Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 April 1893 — Insect Chemistry. [ARTICLE]

Insect Chemistry.

A singular discovery was announced by Mr. Oswald Latter at the November meeting of the Entomological Society in London. It was that the image of the moth known as Dioranura vinula secretes caustic potash, which it uses for penetrating the cocoon in- which it is Inclosed. Caustic potash, as every one knows, is a powerful cautery which destroys the skin when brought in contact with it. That it should be secreted, or formed, in the mouth of an insect, as Mr. latter says, is very curious, and Professor Meldola, in discussing the discovery, remarked that the fact that any animal secreted a strong causic alkali was a new one. The Dicranura moths —the name means “forked tail”—not only appear to be, insect chemists of no small skill, for their lame secrete formic acid, but they are very Interesting on other accounts. In the larval or caterpillar form they inhabit poplars, willows, and similar trees in midsummer, and possess an odd means of defense against the annoyance of small flies. Their forked tails consisted of two tubes, each of which contains a long thread-like organ, and when the caterpillar Is irritated it runs out these threads and lashes the sides of its body with them. It has long been known that the I forked-tail moth used some liquid to 1 soften the cocoon when it was ready to j emerge, but Mr. Latter’s experiments j have for the first time disclosed the nature of that liquid. He incridsed the moths in artificial cocoons, and. collecting the liquid which they ejected in i breaking their way out, subjected it to j chemical analysis.