HARVEST BUG. 



pipe set at concert pitch, and finds they all hoot in B flat. 

 He will examine the nightingales next spring. 



LETTER XLIII. 



TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ. 



SELBORNE, March 30, 1771. 



DEAR SIR, There is an insect with us, especially on chalky 

 districts, which is very troublesome and teasing all the latter 

 end of the summer, getting into people's skins, especially those 

 of women and children, and raising tumours, which itch intol- 

 erably. This animal (which we call an harvest bug) is very 

 minute, scarce discernible to the naked eye, of a bright scarlet 

 colour, and of the genus of acarus.* They are to be met with 

 in gardens, on kidney beans, or any legumens, but prevail 

 only in the hot months of summer. Warreners, as some have 

 assured me, are much infested by them on chalky downs, 

 where these insects swarm sometimes to so infinite a degree 

 as to discolour their nets, and to give them a reddish cast ; 

 while the men are so bitten as to be thrown into fevers. 



There is a small, long, shining fly, in these parts, very 

 troublesome to the housewife, by getting into the chimneys, 

 and laying its eggs in the bacon, while it is drying. These 

 eggs produce maggots, called jumpers, which, harbouring in 



* This is the acarus autumnalis, or harvest bug, which is one of the 

 most teasing little insects in nature. Though bred to live on vegetable 

 substances, such as French beans, currants, raspberries, and other fruits, 

 yet it deserts these, whether by accident or design, to live on, and among, 

 the most sensitive portions of the human race. These insects are so 

 minute, that they are hardly visible to the naked eye, and that only when 

 they are placed on a smooth, white surface: they are best known by 

 their effects. Females and children are most liable to their attacks, and 

 chiefly where any part of the dress fits closely to the skin : there they 

 seat themselves, at the intersection of the lines, and lay such firm hold with 

 their feet and jaw, that they cannot be displaced by rubbing, or by 

 washing, unless a powerful spirit is used. The point of a fine needle is 

 best calculated for removing them, while the person so employed must 

 use a magnifying glass, to enabb him to do so. They lacerate the skin 

 in some way or other, and cause extreme itching, and considerable 

 inflammation, which surrounds small vesicles, filled with a semi-trans- 

 parent fluid. These animals have a fastidious taste, for there are some 

 individuals whom they will not attack. Of two persons, for instance, who 

 had been together, during a day's nutting in the woods, and who afterwards 

 slept in the same bed-chamber, one of them was entirely covered with red 

 blotches, from the attack of the bug, while the other was quite untouched. 

 ED. 



H 



