ON THE URTICATING HAIRS OF SOME LEPIDOPTERA. 6 



the exception of four shrivelled-up bodies, there were no remains 

 of the others to be seen, though it was impossible for them to 

 have escaped from the cage. The larvae must therefore be 

 cannibals, at all events in confinement. 



They had been freely supplied with plenty of fresh sods,— of 

 species of Poa, mostly P. annua, — and kept in an ordinary-sized 

 cage. 



Imagines, not having emerged from the three cocoons at the 

 end of last month, the latter were opened and found to contain 

 only dried-up larvae which had undergone no further change. 

 The cocoons were oval, made of earth and silk, and tough. 



It appears to me the true position of Stilbia anomala amongst 

 its congeners will only be realized in a future classification of 

 Lepidoptera based on the development of their larvae. 

 25, Endsleigh Gardens, N. W., Nov. 7, 1884. 



[It will be seen that in the ' Entomologist ' List of British 

 Lepidoptera Mr. South has removed Stilbia anomala from the 

 end of the Nocture, and placed it among the Caradrinidse. — Ed.] 



ON THE URTICATING HAIRS OF SOME LEPIDOPTERA. 



By Richard South. 



Nearly twenty years ago, that is in the summer of 1865, a 

 cousin of mine, the late Mr. William Calvert South, and myself 

 were collecting moths in the neighbourhood of Kingsbury, where 

 we met with several imagines of Porthesia similis (Liparis 

 auriflua) at rest on an old fence. We each secured specimens, 

 which we killed there and then, by a method involving the use of 

 the thumb and index finger of the left hand. Some little time 

 after leaving the similis fence I began to feel an unpleasant 

 tingling about the eyes. This gradually increased, until at last 

 it became almost intolerable. Further collecting was not in 

 accord with my inclination for that day, so we set out on the 

 homeward journey. Before I reached home my eyelids were 

 considerably swollen, and large wheals appeared on the throat and 

 neck. Altogether I was an object of pity and compassion, and 

 continued so for a day or two. Curiously enough, my cousin, 

 who had handled P. similis in the same way as myself, did not 



