The Life-History and Anatomy of Moths 



spines, horns, or bulbous projections. The hairs and spines 

 with which some larvae are ornamented possess stinging proper- 

 ties. This is true of some genera among the Saturniidce and the 

 Cochlidiidce in temperate America and of many genera in the same 

 families and among the Lasiocampidce in the tropics. The sting- 

 ing hairs of a large caterpillar found in tropical Africa are 

 employed by the natives in preparing the poison which they 

 put upon their arrows. The inflammation caused by these hairs, 

 even in the case of specimens long dead, I know from personal 

 experience to be very severe. 



The coloration of caterpillars is often very striking and beau- 

 tiful, and in most cases is such as to adapt them more or less to 

 their surroundings in life. Cases of protective mimicry are very 

 numerous. A beautiful illustration of this is seen on Plate I, 

 fig. 1 5, where the singular form of the caterpillar, combined with 

 its green tint, suggests the serrated edge of the leaf of the elm, 

 upon which plant it feeds. There is almost endless diversity in 

 the modifications of form and color in the larval stages of moths, 

 and they are as characteristic as are the forms and colors of the 

 perfect insects. 



There is much diversity in the social habits of the larvae of 

 moths. Some are gregarious and exist in colonies which disperse 

 at the time of pupation; but there are a few singular instances, in 

 which the communistic instinct perdures, and leads the entire 

 colony to form a common cocoon, or envelope of silk, in which 

 each individual subsequently spins a smaller cocoon for itself. In 

 1893 1 had the pleasure of communicating some information in 

 regard to this curious phase of insect life to the pages of the 

 journal of the Cambridge Entomological Club (See Psyche, Vol. 

 VI., p. 385). This habit is characteristic of certain genera of 

 African moths, but has not thus far been observed as occur 

 ring in the case of any American species. 



THE PUP^E OF MOTHS 



When the caterpillar has gone through its successive molts 

 and attained to full development it undergoes the transformation 

 known as pupation. From a life of freedom and motion it 

 passes into a condition in which freedom and almost all power 

 of motion are lost. The flexible and more or less agile body is 



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