238 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 



that this insect was left there a few years ago by an 

 American vessel, with what foundation I know not; 

 but that it is an imported insect, and, like the Teredo 

 navalis, not originally an European animal, seems very 

 probable from the fact that I can find no description of 

 any species of Oniscus at all resembling it, prior to that 

 of Dr. Leach who seems first to have given it a name^ ; 

 and it appears highly improbable that if it had been an 

 European species it should not long since have attract- 

 ed attention and been described. — No other remedy 

 against its attacks is known than that of keeping the 

 wood free from salt-water for three or four days, in 

 which case it dies ; but this method it is obvious can be 

 rarely applicable''. 



How dear are their books, their cabinets of the va- 

 rious productions of nature, and their collections of 

 prints and other works of art and science, to the learned, 

 the scientific, and the virtuosi ! Even these precious 

 treasures have their insect enemies. The larva of Cram- 

 bus pinguinalis, whose ravages in another quarter I 



' Linn, Trans, xi. 371. 



'' In order to ascertain how (a.r pure sea water is essential to this insect, 

 and consequently what danger exists of its being introduced into the 

 wood-work of our docks and piers communicating with our salt-water 

 rivers, as at Hull, Liverpool, Bristol, Ipswich, &c., where it might be far 

 more injurious than eveu on the coast, I have, since December 15th 1815, 

 when Mr. Lutwidge was so kind as to furnish me with a piece of oak 

 full of the insects in a living state, poured a not very strong solution of 

 common salt over the wood, every other day, so as to keep the insects 

 constantly wet. On examining it this day (Feb. 3th 1816) I found them 

 alive ; and, what seems to prove them in as good health as in their na- 

 tural habitat, numbers have established themselves in a piece of fir- wood 

 which I nailed to the oak, and have in this short interval, and in winter 

 too, bored many cells in it. 



