Honey-Producing Caterpillars. 133 



of the second segment, the latter being hollowed out so 

 as to form for it a sheath. In the final larval stages this 

 segment is elevated, transversely compressed, and inclines 

 forward, thereby shielding the head as the larva moves 

 about. When quiescent the neck and head are wholly 

 retracted, and as the former, when fully extended, is very 

 much longer than the depth of the second segment, it must 

 possess considerable elasticity. 



The larva feeds on the heart of the bud, and to reach this 

 cuts away the surface on one side till an opening is made 

 sufficiently large to admit its head ; and as it feeds the second 

 segment is firmly pressed against the bud so as to permit the 

 utmost elongation of the neck. Thus it is enabled to eat 

 out the contents of the bud, and only desists when there 

 remains but the empty shell. When so engaged the anterior 

 segments are curved up and the others rest upon the stalk 

 of the plant, but very small larvae repose wholly in the bud. 

 Not a single instance has been observed where an open 

 flower has been attacked, but the destruction of buds is very 

 extensive. 



But now comes the most remarkable part of the larval his- 

 ory of Pseudargiolus. The whole upper part of the larva is 

 covered with small, glassy, star-shaped processes, scarcely 

 raised above the surrounding surface, from the centre of 

 which spring short, filamentous bodies, bristling with feathery- 

 looking tentacles, which the caterpillar has the power of pro- 

 truding at will. It throws them out like the tentacles of 

 Papilio or the horns of snails. More singular still is an 

 opening upon the eleventh segment, placed transversely and 

 surrounded by a raised cushion, about which the granula- 

 tions that cover the body of the caterpillar are particularly 

 dense. From the middle of this opening, which is shaped 

 like a button-hole, issues, at the caterpillar's will, a sort of 

 transparent, hemispherical vesicle, from which is emitted a 

 good-sized drop of fluid, which the animal is capable of 

 reproducing when absorbed. 



