252 MEANS OF DEFENCE OF INSECTS. 
cleft in the neck between the head and the first pair of 
legs. From this issues, at the will of the animal, a sin- 
gular syringe, laterally bifid; the branches of which are 
terminated by a nipple perforated like the rose of a wa- 
tering-pot. By means of this organ, when touched, it 
will syringe a fluid to a considerable distance, which, if 
it enters the eyes, gives them acute but not lasting pain. 
The animal when taken from the tree on which it feeds, 
though supplied with its leaves, loses this faculty, with 
which it is probably endowed to drive off the ichneumons 
that infest it?.—And, to name no more, the great tiger- 
moth (Bombyx Caja, F.), when in its last or perfect state, 
has near its head a remarkable tuft of the most brilliant 
carmine, from amongst the hairs of which, if the thorax 
be touched, some minute drops of transparent water is- 
sue, doubtless for some similar purpose >. 
The next active means of defence with which Crea- 
tive Wisdom has endowed these busy tribes, are those 
limbs or weapons with which they are furnished. ‘The 
insect lately mentioned, the puss-moth, besides the sy- 
ringes just described, is remarkable for its singular fork- 
ed tail, entirely dissimilar to the anal termination of the 
abdomen of most other caterpillars. This tail is com- 
posed of two long cylindrical tubes moveable at their 
base, and beset with a great number of short stiff spines. 
When the animal walks, the two branches of the tail are 
separated from each other, and at every step are lowered 
so as to touch the plane of position; hence we may con- 
clude that they assist itin this motion and supply the place 
of hind legs. Ifyou touch or otherwise incommode it, from 
2 De Geer, i. 324— > Ibid, 1. 208, 
