3 1 6 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



infecls. Father du Tertre tells us, that he one day 

 found, in the Ifland of Guadaloupe, at the foot of 

 a tree, a creeping plant, the flem of which pre- 

 fented the figure of a ferpent. But he was much 

 more furprized on perceving feven or eight fnakes 

 lying dead around it. He communicated this dif- 

 covery to a medical man, who, by means of it, 

 performed many wonderful cures, by employing it 

 in the cafes of perfons bitten by thofe dangerous 

 reptiles. It is generally diffufed over the reft of 

 the Antilles Illands, in which it is known by the 

 name of fnake-wood. It is likewife found in the 

 Eaft-Indies. John Hugo de Linjchotten afcribes to 

 it the fame figure, and the fame qualities. 



We have, in our own climates, vegetables which 

 prefent very ftrange correfpondencies and contrails 

 with reptiles. Pliny tells us, that ferpents are very 

 fond of the juniper and the fennel, but that they 

 are rarely found under the fern, the trefoil, the 

 alh-weed, and the rue; and that betony kills 

 them. Other plants, as has already been men- 

 tioned, deftroy flies, fuch as certain fpecies of the 

 dionasa. Thevenot aflures us, that in the Indies, 

 o-rooms defend their horfes from the flies, by rub- 

 bing them every morning with the flowers of the 

 pumpion. The fleabane, which bears black and 

 fhining grains, refembling a flea, clears the houfe 

 of that vermin, if Diofcorides is to be credited. 



The 



