William Kirby

[1] It is with no slight degree of satisfaction that the authors of the present work observe the progress the science it recommends has made in the public estimation since the first publication of this volume: so that the complaint made in the above paragraph must now be regarded as applicable only to a former state of the science.[2] Dr. Aikin.[3] See Harris's Aurelian under Papilio Cinxia.[4] The genera Eumolpus, Lamprima, Rynchites.[5] Cryptorhynchus corruscans. N.B. Germar (Insect. Spec. Nov. i. 216—) regards this insect as synonymous with Illiger's Eurhin cupratus, the description of which I had not seen when the Century of Insects (Linn. Trans. xii.) was written, nor am I able now to speak decisively on the subject.—K.[6] Helicopis Cupido, Argynnis PassiflorÆ, Lathonia, &c.[7] Pepsis fuscipennis, argentata, &c.[8] The species of the genus Trox.[9] Many of the ScarabÆidÆ, DynastidÆ, &c.[10] Many caterpillars of Butterflies. Merian Surinam, t. xxii. xxv. &c. and of Sawflies. Reaum. v. t. xii. f. 7, 8-14.[11] Various species of the genera Locusta and Mantis, F.[12] Many species of Phasma.[13] De Geer, I. t. 3. f. 1-34, &c.[14] Vanessa Io.[15] Culex, Chironomus, and other TipulariÆ.[16] Pterophorus.[17] Hairs of many of the ApidÆ. Mon. Ap. Ang. I. t. 10, ** d. 1. f. 1. b.[18] Ptinus imperialis, L.[19] Trichius delta, F.[20] Acrocinus longimanus, F. Vanessa, C. album, Acronycta ?, Plusia ?.[21] On the underside of the primary wings near the margin in Argynnis Aglaia, Lathonia, Selene, &c.[22] Empis, Asilus.[23] Onthophagus Taurus, Curtis Brit. Ent. t. 52.[24] Lucanus Cervus.[25] Oryctes.[26] Dynastes Hercules.[27] Andrena spinigera. Melitta. ** c. K.[28] Hispa.[29] This insect belonged to the late Mr. Francillon, and was purchased at his sale by Mr. MacLeay. Mr. W. S. MacLeay informs us that he has given the name of Eusceles to the group to which it belongs.[30] Raphidia ophiopsis.[31] This idea seems to have been present to the mind of LinnÉ and Fabricius, when they gave to insects such names as Belzebub, Belial, Titan, Typhon, Nimrod, Geryon, and the like.[32] Plin. Hist. Nat. l. 11. c. 2.[33] Gen. xi. 3.[34] Megachile muraria.[35] The white ants.[36] Megachile Papaveris.[37] The late ingenious Mr. Paul, of Harleston in Norfolk, under the bark of a tree discovered a considerable portion of a fabric of this kind, which from its amplitude must have been destined for some other purpose.[38] The common wasp.[39] Polistes nidulans.[40] Argyroneta aquatica.[41] Tinea serratella, L.[42] 1 Kings iv. 33. Prov. vi. 6-8.[43] Gen. ii. 19.[44] Linn. Fn. Suec. PrÆf.[45] Rom. i. 19, 20.[46] Levit. xi. 21, 22. Lichtenstein in Linn. Trans. iv. 51, 52.[47] Levit. xi. 20. conf. Bochart. Hierozoic. ii. l. 4. c. 9. 497-8.[48] 1 Kings iv. 33.[49] Luke xii. 27.[50] Ibid. x. 19, 20.[51] "QuÆri fortasse À nonnullis potest, Quis Papilionum usus sit? Respondeo, Ad ornatum Universi, et ut hominibus spectaculo sint: ad rura illustranda velut tot bracteÆ inservientes. Quis enim eximiam earum pulchritudinem et varietatem contemplans mira voluptate non afficiatur? Quis tot colorum et schematum elegantias naturÆ ipsius ingenio excogitatas et artifici penicillo depictas curiosis oculis intuens, divinÆ artis vestigia eis impressa non agnoscat et miretur?" Rai. Hist. Ins. 109.[52] Nat. Theol. 213.[53] Kirby, in Linn. Trans. iv. 232. 235. See also a letter signed C. in the Gent. Mag. for August 1795. This little insect produces no galls like the other species of the genus (Latr. Gen. Crust. et Ins. iv. 253. Meig. Dipt. i. 94.), yet it corresponds with the characters of Cecidomyia laid down both by Latreille and Meigen.[54] P. 192.[55] See Latr. Familles Naturelles du RÈgne Animal, 429.[56] Collet, in Month. Mag. xxxii. 320.[57] Roesel I. iv. 170.[58] Phytologia, 518.[59] Fn. Suec. 567, 1383.[60] Amoreux, 276.[61] Rai. Cat. Cant. 45. Hist. Ins. 341.[62] Comment. in Dioscor. I. 1. c. 23. 214. Lesser. L. ii. 280.[63] De Geer, iv. 275-6.[64] Detharding de Insectis Coleopteris Danicis, 9.[65] Reaum. ii. 289. This insect and its caterpillar is finely figured in Mr. Curtis's elegant and scientific British Entomology, t. 147.[66] Faun. Suec. 822.[67] Nat. Hist. of Barbad. 85.[68] Quoted in Mouffet, 107.[69] Reaum. i. 667.[70] Reaum. vi. 99-100. Kirby Mon. Ap. Ang. i. 157-8.[71] Southey's Madoc, 4to, Notes, 519.[72] Haworth Lepid. Brit. 44. 57.[73]

Oft have I smiled the happy pride to see
Of humble tradesmen in their evening glee,
When of some pleasing fancied good possest,
Each grew alert, was busy and was blest:
Whether the call-bird yield the hour's delight,
Or magnified in microscope the mite;
Or whether tumblers, croppers, carriers seize
The gentle mind; they rule it and they please.
There is my friend the weaver; strong desires
Reign in his breast; 'tis beauty he admires:
See to the shady grove he wings his way,
And feels in hope the rapture of the day—
Eager he looks, and soon to glad his eyes,
From the sweet bower by nature form'd arise
Bright troops of virgin moths, and fresh born butterflies.

---

He fears no bailiff's wrath, no baron's blame,
His is untax'd and undisputed game.
Crabbe's Borough, p. 110.

[74] Linn. Trans. ii. 315.[75] Letter to Dr. Wharton. Mason's Life of Gray, p. 28.[76] Illig. Mag. ii. 33. iv. 3.[77] Andrews's Anecdotes, 152.[78] Swartz in Kongl. Vet. Ac. Nya. band. ix. 40. Plate XXIII. Fig. 10.[79] Young's Annals of Agriculture, xi. 406.[80] No one knew Reaumur's Abeille Tapissiere until Latreille, happily combining system with attention to the economy of insects, proved it to be a new species—his Megachile Papaveris.—Hist. de Fourmis, 297.[81] Bibliothek. vii. 310.[82] Tour on the Continent, iii. 150.[83] Shakespear's intention however in this passage was evidently not, as is often supposed, to excite compassion for the insect, but to prove that

The sense of Death is most in apprehension,

the actual pang being trifling. Measure for Measure, Act iii. Scene 1.[84] Dr. Smith's Tour, i. 162. Journ. de Phys. xxv. 336.[85] "Coenis etiam non vocatus ut Musca advolo." Aristophon in Pythagorista apud AthenÆum. (Mouffet, 56.)[86] Gentils, or gentles, is a synonymous word employed by our old authors, but is now obsolete, except with anglers. Thus Tusser, in a passage pointed out to me by Sir Joseph Banks:—

"Rewerd not thy sheep when ye take off his cote
With twitches and patches as brode as a grote;
Let not such ungentlenesse happen to thine,
Least fly with her gentils do make it to pine."

[87] For different kinds of larvÆ, see Plates XVII. XVIII. XIX.[88] Hist. Anim. l. 5. c. 10.[89] Plate XVI. Fig. 6-9.[90] In explanation of the terms Lepidoptera, Lepidopterous, Coleoptera, &c. which will frequently occur in the following pages before coming regularly to definitions, it is necessary here to state that they have reference to the names given by entomologists to the different orders or tribes of insects, as under:

1 Coleoptera consisting of Beetles. Plate I. Fig. 1-6.

2 Strepsiptera——of the genera Xenos and Stylops. Plate II. Fig. 1.

3 Dermaptera——of the Earwigs. Plate I. Fig. 7.

4 Orthoptera——of Cockroaches, Locusts, Grasshoppers, Crickets, Spectres, Mantes, &c. Plate II. Fig. 2. 3.

5 Hemiptera consisting of Bugs, CicadÆ, Water-scorpions, Water-boat-men, Plant-lice, Cochineal Insects, &c. Plate II. Fig. 4. 5.

6 Trichoptera consisting of the flies produced by the various species of Case-worms, Phryganea, L. Plate III. Fig. 4.

7 Lepidoptera consisting of Butterflies, Hawkmoths, and Moths. Plate III. Fig. 1-3.

8 Neuroptera consisting of Dragon-flies, Ant-lions, EphemerÆ, &c. Plate III. Fig. 5. 6.

9 Hymenoptera consisting of Bees, Wasps, and other insects armed with a sting or ovipositor, and its valves. Plate IV. Fig. 1-3.

10 Diptera consisting of Flies, Gnats, and other two-winged insects. Plate IV. Fig. 4. 5. Plate V. Fig. 1.

11 Aphaniptera consisting of the Flea tribe. Plate V. Fig. 2.

12 Aptera——of Mites, Lice, &c. Plate V. Fig. 3-6.

[91] Plate XVI. Fig. 10-13.[92] Plate XVI. Fig. 4. 5.[93] Plate XVII. Fig. 1-4.[94] Plate XVII. Fig. 2.[95] Plate XVII. Fig. 5-10.[96] Epist. Dedicat.[97] "A priest who has drunk wine shall migrate into a moth or fly, feeding on ordure. He who steals the gold of a priest shall pass a thousand times into the bodies of spiders. If a man shall steal honey, he shall be born a great stinging gnat; if oil, an oil-drinking beetle; if salt, a cicada; if a household utensil, an ichneumon fly." Institutes of Menu, 353.[98] Hill's Swamm. ii. 24. t. 37. f. 2. 4.[99] De Bombyce, 29.[100] Reaum. i. 359.[101] Hill's Swamm. i. 127 a.[102] Do you not perceive that we are caterpillars, born to form the angelic butterfly?[103] It is worthy of remark, that in the north and west of England the moths that fly into candles are called saules (souls), perhaps from the old notion that the souls of the dead fly about at night in search of light. For the same reason, probably, the common people in Germany call them ghosts (geistchen).[104] Nares's Essays, i. 101-2.[105] A few vertebrate animals, viz. frogs, toads, and newts, undergo metamorphoses in some respects analogous to those of insects; their first form as tadpoles being very different from that which they afterwards assume. These reptiles too, as well as snakes, cast their skin by an operation somewhat similar to that in larvÆ. There is nothing, however, in their metamorphoses at all resembling the pupa state in insects.[106] Joel ii. 25.[107] On the Blight in Corn, p. 9.[108] Leeuw. Epist. 98. 1696.[109] Bingley, Anim. Biogr. first edition, iii. 437. St. Pierre's Studies, &c. i. 312.[110] Hist. Animal. l. 5. c. 31.[111] From the terms employed by Aristotle and Dr. Mead in their Account of these cases, it appears that the animal they meant could not be maggots, but something bearing a more general resemblance to lice.[112] On Cutaneous Diseases, 87, 88; and t. 7. f. 4.[113] Latreille at first considered this as belonging to a distinct genus from the common mite (Acarus domesticus), which he named Sarcoptes; but upon its being discovered that it also has mandibles, he has suppressed it. N. Dict. d'Hist. Nat. xxi. 221.[114] On Morbid Poisons, 306, 307.[115] Mouffet, 267.[116] Medica Sacra, 104, 105.[117] It is to be hoped this new word may be admitted, as the laying of eggs cannot otherwise be expressed without a periphrasis. For the same reason its substantive Oviposition will be employed.[118] MÉm. Apterologique, 19.[119] Insecta ejusmodi minutissima, forte Acaros diversÆ speciei causas esse diversorum morborum contagiosorum, ab analogia et experientia hactenus acquisita, facili credimus negotio. Amoen. Ac. v. 94.[120] Amoen. Ae. v. 94-98.[121] Mouffet, 266.[122] Acarus sub ipsa pustula minimÈ quÆrendus est, sed longius recessit, sequendo rugam cuticulÆ observatur. Amoen. Ac. v. 95. not. **.[123] Observations, &c. 296.[124] Extractus acu et super ungue positus, movet se si solis etiam calore adjuvetur. ubi supr. Ungui impositus vix movetur: si vero oris calido halitu affletur, agilis in ungue cursitat. Fn. Suec. 1975.[125] Neque Syrones isti sunt de pediculorum genere, ut Johannes Langius ex Aristotele videtur asserere: nam illi extra cutem vivunt, hi vero non. ubi supr.[126] Imo ipsi Acari prÆ exiguitate indivisibiles, ex cuniculis prope aquÆ lacum quos foderunt in cute, acu extracti et ungue impositi, caput rubrum, et pedes quibus gradiuntur ad solem produnt. p. vi.[127] Teredo sive exiguus vermiculus, qui subter cutim erodit agitque cuniculos in pruriginosis manibus. Gouldman tells us these Acari were also called Hand-worms. Another English name is given in Mouffet, viz. Wheale-worms.[128] Osservazioni intorno À pellicelli del corpo umano fatte dal Dottor Gio Cosimo Bonomo, &c. f. 1-3. Baker On Microsc. i. t. 13. f. 2.[129] De Geer, vii. t. 5. f. 12. 14.[130] MÉm. Apterologique, 79.[131] I am informed by my learned friend Alexander MacLeay, Esq. late Secretary to the Linnean Society, that, in the north of Scotland, the insect of the itch is well known, and easily discovered and extracted.[132] This opinion Dr. Bateman thinks probably the true one. Cutan. Dis. 197.[133] It may be mentioned here as a remarkable fact, that the Acarus Scabiei was discovered by M. Latreille upon a New Holland quadruped (Phascolomys fusca, Geoffr.) of the Marsupian tribe. N. Dict. d'Hist. Nat. xxi. 222.[134] Amoen. Ac. ubi supr. 101.[135] TraitÉs de Chirurgie, &c. Leipsig. 1792.[136] MÉm. Apterolog. 78.[137] In Artaxerx.[138] Il. ?. l. 599. ? l. 414.[139] ?a de e?t?a pa?ta s??????t??e?. De Generat. Animal. l. 2. c. 1.[140] Il. ?. l. 654-5.[141] G?? e?te?a. De Animal. Incessu, c. 9. De Generat. Animal. l. 3. c. 11.[142] Mark ix. 44. 46. 48.[143] S????????t??. Acts xii. 23.[144] Linn. Lach. Lapp. ii. 32. note *.[145] Latreille after De Geer (vii. 153—.) supposes the Pique and Nigua of Ulloa to be synonymous with Ixodes americanus, L. Hist. Nat. vii. 364. but it is evident from Ulloa's description (Voy. i. 63. Engl. Trans.) that they are synonymous with the Chigoe, or Pulex penetrans.[146] See above p. 50.[147] Captain Hancock, late commander of His Majesty's ship the Foudroyant, to whose friendly exertions I am indebted for one of the finest collections of Brazil insects ever brought to England, informs me that they will attack any exposed part of the body. He had them once in his hand.[148] Piso and Margr. Ind. 289.[149] p. 65.[150] Personal Narrative, E. T. v. 101.[151] Natural. Miscell., ii. t. 42.[152] Lindley in the Royal Military Chronicle for March 1815, p. 459.[153] I owe this information to the late Robinson Kittoe, Esq. formerly clerk of the Cheque in the King's Yard, Woolwich.[154] Lesser L. ii. 222, note *.[155] De Geer, vii. 154-60.[156] Theatr. Ins. 270. This happened in 1503; which circumstance refutes Southall's opinion that bugs were not known in England before 1670.[157] Rai. Hist. Ins. 7. Mouffet. 269. They were called also punez, from the French punaise.[158] Hence our English word Bug-bear. In Matthews's Bible, Ps. xci. 5. is rendered, "Thou shalt not nede to be afraid of any bugs by night." The word in this sense often occurs in Shakespear. Winter's Tale, act iii. sc. 2. 3. Hen. VI. act v. sc. 2. Hamlet, act v. sc. 2. See Douce's Illustrations of Shakespear, i. 329.[159] The Banian hospital at Surat is a most remarkable institution. At my visit, the hospital contained horses, mules, oxen, sheep, goats, monkeys, poultry, pigeons, and a variety of birds. The most extraordinary ward was that appropriated to rats and mice, bugs, and other noxious vermin. The overseers of the hospital frequently hire beggars from the streets, for a stipulated sum, to pass a night amongst the fleas, lice, and bugs, on the express condition of suffering them to enjoy their feast without molestation. Forbes's Oriental Memoirs.[160] Nicholson's Journal, xvii. 40.[161] Proboscis in cutem intrusa acerrimum dolorem excitat, qui tamen brevi cessat. Rai. Hist. Ins. 58.[162] One took eight drops from Reaumur, iv. 230. Plate VII. Fig. 5.[163] Bartram's Travels, 383.[164] i. 127. The West India sand-fly was noticed by the late Robinson Kittoe, Esq., who however did not recollect their fetching blood.[165] See above, p. 48-49.[166] Travels, &c. i. 126.[167] See Curtis' Brit. Ent. t. 122.[168] It has been generally supposed by naturalists, that the Mosquitos of America belong to the Linnean genus Culex; but the celebrated traveller Humboldt asserts that the term Mosquito, signifying a little fly, is applied there to a Simulium, Latr. (Simulia, Meig.), and that the Culices, which are equally numerous and annoying, are called Zancudoes, which means long legs. The former, he says, are what the French call Moustiques, and the latter Maringouins. Personal Narrative, E. T. v. 93.[169] Plin. Hist. Nat. l. xi. c. 28. Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. i. c. 5.[170] Pliny was aware of this double office of the proboscis of a gnat, and has well described it. "Telum vero perfodiendo tergori quo spiculavit ingenio? Atque ut in capaci, cum cerni non possit exilitas, ita reciproca geminavit arte, ut fodiendo acuminatum pariter sorbendoque fistulosum esset." Hist. Nat. l. xi. c. 2.[171] Humboldt has described several South American species. Personal Narrative, v. 97. note *. Engl. Tr.[172] Germar's Magazin der Entomologie, i. 137.[173] Philos. Trans. 1767, 111-13. I once witnessed a similar appearance at Maidstone in Kent.[174] Weld's Travels, 8vo. edit. 205. Yet Mouffet affirms the same: "Morsu crudeles et venenati, triplices caligas, imo ocreas, item perforantes." 81.[175] Acerbi's Travels, ii. 5. 34-5. 51. Linn. Flor. Lapp. 380-1. Lach. Lapp. ii. 108. De Geer, vi. 303-4.[176] Reaum. iv. 573.[177] Dr. Clarke's Travels, i. 388.[178] Jackson's Marocco, 57.[179] Travels, ii. 93. Mr. W. S. MacLeay, in a letter I recently received from him, observes, speaking of his residence at the Havana; "The disagreeables are ants, scorpions, mygales, and mosquitos. The latter were quite a pest on my first arrival within the tropics; but now I mind them about as much as I did gnats in England."[180] Humboldt's Personal Narrative, E. T. v. 87-. Most writers by the term mosquitos mean gnats; and for them it is here chiefly employed, but may be regarded as including both plagues.[181] Theodorit. Hist. Eccl. 1. ii. c. 30.[182] Mouffet, 85. Amoreux, 119.[183] Viz. Mosquito Bay in St. Christopher's; Mosquitos, a town in the Island of Cuba; and the Mosquito country in North America.[184] Mouffet, 85.[185] Deut. vii. 20. Josh. xxiv. 12.[186] Amoreux, 242.[187] Philos. Trans. i. 201.[188] Hawkesworth's Cook, iii. 223.[189] Stedman, ii. 94.[190] Bingley, iii. 385, first edit.[191] Knox's Ceylon, 24.[192] Stedman, ii. 142.[193] Ulloa's Voy. i. 61, 62. Dr. Clarke's Travels, i. 486. Amoreux, 197. Mr. W. S. MacLeay relates to me that soon after his arrival at the Havana he was stung by an immense scorpion, but was agreeably surprised to find the pain considerably less than the sting of a wasp, and of incomparably shorter duration.[194] Andrews's Anecdotes, 427. See on the subject of Scorpions Amoreux, 41-54. 176-205.[195] Fab. Suppl. 294. 2.[196] Catal. Ham. 1797. 151-195.[197] Plate VII. Fig. 13. a".[198] Ulloa's Voyage, i. 61.[199] Amoreux, 217-226. See also 67-70.[200] p. 31.[201] Jackson's Marocco, second edit.[202] Ulloa, i. 64. Probably the Cafafi, a white fly noticed by Humboldt, is synonymous with this of Ulloa, which could only be prevented from creeping between the threads of the curtains by keeping them wet. Personal Narrative, E. T. v. 107.[203] Lach. Lapp. i. 208, 209. Fl. Lapp. 382, 383. It appears however, from other authors, that they do bite.[204] Young's Travels in France, i. 298. These flies are equally troublesome and tormenting in Sweden. See Amoen. Acad. iii. 343.[205] Cowhage has been administered with success as an anthelminthic, as has likewise spun glass pounded; the spicula of these substances destroying the worms. The hair of the caterpillars here alluded to, and perhaps also of the larva of Euprepia Caja, (the Tiger-Moth,) might probably be equally efficacious.[206] Reaum. ii. 191-5.[207] Mouffet, 185. Plin. Hist. Nat. l. xxxviii. c. 9. Amoreux, 158.[208] Amoreux, 210-212.[209] Ulloa's Voyage, b. vi. c. 3. Hamilton (Travels in Colombia, as quoted in the Literary Gazette, April 28, 1827.) also mentions a spider called the Caya, rather large, found in the broken ground and among the rocks, from the body of which a poison so active is emitted, that men and mules have died in an hour or two after the venomous moisture had fallen on them. This is evidently the same insect with that mentioned by Ulloa, and confirms the above account of its venomous effects.[210] Waterton (Wanderings in S. America, 53.) gives the recipe by which the Macousho Indians prepare the poison, in which they dip their arrows. It consists of a vine called the Wourali, which is the principal ingredient; the roots and stalks of some other plants; two species of ants, the sting of one of which is so venomous that it produces a fever; a quantity of the strongest Indian pepper (Capsicum), and the pounded fangs of two kinds of serpents.[211] Tulpius, Obs. Med. l. ii. c. 51. t. 7. f. 3. Edinb. Med. and Surg. Journ. n. 35. 42-48. Derham, Physic. Theol. 378. note b. Lowthorp, Philos. Trans. iii. 135.[212] Philos. Trans. 1665. x. 391. Shaw's Abridg. ii. 224.[213] Mead, Med. Sacr. 105.[214] London Medical Review, v. 340.[215] Philos. Trans. ubi supra.[216] Fulvius Angelinus et Vincentius Alsarius De verme admirando per nares egresso. RavennÆ 1610.[217] Azara, 217. I cannot help suspecting this to be synonymous with the Œstrus Hominis next mentioned.[218] From Pallas N. Nord. Beytr. i. 157.[219] Essai sur la GÉograph. des Plantes, 136.[220] Clark in Linn. Trans. iii. 323, note.[221] Leeuw. Epist. Oct. 17, 1687.[222] Edinb. Med. and Surg. Journ. ubi supra. De Geer, vi. 26, 27.[223] 216.[224] Lempriere On the Diseases of the Army in Jamaica, ii. 182.[225] In passing through this parish last spring, I inquired of the mail-coachman whether he had heard of this story; and he said the fact was well known.[226] Philos. Mag. ix. 366.[227] Bonnet, v. 144.[228] MÉm. Apterolog. 79.[229] Universal History, iv. 70. Ed. 1779.[230] Wisd. xvii. 12.[231] See above, p. 110.[232] Once travelling through Cambridgeshire with a brother entomologist in a gig, our horse was in the condition here described, from the attack of Tabanus rusticus.[233] De Geer, vii. 158.[234] See Mr. W. S. MacLeay in Linn. Trans. xiv. 355—.[235] De Geer, vi. 295.[236] Amoen. Acad. iii. 358.[237] Linn. Flor. Lapp. 376. Lach. Lapp. i. 233, 234. This insect from LinnÉ's description is probably no Culex, but perhaps a Simulium, Latr. (Simulia, Meig.).[238] Life of General Thomas, 186.[239] Linn. It. Scand. 182. De Geer, v. 227-30.[240] Plate XVI. Fig. 3. Mr. Clark, however, is of opinion that the Œstrus does not pierce the skin of the animal, but only glues its eggs to it. Essay on the Bots of Horses and other Animals, p. 47.

[241] Much of the information here collected is taken from Reaum. iv. Mem. 12; and Clark in Linn. Trans. iii. 289.[242] The writer of the present letter is possessor of this specimen, which he took on himself in a field where oxen were feeding. Plate V. Fig. 1.[243] In the Systema Antliatorum (p. 56) Fabricius most strangely considers this insect as synonymous with Culex reptans, L. calling it Scatopse reptans, and dropping his former reference to Pallas, and account of its injurious properties. Meigen (Dipt. i. 294) makes this insect a Simulia under the name of S. maculata.[244] Fabr. Ent. Syst. Em. iv. 276. 22. Latr. Hist. Nat. &c. xiv. 283. Leipz. Zeit. Jul. 5, 1813, quoted in Germar's Mag. der Ent. ii. 185.[245] It is by no means clear that the Œstrus of modern entomologists is synonymous with the insects which the Greeks distinguish by that name. Aristotle not only describes these as blood-suckers (Hist. Animal. l. viii. c. 11.) but also as furnished with a strong proboscis (l. iv. c. 7.). He observes likewise that they are produced from an animal inhabiting the waters, in the vicinity of which they most abound (l. viii. c. 7.). And Ælian (Hist. l. vi. c. 38.) gives nearly the same account. Comparing the Œstrus with the Myops (synonymous perhaps with Tabanus, Latr., except that Aristotle affirms that its larvÆ live in wood, l. v. c. 19,) he says, the Œstrus for a fly is one of the largest; it has a stiff and large sting, (meaning a proboscis,) and emits a certain humming and harsh sound—but the Myops is like the Cynomyia—it hums more loudly than the Œstrus, though it has a smaller sting.

These characters and circumstances do not at all agree with the modern Œstrus, which, so far from being a blood-sucker furnished with a strong proboscis, has scarcely any mouth. It shuns also the vicinity of water, to which our cattle generally fly as a refuge from it. It seems more probable that the Œstrus of Greece was related to Bruce's Zimb, represented in his figure with a long proboscis, which makes its appearance in the neighbourhood of rivers, and belongs to the TabanidÆ. For further information the reader should consult Mr. W. S. MacLeay's learned paper on the insect called Oistros and Asilus by the ancients. Linn. Trans. xiv. 353—.[246] Bruce's Travels, 8vo. ii. 315.[247] Heb. ??? ???? literally "Lord-Fly." See 2 Kings, i. 2; and Bochart. Hierozoic. ps. ii. l. 4. c. 9. p. 490.[248] Burn-Cow or Ox, from ??? bos, and p???? inflammo. M. Latreille translates it CrÈve-boeuf, but improperly.[249] Annales du MusÉum.—X^e Ann. N^o xi. p. 129.[250] Observations de plusieurs SingularitÉs, &c. l. i. c. 45. p. 73 of the Edition in Sir Joseph Banks's Library.[251] Hist. Nat. l. xxix. c. 4.[252] See Curtis, Brit. Ent. t. 142.[253] Mr. Curtis (Brit. Ent. t. 106) under the name of Œstrus pictus has figured a fine species of Gad-fly taken in the New Forest, which he conjectures may be bred from the Deer. It may probably be one of the species here alluded to.[254] Reaum. v. 69. Dictionnaire de Trevoux, article Cerf.[255] For the account of the Œstrus, of the deer, see Reaum. v. 67-77.[256] Linn. Lach. Lapp. ii. 45. In the passage here referred to, LinnÉ speaks of two species of Œstrus, though the mode of expression indicates that he considered them as the same. One was Œ. nasalis from which they freed themselves by snorting, &c., the other Œ. Tarandi which formed the pustules in their backs. In Syst. Nat. 969. 3. he strangely observes under the former species, "Habitat in equorum fauce, per nares intrans!" confounding probably Œ. veterinus of Mr. Clark with the true Œ. nasalis.[257] Lach. Lapp. i. 280.[258] Flor. Lapp. 79.[259] Linn. Flor. Lapp. 379.[260] Mr. Kittoe.[261] Plate V. Fig. 3.[262] Melittophagus, Mus. Kirby. See Mon. Ap. Angl. ii. 168. I copy the following memorandum respecting M. MelittÆ from my common-place-book, May 7, 1812. On the flowers of Ficaria, Taraxacum and Bellis, I found a great number of this insect, which seemed extremely restless, running here and there over the flowers, and over each other, with great swiftness mounting the anthers, and sometimes lifting themselves up above them, as if looking for something. One or two of them leaped upon my hand. Near one of these flowers I found a small Andrena or Halictus, upon which some of these creatures were busy sucking the poor animal, so that it seemed unable to fly away. When disclosed from the egg, I imagine they get on the top of these flowers to attach themselves to any of the AndrenidÆ that may alight on them, or come sufficiently near for them to leap on it.—K.[263] Latreille, Hist. des Fourmis, 307-20.[264] See above, p. 34.[265] Naturforscher Stk. xvi. 74.[266] Quoted from Campbell's Travels in South Africa, in the Quarterly Review for July 1815. 315.[267] Huber. Pref. xi-xiii.[268] De Geer, ii. 83.[269] Considered by Mr. Clark as a new genus, which he has named Cuterebra, and of which he has described three species. Essay on the Bots of Horses, &c. p. 63. t. 2. f. 24-29.[270] Linn. Trans. ix. 156-61.[271] Germar's Mag. der Ent. i. 1-10. Mr. Stephens, in his Illustrations of British Entomology (No. I. p. 4.), very judiciously asks, "May not these herbivorous larvÆ have been the principal cause of the mischief to the wheat, while those of the Zabrus contributed rather to lessen their numbers than to destroy the corn." But this query does not account for their being found, when in the perfect state, attacking the ear. I have seen cognate beetles devouring the seeds of umbelliferous plants.[272] Act. Stockh. 1778. 3. n. 11. and 4. n. 4. Marsham in Linn. Trans. ii. 79.[273] Linn. Trans. ii. 76-80.[274] EncyclopÆd. Britann. viii. 480-95.[275] Young's Annals of Agriculture, xi. 471.[276] Tipula Tritici, K., belonging to Latreille's genus Cecidomyia. (See above, p. 28. note^a.) Marsham and Kirby in Linn. Trans. iii. 242-5. iv. 225-39. v. 96-110.[277] Oliv. ii. n. 19. 3-4.[278] Curculio testaceus, Ent. Brit.[279] Marsham in Linn. Trans. ii. 80. De Geer notices the injury done by this fly to rye, and observes that before it had been attributed to frost. ii. 68.[280] Act. Stockh. 1750. 128. Reaum. ii. 480, &c.[281] This insect was taken in maize by Mr. Sparshall of Norwich.[282] Smith's Abbott's Insects of Georgia, 191.[283] I say this upon the authority of Mr. Wolnough of Hollesley (late of Boyton) in Suffolk, an intelligent agriculturist, and a most acute and accurate observer of nature.[284] Reaum. vi. 566.[285] Kalm's Travels, i. 173.[286] Amoreux, 288.[287] I have raised plants from this seed, which appear from the foliage to belong either to Phaseolus or Dolichos.[288] Markwick, Marsham and Lehmann in Linn. Trans. vi. 142-. and Kirby in ditto, ix. 37. 42. n. 19. 23.[289] Plate XVII. Fig. 12.[290] Philos. Trans. 1741. 581.[291] De Geer, ii. 341. Amoen. Acad. iii. 355.[292] Farmer's Mag. iii. 487.[293] Pallas's Travels in South Russia, i. 30.[294] Plate XVIII. Fig. 4.[295] Marsham in Communications to the Board of Agriculture, iv. 412. Plate xviii. fig. 4. and Linn. Trans. ix. 60.[296] Plate XXIV. Fig. 3.[297] The wire-worm is particularly destructive for a few years in gardens recently converted from pasture ground. In the Botanic Garden at Hull thus circumstanced a great proportion of the annuals sown in 1813 were destroyed by it. A very simple and effectual remedy in such cases was mentioned to me by Sir Joseph Banks. He recommended that slices of potato stuck upon skewers should be buried near the seeds sown, examined every day, and the wire-worms which collect upon them in great numbers destroyed.

This plan of decoying destructive animals from our crops by offering them more tempting food, is excellent, and deserves to be pursued in other instances. It was very successfully employed in 1813 by J. M. Rodwell, Esq. of Barham Hall near Ipswich, one of the most skilful and best informed agriculturists in the county of Suffolk, to preserve some of his wheat-fields from the ravages of a small gray slug, which threatened to demolish the plant. Having heard that turnips had been used with success to entice the slugs from wheat, he caused a sufficient quantity to dress eight acres to be got together; and then, the tops being divided and the apples sliced, he directed the pieces to be laid separately, dressing two stetches with them and omitting two alternately, till the whole field of eight acres was gone over. On the following morning he employed two women to examine and free from the slugs, which they did into a measure, the tops and slices; and when cleared they were laid upon those stetches that had been omitted the day before. It was observed invariably, that in the stetches dressed with the turnips no slugs were to be found upon the wheat or crawling upon the land, though they abounded upon the turnips; while on the undressed stetches they were to be seen in great numbers both on the wheat and on the land. The quantity of slugs thus collected was near a bushel.—Mr. Rodwell is persuaded that by this plan he saved his wheat from essential injury.[298] Reaum. v. 11.[299] Two species are confounded under the appellation of the grub, the larvÆ namely of Tipula oleracea and cornicina, which last is very injurious, though not equally with the first. In the rich district of Sunk Island in Holderness, in the spring of 1813, hundreds of acres of pasture have been entirely destroyed by them, being rendered as completely brown as if they had suffered a three months drought, and destitute of all vegetation except that of a few thistles. A square foot of the dead turf being dug up, 210 grubs were counted in it! and, what furnishes a striking proof of the prolific powers of these insects, the next year it was difficult to find a single one.[300] Stickney's Observations on the Grub.[301] De Geer, i. 487.[302] I owe this information to the late Robinson Kittoe, Esq.[303] Castle in Philos. Trans. xxx. 346.[304] Browne's Civil and Nat. Hist. of Jamaica, 430.[305] Essai sur la GÉographie des Plantes, 136.[306] M'Kinnen, 171. Browne ubi supr. Merian, Ins. Sur. 10.[307] Smith's Abbott's Insects of Georgia, 199.[308] Illiger, Mag. i. 256.[309] The farmers would do well to change the name of this insect from turnip-fly to turnip-flea, since from its diminutive size and activity in leaping the latter name is much the most proper. The term, the fly, might with propriety be restricted to the Hop-aphis.[310] Young's Annals of Agriculture, vii. 102.[311] Marshall in Philos. Trans. lxxiii. 1783.[312] See above, p. 167-168.[313] Swamm. ii. 81. col. b.—Gyllenhal in describing the last-named species, so common on the flowers of siliquose plants (Insecta Suecica, iii. 142.), asks if his R. sulcicollis (C. Pleurostigma, E. B.), which agrees with it in most respects, except in having toothed thighs, be not the other sex? This query I can solve in the negative, having taken the sexes of R. assimilis in coitu, which do not differ, save that the male has a somewhat shorter rostrum.[314] Spence's Observations on the Disease in Turnips called Fingers and Toes. Hull 1812. 8vo.[315] Reaum. ii. 471.[316] See above, p. 29.[317] De Geer, ii. 440. In the summer of 1826 when at Brussels, I observed that delicious vegetable of the cabbage tribe so largely cultivated there under the name of Jets de choux, and which in England we call Brussels sprouts, to be materially injured in the later stages of its growth by the attacks of the turnip-flea, and other little beetles of the same genus (Haltica), which were so numerous and so universally prevalent, that I scarcely ever examined a full-grown plant from which a vast number might not have been collected. Some plants were almost black with them, the species most abundant being of a dark Æneous tinge. They had not merely eroded the cuticle in various parts, so as to give the leaves a brown blistered appearance, but had also eaten them into large holes, at the margin of which I often saw them in the act of gnawing; and the stunted and unhealthy appearance of the plants sufficiently indicated the injurious effect of this interruption of the proper office of the sap. What was particularly remarkable, considering the locomotive powers of these insects, was that the young turnips, sown in August after the wheat and rye, close to acres of Brussels sprouts, (which all round Brussels are planted in the open fields among other crops,) infested by myriads of these insects, were not more eaten by them than they usually are in England, and produced good average crops. It would seem, agreeably to a fact already mentioned, (see Vol. I. 4th Edit. p. 389,) that they prefer the taste of leaves to which they have been accustomed, to younger plants of the same natural family; and hence perhaps the previous sowing of a crop of cabbage-plants in the corner of a field meant for turnips, might allure and keep there the great bulk of these insects present in the vicinity, until the turnips were out of danger.[318] Perhaps this fly is the same which LinnÉ confounded with Tachina Larvarum, which he says he had found in the roots of the cabbage (Syst. Nat. 992. 78.) I say "confounded," because it is not likely that the same species should be parasitic in an insect, and also inhabit a vegetable.[319] In lately examining, however, some young garden peas and beans about four inches high, I observed the margins of the leaves to be gnawed into deep scollops by a little weevil (Sitona lineata), of which I found from two to eight on each pea and bean, and many in the act of eating. Not only were the larger leaves of every plant thus eroded, but in many cases the terminal young shoots and leaves were apparently irreparably injured. I have often noticed this and another of the short-snouted Curculios (S. tibialis) in great abundance in pea and bean fields, but was not aware till now that either of them was injurious to these plants. Probably both are so, but whether the crop is materially affected by them must be left to further inquiry.[320] Reaum. ii. 479.[321] Description of S. Ceparum.—Cinereous, clothed with distant black hairs, proceeding, particularly on the thorax, from a black point. Legs nigrescent. Back of the abdomen of the male with an interrupted black vitta down the middle. Wings immaculate. Poisers and alulÆ pale yellow. Length 3½ lines.[322] Barton in Philos. Magaz. ix. 62.[323] Reaum. ii. 337.[324] Apis. **. c. 2. a. K.[325] Reaum. iv. 499.[326] Rai. Hist. Ins. Prolegom. xi.[327] This kind of misnomer frequently occurs in entomological authors.—Thus, for instance, the Curculio (Rynchites) AlliariÆ of LinnÉ feeds upon the hawthorn, and Curculio (Cryptorhynchus) Lapathi upon the willow (Curtis in Linn. Trans. i. 86.); but as Alliaria is common in hawthorn hedges, and docks often grow under willows, the mistake in question easily happened: when, however, such mistakes are discovered, the Trivial Name ought certainly to be altered.[328] I consider this insect as the type of a new subgenus (Phyllopertha, K. MS.), which connects those tribes of Melolontha, F. that have a mesosternal prominence with those that have not. Of this subgenus I possess six species. It is clearly distinct from Anisoplia, under which DeJean arranges it.[329] Wiener Verzeich. 8vo. 29.[330] Fabricius seems to have regarded the saw-fly that feeds upon the sallow (Nematus CapreÆ), not only as synonymous with that which feeds upon the osier, but also with our little assailant of the gooseberry and currant. Yet it is very evident from Reaumur's account, whose accuracy may be depended upon, that they are all distinct species. Fabricius's description of the fly agrees with the insect of the gooseberry, but that which he has given of the larva belongs to the animal inhabiting the sallow. Probably, confounding the two species, he described the imago from the insect of the former, and the larva (if he did not copy from Reaumur or LinnÉ) from that of the latter. LinnÉ was correct in regarding Reaumur's three insects as distinct species, though he appears to be mistaken in referring to him under N. flavus, as the saw-fly of the currant and gooseberry is not wholly yellow.[331] Peck's Nat. Hist. of the Slug-worm, 9.[332] Trost Kleiner Beytrag. 38.[333] Reaum. ii. 477.[334] On the Apple and Pear, 158. The beetle Mr. Knight alludes to is probably the Polydrosus oblongus, which answers his description, and is common on pear-trees.—In Holland, it is stated in a little tract on this subject (Verhandeling ten bewijze &c. door F. H. van Berck. 8vo. Haarlem 1807), that the great destroyer of the blossoms of their apple- and pear-trees is the larva of another weevil, Anthonomus Pomorum, which from the name and Gyllenhal's addition to the habitat given by LinnÉ—"quas destruit"—should seem to be injurious in Sweden also.[335] Reaum. ubi supr. 475.[336] On Fruit Trees, 271.[337] On the Apple and Pear, 45.[338] Reaum. ii. 499.[339] Mr. Scales.[340] See Observations on this Insect in the 2nd volume of the Horticultural Society's Transactions, p. 25. By W. Spence.[341] Reaum. iv. 69. t. 5. f. 6, 7.[342] A solution of quick-lime is recommended in the Gardener's Magazine for January 1828, a periodical work which every friend of Horticulture ought to possess.[343] This Aphis is evidently the insect described in Illiger's Magazin, i. 450. under the name of A. lanigera, as having done great injury to the apple-trees in the neighbourhood of Bremen in 1801. That it is an Aphis and no Coccus is clear from its oral rostrum and the wings of the male, of which Sir Joseph Banks possesses an admirable drawing by Mr. Bauer. On this Aphis see Forsyth, 265; Monthly Mag. xxxii. 320; and also for August 1811; and Sir Joseph Banks in the Horticultural Society's Transactions, ii. 162. Those Aphides that transpire a cottony excretion are now considered as belonging to a distinct genus, under the name of Myzoxyla.[344] M. de la Hire in Reaum. ii. 478.[345] Dr. Smith Barton's Letter in Philos. Magaz. xxii. 210. William Davy, Esq. American Consul of the Port of Hull, long resident in the United States, informed me that though he had abundance of peaches at his country-house, German Town near Philadelphia, he could never succeed with the nectarine, the fruit constantly falling off perforated by the grub of some insect.[346] Descr. of the I. of St. Helena, 147.[347] A mode of destroying this hurtful insect is given in a Number of that useful and interesting work, the Gardener's Magazine, just quoted.[348] Reaum. ii. 505.[349] Ibid. ii. 507. and Hasselquist's Travels in the Levant, 428.[350] That is "High and Low," Judges ix. 13.[351] Sturm Deutschlands Fauna, i. 5.[352] Latreille, Hist. Nat. xi. 66. 331.[353] Host in Jacquin. Collect. iii. 297.[354] Pallas's Travels in S. Russia, ii. 241.[355] Jacquin. Collect. ii. 97.[356] Deut. xxviii. 39.[357] Travels, ii. 6.[358] Collinson in Philos. Trans. liv. x. 65.[359] RÖsel, I. ii. 15.[360] Reaum. ii. 122.[361] Mouffet, 160.[362] Philos. Trans. xix. 741.[363] Reaum. i. 387. These larvÆ were so extremely numerous in 1826 on the limes of the AllÉe Verte at Brussels, that many of the trees of that noble avenue, though of great age, were nearly deprived of their leaves, and afforded little of the shade which the unusual heat of the summer so urgently required. The moths which in autumn proceeded from them, when in motion towards night, swarmed like bees, and subsequently on the trunk of every tree might be seen scores of females depositing their down-covered patch of eggs. In the Park they were also very abundant; and it may be safely asserted that if one half of the eggs deposited were to be hatched, in 1827 scarcely a leaf would remain in either of these favourite places of public resort. Happily, however, this calamity seems likely to be prevented. Of the vast number of patches of eggs which I saw on almost every tree in the park about the end of September, I could two months afterwards to my no small surprise, discover scarcely one, though the singularity of the fact made me examine closely. For their disappearance I have no doubt the inhabitants of Brussels are indebted to the tit-mouse (Parus), the tree-creeper (Certhia familiaris), and other small birds known to derive part of their food from the eggs of insects, and which abound in the park, where they may be often seen running up and down the trunks of the trees, at once providing their own food and rendering a service to man, which all his powers would be inadequate completely to effect.

Reaumur (ii. 106) in certain seasons found these patches of eggs so numerous, that in the Bois de Boulogne there was scarcely an oak, the under side of the branches of which were not covered by them for an extent of seven or eight feet. He informs us that the eggs are not hatched till the following spring.[364] Wiener Verzeich. 8vo. 75.[365] Curtis Brit. Ent. t. 117.[366] De Geer, ii. 452.[367] Kalm's Travels, ii. 7.[368] The same intelligent gentleman related to me, that a person having taken some land at Bahia in the Brazils, he was compelled by these ants, which were so numerous as to render every effort to destroy them ineffectual, to relinquish the occupation of it. Their nests were excavated to the astonishing depth of fourteen feet. Merian Insect. Sur. 18. Smeathman on Termites, Phil. Trans. lxxi. 39. note 35.[369] Stedman, ii. 142.[370] Hist. Nat. l. xi. c. 12.[371] Curtis Brit. Ent. t. 60.[372] Lewin in Linn. Trans. iii. 1.—Curtis in do. i. 86.[373] Curtis Brit. Ent. t. 104.[374] MacLeay in Edinburgh Philos. Journ. n. xxi. 123. Curtis Brit. Ent. t. 43.[375] Wilhelm's Recreations from Nat. Hist. quoted by Latreille Hist. Nat. xi. 194.[376] Reaum. ii. 502.[377] Bochart, Hierozoic. P. ii. l. iv. c. 5. 475.[378] Bochart, ubi supr. c. 6. 485.[379] Exod. x. 5. 14, 15.[380] Hist. Nat. l. xi. c. 29. A similar law was enacted in Lemnos, by which every one was compelled to bring a certain measure of locusts annually to the magistrates. Plin. ibid.[381] Oros. contra Pag. l. v. c. 2.[382] Lesser, L. 247. note 46.[383] Mouffet, 123.[384] Bingley, iii. 258.[385] Philos. Trans. 1686.[386] Elements of Agricultural Chemistry, 233.[387] Philos. Trans. xlvi. 30.[388] Major Moor, author of The Narrative of Captain Little's Detachment, The Hindu Pantheon, &c.[389] Travels, i. 348.[390] Travels, &c. 257.[391] Southey's Thalaba, i. 171.[392] Genes. xvi. 12.[393] Jackson's Travels in Marocco, 54.[394] See Bochart, Hierozoic. P. l. iv. c. 5. 474-5.[395] Southey's Thalaba, i. 169.[396] Of the symbolical locusts in the Apocalypse it is said—"And the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots, of many horses running to battle." ix. 9.[397] Joel ii. 2-10. 20.[398] Voyage to the Levant, 444.[399] Voyage to the Levant, p. 446-7.[400] See p. 219.[401] Travels, 54.[402] Travels, i. 366.[403] Travels, 455.[404] Travels, 447.[405] Amoen. Acad. iii. 345.[406] Sparrman, i. 103. This insect, by Swedish entomologists, is supposed to be a species of Anobium, F., (Ptinus, L.,) but the specimen preserved in the Linnean cabinet is Silpha rosea of Mr. Marsham (Cacidula pectoralis, Meg.). A small beetle of the first family of Cryptophagus of Major Gyllenhal swarms often in the ship biscuit, and may probably be the insect Sparrman here complains of under the name of Dermestes paniceus.[407] See above, p. 172.[408] De Geer, v. 46. This insect appears nearly related to Mr. Marsham's Corticaria pulla (E. B. i. 11. 14. Latridius porcatus, Herbst), if it be not the same insect.[409] Amoen. Acad. iii. 345.[410] This name has long been given to this insect, and the Characters of the genus were drawn by Mr. Curtis before the publication of Meigen's fifth volume (in which the genus is called Piophila); it is therefore retained. See Curtis Brit. Ent. t. 126.[411] Reaum. iii. 276.[412] Leeuwenh. Epist. 99.[413] Ceylon, 307.[414] Voyage, &c. 72.[415] Williamson's East India Vade Mecum.[416] Calcutta, a Poem, 85.[417] Ptinus piceus, Marsh.[418] On examining ninety-two chests of opium, part of the cargo saved from the Charlton, previously to reshipping them from Chittagong for China, thirteen were found to be full of white ants, which had almost wholly devoured the opium. Article from Chittagong, Nov. 1812, in one of the Newspapers, July 31, 1813.[419] Ptinus rubellus, Marsh.[420] Bibl. Nat. i. 125. b. 126. a.[421] Sir Geo. Staunton's Voy. 8vo. 189.[422] Kerr in Philos. Trans. 1781.[423] Reaum. iii. 266.[424] Ibid. 59.[425] Reaum. iii. 42.[426] Ibid. 257.[427] Amoen. Acad. iii. 346.[428] Kirby in Linn. Trans. v. 250.[429] Curculio lignarius, Marsh. Rhinosimus ruficollis, Latr.[430] The species of the genus Dorcadion separated from Lamia are discovered to live upon the roots of grass.[431] The larva of a Callidium (which Dr. Leach has discovered to be C. Bajulus) sometimes does material injury to the wood-work of the roofs of houses in London, piercing in every direction the fir-rafters, and, when arrived at the perfect state, making its way out even through sheets of lead one-sixth of an inch thick, when they happen to have been nailed upon the rafter in which it has assumed its final metamorphosis. I am indebted to the kindness of Sir Joseph Banks for a specimen of such a sheet of lead, which, though only eight inches long and four broad, is thus pierced with twelve oval holes, of some of which the longest diameter is a quarter of an inch! Mr. Charles Miller first discovered lead in the stomach of the larva of this insect.[432] P. 310.[433] See Kirby, ubi supr. 253.—More than a hundred species of the Capricorn tribe, many of them nondescripts, were collected in the neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro by Captain Hancock, of the Foudroyant.[434] In Linn. Trans. x. 399.[435] Syst. Nat. 565. 2.[436] Smith's Introduction to Botany, Pref. xv.[437] Afzelius in Linn. Trans. iv. 261.[438] Linn. Trans. x. 403.[439] Kirby, Mon. Ap. Ang. i. 152-194. Latreille, Gen. iv. 161—.[440] In order to ascertain how far pure sea water is essential to this insect, and consequently what danger exists of its being introduced into the woodwork of our docks and piers communicating with our salt-water rivers, as at Hull, Liverpool, Bristol, Ipswich, &c., where it might be far more injurious than even on the coast, I have, since December 15th 1815, when Mr. Lutwidge was so kind as to furnish me with a piece of oak full of the insects in a living state, poured a not very strong solution of common salt over the wood, every other day, so as to keep the insects constantly wet. On examining it this day (Feb. 5th 1816) I found them alive; and, what seems to prove them in as good health as in their natural habitat, numbers have established themselves in a piece of fir-wood which I nailed to the oak, and have in this short interval, and in winter too, bored many cells in it.[441] See p. 226.[442] Reaum. iii. 270.[443] Schrank Enum. Ins. Austr. 513. 1058.[444] Horne's Introd. to Bibliography, i. 311.[445] It appears from Humboldt (Personal Narrative, E. T. v. 116.) that the destructive insects called by this name, are Termites.[446] Ulloa, i. 67.[447] Amoen. Acad. iii. 345.[448] Drury's Insects, iii. Preface.[449] It is not its hardness that protects the teak, as the Asiatic Termites attack Lignum VitÆ, but probably some essential oil disagreeable to them with which it is impregnated. This is the more likely, since they will eat it when it is old and has been long exposed to the air. Tannin has been conjectured to be the protecting substance, but erroneously, as leather of every kind is devoured by them. Williamson's East India Vade Mecum, ii. 56. It is its hardness probably that protects the iron-wood from the African Termites. Smeathman in Philos. Trans. 1781. 11. 47.[450] Japan, ii. 127.[451] Political Essay on New Spain, iv. 135.[452] This account of the Termites is chiefly taken from Smeathman in Philos. Trans. 1781, and Percival's Ceylon, 307—.[453] Oriental Memoirs, i. 362.[454] Morning Herald, Dec. 31st, 1814.[455] The ship here alluded to was the Albion, which was in such a condition from the attack of insects, supposed to be white ants, that, had not the ship been firmly lashed together, it was thought she would have foundered on her voyage home.—The late Mr. Kittoe informed me that the Droguers or Draguers, a kind of lighter employed in the West Indies in collecting the sugar, sometimes so swarm with ants, of the common kind, that they have no other way of getting rid of these troublesome insects than by sinking the vessel in shallow water.[456] Luke x. 19.[457] Sparrman's Voyage, i. 367.[458] The Coprion, Cantharus, and Heliocantharus of the ancients was evidently this beetle, or one nearly related to it, which is described as rolling backwards large masses of dung, and attracted such general attention as to give rise to the proverb Cantharus pilulam. It should seem from the name, derived from a word signifying an ass, that the Grecian beetle made its pills of asses' dung; and this is confirmed by a passage in one of the plays of Aristophanes, the Irene, where a beetle of this kind is introduced, on which one of the characters rides to heaven to petition Jupiter for peace. The play begins with one domestic desiring another to feed the Cantharus with some bread, who afterwards orders his companion to give him another kind of bread made of asses' dung.[459] Plate XXII. Fig. 4, 5.