DIRECT INJURI£S CAUSED BY INSECTS. 55 
extract it ; and he was obliged to lay open the place, lest an abscess should 
be formed. But the worst of all the tick tribe is the American (Ixodes — 
americanus) described by Professor Kalm. This insect, which is related 
to the preceding, is found in the woods of North America, and is equally 
an enemy to man and beast. They are there so infinitely numerous, that 
if you sit down upon the ground, or upon the trunk of a tree, or walk with 
naked feet or legs, they will cover you, and, plunging their serrated rostrum 
into the bare places of the body, begin to suck your blood,«going deeper 
and deeper till they are half buried in the flesh, Though at first they occa- 
sion no uneasiness, when they have thus made good their settlement, they 
produce an intolerable itching, followed by acute pain and large tumours. It 
is now extremely difficult to extract them, the animal rather suffering itself 
to be pulled to pieces than let go its hold; so that the rostrum and head, 
being often left in the wound, produce an inflammation and suppuration 
which render it deep and dangerous. ‘These ticks are at first very small, 
sometimes scarcely visible, but by suction will swell themselves out till 
they are as big as the end of one’s finger, when they often fall to the 
ground of themselves.* The serrated haustellum of the ticks, which, like 
the barbed sting of a bee, cannot be extracted unless the animal co-operates, 
is well worth yourinspection ; and the species which infests our dogs is 
so common that you will have no difficulty in procuring one for ex- 
amination? 
I have now introduced you to the principal insects of the Apiera order 
of Linné, which, in spite of all his care and all his power, assail the lord 
of the creation, and make him their food. You will here, however, 
perhaps accuse me of omitting one very prominent annoyer of our comfort 
and repose, which you think belongs to this tribe — the bed-bug (Cimez lec- 
tularius). When you are a more practised entomologist, you will see 
clearly that this, though it has no wings, appertains to another order : 
nevertheless it may be introduced here without impropriety. Though now 
too common and well known in this country, it was formerly a rare insect. 
Had it not, two noble ladies, mentioned by Mouffet, would scarcely have 
been thrown into such an alarm by the appearance of bug-bites upon them; 
which, until their fears were dispelled by their physician, who happened 
also to bea naturalist, they considered as nothing less than symptoms of 
the plague. Being shown the living cause of their fright, their fears gave 
place to mirth and laughter. Commerce, with many good things, has also 
introduced amongst us many great evils, of which noxious insects form no 
small part; and one of her worst presents were doubtless the disgusting 
animals now before us. They seem, indeed, as the above fact proves, to 
have been productive of greater alarm at first than mischief, at least if we 
may judge from the change of name which took place upon their becoming 
common, ‘Their original English name was Chinche or Wall-louse®; and — 
the term Bug, which is a Celtic word, signifying a ghost or goblin, was 
applied to them after Ray’s time, most probably because they were con- 
1 Lesser Z. ii. 222, note *. 2 De Geer, vii. 154. 160. 
5 The renowned venomous bug of Persia (Malleh de Mianeh) has been ascertained 
to be a species of Avgas by Count Fischer de Waldheim. 
. Theatr. Ins. 270. This happened in 1508; which circumstance refutes South- 
all’s opinion that bugs were not known in England before 1670. 
; 5 Rai, Hist. Ins. 7. Mouffet, 269. They were called also punez, from the French 
yunaise, 
E4 
