NATURAL HISTORY. 



8 45 



in a corner of each room, which 

 thoy generally clioose, and then 

 by inspecting it now and then, they 

 are easily destroyed. When I first 

 took the house liere, and slept up 

 stairs, I heard at night the bats 

 which were nestled in my roof, 

 and as these are very unpleasant 

 visitors in this country,* I tried 

 an experiment for their expulsion, 

 the success of which exceeded my 

 expectations. Just at noon, when 

 the sun shone most, I chased them 

 from the roof with a long reed 

 cane, and this frightened them so 

 much, that they did not return 

 again : I therefore repeated this 

 whenever I heard any fresh in- 

 truders ; but this has not happened 

 above twice or three times since I 

 have lived here. The cock-roach, 

 which is so very disgusting, might 

 be hindered from running over the 

 walls if the houses had pannels of 

 glazed tiles ; there is one species 

 of insect, however, of which I 

 have not yet been able to get rid, 

 and those are the small red ants, 

 which prevent me from being able 

 to keep any chrysales, as they 

 destroy them all ; I have tried, by 

 surrounding the chrysales with 

 water, to preserve them ; but these 

 ants come in such great numbers, 

 that when the first of them fall 

 into the water, the others cross 



over to the object upon them. 

 They seem to live principally upon 

 animal food, and make no appear- 

 ance in the house, except when 

 there are some chrysales, or a 

 dead bird; of which, in a very 

 short time, the eyes, ears, and bill, 

 are entirely filled up with them, 

 and they begin their destruction of 

 the carcase before it can come to 

 putrefaction ; but in a climate like 

 this, such an insect certainly is 

 very useful. 



0)1 the Icy Crust formed on 

 Glass fVindotvs during a se- 

 vere Frost. By Mr. J. Gra- 

 ham, of Beri'jick-upon- Tweed. 

 [^From the Philosophical Maga- 

 zine/or March, 1809.] 



This curious phenomenon is so 

 common, that I believe there are 

 very few who have not taken some 

 notice of it ; but like, many of the 

 other appearances in nature, which 

 strike the mind of the philosopher 

 or the contemplative observer with 

 wonder and astonishment, with 

 the great bulk of mankind it ex- 

 cites not the least surprise. Such 

 seems to be the general weakness 

 of the human intellect, that we all 

 require some friendly hand or kind 

 assistant to first " rear the tender 



thought, 



• The extent of the wings of the largest species of bat or vampire, at Surinam, 

 is about sixteen inches ; but its body from the nose to the rump Is six inches. I 

 have seen persons who had been bit by them at night ; but that an animal about 

 the length of seven inches should suck so much blood as to make a person sleep from 

 time to eternity, as is by many pretended, «eems to be a gross exaggeration, for 

 they are so shy in approaching, that they only choose the tip of the toe in 

 general. 



To destroy the white ants when they infest the houses, the inhabitants make 

 use of arsenic ; but as this may be attended with dangerous consequences, and 

 does not destroy the eggs of the ants, which produce a new race of intruders, I 

 therefore rather preferred using boiling water, which answers both purposes of 

 destroying old and young. 



