110 DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 



tricus ; but, I dare aver, have no idea that any insect 

 possesses their extraordinary powers. — Yet I can as- 

 sure you, upon good authority, that Redircius serratuSy 

 F., commonly known in the West Indies by the name 

 of the wheel-bug-, can, like them, communicate an elec- 

 tric shock to the person whose flesh it touches. The 

 late Major-general Davies, oFthe Royal Artillery, well 

 known as a most accurate observer of nature and an in- 

 defatigable collector of her treasures, as Avell as a most 

 admirable painter of them, once informed me, that 

 when abroad, having taken up this animal and placed 

 it upon his hand, it gave him a considerable shock, as 

 if fi'om an electric jar, Avith its legs, w hich he felt as 

 high as his shoulders ; and, dropping the creature, he 

 observed six marks upon his hand where the six feet 

 had stood. 



You may now possibly think that I have nearly gone 

 through the catalogue of our per5o;zff/ assailants of the 

 insect tribes. If such, however, is your expectation, I 

 fear you will be disappointed, since I have many more, 

 and some tremendous ones, to enumerate : but as a 

 small compensation for such a detail of evils and inju- 

 ries to which our species is exposed from foes seem- 

 ingly so insignificant, and of acts of rebellion of the 

 vilest and most despised of our subjects against our 

 boasted supremacy, the objects to which I shall next 

 call your attention are not, like most of our apterous 

 enemies, calculated to excite disgust and nausea Avhen 

 we see them or speak of them ; nor do they usually 

 steal upon us during the silent hours of repose, (though 

 I must except here the gnat or mosquito,) but are many 

 of them very beautiful, and boldly make their attack 



