222 HABITS AND INSTINCTS OF ANIMALS. CHAP. VI. 



mentors. Hermann has figured and described an Acarus 

 which was detected running on the corpus callosum of 

 the brain of a patient in the military hospital at Stras- 

 bourg ; and Cornelius Gemma says that, on dissecting 

 the brain of a woman, there was found in it abundance 

 of vermicles and punaises* 



(234.) Were we to enumerate all the lesser injuries 

 inflicted upon us by insects which wound by their sting 

 or mouth, or bite by their jaws, we should far exceed 

 the limits assigned to this subject. These injuries, 

 however tormenting, do not affect the life or wellbeing 

 of the human frame ; neither are they made with un- 

 provoked cause. We must, however, except the mus- 

 quitoes, the harvest flies, and the whane flies, all of 

 which have a predilection for sucking human blood, 

 and are, occasionally, most troublesome enemies to our 

 rest. The foreign species of Reduvius Fab..(/#. 66.), 

 more especially those of Brazil, are 

 able to inflict most severe wounds 

 with their sharp proboscis (a), with 

 every appearance of a venomous bite. 

 We suffered the most excruciating 

 pain for three or four hours, when 

 in Brazil, from one of these insects. 

 The wound was inflicted in the fin- 

 ger, but the inflammation extended 

 for a considerable way up the arm. 

 Many caterpillars of that country are 

 armed with venomous spines, which create a most in- 

 tolerable itching, as already mentioned. The different 

 species of Culeac, or gnat, are the dread of all who live 

 in warm climates ; and in the numerous family of ants 

 are found many which bite most severely. Some of 

 these will be subsequently noticed. Even the common 

 house fly is annoying by its numbers. The minute 

 Thrips, so common in summer, by merely running on 

 the skin, creates a most painful sensation : while wasps, 



* Ink to Ent. vol. L pp. 139-142. 



