DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 105 



priety introduce there, as tliey do not take up their 

 abode and breed in us, which nevertheless annoy us 

 considerably. One of these is a hexapod so minute, 

 that, were it not for the uncommon brilliancy of its co- 

 lour, which is the most vivid crimson that can be con- 

 ceived, it would be quite invisible. It is known by the 

 name of the harvest-bug, (Acdrus auiumnalis, Shaw,) 

 and is so called, I imagine, from its attacking the legs 

 of the labourers employed in the harvest, in the flesh 

 of which it buries itself at the root of the hairs, pro- 

 ducing intolerable itching, attended by inflammation 

 and considerable tumours, and sometimes even occa- 

 sioning fevers'*. — A sia^.ilar insect is found in Brazil, 

 abounding in the rainy season, particularly during the 

 gleams of sunshine, or fine days that intervene; as 

 small as a point, and moving very fast. These animals 

 get upon the linen and cover it in a moment ; after- 

 wards they insinuate themselves into the skin and oc- 

 casion a most intolerable itching. They are with dif- 

 ficulty extracted, and leave behind them large livid 

 tumours, which subside in a day or two. An insect 

 very tormenting to the wood-cutters and the settlers 

 on the Mosquito shore and the bay of Honduras, and 

 called by them the doctor, is thought to be synonymous 

 with this**. — More serious consequences have been 

 known to follow the bite of another Acarus related to 

 the above, if not the same species, common in Marti- 

 nique, and called there the Bete rouge. When our 

 soldiers in camp were attacked by this animal, dan- 

 gerous ulcers succeeded the symptoms just mentioned, 



* Natural Miscell. ii. 1. 42. * Lindley in the Royal Militari) 



Chrunick for March 1815, p. 459. 



