16 Notice of the Harvest- Btig. 



times three, strong claws, with which it works so rapidly, 

 mole-fushion, that it inserts itself beneath the skin in a few 

 seconds. Shaw states that it " adheres to the skin by means 

 of two strong hooks attached to the fore part of the body," 

 but these I have never been able to see : he appears not to 

 have been aware of its burying itself beneath the surface^ in 

 which case it is no longer possible to extract it ; a small tu- 

 mour then forms, the itching of which is intolerable. Patience, 

 the panacea universally recommended, is as universally neg- 

 lected. Serious consequences often arise in an irritable consti- 

 tution, from broken sleep, and the skin being torn in frantic 

 endeavours to procure relief. External applications are of 

 little avail, the creature being safe beneath the skin; sal vola- 

 tile, seldom had recourse to till the nails have failed, will 

 change the itching to a pungent smart. As however is the 

 case with all similar scourges, there are individuals perfectly 

 exempt from its attacks. 



Shaw, Latreille, and White of Selborne all state that this 

 insect is located upon corn, kidney-beans, and various other 

 vegetables ; this they probably adopted from each other, the 

 original foundation being popular belief: but having been as- 

 sured in the course of my researches on this subject that* 

 Daddy Long-legs [Phalangium Opilio) was the father of 

 Harvest-bugs, and the common red garden 'spider their pro- 

 lific mother, and having heard a regular war determined 

 against them as the origin of all the suffering, I may be ex- 

 cused for doubting the value of pojmlar opinions; and let us 

 hope that these absurd fancies of persons who ought to have 

 known better will vanish before the light shed by the popular 

 study of entomology. 



The evidence then appears strongly to favour the opinion 

 that the habitat of the harvest-bug is upon, or close to, the 

 ground. White says that " upon the chalk-downs the war- 

 rener's nets are sometimes coloured red by themf ;" and in- 

 credible as this may appear to one engaged in contemplating 

 a single specimen, there is no doubt of the truth of the state- 

 ment, even though it had rested on meaner authority, for the 

 hem of many a Hampshire petticoat has been similarly dis- 

 coloured, the wearer of which by throwing it off" in time pre- 

 vented the ravages of the insect being extended to the up})er 

 part of the person. Experienced sportsmen well know that 



* Probably from his being frequently covered with another parasitic 

 Acarus, Acarus ocypete. 



t Chalk is the favourite soil ; and perhaps their abounding in corn-fields 

 is owing to the earth being so dry among the ripe straw, and so warm 

 also. 



