122 DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 



exerted sting. I had held the insect by its sting, which 

 it withdrew from between my fingers with surprising 

 force, and then, as if in revenge, stung me. Pompilus 

 vialicus, a vespoid insect that deposits its eggs in ppiders, 

 once, in this way, gave me acute pain. But the insects 

 w liich in this respect principally attract our notice by 

 exciting our fears, are the hive-bee, the wasp, and the 

 hornet. The first of these, the bee, sometimes mani- 

 fests an antipathy to particular individuals, whom it 

 attacks and wounds without provocation ; but the two 

 last, though apparently the most formidable, are not so 

 ill-tempered as they are conceived to be, seldom mo- 

 lesting those who do not first interfere with or disturb 

 them. We learn from Scripture tlmt the hornet (but 

 whether it was the common species is uncertain) was 

 employed by Providence to drive out the impious in- 

 habitants of Canaan, or subdue them under the hand 

 of the Israelites'*. — The effect produced by the sting 

 of these animals is different in different persons. To 

 some they occasion only a very slight inconvenience 

 or a momentary pain ; others feel the smart of the 

 wounds which they inflict for several days, and are 

 thrown into fevers by them ; and to some they have 

 even proved fataP. Yet these insects are cprtainly, 

 in general, but a trifling evil. They become, however, 

 especially Z0asps, a very serious one to many, from the 

 mere dread of being stung by them, even though they 

 should not carry their fears to the same lengtli with the 

 lady mentioned by Dr. Fairfax % in the Philosophical 



* Deut. vii.yO. Josh. xxiv. 12. " Amorenx, 242. 



' Philos. Trans, i. 201. 



