XXXll 



poisons by chemico-physiological processes.' Mr. M'l-achlan remarked that 

 the received opinion, on tlie otlier hand, was tliat ' the urticating property 

 was due to mechanical irritation, the numerous brittle hairs of the larva 

 entering the skin.' Mr. Dunning and Mr. Waterhouse raised the question 

 whether the hairs thus penetrating the skin might not possess some 

 poisonous quality. 



" On the penultimate and ante-penultimate segments of the Gold-tail 

 Moth, Liparis auriflua, will be seen dorsally two scarlet conical and trun- 

 cated tubercles, which superiorly present a keyhole-shaped orifice. These 

 when the caterpillar contracts its tubercles, which it does in the fashion of a 

 sea anemone, enlarge by the constriction to a triangular sliape, and a colour- 

 less liquid wells up to their rim. A pencil-point dipped in this chalice and 

 applied to the cheek or eyelid will at once renew the said burning sensation, 

 and leave little doubt as regards the caustic properly of the fluid. The 

 larva then in this instance poisons its lances, and if a magnifying power be 

 applied, the drops of moisture conglobing on the hairy armature are revealed 

 to view, squirted from the hinder craters, by constriction we may presume, 

 since touch immediately produces a contraction in the hinder segments of 

 the caterpillar." 



The following communication was received from Mr. R. M'Lachlan : — 



" Correlation of Mutilation in the Larva with Deformity in the Imago. 

 " In the ' Comptes Rendus,' of the Belgian Entomological Society 

 meeting of the 5th July (1 879j, is a notice by M. Melise on this subject, and 

 of more than ordinary interest. M. Melise operated upon ten selected 

 silkworms by cutting off the right metathoracic leg of each of them. All 

 went through their transformations, and the operation caused, apparently, 

 little inconvenience, for they recommenced feeding almost immediately after- 

 wards. The effect on the moths produced from these larvae was as follows : — 

 One was deprived of three tarsal joints, but the claw was developed. Three 

 were deprived of three tarsal joints, and of the claw also. Three had only 

 the femur and tibia. One had the leg 'amputated' in the middle of the 

 femur. The two others had only a stump, scarcely a millimetre in length. 

 M. MeHse adds that in not one of the moths was JLhe leg absolutely absent, 

 and tliat the variation in the amount of deformity probably resulted from 

 tlio difficulty of performing the amputation in the lavvee at precisely the 

 same- place in each. In the case of insects with incomplete metamorphoses 

 parallel experiments have often been made, and with similar results; but 

 with Lepidoptera they have been so few as to render confirmatory evidence 

 of the statements of other experimenters of much value." 



New Part of ' 'l'i<iiiii((clioiis.' 

 Part II. of the ' Transactions' for 1879 was on the table. 



