252 MEANS OF DEFENCE OF INSECTS. 



also spirts out, when the spines that cover them are 

 touched, clear lymph frorii its pierced tubercles^. — 

 Willughby has remarked a curious circumstance with 

 respect to a water beetle {Di/llscus cinereits, Marsh.) 

 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 state- 

 ment, I have more than once observed such a fluid 

 issue from Dytisci of the same family. — The caterpillar 

 of the puss-moth {Domhi/x xinula)^ 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 terminated by a nip- 

 ple 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 endowed to drive off the ichneumons that 

 infest it . — And, to name no more, the great tiger- 

 moth (Bombj/x Caja, F.), 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 transpa-» 

 rent water issue, doubtless for some similar purpose '^ 

 The next active means of defence with which Crea* 



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



» De Geer, i. 334— " Ibid. i. 20S. 



