Chap. XII.] STINGING CATEKPILLARS. 



429 



silk of some of them, were it susceptible of being un- 

 wound from the cocoon, would not bear a comparison 

 with that of the Bombyx mori, or even of the Tusseh 

 moth, it might still prove to be valuable when carded 

 and spun. If the European residents in the colony 

 would rear the larvae of these Lepidoptera, and make 

 drawings of their various changes, they would render a 

 possible service to commerce, and a certain one to ento- 

 mological knowledge. 



Stinging Caterpillars. — The Dutch carried to their 

 Eastern settlements two of their home propensities, 

 which distinguish and embellish the towns of the Low 

 Countries ; they indulged in the excavation of canals, 

 and they planted long lines of trees to diffuse shade 

 over the sultry passages in their Indian fortresses. For 

 the latter purpose they employed the Suriya {Hibiscus 

 populneus), whose broad umbrageous leaves and deli- 

 cate yellow flowers impart a delicious coolness, and give 

 to the streets of Gralle and Colombo the fresh and enli- 

 vening aspect of walks in a garden. 



In the towns, however, the suriya trees are produc- 

 tive of one serious inconvenience. They are the resort 

 of a hairy greenish caterpillar *, longitudinally striped, 

 great numbers of which frequent them, and at a certain 

 stage of growth descend by a silken thread to the ground 

 and hurry away, probably in search of a suitable 

 spot in which to pass through their metamorphoses. 

 Should they happen to alight, as they often do, upon 

 some lounger below, and find their way to his unpro- 

 tected skin, they inflict, if molested, a sting as pungent, 

 but far more lasting, than that of a nettle or a star-fish. 



1 The species of moth with which longs to a section of Boisduval's 

 it is identified has not yet been de- genus Bombyx allied to Cnethocam- 

 termined, but it most probably be- pa, Stephens. 



