£§ STUDIES OF NATURE. 



tures even on carnivorous and blood-fucking in- 

 fers J fuch is the wafp, whofe ground colour is 

 yellow, furrounded with rings of black like the 

 tiger, and the gnat, fpotted with white upon a 

 dark ground, who announces his approach by a 

 loud buzzing. Even thofe which attack the hu- 

 man body are furnifhed with remarkable indica- 

 tions. They either fmell ftrongly, as the bug ; or 

 prefent oppofitions of colour to the places on 

 which they fix, as white infefts on the hairj or 

 the blacknefs of the flea contrafled to the white- 

 nefs of the ikin. 



A great many Writers exclaim violently on the 

 cruelty of ferocious animals, as if our cities were 

 liable to be invaded by fwarms of wolves, or, as if 

 bands of lions, from Africa, were, from time to 

 time, making incurfions into our European colo- 

 nies. They all fliyn the habitations of Man, and, 

 as I faid, moft of them flir abroad only in the 

 night. Thefe diftinftive charaders are unani- 

 mouily attefted by Naturalifts, Hunters, and Tra- 

 vellers. When I was at the Cape of Good -Hope, 

 M. de I'olback, who was then Governor, informed 

 me, that lions were formerly very common in the 

 adjacent country ; but that fince the Dutch had 

 formed a fettlement there, you muft travel fifty or 

 fixty leagues up the country before one is to be 

 feen. 



After 



