230 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 



her colonies in them, which multiply incredibly. Other 

 substances, more unlikely, do not escape from our pygmy 

 depredators. Thus Reaumur tells us of a little moth 

 whose larva feeds upon chocolate, observing very justly 

 that this could not have been its original food a . Both 

 a moth and a beetle (Sylvanm Jrumentarius ?) were de- 

 tected by Leeuwenhoek preying upon two of our spices, 

 the mace and the nutmeg 5 . The maggots of a fly (Os- 

 cinis cellaris) are found in vinegar, in the manufactories 

 of which the perfect insects swarm in incredible num- 

 bers; others I have found in wine, which turned to a 

 minute fly, of a yellow colour, with dark eyes and ab- 

 domen, which though near Antlwmyia' as to its wings, 

 appears to belong to a distinct genus not published by 

 Meigen, which in my MS. stands under the name of 

 Oinopota ventralis ; and sometimes even water in the 

 casks of ships, in long voyages, so abounds with larvae of 

 this tribe as to render it extremely disgusting. Browne, 

 in his History of Jamaica, mentions an ant (Formica om- 

 nivora, L.) probably belonging to Myrmica^ that con- 

 sumes or spoils all kinds of food ; which perhaps may be 

 the same species that has been observed in Ceylon by 

 Percival, and is described by him as inhabiting dwelling- 

 houses, and speedily devouring every thing it can meet 

 with. If at table any one drops a piece of bread, or of 

 other food, it instantly appears in motion as if animated, 

 from the vast number of these creatures that fasten upon 

 it in order to carry it off. They can be kept, he tells us, 

 by no contrivance from invading the table, and settling 

 in swarms on the bread, sugar, and such things as they 

 like. It is not uncommon to see a cup of tea, upon being 



a Reaum. iii. 276. b Leeuwenh. Epist. 09. 



