248 MEANS OF DEFENCE OF INSECTS. 



rise from a secretion of this kind being noticed upon it. 

 I have observed that one species [CocciiicUa hipmic- 

 tata) vvlien taken ejects from its joints a yellow fluid 

 which yields a pov,erful but not agreeable scent of opium. 

 — Asilus ci'ahroniformis, a dipterous insect, once when 

 1 took it, emitted a white milky fluid from its proboscis, 

 the joints of the legs and abdomen, and the anus. — The 

 common scorpion-fly, likewise, upon the same occasion 

 ejects from its proboscis a brown and fetid drop *. Some 

 insects have peculiar organs from which their fluids 

 issue, or are ejaculated. Thus the larvai of saw-flies 

 when taken into the hand cover themselves with drops, 

 exuding from all parts of their body, of an unpleasant 

 penetrating scent ^. That of Cimbex lutea, of the same 

 tribe, from a small hole just above each spiracle, syringes 

 a similar fluid in horizontal jets of the diameter of a 

 thread, sometimes to the distance of more than a foot*^. 

 — The caterpillar of the great emperor moth [Saturnia 

 Pyri^) also spirts out, when the spines that cover them 

 are touched, clear lymph from its pierced tubercles ^. — 

 Wilhighby has remarked a curious circumstance with 

 respect to a water-beetle {Acilius sulcati/s), which ought 

 not to be overlooked. A transverse line of a pale colour 

 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 ffcnus. 

 — The caterpillar of the puss-moth [Cerura vinnla\ as 



" DeGeer, ii. 734. ^ lieauimir. v. 9(). > De Geer, ii. 1)37 — 

 " Koscl, iv. 162. De Geer, i. L'/;?. 

 ' Rai. Hist. Ins. 94. n. 3. 



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