THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



261 



on each segment. A lady, living at Barcelona, had told me that she had 

 seen these nests in the fir trees, on the hills around the city, and had pro- 

 mised to send me a nest. I looked through Kirby's w European Butterflies 

 and Moths/' but could find no insect which corresponded with them ; and never 

 thinking of Pityocampa, I handled the larvee several times, and experienced no 

 irritation except a little between the fingers, less however, than that caused by 

 our B. rubi. Some days after this, looking in Staudinger's catalogue, I came 

 across the name Pinivora, and it struck me that it might be this, on referring to 

 Kirby I found that it was not this but C. pityocampa, the next insect to it, 

 and said to be the most poisonous of the Cnethocampas. I then remembered 

 noticing that the larvse lay in double rows along the stems of the fir, as is 

 right and proper for " processionary " caterpillars to do. About twenty 

 larvee pupated, and one day whilst removing the cocoons from the box, I 

 casually touched my face, in ten minutes my cheek began to swell, and the 

 next day a number of white pimples, as large as a pin's head, appeared on my 

 cheek. In a week the skin broke, and a wound which took little less than 

 two months to heal was formed. Erom the time I touched my face till the 

 wound healed it never ceased itching, at first very badly. There is a mark 

 left on my face the size of a half-crown, consisting of a number of pits like 

 those caused by small-pox, and there seems no likelihood of its disappearing. 

 I bred about eighteen or twenty imagines, nearly all females. The hairs of 

 their tails causes itching between the finger, but none on the thicker skinned 

 parts of the hand. I did not feel inclined to try them on my face. 1 have 

 little doubt that the hairs of the larva would be very bad if they touched the 

 face, but I cannot say, as luckily none ever touched mine, except those from 

 the cocoon. The dust of the nest has no urticating properties whatever. 

 The lady who sent them said the dust fell over her face and hands, and 

 caused no inconvenience. 

 Blundell Sands, Liverpool. 



HAGGERSTON ENTOMOLOGICAL 

 SOCIETY. 



The meeting of September 24th was occupied with discussing the life his- 

 tory of V. polychloros, and a very interesting evening ensued. Among the 

 chief points debated were the similarity between this and the allied species 

 U. urticm, and the possibility of their having had a common progenitor, the 

 comparative rarity of the species near London was also commented on, it 

 having been of very general occurrence years ago. Mr. J. A. Clark brought 



