66 METAMORPHOSES OF 



Imago, a, ? ; 6, <? ; c, ? . 



The moth appears in January, having been in the dormant 

 state ten months. There is a strong and unpleasant smell 

 about this moth. 



XXXV. — Megalopyge dorsimacula. 



Podalia dorsimacula, Walker, Catal, Lep. Het. Brit. Mus. 

 vii., p. 1717 (1856). 



Larva, a, Full-fed. San Paulo, March 1, 1878. 



This caterpillar feeds upon several plants ; but I have 

 generally found it on a Melastoma (?) For description see 

 Proc. Lit. and Phil. Soc, Liverpool, 29th April, 1878, vol. 

 xxxii., pp. cii.-civ. and plate.* 



Pupa, a, Full-fed, March ; Imago, Oct., 1878. 



Pupation takes place within a closely spun cocoon, in the 

 outside layer of which the long red hairs of the larva are 



* Mr. Dukinfield Jones modestly omits all reference to his personal expe- 

 rience of the extremely venomous property of the spines of the larva of this 

 insect, as related in his communication to the Society, above referred to. 

 To test the reputed ill character given of it by the Brazilians, he experi- 

 mented on himself at 11 a.m., by pressing the back of one of these cater- 

 pillars on the back of his left hand, till he could feel the prick of the spines. 

 In ten minutes he had violent pain and swelling on the hand, and, shortly 

 after, pain in the armpit. All his remedial measures were ineffective, and the 

 pain was suggestive of boring with a red-hot iron. It lasted for some hours, 

 distressed him in the night, and left a soreness which continued to the third 

 day. The marks of the spines, thirty-six in number, were still visible more 

 than a fortnight after. The experiment was so very convincing that I have 

 not heard of a repetition of it. The description of the larva is as follows. 

 " The whole body is covered with long red-brown hairs, which grow in tufts 

 arising from the centre of each segment, and at the base of the long hairs 

 are bunches of venomous spines, which are quite concealed by the hairs. 

 The body is very soft and fleshy, and of a paler colour than the hairs. There 

 are six pairs of abdominal legs, the first and last pair, however, not beiug 

 fully developed. The head is very small, and is, when eating, quite covered 

 with a fleshy mantle, formed by the first segment of the body. When 

 walking, the head is protruded a little." — T. J. Moore. 



