Curious Facts In The History Of Insects; Including Spiders And Scorpions. - free ebook by Frank Cowan

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Curious Facts In The History Of Insects; Including Spiders And Scorpions.

Frank Cowan

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CURIOUS FACTS IN THE HISTORY OF INSECTS; INCLUDING SPIDERS AND SCORPIONS.

CURIOUS FACTS IN THE HISTORY OF INSECTS; INCLUDING SPIDERS AND SCORPIONS.

In the early part of the winter of 1863–4, having the free use of the Congressional Library at Washington, I began the compilation of the present work. It was my prime intent, and one which I have endeavored to follow most carefully, to attach some fact, whatever might be its nature, to as many Insects as possible, to increase the interest, in a commonplace way, of the science of Entomology. I noticed the pleasurable satisfaction I invariably felt when I came accidentally upon any extra-scientif

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AUTHORS QUOTED.

AUTHORS QUOTED.

The Lady-bird, Coccinella septempunctata , in Scandinavia was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and is there to this day called Nyckelpiga —Our Lady’s Key-maid, 1 and (in Sweden, more particularly) Jung-fru Marias Gullhona —the Virgin Mary’s Golden-hen. 2 A like reverence was paid to this beautiful insect in other countries: in Germany they have been called Frauen or Marien-käfer —Lady-beetles of the Virgin Mary; and in France are now known by the names of Vaches de Dieu —Cows of the Lord, and Bêtes

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Coccinellidæ—Lady-birds.

Coccinellidæ—Lady-birds.

Or,— Marybrun being a place about twelve English miles from the Austrian capital, with a miracle-working image of the Virgin (still connected with the Virgin), who often sends good weather to the merry Viennese. 6 And, from the marsh of the Elbe, to this little insect the following words are addressed: Or,— In England, the children are wont to be afraid of injuring the Lady-bird lest it should rain. With the Northmen the Lady-bird—Our Lady’s Key-maid—is believed to foretell to the husbandman whe

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Chrysomelidæ—Gold-beetles.

Chrysomelidæ—Gold-beetles.

In Chili and Brazil, the ladies form necklaces of the golden Chrysomelidæ and brilliant Diamond-beetles, with which their countries abound, which are said to be very beautiful. 27 The wing-cases of our common Gilded-Dandy, Eumolpus auratus , the metallic colors of which are pre-eminently brilliant and showy, have been recommended as ornaments for fancy boxes, and such like articles. 28 A closely allied species, I have seen upon the finest Parisian artificial flowers....

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Carabidæ.

Carabidæ.

In some parts of Africa, a rather curious benefit is derived from a large beetle belonging to this family, the Chlænius saponarius , for it is manufactured by the natives into a soap. 29...

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Pausidæ.

Pausidæ.

The etymology of the word Pausus , Dr. Afzelius imagines to be from the Greek παυσις, signifying a pause, cessation, or rest; for Linnæus, now (in 1796) old and infirm, and sinking under the weight of age and labor, saw no probability of continuing any longer his career of glory. He might therefore be supposed to say hic meta laborum , as it in reality proved, at least with regard to insects, for Pausus was the last he ever described. 30...

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Dermestidæ—Leather-beetles.

Dermestidæ—Leather-beetles.

In one of the stone coffins exhumed from the tumuli in the links of Skail, were found several small bags, which seemed to have been made of rushes. They all contained bones, with the exception of one, which is said to have been full of beetles belonging to the genus Dermestes . Both the bag and beetles were black and rotten. 31 Four species of Dermestes were found in the head of one of the mummies brought by Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson from Thebes—the D. vulpinus of Fabricius, and the pollinctus ,

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Lucanidæ—Stag-beetles.

Lucanidæ—Stag-beetles.

The etymology of the word Lucanus, as well as its application to a species of insect, it is interesting to notice. The ancients gave the name of Lucas , Lucana , to the ox and elephant. It is said that Pyrrhus had thus named the elephant the first time that he saw it, because this word signified ox in his own language, and that he thus gave it the name of the largest animal which he had ever before seen. According to Pliny, who employed the word Lucani , in speaking of the Horn-beetles, Nigridiu

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Scarabæidæ—Dung-beetles.

Scarabæidæ—Dung-beetles.

The Coprion , Cantharus , and Heliocantharus of the ancients were evidently the Scarabæus (Ateuchus) pilurarius , or, as it is commonly called, the Tumble-dung, or one nearly related to it, for it is described as rolling backward large masses of dung; and in doing this it attracted such general attention as to give rise to the proverb Cantharus pipulam . From the name, derived from a word signifying an ass, it should seem the Grecian beetle made, or was supposed to make, its pills of asses’ dung

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Dynastidæ—Hercules-beetle, etc.

Dynastidæ—Hercules-beetle, etc.

For it dies once in a year,” continues Moufet, “and from its own corruption, like a Phœnix, it lives again (as Moninus witnesseth) by heat of the sun....

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Melolonthidæ—Cock-chafers.

Melolonthidæ—Cock-chafers.

The family of insects, commonly called Cock-chafers , Hedge-chafers , May-bugs , and Dorrs (from the Irish dord , humming, buzzing, or from the Anglo-Saxon dora , a locust or drone) have been included by Fabricius in the genus Melolontha ,—a word which retains an odd notion of the Greeks respecting them, viz., that they were produced from or with the flowers of apple-trees. It is a name also by which the Greeks themselves used to distinguish the same kind of insects. In Sweden the peasants look

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Cetoniidæ—Rose-chafers.

Cetoniidæ—Rose-chafers.

A very pretty species of the Cetoniidæ , the Agestrata luconica , is of a fine brilliant metallic green, and found in the Philippine Islands. These the ladies of Manilla keep as pets in small bamboo cages, and carry them about with them wheresoever they may go. 147...

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Buprestidæ—Burn-cows.

Buprestidæ—Burn-cows.

Many species of the Buprestidæ are decorated with highly brilliant metallic tints, like polished gold upon an emerald ground, or azure upon a ground of gold; and their elytra, or wing-coverings, are employed by the ladies of China, and also of England, for the purpose of embroidering their dresses. 148 The Chinese have also attempted imitations of these insects in bronze, in which they succeed so well that the copy may be sometimes mistaken for the reality. 149 In Ceylon 150 and throughout India

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Elateridæ—Fire-flies, Spring-beetles, etc.

Elateridæ—Fire-flies, Spring-beetles, etc.

In an historical sense, the most interesting species of the family Elateridæ is the Elater noctilucus , a native of the West Indies, and called by the inhabitants, Cucujus . From an ancient translation of Peter Martyr’s History of the West Indies, we make the following quotation, which contains many curious facts relative to this insect: “Whoso wanteth Cucuji , goeth out of the house in the first twilight of the night, carrying a burning fier-brande in his hande, and ascendeth the next hillocke,

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Lampyridæ.—Glow-worms.

Lampyridæ.—Glow-worms.

Antonius Thylesius Bonsentinus, following his elegant description of the Glow-worm, gives a pretty fable of its origin. As translated in Moufet’s Theater of Insects, his words are these: The following anecdote is related by Sir J. E. Smith, of the effect of the first sight of the Italian Glow-worms upon some Moorish ladies ignorant of such appearances. These females had been taken prisoners at sea, and, until they could be ransomed, lived in a house in the outskirts of Genoa, where they were fre

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Ptinidæ—Death-watch, etc.

Ptinidæ—Death-watch, etc.

The common name of Death-watch , given to the Anobium tesselatum , sufficiently announces the popular prejudice against this insect; and so great is this prejudice, that, as says an editor of Cuvier’s works, the fate of many a nervous and superstitious patient has been accelerated by listening, in the silence and solitude of night, to this imagined knell of his approaching dissolution. 182 The learned Sir Thomas Browne considered the superstition connected with the Death-watch of great importanc

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Bostrichidæ—Typographer-beetles.

Bostrichidæ—Typographer-beetles.

The Typographer-beetle, Bostrichus typographus , is so called on account of a fancied resemblance between the paths it erodes and letters. This insect bores into the fir, and feeds upon the soft inner bark; and in such vast numbers that 80,000 are sometimes found in a single tree. The ravages of this insect have long been known in Germany under the name of Wurm trökniss —decay caused by worms; and in the old liturgies of that country the animal itself is formally mentioned under its common appel

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Cantharidæ—Blister-flies.

Cantharidæ—Blister-flies.

Many species of this family of insect possess strong vesicating powers, and are employed externally in medicine to produce blisters, and internally as a powerful stimulant. Taken internally, Pliny considered them a poison, and mentions the following instance of their causing death: Cossinus, a Roman of the Equestrian order, well known for his intimate friendship with the Emperor Nero, being attacked with lichen, that prince sent to Egypt for a physician to cure him; who recommended a potion prep

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Tenebrionidæ—Meal-worms.

Tenebrionidæ—Meal-worms.

The larvæ of the Tenebrio molitor , commonly called Meal-worms, which are found in carious wood, are bred by bird-fanciers, to feed nightingales, and constitute the only bait by which these shy birds can be taken: a fact the more curious when it is considered that the nightingale, in a state of nature, can seldom or never see these larvæ. They are also used to feed cameleons which are exhibited. 202...

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Blapsidæ—Church-yard beetle, etc.

Blapsidæ—Church-yard beetle, etc.

We learn from Linnæus that in Sweden the appearance of the Church-yard beetle, Blaps mortisaga , produces the most violent alarm and trepidation among the people, who, on account of its black hue and strange aspect, regard it as the messenger of pestilence and death. Hence is this insect called mortisaga —the prophesier of death. 203 A common species in Egypt, the Blaps sulcata , is made into a preparation which the Egyptian women eat with the view of acquiring what they esteem a proper degree o

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Curculionidæ—Weevils.

Curculionidæ—Weevils.

At Rio Janeiro, the brilliant Diamond-beetle, Eutimis nobilis , is in great request for brooches for gentlemen, and ten piasters are often paid for a single specimen. In this city many owners send their slaves out to catch insects, so that now the rarest and most brilliant species are to be had at a comparatively trifling sum. Each of these slaves, when he has attained to some adroitness in this operation, may, on a fine day, catch in the vicinity of the city as many as five or six hundred beetl

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Cerambycidæ—Musk-beetles.

Cerambycidæ—Musk-beetles.

Moufet says: “The Cerambyx, knowing that his legs are weak, twists his horns about the branch of a tree, and so he hangs at ease.… They thrust upon us some German fables, as many as say it flies only, and when it is weary it falls to the earth and presently dies. Those that are slaves to tales, render this reason for it: Terambus, a satyrist, did not abstain from quipping of the Muses, whereupon they transformed him into a beetle called Cerambyx, and that deservedly, to endure a double punishmen

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Galerucidæ—Turnip-fly, etc.

Galerucidæ—Turnip-fly, etc.

The vulgar opinion that the Ear-wig, Forficula auricularia , seeks to introduce itself into the ear of human beings, and causes much injury to that organ, is very ancient, but not founded on fact, for they are perfectly harmless. To this opinion the names of this insect in almost all European languages point: as in English, Ear-wig (from Anglo-Saxon eare , the ear, and wigga , a worm; hence, also, our word wiggle ), in French, Perce-oreille , and in the German, Ohrwurm . But, according to some w

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Forficulidæ—Ear-wigs.

Forficulidæ—Ear-wigs.

“Oil of Ear-wigs,” says Dr. James, “is good to strengthen the nerves under convulsive motions, by rubbing it on the temples, wrists, and nostrils. These insects, being dried, pulverized, and mixed with the urine of a hare, are esteemed to be good for deafness, being introduced into the ear.” 240 In August, 1755, in the parishes adjacent to Stroud, it is said there were such quantities of Ear-wigs, that they destroyed not only the fruits and flowers, but the cabbages, though of full growth. The h

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Blattidæ—Cockroaches.

Blattidæ—Cockroaches.

It is also said that if a looking-glass be held before Roaches, they will be so frightened as to leave the premises. A firm, which has been established in London for seven years, and which manufactures exclusively poison known to the trade as the “Phosphor Paste for the Destruction of Black-beetles, Cockroaches, rats, mice,” etc., has given to Mr. Mayhew the following information: “We have now sold this vermin poison for seven years, but we have never had an application for our composition from

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Mantidæ—Soothsayers, etc.

Mantidæ—Soothsayers, etc.

We now come to a very extraordinary family of insects, the Mantidæ . “Imagination itself,” as Dr. Shaw well observes, “can hardly conceive shapes more strange than those exhibited by some particular species.” 251 “They are called Mantes; that is, fortune-tellers,” says Mouffet, “either because by their coming (for they first of all appear) they do show the spring to be at hand, as Anacreon, the poet, sang; or else they foretell death and famine, as Cælias, the scholiast of Theocritus, writes; or

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Achetidæ—Crickets.

Achetidæ—Crickets.

In the Island of Barbados, the natives look upon the creaking chirp of a species of Cricket, to which Hughes has given the name of the Ash-colored or Sickly Cricket , when heard in the house, as an omen of death to some one of the family. 277 In England, also, is the Cricket’s chirp sometimes looked upon as prognosticating death. “When Blonzelind expired,” Gay, in his Pastoral Dirge, says, So also in Reed’s Old Plays is the Cricket’s cry ominous of death: The same superstition is found in the fo

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Gryllidæ—Grasshoppers.

Gryllidæ—Grasshoppers.

Mr. Hughes, after describing an ash-colored Grasshopper (which may be his ash-colored cricket before mentioned), 302 remarks that the superstitious of the inhabitants of Barbados are very apprehensive of some approaching illness to the family, whenever this insect flies into their houses in the evening or in the night. 303 Athenæus tells us the ancient Greeks used to eat the common Grasshopper and the Monkey-grasshopper as provocatives of the appetite. Aristophanes says: Turpin tells us there is

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Locustidæ—Locusts.

Locustidæ—Locusts.

Moufet says: “That Locusts should be generated of the carkasse of a mule or asse (as Plutarch reports in the life of Cleonides) by putrefaction, I cannot with philosophers determine; first, because it was permitted to the Jewes to feed on them; secondly, because no man ever yet was an eye-witness of such a putrid and ignoble generation of Locusts.” 314 The first record of the ravages of the Locusts, which we find in history, is the account in the Book of Exodus of the visitation to the land of E

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Termitidæ—White-ants.

Termitidæ—White-ants.

Mr. Southey says that in Brazil the Spaniards hollow out the nests of the Termites, and use them for ovens. 453 The authority of Messrs. Kidder and Fletcher is, that in Brazil, “the Termites’ dwelling is sometimes overturned by the slaves, the hollow scooped wider, and is then used as a bake-oven to parch Indian-corn.” 454 Mr. Latrobe also tells us that the clay of which these Ant-hills are formed, is so well prepared by the industrious Termites, Termes bellicosus , that it is used for the floor

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Ephemeridæ—Day-flies.

Ephemeridæ—Day-flies.

The name of Ephemeridæ has been given to the insects, so called, in consequence of the short duration of their lives, when they have acquired their final form. There are some of them which never see the sun; they are born after it is set, and die before it reappears on the horizon. These insects, indifferently called also Day-flies and May-flies, usually make their appearance in the districts watered by the Seine and the Marne, in the month of August; and in such countless myriads, that the fish

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Libellulidæ—Dragon-flies.

Libellulidæ—Dragon-flies.

On account of the long and slender body, peculiar to the insects of this family, they are with us sometimes called Devil’s Darning-needles , but more commonly Dragon-flies . In Scotland they are known by the name of Flying Adders , for the same reason. The English, from an erroneous belief that they sting horses, call them Horse-stingers . In France, from their light and airy motions, and brilliant, variegated dress, they are called Demoiselles; and in Germany, for the same reason, and that they

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Myrmeleonidæ—Ant-lions.

Myrmeleonidæ—Ant-lions.

When children meet with the funnel-shaped pitfalls of the larva of the Ant-lion, Myrmeleon formicales , they are wont to put their heads close to the ground and softly sing ooloo-ooloo-ooloo , till the larva, mistaking the sound for that of a fly escaping his trap, throws up a shower of sand to bring its supposed victim down again. Ant-lions are held in great esteem in many sections of our country, so much so that they are not suffered to be in any way injured. In a work called “ Ephemerides des

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Cynipidæ—Gall-flies.

Cynipidæ—Gall-flies.

A curious kind of gall, produced on the rose-trees by the Cynips rosæ , which is known by the name of Bedeguar , has been placed among the remedies which may be successfully employed against diarrhœa and dysentery, and useful in cases of scurvy, stone, and worms. 484 The galls of commerce, commonly called Nut-galls , are found on the Quercus infectoria , a species of oak growing in the Levant, and are produced by the Cynips Gallæ tinctorum . When gathered before the insects quit them, the nut-ga

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Formicidæ—Ants.

Formicidæ—Ants.

Herodotus, who wrote in the fifth century before the birth of Christ, tells the following fabulous story without the slightest trace of diffidence or disbelief: There are other Indians bordering on the City of Caspatyrus and the country of Pactyica, settled northward of the other Indians, whose mode of life resembles that of the Bactrians. They are the most warlike of the Indians, and these are they who are sent to procure the gold; for near this part is a desert by reason of the sand. In this d

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Vespidæ—Wasps, Hornets.

Vespidæ—Wasps, Hornets.

Concerning the generation of the Wasp, Topsel and Moufet have the following: “Isidore affirms that Wasps come out of the putrefied carkasses of asses, although he may be mistaken, for all agree that the Scarabees are procreated from them: rather am I of opinion with Pliny, 1. ii. c. 20, and the Greek authors, that they are sprung from the dead bodies of horses, for the horse is a valiant and warlike creature, hence is that verse frequently and commonly used among the Greeks: And indeed their mor

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Apidæ—Bees.

Apidæ—Bees.

Concerning the piety of Bees, we find the following legends: “A certaine simple woman having some stals of Bees which yeelded not vnto her hir desired profit, but did consume and die of the murraine; made her mone to another woman more simple than hir selfe: who gave her councel to get a consecrated host or round Godamighty and put it among them. According to whose advice she went to the priest to receive the host; which when she had done, she kept it in hir month, and being come home againe she

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Papilionidæ—Butterflies.

Papilionidæ—Butterflies.

Among the numerous prodigies reported by Livy to have happened in the year 214 B.C. , it is instanced that, at Mantua, a stagnating piece of water, caused by the overflowing of the River Mincius, appeared as of blood; and, in the cattle-market at Rome, a shower of blood fell in the Istrian Street. After mentioning several other remarkable phenomena that happened during that year, Livy concludes by saying that these prodigies were expiated, conformably to the answers of the Aruspices, by victims

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Sphingidæ—Hawk-moths.

Sphingidæ—Hawk-moths.

To the superstitious imaginations of the Europeans, the conspicuous markings on the back of a large evening moth, the Sphinx Atropos , represent the human skull, with the thigh-bones crossed beneath; hence is it called the Death’s-head Moth , the Death’s-head Phantom , the Wandering Death-bird , etc. Its cry, 797 which closely resembles the noise caused by the creaking of cork, or the plaintive squeaking of a mouse, certainly more than enough to frighten the ignorant and superstitious, is consid

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Bombicidæ—Silk-worm Moths.

Bombicidæ—Silk-worm Moths.

The notices of the cultivation of the mulberry and the rearing of Silk-worms, found in Chinese works, have been industriously collected and published by M. Julien, by order of the French government. From his work it appears that credible notices of the culture of the tree and the manufacture of silk are found as far back as B.C. 780; and in referring its invention to the Empress Siling, or Yuenfi, wife of the Emperor Hwangti, B.C. 2602 (Du Halde says 2698), the Chinese have shown their belief of

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Arctiidæ—Wooly-bear Moths.

Arctiidæ—Wooly-bear Moths.

In 1783, the larvæ of the Moth, Arctia chrysorrhœa , were so destructive in the neighborhood of London that subscriptions were opened to employ the poor in cutting off and collecting the webs; and it is asserted that not less than eighty bushels were collected and burnt in one day in the parish of Clapham. And even in some places prayers were offered up in the churches to avert the calamities of which they were supposed by the ignorant to be the forerunner. 836 If a caterpillar spins its cocoon

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Psychidæ—Wood-carrying Moth, etc.

Psychidæ—Wood-carrying Moth, etc.

The larvæ of the Wood-carrying Moth (of the genus Oiketicus , or Eumeta , Wlk.) of Ceylon, surround themselves with cases made of stems of leaves, and thorns or pieces of twigs bound together by threads, till the whole resembles a miniature Roman fasces; in fact, an African species of these insects has obtained the name of “Lictor.” The Germans have denominated the group Sackträger , and the Singhalese call them Darra-kattea or “billets of fire-wood,” and regard the inmates, Tennent says, as hum

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Noctuidæ—Antler-moth, Cut-worm, etc.

Noctuidæ—Antler-moth, Cut-worm, etc.

The Antler-moth, Noctua graminis , Linn., has been particularly observed in Sweden, Norway, Northern Germany, and even in Greenland, where it does great mischief to grass-plots and meadows. It is recorded to have done very great injury in the eastern mountains of Georgenthal, as well as at Töplitz in Bohemia, where larvæ were in such large numbers that in four days and a half 200 men found 23 bushels of them, or 4,500,000 in the 60 bushels of mould which they examined. In Germany it seems to be

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Geometridæ—Span-worms.

Geometridæ—Span-worms.

The Measuring-worm, crawling on your clothes, is thought to foretell a new suit; on your hands, a pair of gloves, etc....

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Tineidæ—Clothes’-moth, Bee-moth, etc.

Tineidæ—Clothes’-moth, Bee-moth, etc.

In Newton’s Journal of the Arts for December, 1827, there is the following mention of a new kind of cloth fabricated by insects: The larvæ of the Moth, Tinea punctata , or T. padilla , have been directed by M. Habenstreet, of Munich, so as to work on a paper model suspended from a ceiling of a room. To this model he can give any form and dimensions, and he has thus been enabled to obtain square shawls, an air balloon four feet high, and a woman’s complete robe, with the sleeves, but without seam

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Cicadidæ—Harvest-flies.

Cicadidæ—Harvest-flies.

But the old witticism, attributed to the incorrigible Rhodian sensualist, Xenarchus, gives quite a different reason to account for the supposed happiness of these insects: Plutarch, reasoning upon that singular Pythagorean precept which forbid the wife to admit swallows in the house, remarks: “Consider, and see whether the swallow be not odious and impious … because she feedeth upon flesh, and, besides, killeth and devoureth especially grasshoppers (Cicadas), which are sacred and musical.” 866 T

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Fulgoridæ—Lantern-flies.

Fulgoridæ—Lantern-flies.

The Lantern-fly, Fulgora lanternaria of Linnæus, found in many parts of South America, is supposed to emit a vivid light from the large hood, or lantern, which projects from its body, and to be frequently serviceable to benighted travelers; hence the specific name, lanternaria . This story originated about a century and a half ago, from the work of the celebrated Madame Merian, who lived several years in Surinam. Her account contains the following anecdote: “The Indians once brought me, before I

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Aphidæ—Plant-lice.

Aphidæ—Plant-lice.

The Aphides are remarkable for secreting a sweet, viscid fluid, known by the name of Honey-dew, the origin of which has puzzled the world for ages. Pliny says “it is either a certaine sweat of the skie, or some unctuous gellie proceeding from the starres, or rather a liquid purged from the aire when it purifyeth itself.” 891 Amyntas, in his Stations of Asia, quoted by Athenæus, gives a curious account of the manner of collecting this article, which was supposed to be superior to the nectar of th

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Coccidæ—Shield-lice.

Coccidæ—Shield-lice.

The Kermes-dye, or scarlet, made from the Coccus ilicis of Linnæus, an insect found chiefly on a species of oak, the Quercus ilex , in the Levant, France, Spain, and other parts of the world, was known in the East in the earliest ages, even before the time of Moses, and was a discovery of the Phœnicians in Palestine, who also first employed the murex and buccinum for the purpose of dyeing. Tola or Thola was the ancient Phœnician name for this insect and dye, which was used by the Hebrews, and ev

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Cimicidæ—Bed-bugs.

Cimicidæ—Bed-bugs.

Democritus says that the feet of a hare, or of a stag, hung round the feet of the bed at the bottom of the couch, does not suffer Bugs to breed; but, in traveling, Didymus adds, if you fill a vessel with cold water and set it under the bed, they will not touch you when you are asleep. 918 A superstition prevails among us that beds, in order to rid them effectually of Bugs, must be cleaned during the dark of the moon. The medicinal virtues of the Cimex are given by Pliny (doubtless quoting Diosco

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Notonectidæ—Water-boatmen.

Notonectidæ—Water-boatmen.

Humboldt mentions that he saw insects’ eggs sold in the markets of Mexico, which were collected on the surface of lakes. Under the name of Axayacat , these eggs, or those of some other species of fly, deposited on rush mats, are sold as a caviare in Mexico. Rev. Thomas Smith, who makes the same statement, also says the Mexicans likewise eat the flies themselves, ground and made up with saltpetre. Something similar to these eggs, found in the pools of the desert of Fezzan, serves the Arabs for fo

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Culicidæ—Gnats.928

Culicidæ—Gnats.928

Ligon, in his History of Barbados, makes the following curious observation relative to a species of insects which he calls “Flyes,” but which are more probably Gnats or Mosquitoes: “There is not only a race of all these kinds, that go in a generation, but upon new occasions, new kinds; as, after a great downfall of rain, when the ground has been extremely moistened, and softened with the water, I have walk’d out upon a dry walk (which I made my self) in an evening, and there came about me an arm

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Tipulidæ—Crane-flies.

Tipulidæ—Crane-flies.

The larvæ of a species of Agaric-Gnat ( Mycetophila ) live in society, and emigrate in files in a very soldier-like manner. First goes one, next follow two, then three, etc., so as to exhibit a singular serpentine appearance. The common people of Germany call this file heerwurm , and, it is said, view them with great dread, regarding them as ominous of war. 958 Maupertuis, in describing his ascent to Mount Pulinga, in Lapland, says: “They had to fell a whole wood of large trees, and the Flies (m

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Muscidæ—Flies.

Muscidæ—Flies.

Among the instances recorded of Flies appearing in immense numbers, the following are the most remarkable: “When the Creole frigate was lying in the outer roads of Buenos Ayres, in 1819, at a distance of six miles from the land, her decks and rigging were suddenly covered with thousands of Flies and grains of sand. The sides of the vessel had just received a fresh coat of paint, to which the insects adhered in such numbers as to spot and disfigure the vessel, and to render it necessary partially

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Œstridæ—Bot-flies.

Œstridæ—Bot-flies.

The larvæ of Bots, Œstris ovis , found in the heads of sheep and goats, have been prescribed, and that, from the tripod of Delphos, as a remedy for the epilepsy. We are told so on the authority of Alexander Trailien; but whether Democritus, who consulted the oracle, was cured by this remedy, does not appear; the story shows, however, that the ancients were aware that these maggots made their way even into the brain of living animals. 1007 The oracle answered Democritus as follows: The common say

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Pulicidæ—Fleas.

Pulicidæ—Fleas.

“Martyr, the author of the Decads of Navigation, writes, that in Perienna, a countrey of the Indies, the drops of sweat that fall from their slaves’ bodies will presently turn to Fleas.” 1018 Ewlin, in his book of Travels in Turkey, has recorded a singular tradition of the history of the Flea and its confraternity, as preserved among a sect of Kurds, who dwelt in his time at the foot of Mount Sindshar. “When Noah’s Ark,” says the legend, “sprung a leak by striking against a rock in the vicinity

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Pediculidæ—Lice.

Pediculidæ—Lice.

We are assured in Purchas’s Pilgrims, that Lice and “long wormes” were sold for food in Mexico. 1069 From this ancient collection of Travels, we learn that when the Indians of the Province of Cuena are infected with Lice, “they dresse and cleanse one another; and they that exercise this, are for the most part women, who eate all that they take, and have herein (eating?) such dexterity by reason of their exercise, that our own men cannot lightly attaine thereunto.” 1070 The Budini, a people of Sc

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Pedipalpi—Scorpions.

Pedipalpi—Scorpions.

“Pliny saith 1085 that when Sea-crabs dye, and their bodies are dried upon the earth, when the sun entereth into Cancer and Scorpius, out of the putrefaction thereof ariseth a Scorpion; and so out of the putrefied body of the crefish burned arise Scorpions, which caused Ovid thus to write: And again: In English thus: “And therefore it is reported by Ælianus that about Estamenus, in India, there are abundance of Scorpions generated only by corrupt rain-water standing in that place. Also out of th

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Araneidæ—True Spiders.

Araneidæ—True Spiders.

“Domitian sometime,” says Hollingshed incidentally in his Chronicles of England, “and an other prince yet living, delited so much to see the iollie combats betwixt a stout Flie and an old Spider.… Some parasites also in the time of the aforesaid emperour (when they were disposed to laugh at his follie, and yet would seem in appearance to gratifie his fantasticall head with some shew of dutiful demenour) could devise to set their lorde on worke, by letting a fresh flie privilie into his chamber,

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MISCELLANEOUS.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Dr. Sparrman, in his journey to Paarl, an inland town at the Cape of Good Hope, having filled his insect-box with fine specimens, was obliged to put a “whole regiment of flies and other insects” round the brim of his hat. Having entered the house of a rich old widow troubled with the gout, for food, he was warned by his servant that if she should happen to see the insects he would certainly be turned out of doors for a conjuror (hexmeester). Accordingly he was very careful to keep his hat always

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ERRATA.

ERRATA.

Page 43 , line 19 from the top, between the words “is it” and “plain” insert the word “not.” Page 71 , line 29, for “ Carabus chrysocephaluo ” read “ Carabus chrysocephalus .” Page 131 , line 12, for “Mrs. A. L. Ruyter Dufour” read “Mrs. A. L. Ruter Dufour.”...

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