534 THE MFSQUITO-FLT — THE SPIDER FLIES. 



iiourishment. The naked eye is only able to discover a I(.ngand 

 Slender tube, containing five or six spiculae of exquisite fineness. 

 Thei^e spiiuhe, introduced into the veins of animals, act like the 

 Buckers of a pun>p, and cause the blood to ascend. The insect injects 

 a small quantity of liquid into the wound, by which the blood is 

 made rn»>re fluid. The Gnat, as it sucks, swells, grows red, and does 

 not quit its hold till it has gorged itself. Tlie liquor it bas injected 

 causes a disagreeable itching, which may in some degree be removed 

 by vi)lati e alkali, oi by immediately rubbing and washing, the plaae 

 with culd waten 



THE MUSQTJITO-FLY. 



Tlie Musqnito-fly is nothing more than a large rariety of the Com-- 

 mon Gnat. These insects are found in great abundance in the woody 

 and marshy parts of all l>ot climates;, and, during the short summeir 

 throngliout Lupland, Norway, and Finland, and other countries 

 equally near the Pole. 



It is the female only that bites and sucks the blood ; and this oper- 

 ation is so severe, as to swell and blister the skin ia a rioleut manner 

 iiml sometimes even to leave obstinate sores. 



The lowest class of people, in all the climates where Muaquitoes 

 abound, keep them out of their buts^ during the day-time, by burning 

 there a continual fire: the Laplander, v.rhen in bed, has a better con- 

 trivance to defend himself from their stings. He fixes a leather thong 

 to the poles of his tent, this raises his canvass quilt to a proper height, 

 80 that its sides or edges touch the ground. Under th'is he creeps and, 

 passes the night in security, "When Mr. Acerbi and his friends arrived 

 in a cottage in the village of Killare, in Lapland, the first favor the 

 women conferred on them, was to light a fire^ and fill the room so full 

 of sraoke, that it brought tears from their eyes. This was done to 

 deliver them from the molestation of the Musquitoes; and, as a means 

 of effectual prevention, they made a second fire, near the entrance of 

 the apartment, to stop the fresh myriads, which would otherwise have 

 rushed in upon them from without. The buzzing of Musquitoes ia 

 »o loud, as to disturb the rest of persoas in the night, almost as much 

 aa would be done by their bite. 



OF THE niFPOBOSCJE, OR SHDER-FLIES. 



TriE ITippoboscae form a connecting link between the two-wingesl 

 and the apterous insects. By some authors they have been denomi- 

 nated monches araignees, or spider-Jlies, from a distant resemblance 

 •which some of them have to Spiders. 



A few of the species are found in woods and marshy places ; but 

 the greater number of them infest the bodies either oi quadrupeds os 

 birda. 



