( 58 ) 



Prof. Poulton said that Mr. A. H. Hamm bad found hairs 

 from the anal tuft of the exhibited specimen produced irrita- 

 tion on his hand and face. Mr. Eltringham had found that 

 the hairs of the female but not of the male tuft were covered 

 with minute excessively fine spicule-like teeth. 



Mr. H. Eltringham contributed the following notes on this 

 subject : — 



In the first volume of "Lepidoptera," in "Allen's Naturalist's 

 Library," there is a translation by Kirby of a paper by Piepers 

 which originally appeared in the Proceedings of the Dutch 

 Entomological .Society. Kirby there states that his translation 

 appeared in the Entomologist for November 187f>, though I 



[lxxix 

 cannot find it in that publication. In the paper referred to, 

 Piepers describes a small white moth which he refers to the 

 genus Scirpophaga, alluding to it aa one of the pests of S.W. 

 Celebes, since, attracted by light it comes into houses, and 

 frequently settles on the inhabitants. Wherever it touches 

 the naked skin it leaves an intolerable itching. The author 

 further states thai this moth attaches to the walls of rooms 

 masses of eggs covered with yellow down. This is the earliest 

 reference I have been able to find to urticatiDg hairs occurring 

 in the perfect insect. I am indebted to my friend Commander 

 Walker for kindly pointing it out to me. On hearing of Mr 

 Lamborn's discovery, or rather I should say of his monkey's 

 discovery, 1 naturally thought of examining the moths Por- 

 thesia sinii/is and P.chirya&rrhoea, Reference is made to the 

 urticating properties of these moths in Barrett's British 

 Lepidoptera, where the author states that the irritation has 

 been thought to arise from the long hair-like scales of the 

 fore wing inner margin as well as from those of the anal tuft. 

 In the case of the larvae of these species the urticating 

 properties are of course well known, and in order to appreciate 

 the Structure of the hairs in the moths 1 should first point 

 out that in the case of the larva of P. si mil is there are two 

 kinds of hairs, the first long and not very numerous, the 

 second short, very minute, and exceedingly numerous. The 

 long hairs are provided with irregularly placed, slightly curved 

 spines. The small hairs are of a quite different and very 



