CHAP. V. SKIN OF INSECTS. 171 



head of Centrotus globularis Fab,, which terminate be- 

 hind in a long spear. Were not these insects very 

 small, they would excite the wonder of the most list- 

 less observer ; and we should have them sent over in 

 abundance to our cabinets. But their minuteness pro- 

 tects them ; and they are but seldom seen in the collec- 

 tions sent to Europe. Among the most grievous an- 

 noyances occasioned by the passive defence possessed 

 by insects, are the poisonous or stinging properties 

 of such caterpillars as represent the Scolopendrida, or 

 scorpions. One of these, of a beautiful black colour, 

 with yellow radiated spines, we met with in Brazil. 

 Anxious to secure this prize for the breeding cage, we 

 incautiously took hold of it with the naked hand ; but 

 so instantaneous and so violent was the pain which 

 followed, that we were obliged to return home : warm 

 fomentations, placing the hand in tepid water, every 

 device we could think of to allay the intolerable itch- 

 ing produced by the venomous hairs of this creature, 

 were in turn resorted to, with little or no effect, for 

 several hours ; nor had it entirely ceased on the follow- 

 ing morning. This formidable creature very much 

 resembles the caterpillar figured in White's Voyage, 

 pi. 51. f. 4. M. Merian has figured another, of a much 

 larger size, found in Surinam, which seems to have in- 

 flicted equal pain upon her : it was completely covered 

 with long shaggy hairs, the touch of which caused 

 severe inflammation, succeeded by excruciating pain. 



(188.) There is a family of 

 wood-bugs (Reduvius Fab., fig. 

 59-)' peculiar, we believe, to 

 Brazil, whose body and legs are 

 entirely covered by a thick 

 clammy down, similar to that 

 found on the stems of different 

 species of Silene, or catch- 

 fly plants. Now, these insects, 

 by the structure of their mouths, 

 obviously live by sucking the juices of others ; but 



