MOTHS OF THE LIMBERLOST 



bluish green, greenish blue, wonderful yellows and from 

 pale to deep wine red, many species having oblique 

 touches of contrasting colours on the abdominal rings. 

 Others are marked with small projections of bright colours 

 from which tufts of hair or bristles may grow. In some, 

 as lo, these bristles are charged with an irritating acid 

 that will sting for an hour after coming in contact with 

 the skin, but does no permanent injury. On a few there 

 are what seem to be small pockets of acid that can be 

 ejected with a jerk, and on some a sort of filament that is 

 supposed to distil a disagreeable odour. As the caterpillar 

 only uses these when disturbed, it is safe to presume that 

 they are placed for defence, but as in the case of moths 

 I doubt their efficacy. 



Some lepidopterists have thought the sex of a moth 

 could be regulated by the amount of food given the cat- 

 erpillar; but with my numerous other doubts I include 

 this. It is all of a piece with any attempt at sex 

 regulation. I regard it as morally certain that sex goes 

 back to the ovary and that the egg produced yields a 

 male or female caterpillar in the beginning. I am be- 

 coming convinced that caterpillars recognize sex in each 

 other, basing the theory on the facts that in half a dozen 

 instances I have found cocoons spun only a few inches 

 apart. One pair brought to me was interwoven. Two of 

 these are shown in the following chapter. In all cases a 

 male and female emerged within a few minutes of each 



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