268 



ZOOLOGY. 



[PART II. 



respectful view of its attitudes ; it is one of a numerous 

 family of bugs, (some of them most attractive 1 in their 

 colouring,) which are inoffensive if unmolested, but if 

 touched or irritated, exhale an odour that, once endured, 

 is never afterwards forgotten. 



APHANIPTERA. Fleas. Fleas are equally numerous, 

 and may be seen in myriads in the dust of the streets or 

 skipping in the sunbeams which fall on the clay floors of 

 the cottages. The dogs, to escape them, select for their 

 sleeping places spots where a wood fire has been pre- 

 viously kindled ; and here prone on the white ashes, their 

 stomachs close to the earth, and their hind legs extended 

 behind, they repose in comparative coolness, and bid de- 

 fiance to their persecutors. 



DIPTEEA. Mosquitoes. But of all the insect pests 

 that beset an unseasoned European the most provoking 

 by far are the truculent mosquitoes. 2 Even in the 

 midst of endurance from their onslaughts one cannot 

 but be amused by the ingenuity of their movements; 

 as if aware of the risk incident to an open assault, a 

 favourite mode of attack is, when concealed by a 

 table, to assail the ankles through the meshes of the 

 stocking, or the knees which are ineffectually protected 

 by a fold of Eussian duck. When you are reading, a 

 mosquito will rarely settle on that portion of your hand 

 which is within range of your eyes, but cunningly steal- 

 ing by the underside of the book fastens on the wrist or 

 little finger, and noiselessly inserts his proboscis there. 

 I have tested the classical expedient recorded by 

 Herodotus, who states that the fishermen inhabiting the 

 fens of Egypt cover their beds with their nets, knowing 

 that the mosquitoes, although they bite through linen 



1 Such as Cantuo ocellatus, I^epto- 

 scelis Marginalis, Collided StocJcerius, 

 &c. &c. Of the aquatic species, the 

 gigantic JBelostoma Indicum cannot 

 escape notice, attaining a size of nearly 

 three inches. 



2 Ciikx laniger ? "VVied. In Kandy 

 Mr. Thwaites finds C. fuscanus, C. 

 circumvolens, &c., and one with a most 

 formidable hooked proboscis, to which 

 he has assigned the appropriate name 

 C. Rer/ius. 



