ENTOMOLOGY. 183 



ity of marshes, or when our rooms are lighted during the 

 evenings of summer we have but little reason for com- 

 plaint, when we observe their ravages in other countries. 

 It is said that in South America, soldiers are sometimes 

 forced to sleep with their heads thrust into holes in the 

 earth, made with their bayonets, and to wrap round their 

 necks their hammocks ; that a king of Persia, his army 

 having been completely exhausted by these insects, has 

 been compelled to raise the siege of cities : that the Lap- 

 lander is barely able to exist, with every means of defence 

 he can employ ; and that the Russian soldier, although 

 sleeping in a sack, is not always able to live under such 

 excessive irritation. And for all the sufferings expe- 

 rienced from this order, decomposing matter is removed 

 by the infinite tribe of flies, which on every side surrounds 

 us. The larvae of one species, the inmate of putrid 

 cheese, is a delicious repast fur the refined epicure ; and 

 it is conjectured that the larva? of the gad fly, which - 

 haust the poor horse, are in some cases, a gentle and 

 beneficial stimulant. 



The seventh and last order, is called Jlpicra from a, 

 primitive, andptcron, wing, and includes all such insects 

 as want wings, in either sex. This order includes the 

 Lepismae, commonly called moths ; Termites, or white- 

 ants ; Pedicalus, the louse ; Palex, the flea ; &c, &c. 

 The termites or white-ants, are extremely* numerous in 

 warm countries, and very destructive, although wood is 

 their common food ; clothes, furniture, books, and almost 

 all manufactured articles, are ruined by them. They 

 curiously avoid injuring the exterior of substances, while 

 they are destroying all within ; houses are ruined by them ; 

 and when vessels are so unfortunate as to receive any on 

 board of them, much injury is suffered. The genus 

 Pediculus, louse, is very extensive. There is scarcely 

 an animal or vegetable, that does not suffer from its own 

 peculiar louse. Our domestic animals, as well as birds, 

 fishes, plants, all have their lice to man, it is extremely 

 troublesome : but as it has been ascertained that the in- 

 convenience is merely external irritation, we ought per- 

 haps to consider it in the light of a proper reward for 

 those who cherish them ; as rarely, any one is annoyed, 



