DIRECT INJURIES FROM MOTHS. 4'7 



the hairs of which .adhered to his skin, and he suf- 

 fered considerable uneasiness from them for some 

 days. He was not aware of the cause of his dis- 

 quietude ; and, having also rubbed his eyes while 

 his hands were studded with these spines, they 

 produced such a degree of inflammation and swell- 

 ing in the eyelids, that lie opened them with much 

 difficulty. Disagreeable effects were also produced 

 in ladies who went near the nests of these cater- 

 pillars. Tumours were induced on their necks, 

 which could only be accounted for by the short hairs, 

 or fragments of them, being forced into their skin 

 from standing in the direction of the wind.* The 

 larva of the moth of the Fir {Bombi/x jriti/ocam- 

 pa of Fabricius) produces similar effects, causing 

 even intense pain, fever, itching, and great restless- 

 ness. This was the celebrated Pityncampa of the 

 ancients, considered by the Romans as a deadly 

 poison, as will appear from the Cornelian law, 

 " De sicariis," being made to include those who 

 administered Piti/ocampa. t 



We are infonned, in a paper in the Philosophical 

 Transactions, by Dr Lister, a celebrated naturalist 

 and physician in the reign of Queen Anne, that a 

 boy vomited up several living caterpillars, with 

 sixteen legs. It is easy to suppose that he must 

 have swallowed insects' eggs, while eating some 



■ • Reaumuh, Mem. lies /nsecles, ii. p. 191..'). 

 t Pliny, Hist. Nat. i. 38, c. 9. 



