ARB  LOCUSTS  POISONOUS  ? 
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Gall-flies,  which  secrete  an  irritating  poison,  giving  rise  to  tumors 
of  various  shapes.  Many  insects  sting  without  poisoning  the 
wound  ;  the  bite  of  the  mosquito,  black-fly,  flea,  the  bed-bug, 
and  other  hemipterous  insects,  are  simply  punctured  wounds, 
and  to  a  perfectly  healthy  constitution  they  are  not  poisonous, 
though  they  may  grievously  afflict  many  persons,  causing  the 
adjacent  parts  to  swell,  and  in  some  weak  constitutions  induce 
severe  sickness.    Regarding  this  point,  Mr.  Chambers  writes : 
"  I  have  heard — not  through  the  papers — within  a  few  days 
past  of  a  child,  within  some  twenty  miles  of  this  place,  dying 
from  the  sting  of  a  Cicada,  but  have  not  had  an  opportunity  to 
inquire  into  the  truth  of  the  story,  but  the  following  you  may 
rely  on.  A  negro  woman  in  the  employment  of  A.  V.  "Winston, 
Esq.,  at  Burlington,  Boone  County,  Ky.,  fifteen  miles  distant 
from  here,  went  barefooted  into  his  garden  a  few  days  since,  and 
while  there  was  stung  or  bitten  in  the  foot  by  a  Cicada.  The 
foot  immediately  swelled  to  huge  proportions,  but  by  various 
applications  the  inflammation  was  allayed,  and  the  woman  re- 
covered. Mr.  Winston,  who  relates  this,  stands  as  high  for 
intelligence  and  veracity  as  any  one  in  this  vicinity.  I  thought 
on  first  hearing  the  story,  that  probably  the  sting  was  by  some 
other  insect,  but  Mr.  Winston  says  that  he  saw  the  Cicada.  But 
perhaps  this  proves  that  the  sting  is  not  fatal ;  that  depends  on 
the  subject.  Some  persons  suffer  terribly  from  the  bite  of  a 
mosquito,  while  others  scarcely  feel  them.  The  cuticle  of  a 
negro's  foot  is  nearly  impenetrable,  and  perhaps  the  sting  would 
have  been  more  dangerous  in  a  more  tender  part." — American 
Naturalist,  August,  1868. 
ARE  LOCUSTS  POISONOUS  ? 
We  find  a  number  of  items  in  the  newspapers  this  year  claim- 
ing that  locusts,  their  bite,  sting,  or  eggs,  are  poisonous.  In 
Georgia,  it  is  stated  that  a  young  lady  lost  her  life  by  rubbing 
her  teeth  with  a  twig  (of  cornus  Florida,  probably,  as  that  is 
frequently  done,)  in  which  a  locust  had  deposited  its  eggs.  And 
somewhere  in  the  west,  fishes  are  said  to  have  been  poisoned  by 
berries  in  which  locusts  had  deposited  their  eggs,  and  which  had 
