216 



BEITISH MOTHS. 



with all ; three of those I had were exceptions 

 to this rule. This liquid is of an acrimonious 

 nature, probably containing an acid. A large 

 proportion of my caterpillars lost one or both 

 of their ' horns ' or ' tail appendages ' from a 

 curious cause. They appear to be reckoned 

 tit-bits by some individuals, and when they 

 could do so successfully they employed their 

 jaws in nibbling off the posterior ornaments 

 of their companions. This strange propensity 

 was not occasioned by any scarcity of their 

 accustomed food. The caterpillars, however, 

 when awake, are peculiarly sensitive to any 

 attacks of this kind, and I noticed that these 

 approaches were only successful at times when 

 the individual attacked was in a state of re- 

 pose. I use the word ' awake ' advisedly, 

 for, from my observations made upon many 

 species of lepidopterous caterpillars, I feel 

 convinced that they do sleep at times, or 

 something very nearly analogous to it. This 

 same propensity manifested itself in a brood of 

 Smerinthm ocellatus, half of which had the 

 posterior horn nibbled off. When the cater- 

 pillars of the Puss-moth are about to cease 

 eating and form their cocoons, the whole ground 

 colour changes to a dull brown. I was anxious 



to ascertain whether any two of the caterpil- 

 lars, who were seeking at the same time for a 

 convenient spot to form their cocoons, would 

 unite and form a common one, as sometimes 

 occurs with the silk-producing caterpillars: 

 no such instance occurred. They seemed, 

 however, fond of forming their cocoons upon 

 those of their predecessors. In one corner of 

 a box I have no less than six clustered to- 

 gether. Several of them ornamented their 

 cocoons by interweaving some of the excreta, 

 or 'caterpillar's pills,' as a juvenile friend 

 calls them, thus presenting rather an odd ap- 

 pearance when finished." These statements 

 have been fully corroborated by several writers 

 in the Entomologist during the past year, es- 

 pecially as regards the cannibalistic propen- 

 sity to devour each other's tails. The sources 

 or original reservoir of the moistening fluid, 

 together with the mode of its expulsion and 

 the chemical properties, if any, of the fluid 

 itself, are subjects well worthy of careful in- 

 vestigation ; a minute investigation of the 

 caudal horns and their contained thread-like 

 appendages would also abundantly repay the 

 little expenditure of time and trouble needful 

 to obtain satisfactory results. 



389. THE LOBSTER. The antennoo are 

 strongly pectinated in the male, from the base 



389. The Lobster (Stauropus Fagi] 



to near the extremity, which is quite simple 

 and thread-like ; in the female they are simple 



