POISONS FROM ANIMAL KINGDOM 129 



are said to be combined with bamboo hairs and the 

 needle crystals of the half-rotted reiigid fruit. A very 

 cruel example of polypharmacy in poisoning in which 

 they are said to be used is given under section KfiLADi. 

 Under the microscope the dry hairs of this caterpillar 

 can be recognised as black slender filaments bearing 

 short, sharply pointed alternate barbs. Stinging cater- 

 pillars are well known in the tropics ; a peculiar skin 

 eruption caused by " nettling " hairs from the larvae 

 of the brown-tailed moth (Porthesia chrysorrhcea) has 

 been reported from America^ also a peculiar stomatitis 

 caused by the same caterpillar from France. Puppies 

 who had eaten conch-gi^ass contaminated with hairs 

 from the larvae of the procession moth (Gastropacha 

 processionea) are known to have suffered from stomatitis, 

 and it is said that chickens and ducks occasionally suffer 

 from enteritis as a result of eating hairy caterpillars in 

 large numbers. It is frequently thought that the effects 

 caused by these hairs are purely mechanical ; but 

 Phisahx refers to the ejection of secretion from glands 

 in the brow-n-tailed moth which dries as a powder about 

 the hairs, and states that this powder has an ujticating 

 effect on the skin (Ref. 11). 



BEETLES 



The Beetle Dfindang. — A small green beetle called 

 dendang, resembling the " Spanish fiy " (Cantharis 

 vesicatoria, Lath.— Coleoptera) is used by Malays both 

 for medicine and poison. As a poison a single beetle is 

 dried over a fire until it becomes crisp ; it is then 

 powdered, and the whole of it is mixed into any kind of 

 native cake. This dose is too small to cause death, and 

 is probably given with intent merely to cause serious 

 illness. The powdered insect is dirty greyish-brown in 

 appearance, with numberless shining green particles. 



MP. 9 



