214 PERFORMING FLEAS. 



In magnitude, as well as brilliancy of colour, the tropic 

 bugs, as well as tropic butterflies, confessedly excel our own ; 

 but for the blue bug of China we have one scarcely less 

 beautiful, the blue bug of England,* which flies in the July 

 sunshine, or is found resting upon heath or trees.f 



There is one distinctive trait of the Bug-family which pre- 

 vails, we believe, almost as universally amongst its out-door 

 members as in its domestic branch. However the former may 

 appear to the eye as if invested with a portion of the grace 

 and beauty of the plants on which we find them, there is ano- 

 ther organ of perception to which it may possibly become 

 evident that they have not, with its elegance, borrowed also 

 the blossom's sweetness. If their frequently sculptured wing- 

 cases were inscribed, like those of some other insects, with 

 legible characters, "Noli me tangere" is the warning motto 

 they should bear. 



Now, for a word or two about that sanguinary little monster, 

 the Flea, which, like other sanguinary monsters of larger 

 growth, has been, perhaps, of all insects the most distinguished. 



Stands it not recorded in history how that an individual 

 flea was once honoured by a cannon-shot from a female 

 royal hand, that of the celebrated Queen Christina? and is 

 not the brass piece of Lilliputian ordnance used on that 



* Pentatoma cceruka. 



t The flying bugs of Hindostan, resembling our own domestic species in shape, 

 size, and scent, are described by Bishop Heber as coming out in nightly swarms from 

 every bush, entering the windows and crowding round the candles. 



