34 NATURAL H IS TOR Y of N R WA T. 



CHAPTER II. 

 Of SERPENTS and INSECTS. 



Sect. I. General obfervations on the creatures, which properly belong to this 

 clafs. Sect. II. Serpents of the land. Sect. III. Serpents of the waters. 

 Sect. IV. Lizards, Toads, Frogs and Snails. Sect. V. Graf shoppers, 

 Plow- worms, Slow-worms and Centipes. Sect. VI. The Clujler-worm and 

 Spider. Sect. VII. Small worms, which fall in the fogs, and hurt trees. 

 Sect. VIII. Others of a like kind, which are thought to come down with 

 /now, and hurt the ground. Sect. IX. Of Caterpillars, Humble-bees, 

 Gnats and Flies. Sect. X. Of Wood-bees, Beetles and Ants. Sect. XL 

 Of Infers found in the water, and called Water-beetles ; of Boat-flies, 

 and Red-worms, and Hippocampus, or Sea-horfe. Sect. XII. Of the Con- 

 cha Anatifera, which is erroneoufly taken to be the firjl fate of a certain 



, kind of Geefe or Ducks. 



SECT. I. 



F T E R the Quad impedes of Norway, we naturally take 

 L into consideration the Serpents and Infects ; thofe which 

 creep, and thofe which have feme ufe of wings. 



This article will be but fhort for two reafens ; firft, Becaufe 

 Leaft of there the cold northern parts are lefs fruitful of them than the warmer 

 the nS s countries, where the earth and air are better adapted for the 

 peculiar contexture of the * bodies of Snakes and Infects : and 

 fecondly, I write only what I know by experience j and I have 

 hitherto had but little opportunity of examining into thefe matters 

 with neceifary care and circumfpeclion, efpecially as the tafte of trjis 

 age is very delicate in thefe particulars, from the extraordinary lights 

 of many, and of Mr. de Reaumur, preferable tomoft, who has di£- 

 covered things concerning them, to the wonder and furprife of all 

 Europe. In the mean time I will not omit inferting the Natura 

 rerum, fo far as my imperfect knowledge and little experience 

 therein has been able to furnifh. I mail obferve firft, that the terms, 

 Serpents and Infects arc to be underftood in the extenfive fenfe, 

 which the before-mentioned Mr. de Reaumur explains in the follow- 

 ing words, in his Memoires pour fervir a l'hiftoire des Infectes. T. I. 

 P. I. p. 69. fequ. Les anneaux dont le corps d'une infinite de petits 

 animaux eft compofe, les efpeces d'incifions qui fe trouvent a la 



* Neverthelefs Infects live longer in a cold air than in hot, according to John 

 Swammerdam's remarks in his Biblia Naturae, Clafs hi. p. 162, where he fpeaks thus : 

 " Such influence have cold and heat on that fmall animal the Silk-worm, that tho' 

 heat is life to it, and cold death, that is, it obftru&s all motion, which is a ftate of 

 death 5 yet it appears from examples,' that even cold may preferve this little animal's 

 life longer, for their juices and fpirits circulate flower^ and don't evaporate fo foon as 

 in immoderate heat." Perhaps the fame principle may be advanced of the longevity 

 of the Norwegians, 



jonction 



