10() The Hairs of Caterinllars. 



same distance, by threes, fours, fives, &c., until the main body ad- 

 vances twenty abreast, in so orderly and compact a manner, that 

 no human army could move with greater regularity or be more 

 obedient to the word of command. As soon as the leading cater- 

 pillar stops, the whole army halts; when he advances, they 

 advance, until a fresh pasturage has been found, then they all 

 disperse, until some signal calls them all together again. 



Woe betide the luckless individual who approaches them while 

 on the march, or incautiously handles them, for the tufts of short 

 hairs, with which they are covered, possess the power of producing 

 an inflammatory irritation, worse even than the sting of a nettle. 

 It is reported that in some cases, where persons have been stung 

 severely, serious and sometimes fatal illnesses have resulted. 



Not only when living, but even when dead, the hairs of this 

 caterpillar possess the same urticating properties. Thus Reamur, 

 who has written a monograph on this moth, states that he suffered, 

 after handling the dead caterpillar, for days with an itching, in conse- 

 quence of some of the short stiff hairs sticking in his skin, and being, 

 at first, ignorant of the cause, and rubbing his eyes with his hands, 

 he brought on such a swelling of the eyelids that he could scarcely 

 open them. Bonnet, too, who lifted some of these caterpillars 

 from water in which they had been drowned, felt a numbness of 

 the fingers, followed by an itching and burning sensation. 



Fortunately or unfortunately, I have not come across this cater- 

 pillar, which abounds in France, and in 1865 was the cause of so 

 much annoyance to promenaders in the neighbourhood of Paris 

 that parts of the Bois de Boulogne were closed to prevent discom- 

 fort to those who incautiously approached the trees, where the 

 larvas were, so that I only know the hairs from published drawings 

 of them. 



We have in this country several caterpillars whose hairs pro- 

 duce the same or similar effects with some people, and as these 

 hairs present microscopically diversity of form I will specially 

 direct attention to them. Among the most notable are L. querci- 

 folia, the lappet ; 0. Rotatoria, the drinker ; B. neustria, the 

 lackey ; B. quercus, oak eggar ; E. lanestris, small eggar ; 0. jpudi- 

 hunda, hop dog ; 0. antiqua, vapourer ; L. dispar, the gipsy ; 

 L. salicis, the satin; L. aurijiua and L. chrysorrhsea, gold and 

 brown tails ; together with C. eaja, and G. villica, the garden and 

 the cream spot tiger. All these with some persons produce, when 

 handled, either in the living or dead state, itching, inflammation, 

 and swelling of the parts affected for days. 



There is one very extraordinary fact connected with these hairs, 

 viz. that while some are afiected even if only the fingers touch the 

 hairs, others can handle some with impunity, and cannot come near 

 others without experiencing discomfort. I have known cases where 



