252 SEVENTH REPORT—1837. 
the feats of the reptile in swallowing small animals. — Inde- 
pendently of the deadly Cobra da Capello, (Coluber Naag) 
there are some other poisonous species, but in general the 
snakes are harmless. 
Crustacea.—Of the Crustacea, I shall have only to notice 
the Kenkra, Thelphusa cunicularis, a new species which per- 
vades the valleys and table-lauds of the Ghats, and whose 
numbers are so great that their burrows riddle the earth; 
they remain quiet in their holes during the cold and dry 
seasons, but, in the monsoon, they are abroad in such num- 
bers, that travellers drive over them, ride over them, and 
trample upon them in the high roads: they are not an article 
of food with the natives, but are, I believe, wholesome. 
Testacea.—There are some few genera and species of land 
and fluviatile shells, the largest of which is a Unio; but they 
do not call for notice. 
Entomology.—Like all tropical climates, the Dukhun teems 
with insects. The domestic fly is a pest at certain seasons ; 
the most rigid precautions and the greatest cleanliness cannot 
secure the most fastidious person from the inroads of the 
bed-bug ; and there is no getting beyond the ‘‘ maximum leap 
of a flea” ; the fact is, these plagues are not only the constant 
companions of the people, but the flea inflicts serious injury 
on poultry, dogs, and cattle. Domestic, and indeed wild 
animals are subject also to the attacks of a small blue tick, 
(Acarus,) which multiplies upon them in such an incredible 
manner as to affect the vital functions and produce paralysis 
and death. There are three species of honey-bee in Dukhun, 
the honey from the whole of which is remarkably fine. It 
boasts also its lac insect, Coceus laccus ; and several silk-pro- 
ducing moths, particularly the Kolesurra, Bombyx Paphia. 
The most destructive of the insect tribe is the white ant, 
Termes, which, working under cover with the most inde- 
fatigable perseverance, finds its way everywhere, and every- 
where occasions loss and injury; books, papers, clothes, 
leather, wood, &c., are indiscriminately devoured. Several 
species of genuine ants are also a great nuisance. A species 
of sphex makes its earthen nest within the locks of the doors, 
and blocks up the key-holes. The musquito, Culex, is not 
quite so troublesome in Dukhun as on the coast. The scor- 
pion, of which there are two or three species, so abounds in 
the stony lands of Dukhun, that on encamping my regiment, 
on the march from Punderpoor to Ahmednugegur in 1818, I 
had from two to three hundred brought to me in the course 
of a day by my men: their sting produces intolerable pain for 
