114 piRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 



cets, while others are barbed like the spicula of a l)ee's 

 sting, is at once calculated for piercing the flesh and 

 forming a siphon adapted to imbibe the blood ^. There 

 are several species of this genus whose bite is severe, 

 but none is to be compared to the common gnat {Culex 

 pipiens, L.)? if? as has been generally affirmed, it be sy- 

 nonymous with the mosquito (though perhaps several 

 species are confounded under both names) ; and to this, 

 the most insatiable of blood-suckers, I shall principally 

 direct your attention. 



In this country they are justly regarded as no trifling- 

 evil ; for they follow us to all our haunts, intrude into 

 our most secret retirements, assail us in the city and 

 in the country, in our houses and in our fields, in the 

 sun and in the shade : nay, they pursue us to our pil- 

 lows, and either keep us awake by the ceaseless hum of 

 their droning pipe, and their incessant endeavours to 

 fix themselves upon our face, or some uncovered part 

 of our body ; or, if in spite of them we fall asleep, 

 awaken us by the acute pain which attends the inser- 

 tion of their oral stings ; attacking with most avidity 

 the softer sex, and trying their temper by disfiguring 

 their beauty. But although with us they are usually 

 rather teasing than injurious; yet upon some occa- 

 sions they have approached nearer to the character of 

 a plague, and emulated with success the mosquitos of 

 other climates. Thus, we are told that in the year 1736 

 they were so numerous, that vast columns of them 



"^ Pliny %vas aware of this double office of the proboscis of a gnat, and 

 has well described it. " Telum vero perfodiendo tergori quo spiculavit 

 ingenio : Atque ut in capaci, cum cerni non possit exilitas, ita reci- 

 proca geminavit arte, ut fodiendo acuminatum pariter sorbendoque fistu- 

 losum esset." Hist. Nat, 1. xi. c, 2. 



