BOOK II.

PART III.

CHAP. I.

HOW INSECTS HURT THE PRODUCE OF THE EARTH,

NOT only do infects pillage and ravage, the fields, but they attack man in his domeftic economy, and do him infinite mifchief. Nothing can be protected against their ordure; we fee, with regret, our most precious furniture tarnished and infected by flies. These restless infects enter our libraries, neftle in our cabinets, pass from one apartment to another, and leave every where behind them, the most confpicuous marks of their having been prefent. There is not a man, from the king to the pooreft of his fubjects, who can defend himself against their attacks.

Husbandmen perhaps are the moft to be pitied. How often do they not find themselves difappointed of a plentiful crop by the depredations of locufts! Thefe voracious animals often leave diftant countries, traverse oceans, pour in myriads upon fown fields, and deprive them in a few hours of every appearance

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of verdure. Are not caterpillars often as noxious to us? I know not a more cruel fcourge for gardens than they are. They eat into flowers, they gnaw the roots, and so destroy the plants they touch, that we are obliged to throw them away. Some do not wait till a plant is able to furnish them food for weeks, they devour it the moment it appears. Others on the contrary wait till the feed is produced; they then devour it fo greedily, that nothing is left but the empty skin to the owner. Weevils are not behind hand with thefe; they pierce the ripe grain, eat the pulp, and thus rob our granaries of that food which is of the greatest importance to the human

race.

But it is not on herbaceous plants alone, that in fects bring ruin; their attacks are not lefs difaftrous to fruit trees. If they depofit their eggs in autumn, the young caterpillars are hatched in the Spring when the trees are only beginning to fhoot forth, and they commit fuch ravages on the buds and foliage, that wherever they are found in numbers, the fruits of the year entirely fail. The fmall Curculios, fome beetles and feveral forts of caterpillars confpire in producing this devaftation, and fometimes reduce the trees to the fame ftate they were in during winter.. This is not all, for there are fome forts of golden coloured beetles which produce two forts of larvæ, red and white. These larvæ penetrate the bark, and fuck the juice till the tree becomes completely dried up. There are alfo fome fmall beetles which, not content with eating the bark, attack the wood, and contrive to defolate whole forefts. This accident has but too often happened with woods planted with pines. The wood of Schwartzenburg experienced this to fuch a degree in the year 1736, as coft its proprietor many thousand crowns. I fhall content myfelf with this one example; thofe which I could adduce of many other forts

which deftroy wood are too common not to be known by every one.

СНАР. II.

OF THE EVILS WHICH INSECTS CAUSE TO MAN.

WE have fpoken of the ravages which infects make both in the country and in towns; let us now take a view of the mifchiefs they occafion to man himself perfonally. Some difturb his fleep, others oblige him to pafs whole nights without fleeping at all. Indeed, what does he not fometimes fuffer from the reftlefs flea, and the loathfome bug? How can he take reft when unhappy enough to be exposed to the fanguinary infults of fuch tormentors? But were he free from thefe, the gnats do not cease to perfecute him. Their inceffant buzzing difquiets him, and whether asleep or awake, while in darknefs he is equally a prey to thofe ftings which he dreads but which he cannot prevent. In the Eaft Indies the inhabitants are exceedingly tormented by thofe infects which the Portuguese call Mofquitoes. These dangerous animals dart upon thofe whom they furprize afleep, and in fuch prodigious numbers that it is no eafy matter to refift them. When one is ftung in the face, or in any other part of the body, there enfues a confiderable tumour, accompanied with itching and intolerable pain.

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There is another kind of infects which are hurtful to man by mere touch. Such is the Scolopendra marina, which caufes a pricking in the skin, and a heat fimilar to that which one feels after having touched the common nettle. Among those which render themselves formidable by their prickles, fome have the hair fo acute that they wound almoft imperceptibly, occafioning an inflammation which quickly brings on fever; others, as the hornet and bee, ftrike with their fting, and though the wounded part does not bleed, it does not fuffer the lefs, and a fenfible fwelling fucceeds. Befides thefe different infects there are others which like the gad fly have ftings so sharp and ftrong that they can pierce the skin through gloves and flockings; others are remarkable by their bite like fpiders; and fome attach themfelves to our bodies and fuck the blood. The Eaft Indies fwarm with leeches, to which the Dutch have given the name of Snygers. They lurk in general among the grafs, when the dew has moiftened the ground, and as the country, which is interfected by rivers, torrents and swamps, obliges travellers to walk for the most part with naked feet, it happens that thefe animals cling to the legs and gorge themfelves fo with blood, that they fall off spontaneously. There are fome fo greedy that they thrust their head into the skin as far as the neck, and the only method of making them quit their hold, is by furrounding them with moistened gun powder, when they will come away of themselves in about a quarter of an hour or thereabouts. If a perfon ignorant of this expedient should think of employing force to detach these animals fuddenly, he would pay dearly for his imprudence. Not only would he experience violent pain, but a part would remain in the skin, engender an ab. fcefs, and corrode the flesh to a great depth. I appeal for the truth of this to the fad experience of many perfons who for feveral years have been fubject to fuppurations

fuppurations fimilar to those formed by the cautery, from having torn away these infects inconfiderately from their legs.

Let us proceed to other infects which like moles glide under the fkin, and vex and torment us without the fmalleft remiffion. In the Eaft Indies there is a fort of worm known by the name of Culebrilla; its head and tail are extremely flender and acute. It is nearly a yard in length, aud its body is as fmall as the ftring of a guitar. This animal gets between the skin and the flesh, and there occafions a tumour, of the fize of a small bean. Although it causes neither fever nor pain, it is exceedingly troublefome. At every time it ftirs the perfon feels fomething difagreeable to which it is not poffible for him to accuftom himself. The inhabitants of Brazil fuffer much from a fpecies of infect called Nigua, which pierces the fkin, penetrates deep into the flesh, and there infallibly caufes gangrene, unless by fuitable remedies, applied in time, thefe dangerous effects are prevented. The itch is caufed by infects as well as other cutaneous difeafes. Lice cause a disease which in the opinion of Blancard, happens generally to perfons to whom fome other has communicated a great number of these infects at once. In proportion as they feed they excite an itching; the hand fcratching the place where they are makes wounds which suppurate, and become fo many receptacles proper for nourishing the young vermin, which penetrate further and further, and entring at one place go out at another. Their immenfe multiplication convinces me that they can penetrate every part of the human body, and fo infinuate themselves, that it is impoffible to get rid of them, at least, there have been inftances where many people have been delivered from them only by death. But I fee nothing fupernatural in this difeafe, although Hiftory would teach us that it has

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always