INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 229 



WGiilioek preying upon two of our spices, the mace and 

 the nutmeo"^. The maggots of flies are found in vine- 

 gar; and sometimes even water in the casks of ships, 

 in long voyages, so abounds with them as to render it 

 extremely disgusting. Browne, in his History of Ja- 

 maica, mentions an ant {Formica omnivora, L.) that 

 consumes or spoils all kinds of food ; which perhaps may 

 be the same species that has been observed in Ceylon 

 by Percival, and is described by him as inhabiting 

 dwelling-hovises, and speedily devouring every thing it 

 can meet with. If at table any one drops a piece of 

 bread, or of other food, it instantly appears in motion 

 as if animated, from the vast number of these creatures 

 that fasten upon it in order to carry it off. They can 

 be kept, he tells us, by no contrivance from invading 

 the table, and settling in swarms on the bread, sugar, 

 and such things as they like. It is not uncommon to 

 see a cup of tea, upon being poured out, completely 

 covered with these creatiires, and floating dead upon 

 it like a scum''. 



In some countries the number of flies and other in- 

 sects that enter the house in search of food, or allured 

 by the light, is so great as to spoil the comfort of almost 

 every meal. We are told that during the rainy season 

 in India, insects of all descriptions are so incredibly nu- 

 merous, and so busy every w here, that it is often abso- 

 lutely necessary to remove the lights from the supper- 

 table : — were this not done, moths, flies, bugs, beetles, 

 and the like would be attracted in such numbers as to 

 extinguish tliem entirely. When the lights are re- 

 tained on the table, in some places they are put into 



* Leeuwenh. Epist. 99. " Ceylon, 307. 



