[ 259 1 



that have been made fmce the publication of this 

 tradt, as it is a part of the hiftory of infects riot 

 fufficiently attended to before ; and nothing would 

 conduce more to extend and facilitate the know- 

 ledge of it, or lead more efieclually to the meanS 

 of deflroying the noxious fpecies. 



44. MiRAcuLA Insectorum. G, E, Avellft, 1752. 



Intended to awaken curiofity, and excite atten- 

 tion to the ftudy of infects, by pointing out the 

 extraordinary inftinds and properties with which 

 particular kinds are endued j many of whofe 

 Operations were inexplicable^ and frequently attri« 

 buted to other caufes. 



Nothing exemplifies this truth more than the 

 hiftory of a minute infedl, or rather worm, of 

 which we have, in this difTertation, the firft proper 

 intelligence j it is very curious, and worthy of 

 notice. In Finland^ Bothnia^ and the northern 

 provinces of Sweden^ it was not unfrequently that 

 people were feized with a pungent pain, confined 

 to a point, in the hand, or other expofed part of 

 the body, which prefently increafed to a mofi: ex- 

 cruciating degree, and hath fometirries been fud- 

 denly fatal. This diforder was more particularly 

 obferved in Finland^ efpecially about boggy and 

 marfliy places, and always in autumn. At length 

 it was difcovered, that thi^ paiii inftantly fucceeded 

 fbmevVhat that dropped out of the air, and in a 

 rnoment penetrated and buried itfelf in the fiefh. 

 The Finla?iders had tried variety of apiplications to 

 no purpofe^ until at length a poultice of curds, or 



S 2' chcefe^ 



