POISONOUS ANIMALS 225 



and opening into a bladder-like sac. This in turn 

 pours its fluid into a sort of reservoir found within 

 a swelling at the base of the director, and thence is 

 conducted to the wound along a channel between 

 the director and the two pieces, each of the latter 

 possessing a projection which acts as a piston.' 

 When once a bee has made use of its sting, the 

 piercers, on account of their being barbed at the 

 tips, remain in the flesh of a victim, and their loss 

 frequently causes the death of their owner. The 

 poison weapons of female wasps and ants (for, as 

 with the bees, it is only the fair sex which have the 

 power to sting) are very similar to those of the 

 bee, except for the fact that the styles lack the barbs 

 at their extremities. 



We have previously mentioned that the hairs 

 which clothe the bodies and legs of the bird-eating 

 spiders are of a very penetrating nature and capable 

 of piercing the flesh of man and giving rise to an 

 intense irritation ; but this peculiarity is by no 

 means confined to those creatures, for many of 

 the hairy caterpillars are endowed with a similar 

 means of repelling the too intimate attentions of 

 mankind. Of these, one of the most familiar is 

 the caterpillar of the processionary-moth which 

 spins a large web to form a home or * nest ' wherein 

 to retreat, and is clothed with barbed hairs capable 

 of producing a severe irritation of the skin of those 

 who come into contact thereto. Even the dust 

 from the web produces a like effect. 



Tennent records the existence of hairy and stinging 

 caterpillars in Ceylon which ' descend by a silken 



