DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 121 



the end with several barbs not visible to the naked eye, 

 and each moving in the groove of a strong and often 

 curved sheath, frequently mistaken for the sting, which, 

 when the darts enter the flesh, usually injects a drop of 

 subtle venom, furnished from a peculiar vessel in which 

 it is secreted, into the wound, occasioning, especially if 

 the darts be not extracted, a considerable tumour, ac- 

 companied by very acute pain. Many insects are thus 

 armed and have this power. Twice I have been stung 

 by an Ichneumon ; first by one with a concealed sting, 

 and afterwards by another of the family of /. Manifes- 

 tator (Pi?njjla, F.), with a very long exerted sting. I 

 had held the insect by its sting, which it withdrew from 

 between my fingers with surprising force, and then, as 

 if in revenge, stung me. Pompilus viaticus, a vespoid in- 

 sect that deposits its eggs in spiders, once, in this way, 

 gave me acute pain. But the insects which in this re- 

 spect principally attract our notice by exciting our fears, 

 are the hive-bee, the wasp, and the hornet. The first of 

 these, the bee, sometimes manifests an antipathy to par- 

 ticular individuals, whom it attacks and wounds without 

 provocation; but the two last, though apparently the 

 most formidable, are not so ill-tempered as they are con- 

 ceived to be, seldom molesting those who do not first 

 interfere with or disturb them. We learn from Scrip- 

 ture that the hornet (but whether it was the common 

 species is uncertain) was employed by Providence to 

 drive out the impious inhabitants of Canaan, or subdue 

 them under the hand of the Israelites 3 . — The effect pro- 

 duced by the sting of these animals is different in diffe- 

 rent persons. To some they occasion only a very slight 



a Deut. vii. 20. Josh. xxiv. 12. 



