DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 113 



adapted to imbibe the blood a . There are several species 

 of this genus whose bite is severe, but none is to be com- 

 pared to the common gnat {Culex pipiens, L.), if, as has 

 been generally affirmed, it be synonymous with the mos- 

 quito (though perhaps several species are confounded 

 under both names) ; and to this, the most insatiable of 

 blood-suckers, I shall principally direct your attention. 



In this country they are justly regarded as no trifling 

 evil ; for they follow us to all our haunts, intrude into 

 our most secret retirements, assail us in the city and in 

 the country, in our houses and in our fields, in the sun 

 and in the shade : nay, they pursue us to our pillows, 

 and either keep us awake by the ceaseless hum of their 

 droning pipe, and their incessant endeavours to fix them- 

 selves upon our face, or some uncovered part of our 

 body ; or, if in spite of them we fall asleep, awaken us by 

 the acute pain which attends the insertion of their oral 

 stings ; attacking with most avidity the softer sex, and 

 trying their temper by disfiguring their beauty. But 

 although with us they are usually rather teasing than in- 

 jurious ; yet upon some occasions they have approached 

 nearer to the character of a plague, and emulated with 

 success the mosquitos of other climates. Thus, we are 

 told that in the year 1736 they were so numerous, that 

 vast columns of them were seen to rise in the air from 

 Salisbury cathedral, which at a distance resembled 

 columns of smoke, and occasioned many people to think 



1 Pliny was aware of this double office of the proboscis of a gnat, 

 and has well described it. " Telum vero perfodiendo tcrgori quo 

 spiculavit ingenio ? Atque ut in capaci, cum cerni non nossit ex- 

 ilitas, ita reciproca geminavit arte, ut fodiendo acuminatum pariter 

 sorbendoque fistulosum esset." Hist. Nat. 1. xi. c. 2. 



VOL. I. * 



