1'26 DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 



poison issues — is less tremendous than that of the Sol- 

 jmga : but though not mortal, its wounds are more pain- 

 ful than those produced by the sting of the scorpion ; 

 and as these animals creep every where, even into beds, 

 they must be very annoying in warm climates where 

 they abound. Dr. Martin Lister, in his Travels, has 

 given us a figure of an insect related to this genus, that 

 he saw in Plumier's collection, which appears to have 

 been eighteen inches in length, and three quarters of an 

 inch in width, having ninety-five legs on each side, the 

 first eight of which are armed with double claws, and 

 two inches of the tail being without legs. It may form 

 a distinct genus, and is probably a native of South Ame- 

 rica. Yet even this monstrous insect is nothing to those 

 at Carthagena, mentioned by Ulloa, (if indeed we may 

 credit his account, or if his translator has not mistaken 

 his meaning, ) which sometimes exceeded a yard in length 

 and five inches in breadth ! The bite of this gigantic 

 serpent-like creature, he tells us, is mortal, as well it 

 may, if a timely remedy be not applied. From its cy- 

 lindrical form it should be a Julus a . 



In this catalogue of noxious insects I must not omit 

 those which every where force themselves upon our no- 

 tice, and are viewed with general disgust. I mean the 

 numerous family of Arachne, the insidious spiders. Few 

 of these, however, are really personal assailants of man. 

 The principal is that which has given rise to so much 

 discussion, and has so much employed the pens of natu- 

 ralists and physicians — the famous Tarentula (Lycosa 

 Tarentula, Walck.). The effects ascribed to its wounds, 

 and their wonderful cure supposed to be wrought by 

 a Ulloa's Voyage,\. 61. 



