HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 67 
The most noxious insects- of the island are the Locusts, which are well known for 
the injury which agriculture receives from them. 
There are several kinds of caterpillars, some of which, as that of the Citronnier, 
are very large and beautiful. 
There is also a nocturnal butterfly, which bears on its corselet, a death’s head 
(the Atropos, or fete de rnort .) It frequents, and flies about, the interior apartments 
of houses. 
The Centipede ( centpieds , scolopendre), is frequently seen in obscure and humid 
situations. It is not improbable that this insect was designed to keep man from un¬ 
wholesome places. Some of these insects attain the length of six inches, and ants 
have been seen to seize their legs, and to drag them along like a piece of timber. 
The Scorpion inhabits the same moist places; its bite is not mortal, but it pro¬ 
duces a fever, which is cured by rubbing the affected part with oil. This insect is 
the only one in the island, that is noxious to man; but it is become much less 
venemous than formerly. 
There are bees which produce excellent honey. 
There is a kind of insect that resembles the ant in appearance, nor is it less saga¬ 
cious in forming its abode. These creatures make a sad havock among the trees, 
and timber, whose wood they pulverize, and with the dust form arches of about an 
inch in breadth, over which they pass and repass. These insects, which are called 
Carias , and are black, will sometimes over-run the whole timber-work of an house : 
They will make their way into trunks, and other pieces of furniture, in the course of 
a night. The most certain remedy against their depredations, is to rub the places 
which they frequent, with garlick. 
There are three kinds of Cancrelas (Blatta Indica), a kind of beetle. One of 
them is of a flat shape and a gray colour, but the most common is of the size of a 
may-bug, and of a reddish-brown colour. This Cancrelas , or kakerlaque, is a Co¬ 
leopterous insect, which soils and destroys every thing. It is called Ravet in the 
Antilles; though the Cancrelas of the Isle of France is larger than the Ravet of 
St. Domingo, but is equally troublesome by piercing the water-casks in ships, and 
making holes of two inches in circumference. 
It has for its enemy a kind of beetle, or green fly, which is very active and light; 
and whose touch alone renders it motionless. The beetle then drags it along till it 
finds a chink to deposit its victim, it then lays an egg in the body of the Cancrelas, 
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