worm, which soon devours and destroys the animal from whose body it sprung. CHAP. VI. Of the Bug, and its Varieties. THE Bug is another of those nauseous insects that intrude upon the retreats of mankind; and often banish that sleep, which even sorrow and anxiety permitted to approach. This, to many men, is, of all other insects, the most troublesome and obnoxious. The night is usually the season when the wretched have rest from their labour; but this seems the only season when the bug issues from its retreats, to make its depredations. By day, it lurks like a robber in the most secret parts of the bed; takes the advantage of every chink and cranny, to make a secure lodgment; and contrives its habitation with so much art, that scarcely any industry can discover its retreat. It seems to avoid the light with great cunning; and even if candles be kept burning, this formidable insect will not issue from its hiding-place. But when darkness promises security, it then issues from every corner of the bed, drops from the tester, crawls from behind the arras, and travels with great assiduity to the unhappy patient, who vainly wishes for rest and refreshment. It is generally vain to destroy one only, as there are hundreds more to revenge their companions fate; so that the person who thus is subject to be bitten, remains the whole night like a centinel upon duty, rather watching the approach of fresh invaders, than inviting the pleasing approaches of sleep. Nor are these insects less disagreeable from their nauseous stench, than their unceasing appetites. When they begin to crawl the whole bed is infected with the smell; but if they are accidentally killed, then it is insupportable. These are a part of the inconveniences that result from the persecution of these odious insects : but happily for Great Britain, they multiply less in these islands, than in any part of the continent. In France and Italy the beds, particularly in their inns, swarm with them; and every piece of furniture seems to afford them a retreat. They grow larger also with them than with us, and bite with more cruel appetite. This animal, if examined minutely, appears to consist of three principal parts; the head, the corslet, and the belly. It has two brown eyes, that are very small, and a little prominent, besides two feelers, with three joints: underneath these there is a crooked trunk, which is its instrument of torture, and which, when in motion, lies close upon the breast. The breast is a kind of ring, in which are placed the two first pair of legs. The belly consists of nine rings; under which are placed two pair of legs more, making six in all. Each leg has three joints, which form the thigh, the leg, and the foot, which is armed with a crooked claw, like a hook. The body is smooth, except a few short hairs, that may be seen by the microscope, about the vent, and on the two last rings. Its motion is slow and unwieldy; yet its sight is so exquisite, that the instant it perceives the light, it generally makes good its retreat; and they are seldom caught, though the bed swarm with them. all insects performs 03 If we examine this insect internally, we shall find the great artery, which in the functions of the heart; apertures of the lungs on the left, through which the animal breathes: we shall find a stomach and intestines, which, as in other animals, run from the mouth to the anus. If the insect has been kept long fasting, there will be a mucus found in its body, like the white of an egg; but if crushed after a full meal, the human blood, which it has sucked in, will appear a little darkened by having passed through the insect's body. The male and female of these animals are plainly distinguishable from each other; and the parts of generation are obvious enough. They are often found coupling, tail to tail; and in this state are very easily destroyed. The female has an ovary filled with eggs, joined together like a bunch of grapes; each egg being an oblong, almost cylindrical, inclining to white, and pretty transparent. In about two days after impregnation by the male, she deposits her eggs, to the number of about a hundred and fifty, in some convenient place where they are likely to receive no disturbance. There they continue for some months: during which time neither cold nor heat, neither moisture nor fumigation, can in the least retard their exclusion but they come forth active and ready for mischief. It is this hardiness in the shell that seems to continue the breed; as the old ones die every winter, or are easily destroyed by any fumigation that is used for that purpose. But the eggs seem incapable of destruction; even those men who make a livelihood by killing these nauseous insects, though they can answer for the parent, can never be sure of the egg. For this reason they usually pay those houses to which they are called a second or a third visit, and at last exterminate them by per severance. The manner of destroying them seems rather the effect of assiduity than antidote; for the men called in upon this occasion take every part of the furniture asunder, brush every part of it with great assiduity, anoint it with a liquid, which I take to be a solution of corrosive sublimate, and having performed this operation twice or thrice, the vermin are most usually destroyed. Cleanliness, therefore, seems to be the best antidote to remove these nauseous insects; and wherever that is wanting, their increase seems but a just punishment. Indeed, they are sometimes found in such numbers among old furniture, and neglected chambers exposed to the south, that, wanting other sustenance, they devour each other. They are also enemies to other vermin, and destroy fleas very effectually; so that we seldom have the double persecution of different vermin in the same bed. Of the bug kind Linnæus reckons up forty. CHAP. VII. Of the Wood-Louse, and its Varieties. THE common Wood-Louse is seldom above half an inch long, and a quarter of an inch broad. The colour is of a livid black, especially when found about dung-hills, and on the ground; bat those that are to be met with under tiles, and in drier places, are of the colour of the hair of an ass. It has fourteen feet, seven on each side; and they have only one joint each, which is scarcely perceivable. It has two short feelers, and the body is of an oval shape. When it is touched, it rolls itself up into a sort of ball; and the sides near the feet, are dentated like a saw. It is often found among rotten timber, and on decayed trees; in winter it lies hid in the crevices of walls and all sorts of buildings. The male is easily distinguishable from the female, being less and more slender. The eggs they lay are white and shining, like seed pearls, and are very numerous: however, more properly speaking, although, when excluded, the young have all the appearance of an egg, yet they are alive, and, without throwing off any shell, stir and move about with great vivacity; so that this animal may be properly said to be viviparous. The little worms at first seem scarcely able to stir ; but they soon feed and become very brisk. These |