FAMILY HABITS IN BUTTEEFLY LARVAE THE UBBICOLIDS. 21 



larvae have been noticed as adopting movements which are supposed 

 to have a further protective value, and have been variously assumed as 

 the result of a timorous disposition on the part of some observers, and 

 of fearlessness by others. Thus Sich observed that when he touched 

 the claspers of the larvae of JS y iso?iiades tages with a camel-hair brush, 

 they bit savagely at it ; similarly, the larva of Epargyreus tityrus, 

 when disturbed, moves its head from side to side, with spasmodic 

 starts, its black jaws wide open, and snapping at everything brought 

 into contact with them. Eiley says that the larva of Thanaos jucenalis, 

 if touched on the abdomen, turns round and endeavours to bite the 

 intruder, and it is only with the greatest difficulty that one can remove 

 the larva from its tent without injuring the cords, on account of the 

 resistance of the caterpillar ; similarly, when alarmed, the larva of 

 T. lucilius opens its jaws very widely, whilst Aitken and Davidson say 

 that the larva of the Indian Tagiades atticus, if disturbed, will rush 

 at intruders with its black jaws widely extended. They also add that 

 the larva of Celaenorrkinus fuse urn is fierce and repels intrusion. The 

 fullfed larva of End am us protean, when disturbed, spits out a greenish 

 watery fluid, which it scatters about as it jerks its head from side to 

 side ; that of Thorybes pylades, both when eating and moving about, 

 shakes its head to and fro with a tremulous motion, whilst, when the 

 larva of Polites peekius walks, its head trembles from side to side, as if 

 the creature were affected with the palsy. 



In an earlier volume (antea, viii., pp. 86-7) we have noted in the 

 larvae of most Urbicolines (sens, strict.) the presence of two snow-white 

 scaly excrescences which gradually develop beneath the epidermis on 

 the underside of the 7th and 8th abdominal segments, during the 

 growth of the larva in its last instars, and are usually mature, so to 

 speak, when the larva is ready for pupation, sometimes apparently 

 before this time. They are really pockets of some waxy matter or 

 asbestos-like material w T hich the larva usually scatters when spinning 

 its cocoon for pupation, a fact noticed 130 years ago by Esper, in 

 relation to Adopaea flaua ; it is easily observed also in the case of 

 Urbicola comma, the pupa becoming covered therewith ; and Mathew 

 notes (Trans. Ent. Soc. Loncl., 1888, p. 180) larvae of Pamphila phineus, 

 an Australian species, as dispersing the pow T der in the quiescent stage 

 preceding pupation, the powder forming a whitish-purple bloom on the 

 pupa; in these instances it is, of course, an aid in keeping the slightly- 

 made cocoons watertight, but, in some cases, it (or something very 

 similar) would appear to be utilised by those larvae that adopt, 

 later in life, an exposed feeding-habit as soon as they take on 

 the exposed habit. Moore, quoting Thwaites, observes [hep. Ceylon, 

 i., p. 165) that, from the body of the larva of the East Indian 

 Gangara thyrsis, which feeds on Palmae, " a loose, shaggy, filamentous 

 clothing, consisting of pure w~ax is excreted, which is, however, easily 

 rubbed off wmen handled, leaving the larva quite naked," whilst de 

 Niceville adds (in litt.) the important statement that the larva " lives 

 entirely exposed, stretching itself out upon the palm-leaves." Scudder 

 says that these rugged filamentous appendages are doubtless secreted 

 by the tubular bristles common to the Hesperiids through life, and 

 have, in the figures given by Moore (of Gangara thyrsis), all the 

 appearance of jagged spines, and most probably secure for the cater 

 pillar that protection which has induced an open habit of life, but 



