150 



even there, that I have been assured by a person who 

 resided there many years, that a single child was the 

 only instance he had heard of any one's having been 

 incommoded by this insect. Nigua is a generic 

 term in Chilian, signifying all kinds of vermin or 

 animalculas which infest animals, particularly the 

 feathered tribe ; these are precisely similar to those of 

 Europe. Ulloa appears, therefore, to have been ig- 

 norant of the extensive signification of this word in 

 Chilian, as what he says in his voyage, that the chi- 

 guas, or pricker, is found upon the whole coast of 

 Chili, is contradicted by universal experience. 



Of the spiders there is but one species tliat is re- 

 markable ; this is the great spider with fangs, which 

 I have called aranea scrofa. It is found in the vi- 

 cinity of St. Jago, and lives under ground ; the body 

 is as large as a hen's egg, and covered with soft 

 brown hair, and the claws very long and large ; in the 

 middle of its forehead are four large eyes, disposed 

 in the form of a square, and at the sides of the head 

 two others that are less, and the mouth is furnished 

 with two pincers of a shining black, about two 

 lines in length, turned back towards the forehead. 

 ^Notwithstanding its formidable appearance, this spi- 

 der not dangerous, and serves as an amusement 

 for children, who pluck out its pincers without ap- 

 prehension, which are by the common people believed 

 to be a specific for the tooth-ach. 



Scorpions, called in the language of the country 

 thehuanque (scorpio Chilensis) differ but little or no- 

 thing in size or appearance from those of Europe. 

 They are usually met with in some of the secondary 



