DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 103 



no other uneasiness than itching, (the sensation at first, 

 I am assured, is rather pleasing than otherwise, ) is some- 

 times neglected, it multiplies to such a degree, as to be 

 attended b}*- the most fatal consequences, often, as in the 

 above instance, rendering amputation necessary, and 

 sometimes causing death 3 . The female slaves in the 

 West Indies are frequently employed to extract these 

 pests, which they do with uncommon dexterity. Yarico, 

 so celebrated in prose and verse, performed this kind 

 office for honest Ligon, who says, in his History of 

 Barbadoes, " I have had ten (Chegoes) taken out of my 

 feet in a morning, by the most unfortunate Yarico, an 

 Indian woman b ." Humboldt observes, " that the whites 

 born in the torrid zone walk barefoot with impunity in 

 the same apartment where a European recently landed 

 is exposed to the attack of this animal. The Nigua 

 therefore distinguishes what the most delicate chemical 

 analysis could not distinguish, the cellular membrane 

 and blood of a European from those of a Creole white c ." 

 You have already, perhaps, been satiated with the 

 account before given of our enemies of the Acarus tribe : 

 there are a few, however, which I could not with pro- 

 priety introduce there, as they do not take up their abode 

 and breed in us, which nevertheless annoy us consider- 

 ably. One of these is a hexapod so minute, that, were 

 it not for the uncommon brilliancy of its colour, which 

 is the most vivid crimson that can be conceived, it would 

 be quite invisible. It is known by the name of the har- 

 vest-bug, (Acarus autumnalis, Shaw,) and is so called, 

 I imagine, from its attacking the legs of the labourers 



» Piso and Margr. Ind. 2&9. b P- ^. 



c Personal Narrative, E. T. V. 101, 



