108 DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 



glauca\ an insect related to the Cimicidte, which always 

 swims upon its back, made me suffer still more severely, 

 as if I had been burned, by the insertion of its rostrum ; 

 but the wound was not followed by any inflammation ; 

 and long before me Willughby had made the same dis- 

 covery and observation*. St. Pierre, in his Voyage to 

 Mauritius^ mentions a species of bug found in that island, 

 the bite of which is more venomous than the sting of a 

 scorpion, and is succeeded by a tumour as big as the 

 egg of a pigeon, which continues for four or five days. 

 You are well acquainted with the history and properties 

 of the Raia Torpedo and Gymnotus electricus ; but, I 

 dare aver, have no idea that any insect possesses their 

 extraordinary powers. Yet I can assure you, upon good 

 authority, that Reduvius serratus, commonly known in 

 the West Indies by the name of the wheel-bug, can, like 

 them, communicate an electric shock to the person whose 

 flesh it touches. The late Major-general Davies, of 

 the Royal Artillery, well known as a most accurate ob- 

 server of nature and an indefatigable collector of her 

 treasures, as well as a most admirable painter of them, 

 once informed me, that when abroad, having taken up 

 this animal and placed it upon his hand, it gave him a 

 considerable shock, as if from an electric jar, with its 

 legs, which he felt as high as his shoulders ; and, drop- 

 ping the creature, he observed six marks upon his hand 

 where the six feet had stood. 



You may now possibly think that I have nearly gone 

 through the catalogue of our personal assailants of the 

 insect tribes. If such, however, is your expectation, I 



a Proboscis in cutem intrusa acerrimum clolorem excitat, qui tamen 

 brevi cessat. Rai. Hist. Ins. 58. 



