DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 55 



extract it ; and he was obliged to lay open the place, lest an abscess should 

 be formed. 1 But the worst of all the tick tribe is the American (Ixodes 

 americanus) described by Professor Kalm. This insect, which is related 

 to the preceding, is found in the woods of North America, and is equally 

 an enemy to man and beast. They are there so infinitely numerous, that 

 if you sit down upon the ground, or upon the trunk of a tree, or walk with 

 naked feet or legs, they will cover you, and, plunging their serrated rostrum 

 into the bare places of the body, begin to suck your blood, going deeper 

 and deeper till they are half buried in the flesh. Though at first they occa- 

 sion no uneasiness, when they have thus made good their settlement, they 

 produce an intolerable itching, followed by acute pain and large tumours. It 

 is now extremely difficult to extract them, the animal rather suffering itself 

 to be pulled to pieces than let go its hold ; so that the rostrum and head, 

 being often left in the wound, produce an inflammation and suppuration 

 which render it deep and dangerous. These ticks are at first very small, 

 sometimes scarcely visible, but by suction will swell themselves out till 

 they are as big as the end of one's finger, when they often fall to the 

 ground of themselves. 2 The serrated haustellum of the ticks, which, like 

 the barbed sting of a bee, cannot be extracted unless the animal co-operates, 

 is well worth your inspection ; and the species which infests our dogs is 

 so common that you will have no difficulty in procuring one for ex- 

 amination. 3 



I have now introduced you to the principal insects of the Aptera order 

 of Linne, which, in spite of all his care and all his power, assail the lord 

 of the creation, and make him their food. You will here, however, 

 perhaps accuse me of omitting one very prominent annoyer of our comfort 

 and repose, which you think belongs to this tribe the bed-bug (Cimex lee- 

 tularius). When you are a more practised entomologist, you will see 

 clearly that this, though it has no wings, appertains to another order : 

 nevertheless it may be introduced here without impropriety. Though now 

 too common and well known in this country, it was formerly a rare insect. 

 Had it not, two noble ladies, mentioned by Mouffet, would scarcely have 

 been thrown into such an alarm by the appearance of bug-bites upon them; 

 which, until their fears were dispelled by their physician, who happened 

 also to be a naturalist, they considered as nothing less than symptoms of 

 the plague. Being shown the living cause of their fright, their fears gave 

 place to mirth and laughter. 4 Commerce, with many good things, has also 

 introduced amongst us many great evils, of which noxious insects form no 

 small part ; and one of her worst presents were doubtless the disgusting 

 animals now before us. They seem, indeed, as the above fact proves, to 

 have been productive of greater alarm at first than mischief, at least if we 

 may judge from the change of name which took place upon their becoming 

 common. Their original English name was Chinche or Wall-louse*", and 

 the term Bug, which is a Celtic word, signifying a ghost or goblin, was 

 applied to them after Ray's time, most probably because they were con- 



1 Lesser L. ii. 222. note *. De Geer, vii. 154. 160. 



5 The renowned venomous bug of Persia (MaVeh de Mianeli) has been ascertained 

 to be a species of Argas by Count Fischer de Waldheim. 



4 Theatr. Ins. 270. This happened in 1503 ; which circumstance refutes South- 

 all's opinion that bugs were not known in England before 1670. 



5 Rai, Hist. Ins. 7. Mouffet, 269. They were called also punez, from the French 

 punaise. 



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