jaiore mischievous than even the Tarantula, chiefly 

 in the vailies of Neyba, and others within the juris- 

 diction of Popayon. I t is called a Coya. It is much 

 less than a bug, and is of a fiery red colour. It is 

 found in the corners of walls and among the herbage. 

 On squeezing it, ii any moisture from it fails on the 

 skin of either man or beast, it immediately penetrates 

 the flesh, and causes kirge tumours, which are soon 

 followed by death. 



The only remedy js, on the first appearance of a 

 swelling, to singe the person all over the body with 

 a flame of straw, or of the long grass growing on those 

 plains. This the Indians perform wiih great dex- 

 terity, some holding him by the feet, others by thtj 

 hands. 



Travellers here are warned by their Indian guides, 

 if they fed any thing crawl on their neck or face, not 

 even to lift their hand, the coya being so ddicafe a 

 texture, that it would immediately burst. But let_ 

 them tell the Indian what they feel, and he comes and 

 blows it away. 



The beasts which feed there, are taught by instinct, 

 before they touch the herbage with thtir lips, to 

 blow on it with all tiieir force, in order to clear it of 

 these pernicious vermin. And when their smell in. 

 forms them that a coya's nest is near, they immediately 

 leap and run to some other part Yet sometimes a 

 mule after all his care has taken in a coya with his 

 pasture. In this case after swelling to a irighttul de. 

 gree, it expires upon the spot. Thus does even he 

 irrational creation " groan and travel in pain toge- 

 ther," until it shall be * delivered into the glorious 

 * liberty of the children of God I" 



8. Mention was made of the extreme smallness of 

 some spiders, but how much smaller arc those ani- 

 malcula, discerned by the microscope ? These are in 

 almost all water. Kven in that wherein the best glas. 

 ses can discover no particles of animated matter, after 

 $ few grains of pepper, or $ small fragment of a plant 



