66 DIRECT mjURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. , 



from that of bees, wasps, and other Hi/menoptera^ being more analogous to 

 the venomous tooth of serpents ; it vvoimds us with no barbed darts con- 

 cealed in a sheath, but only with a simple incurved mucro terminating an 

 ampullaceous joint. Two orifices, or, according to some, three, are said 

 to instil the poison, which, we are informed, is sometimes as white as milk. 

 This venom in our European species is seldom attended, accept to minor 

 animals, by any very serious consequences ; yet when it is cohimunicated 

 by the scorpion of warmer climates it produces more baneful eifects. The 

 sting of certain kinds common in South Ameiica causes fevers, numbness 

 in various parts ot the body, tumours in the tongue, and dimness of sight, 

 which symptoms last from twenty-four to forty-eight hours. The only 

 means of saving the lives of our soldiers who were stung b} them in Eiiyijt, 

 was amputation. (_)ne species is said to occasion madness ; and the black 

 scorpion, both of South American and Ceylon, frequently inflicts a mortal 

 wound. ^ No known animal is more cruel and ferocious in its manners; 

 they kill and devour their own young without pity as soon as they are 

 born, and they arc equally savage to their fellows when grown up. Terrible 

 however and revolting as these creatures appear, we are gravely told by 

 Ts^aude, that there is a species of scorpion in Italy which is domesticated, 

 and put between the sheets to cool the beds during the heats of summer! ! ^ 



I must next say something of insects that annoy us solely by thexYJaws. 

 Of this description is Galeodes araneoides, which is related to the scorpion, 

 although devoid of a sting. The bite of this animal, which is a native of 

 the Cape of Good Ho[)e and of Russia^, is represented to be often fatal 

 both to man and beast. Another species of Galeodes is described by Pro- 

 fessor Lichtenstein, which, from the trivial name that he has given it 

 (f(ita/is), may be supposed to be as venomous as the former.'* 



The bite of one of thecenUptdes (Scvlopendiamorsitai/s) — the under jaws, 

 or rather arms, of which are armed with a strong claw, furnished like the 

 sting of the scorpion v^ith an orifice, visible under a common lens, from which 

 poison issues — is less tremendous than that of the animal last mentioned : 

 but though not mortal, its wounds are more painful than those [)roduced 

 by the sting of the scorpion ; and as these animals creep everywhere, even 

 into beds, they must be very annoying in warm climates where they abound. 

 Dr. Martin Lister in his Travels, has given us a figure of an insect related 

 to this genus, that he saw in Plumier's collection, which appears to have 

 been eighteen inches in length, and ihre,e quarters of an inch in width, 

 having ninety-five legs on each side, the first eight of which are armed with 

 double claws, and two inches of the tail being without legs. It may form 

 a distinct genus, and is probably a native of South America. Yet even 

 this monstrous insect is nothing to those at Carthagena, mentioned by 

 Ulloa (if indeed we may credit his account, or if his translator has not mis- 

 taken his meaning), which sometimes exceeded a yard in length and five 

 inches in breadth! The bite of this gigantic serpent-like creature, he tells 



1 L'lloa's Vol/. I 61, 62. Dr. Clarke's Travels, I 48G. Amoreux, 197. Mr. 

 W. S. MacLeav relates to me that soon after his anival at the Havana he was stung 

 by an immense scorpion, but was agreeabl}' surprised to find the pain considerably 

 less than the sting of a wasp, and of incomparably shorter duration. 



2 Andrew's Anecdotes, 427. See on the subject of Scorpions, Amoreux, 41 — 54. 

 176—205. 



3 Fab. Suppl. 294. 2. ^ Catal. Ham. 1797, 151—195. 



