Abstract
THE concluding words of Mr. H. S. Wilson's letter in your last number only reiterate the truth of a fact. Nearly all British entomologists who have collected Lepidoptera must have had painful experience of the irritation caused by the hairs of some one or other of our Bombyces that have very hairy larvæ. Porthesia chrysorrhæa is the greatest delinquent in this respect; and some years since I suffered intense agony after collecting the pupæ of this species. The hairs of the caterpillar are woven into the cocoon and the web surrounding it, and I recommend anyone in search of a counter-irritant to rub his face and neck with his hands after collecting these pupæ. The result, although painful, will be edifying and admonitory. The hairs have no effect upon the harder skin of the palm of the hand and fingers; and I believe (with most entomologists) that their action is purely mechanical, i.e. they pierce the tender skin in multitudes. A precisely similar, though less severe, effect is caused by the hairs of some Boraginaceous plants, e.g. Echium vulgare. On the continent the extreme irritation caused by the hairs of Cnethocampa processionea is well known; and the introduction of a brood of these larvæ into a drawing-room would probably be followed by effects similar to those caused by the king's “great flea” in Faust.
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MCLACHLAN, R. Venomous Caterpillars. Nature 8, 101 (1873). https://doi.org/10.1038/008101b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/008101b0
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