not to be overlooked. A 

 transverse line of a pale color is observable upon the elytra of the male ; 

 where this line terminates certain oblong pores are visible, from which he 

 affirms he has often seen a milky fluid exuding"; and what may confirm 

 his statement, I have more than once observed such a fluid issue from the 

 male of this genus. — The caterpillar of the puss-moth (Cerura vinula), 

 as well as those of several other species, has a cleft in the neck between 

 the head and the first pair of legs. From this issues, at the will of the 

 animal, a singular syringe, laterally bifid ; the branches of which are ter- 

 minated by a nipple perforated like the rose of a watering-pot. By 

 means of this organ, when touched, it will syringe a fluid to a considerable 

 distance, which, if it enters the eyes, gives them acute, but not lasting 

 pain. The animal when taken from the tree on which it feeds, though 

 supplied with its leaves, loses this faculty, with which it is probably en- 

 dowed to drive off the ichneumons that infest it. ^ — And, to name no more, 

 the great tiger-moth (Eupre/pia Coja), when in its last or perfect state, 

 has near its head a remarkable tuft of the most brilliant carmine, from 

 amongst the hairs of which, if the thorax be touched, some minute drops 

 of transparent water issue, doubtless for some similar purpose.^ 



The next active means of defence with which Creative Wisdom has 

 endowed these busy tribes, are those limbs or weapons with which they 

 are furnished. The insect lately mentioned, the puss-moth, besides the 

 syringes just described, is remarkable for its singular forked tail, entirely 

 dissimilar to the anal termination of the abdomen of most other caterpil- 

 lars. This tail is composed of two long cylindrical tubes movable at 

 their base, and beset with a great number of short stiff spines. When 

 the animal walks, the two branches of the tail are separated from each 

 other, and at every step are lowered so as to touch the plane of position ; 

 hence we may conclude that they assist it in this motion and supply the 

 place of hind legs. If you touch or otherwise incommode it, from each 

 of the above branches there issues a long, cylindrical, slender, fleshy, and 

 very flexible organ of a rose color, to which the caterpillar can give every 

 imaginable curve or inflection, causing it sometimes to assume even a 

 spiral form. It enters the tube, or issues from it, in the same manner as 

 the horns of snails or slugs. These tails form a kind of double whip, the 

 tubes representing the handle, and the horns the thong or lash with which 

 the animal drives away the ichneumons and flies that attempt to settle upon 

 it. Touch any part of the body, and immediately one or both the horns 

 will appear and be extended ; and the animal will, as it were, lash the 

 spot where it feels that you incommode it. De Geer, from whom this 

 account is taken, says that this caterpillar will bite very sharply.^ — Several 

 larvae of butterflies, distinguished at their head by a semi-coronet of strong 

 spines, figured by Madame Merian, are armed with singular anal organs^, 

 which may have a similar use. Rosel, when he first saw the caterpillar 

 of the puss-moth, stretched out his hand with great eagerness, so he tells 

 us, to take the prize ; but when in addition to its grim attitude he beheld 



> Rosel, iv. 162. De Geer, i. 273. " Rai. Hist. Ins. 94. n. 3. » De Geer, i. 324. 

 * Ibid. i. 208. * De Geer, i. 322. « Ins. Surinam, t. viii. xxiii. xxxiii. 



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