Poisonous Caterpillars. 125. 



The injuries sustained from contact with the hairs of the 

 procession caterpillar are, however, much more serious than 

 those resulting from the more slightly venomous character of 

 any of our native species ; indeed they sometimes prove fatal, 

 as before stated. As this caterpillar is very remarkable in 

 other respects, I propose to give a short account of its general 

 characteristics. It is in some years so numerous in many parts 

 of France, that its devastations in the orchards, and even 

 among forest trees, assume an alarming character ; entire trees 

 being so completely stripped of their leaves that they inevitably 

 perish. In 1732, their ravages in the south-west of France 

 were so extensive that the Parliament of Bordeaux issued an 

 edict compelling the rustic population to clear the trees of ca- 

 terpillars, under pain of severe penalties. There have been 

 local enactments of similar character in England, but this is 

 not the place to speak of them. 



The Cnethocampa processionea,* or procession caterpillar, 

 is in some seasons but too plentiful in many parts of France, 

 as will have been perceived by my previous remarks, but the 

 Forest of Bondy, and the Bois de Boulogne, near Paris, are 

 mentioned by entomological collectors as places where it is 

 found in most seasons. The caterpillar is about one inch and a 

 half in length, and is grayish 

 black, with tufts of brownish 

 gray hairs. The engraving 

 below will give a tolerable 

 idea of its general appear- 

 ance, even without the aid of 

 colour. 



The caterpillars of Cnethocampa processionea do not scatter 

 almost as soon as they are hatched, as is common with most 

 species, each individual seeking its food alone, but the whole 

 brood remains together, as in some other gregarious kinds. 

 Some of the gregarious caterpillars alluded to live in a large 

 web, common to the whole brood ; but each procession cater- 

 pillar, though living in society with the entire brood, weaves 

 itself a more or less separate nest. These nests, generally at- 

 tached to the trunks of trees, are made in compartments, but 

 have only one general entrance. The mode in which the ca- 

 terpillars go out to feed, following each other in a single line, 

 is the peculiarity on which their name, procession caterpillar, 

 is founded. Towards dusk, or when the sun is not shining 



* This genus was included by Reaumur and his contemporary entomologists in 

 the great division, Bombyx, which has been subdivided by more recent naturalists. 

 The present distinctive generic title, Cnethocampa, is derived from the Greek 

 word, Kvqdw, to irritate, and Ka/xirq, a caterpillar. The derivation of the specific 

 name is obvious. 



