THE BEETLE. 



551 



are of the greatest benefit to mankind, making 

 a part in many medicines conducive to human 

 preservation. They are chiefly natives of 

 Spain, Italy, and Portugal; but they are to 

 be met with also about Paris in the summer 

 time, upon the leaves of the ash, the poplar, 

 and the rose-trees, and also among wheat, and 

 in meadows. It is very certain, that these 

 insects are fond of ash-leaves, insomuch that 

 they will sometimes strip one of these trees 

 quite bare. Some affirm that these flies de- 

 light in sweet-smelling herbs ; and it is very 

 certain, that they are fond of honey-suckles, 

 lilac, and wild-cherry shrubs; but some that 

 have sought after them declare they never 

 could find them on elder-trees, nut-trees, and 

 among wheat. We are told that the country 

 people expect the return of these insects every 

 seven years. It is very certain, that such a 

 number of these insects have been seen to- 

 gether in the air, that they appeared like 

 swarms of bees ; and that they have so dis- 

 agreeable a smell, that it may be perceived a 

 great way off, especially about sun-set, though 

 they are not seen at that time. This bad 

 smell is a guide lor those who make it their 

 business to catch them. When they are 

 caught they dry them, after which they are 

 so light, that fifty will hardly weigh a drachm. 

 Those that gather them tie them in a bag, or 

 a piece of linen cloth, that has been well worn, 

 and then they kill them with the vapours of 

 hot vinegar, after which they dry them in the 

 sun, and keep them in boxes. These flies, 

 thus dried, being chemically analysed, yield 

 a great deal of volatile caustic salt, mixed with 

 a little oil, phlegm, and earth. Cantharides 

 are penetrating, corrosive, and, applied to the 

 skin, raise blisters, from whence proceeds a 

 great deal of serosity. They are made use of 

 both inwardly and outwardly. However, 

 it is somewhat strange that the effects of 

 these flies should fall principally upon the 



" love-illumined form," however obscure the place of her 

 abode. It has been objected, however, to this explana- 

 tion, that since both larva and pupa, as De Geer ob- 

 served, and the males shine as well as the females the 

 meeting of the sexes can scarcely be the object of their 

 luminous provision. But this difficulty appears to me 

 easily surmounted. As the light proceeds from a pecu- 

 liarly organized substance, which probably must in part 

 be elaborated in the larva and pupa states, there seems 

 nothing inconsistent in the fact of some light being then 

 emitted, with the supposition of its being destined solely 

 for use in the perfect state : and the circumstance of the 

 male having the same luminous property, no more proves 

 that the superior brilliancy of the female is not intendec 

 for conducting him to her, than the existence of nipples 

 and sometimes of milk in man, proves that the breast o 

 woman is not meant for the support of her offspring 

 \Ve often see, without being able to account for the fact 

 except on Sir E. Home's idea, that the sex of the ovum 

 is undetermined, traces of an organization in one sex 

 indisputably intended for the sole use of the other. In 

 induction to Entomology, ly Kirby and Spcnce. 



irinary passages ; for though some authors 

 mve endeavoured to account for this, we are 

 till in the dark, for all they have said amounts 



no more than that they affect these parts in 



1 manner which may be very learnedly des- 

 cribed, but very obscurely comprehended. 



An insect of great, though perhaps not 

 equal use in medicine, is that which is known 

 )y the name of the Kermes ; it is produced 

 n the excrescence of an oak, called the berry- 

 bearing ilex, and appears at first wrapped up in 

 a membranaceous bladder, of the size of a 

 >ea, smooth and shining, of a brownish-red 

 ;olour, and covered with a very fine ash-col- 

 oured powder. This bag teems with a num- 

 )er of reddish eggs or insects, which being 

 rubbed with the fingers pour out a crimson 

 iquor. It is only met with in warm countries 

 n the months of May and June. In the 

 month of April this insect becomes of the size 

 and shape of a pea, and its eggs some time 

 after burst from the womb, and soon turning 

 worms, run about the branches and leaves of 

 the tree. They are of two sexes, and the fe- 

 males have been hitherto described ; but the 

 nales are very distinct from the former, and 

 are a sort of small flies like gnats, with six 

 feet, of which the four forward are short, and 

 :he two backward long, divided into four 

 joints and fcrmed with three crooked nails. 

 There arc two feelers on the head, a line and 

 a half long, which are movable, streaked, and 

 articulated. The tail, at the back part of the 

 body, is half a line long, and forked. The 

 whole body is covered with two transparent 

 wings, and they leap about in the manner of 

 fleas. The harvest of the kermes is greater or 

 less in proportion to the severity of the winter, 

 and the women gather them before sun-rising, 

 tearing them off with their nails, for fear there 

 should be any loss from the hatching of the in 

 sects. They sprinkle them with vinegar, and 

 lay them in the sun to dry, where they acquire 

 a red colour. 



An insect, perhaps, still more useful than 

 either of the former, is the Cochineal, which 

 has been variously described by authors ; some 

 have supposed it a vegetable excrescence from 

 the tree upon which it is found ; some have 

 described it as a louse ; some, as a bug ; and 

 some, as a beetle. As they appear in our 

 shops when brought from America, they are 

 of an irregular shape, convex on one side, and 

 a little concave on the other ; but are both 

 marked with transverse streaks or wrinkles. 

 They are of a scarlet colour within, and with- 

 out of a blackish red, and sometimes of a 

 white, reddish, or ash colour, which are ac- 

 counted the best, and are brought us from 

 Mexico. The cochineal insect is of an oval 

 form, of the size of a small pea, with six feet, 

 and a snout or trunk. 1 1 brings forth itd 



