192 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Urticating Larval Hairs. — I read Mr. Butler's remarks on this 

 subject (ante, p. 137) with special interest, as I also received a nest of 

 Porthesia chrysorrhoea larvae from our mutual friend, Mr. Hargreaves. 

 Parenthetically I may say I planted a number of the caterpillars on a 

 few safe hawthorn hedges, with a view to establishing the species, but 

 the result was failure. In fact, of the many species I have tried to 

 naturalize in the district, I can only claim to have established one — 

 Leucoma salicis. With P. clirysorrhcea I got on very differently to 

 Mr. Butler. I found I could handle the larvae, and altogether exist in 

 their company, with less irritation than with P. auritiua. I must 

 confess that the larvae of the latter smart my hands, but the irritation 

 soon passes off. Some Chester schoolboys, however, who set up 

 breeding-cages and started with P. aurifiua, had a painful time of it. 

 Next morning the head- master received letters of apology for their 

 absence, saying that all the lads were suffering from a painful affection 

 of the eyes. Of the species mentioned by Mr. Carter {ante, p. 68), 

 I can handle the caterpillars of Arctia caia, A. villica, Malacosoina 

 [Boinbyx) neitstria, Callimorpha dominula, Gastropacha (Lasiocampa) 

 quercifolia, Satiirnia carpini, Orgyia antiqua, Dasychira pudibimda, 

 Lasiocampa {Bovibyx) quercus, and Macrotlujlacia [Bombyx) rubi without 

 irritation, but the cocoons of the last two set up a smarting which is 

 nothing else than painful. I agree with Mr. Carter that a good deal 

 of explanation may be found in a susceptible cuticle. The cases may 

 hardly be on all fours, but (1) I once came across a boy coolly gathering 

 young nettles, with his bare hands, to boil as a vegetable, and (2) a 

 friend of mine had his hand much inflamed and swollen through in- 

 advertently placing it on a young growth of the same kind of inland 

 nettles. The susceptible cuticle doubtless explains much, but the 

 history of poisons, as applied to the animal world, seems to point to 

 something else that is constitutional. For instance, I have just been told 

 of a patient who was so distressed by a sixth of a usual dose of 

 strychnine, administered medicinally, that the treatment had to be 

 changed. — J. Arkle ; Chester. 



AcHERONTiA ATROPos IN ApRiL. — On the 8th instant one of these 

 moths was brought to me. It was found at five p.m. at rest on board 

 His Majesty's coastguard cruiser 'Eose,' at sea, in the North Sea, off 

 Southwold, on April 28th, so it probably flew on board the previous 

 night. The weather during the night had been fine and warm, with a 

 light breeze from the south-west, and the ship was cruising from five 

 to ten miles off the laud. When I received the moth it was transfixed 

 with a large threaded needle to a small piece of soft wood, and the 

 thread was wound round and round the wings and body and the piece 

 of wood, so that the insect could not possibly move. Chloroform had 

 been administered several times, but it was still alive, so I cut the 

 threads and killed the poor creature with oxalic acid. Notwithstanding 

 the rough treatment it had received it was in very fair condition, and 

 had apparently not been long from the pupa. This is an interesting 

 capture, for it shows how early the species emerges in a state of nature. 

 I have taken the full-grown larvfe at the beginning of July which 

 must have been produced from ova deposited early in May. — Gervase 

 F. Mathew ; Dovercourt, May 19th, 1903. 



