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animals are of great use in medicine: being impregnated with a saline quality, which is diuretic and stimulating. Of this insect Linnæus makes three species.

CHAP. VIII.

Of the Monoculus, or Arborescent Water-Flea. THIS animal, which is of the size of a flea, appears to the sight, unassisted by the microscope, to have but one eye; for the eyes, by reason of the smallness of the head, seem to be joined to each other, they are situated in the trunk of this insect, and the beak is likewise very small and sharp-pointed. The structure of the eye is seen, by the microscope, to be reticulated, or made like a net; and the trunk of this insect, by which it feeds, is not only small and sharp, but also transparent. The insects are of a blood-red colour; and sometimes are seen in such multitudes on the surface of standing waters, as to make them appear all over red, whence many fanciful people have thought the water to be turned into blood.

Swammerdam tells us of a celebrated professor at Leyden, who was at first astonished by an appearance of this kind. Being once intent upon his studies, he heard a noise, of which, as it increased by degrees, he was desirous to know the cause. The maid-servant attending to his summons,

appeared quite petrified with fear, and told him, with a tremulous voice, that all the waters of Leyden were turned into blood. Upon this he went directly in a small bark to the place where the water was thus changed, and put some of the bloody water into a glass; but, upon viewing it with attention, he observed that it abounded with infinite numbers of these little red insects, which tinged the whole body of the fluid with that seemingly formidable colour. Thus his sudden fright was changed into lasting admiration.

Of all parts of this animal its branching arms, and the motion it makes with them in the water, deserves our greatest attention. By these the little creature can move in a straight line; waving its arms, as a bird does its wings in the air, sometimes upward, sometimes downward, sometimes to the right, sometimes to the left, yet still continuing to proceed in a right line. By striking the water with its arms, it can ascend with great velocity; and by striking in a contrary direction, it dives with equal ease. As these motions are very rapid, the little animal appears to jump in the water, its head always tending to the surface, and its tail stretched downward. This insect is produced from an egg, which, when excluded, is carried on the back of the female, and soon is seen floating in the water round her. Its appearance at first is that of a very small whitish insect, endued with a very nimble motion. Except in colour, it suffers no change, only continuing to grow larger and redder, as it grows old. They sometimes remain several days on the surface of the water; and sometimes are seen at the bottom only; but they are never at rest.

They change their skin, like most other insects; and the cast skin resembles the insect itself so exactly, that one might mistake the mask for the animal.

CHAP. IX.

Of the Scorpion, and its Varieties.

THERE is scarcely an insect without wings that

is not obnoxious to man; the smallest have the power of annoying him, either by biting or stinging him; and though each is in itself contemptible, they become formidable from their numbers. But of all this class, there is none so terrible as the Scorpion, whose shape is hideous, whose size among the insect tribe is enormous, and whose sting is generally fatal. Happy for England, the scorpion is entirely a stranger among us! In several parts of the continent of Europe it is but too well known, though it seldom grows above four inches long; but in the warm tropical climates, it is seen a foot in length, and in every respect as large as a lobster.

The scorpion is one of the largest of the insect tribe, and not less terrible from its size than its malignity. It resembles a lobster somewhat in shape, but is infinitely more hideous. There have been enumerated nine different kinds of this dangerous insect, chiefly distinguished by their

colour; there being scorpions yellow, brown, and ash-coloured; others that are the colour of rusty iron, green, pale yellow, black, claret-colour, white, and grey.

There are four principal parts distinguishable in this animal; the head, the breast, the belly, and the tail. The scorpion's head seems, as it were, jointed to the breast; in the middle of which are seen two eyes; and, a little more forward, two eyes more, placed in the fore part of the head: these eyes are so small that they are scarcely perceivable; and it is probable the animal has but little occasion for seeing. The mouth is furnished with two jaws; the undermost is divided into two, and the parts notched into each other, which serves the animal as teeth, and with which it breaks its food, and thrusts it into its mouth: these the scorpion can at pleasure pull back into its mouth, so that no part of them can be seen. On each side of the head are two arms, each composed of four joints; the last of which is large, with strong muscles, and made in the manner of a lobster's claw. Below the breast are eight articulated legs, each divided into six joints; the two hindmost of which are each provided with two crooked claws, and here and there covered with hair. The belly is divided into seven little rings; from the lowest of which is continued a tail, composed of six joints, which are bristly, and formed like little globes, the last being armed with a crooked sting. This is that fatal instrument which renders this insect so formidable: it is long, pointed, hard, and hollow; it is pierced near the base by two small holes, through which, when the animal stings, it ejects a drop of poison, which is

white, caustic, and fatal. The reservoir in which this poison is kept, is a small bladder near the tail, into which the venom is distilled by a peculiar apparatus. If this bladder be gently pressed, the venom will be seen issuing out through the two holes above mentioned; so that it appears, that when the animal stings, the bladder is pressed, and the venom issues through the two apertures into the wound.

There are few animals more formidable, or more truly mischievous, than the scorpion. As it takes refuge in a small place, and is generally found sheltering in houses, so it cannot be otherwise than that it must frequently sting those among whom it resides. In some of the towns of Italy, and in France, in the province of Languedoc, it is one of the greatest pests that torment mankind: but its malignity in Europe is trifling when compared to what the natives of Africa, and the East, are known to experience. In Batavia, where they grow twelve inches long, there is no removing any piece of furniture, without the utmost danger of being stung by them. Bosman assures us, that, along the Gold Coast, they are often found larger than a lobster; and that their sting is inevitably fatal. In Europe, however, they are by no means so large, so venomous or so plentiful. The general size of this animal does not exceed two or three inches; and its sting is very seldom found to be fatal. Maupertuis, who made several experiments on the scorpion of Languedoc, found it by no means so invariably dangerous as had till then been represented. He provoked one of them to sting a dog, in three places of the belly, where the animal was without hair.

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