nous, if it touch but his hand or clothes. Putrescency, though not putrefaction, is necessary for the discharge of the light possessed by phosphorescent fishes; in the phloas, on the contrary, the light is rendered brighter in proportion to the freshness of the animal. The moisture of salt or fresh water revives it; brandy suddenly extinguishes it; vinegar not quite so soon. It is probable that this worm often contributes to the luminous appearance of the sea.

Various experiments have been made to render the light or luminous matter secreted by the phloas permanent, but none havé altogether succeeded. Reaumur kneaded the juice into paste with flour, and found that the paste would give light when immersed in warm water. But the best way to preserve the light, is to preserve the worm, or fish, as it is usually called, in honey; in which state, whenever taken out, and plunged in warm water, it will give a very brilliant light for a twelvemonth afterwards. Milk, however, appears to be rendered more luminous by this phosphorous matter than any other liquid; a single phloas made seven ounces of milk so luminous, that the faces of persons in the dark could be seen and distinguished by it.

There are twelve species of this curious animal; three of which are common to the seas of our own coast.

THESE are more properly called worms than any of the preceding. They are ordinarily characterised as simple, naked animals, without limbs of any kind: and derive their ordinal name from inhabiting the bowels of the earth, water, or animals of various kinds. Among the more common tribes we may mention the lumbricus or earth-worm, including the dew and the lug; the hirudo or leech; the limax or slug; the ascaris, comprehending both the thread and the long mud intestinal worm; and the tænia or tapeworm. Among the more curious are the furia, the gordius or hair-worm, and the filaria, or Guinea-worm.

1. Hair Worm.

Gaudius aquaticus.-LINN.

This resembles a horse-hair in its shape, and is hence often denominated horse-hair worm, or seta equina. It inhabits soft stagnant waters, is from four to six inches long; and twists itself into various knots and contortions. Linnæus asserts, that in Sweden its bite or sting is supposed to produce the complaint called a whitlow, and that he once knew this rumour verified: and Dr. Shaw declares that he also once beheld the complaint follow upon the sting of a gordius, though he leaves it doubtful whether the complaint might not have occurred, if the sting had not been inflicted.

[Nat. Miscel. Turton. Linn.

2. Guinea Worm.

Filaria medinensis.

In this genus of worms the body is round, filiform, equal, and quite smooth; mouth dilated, with a roundish lip. There are eighteen species :—

The division A. is found in different varieties in man, the cellular membrane of the horse, in the lion, the martin, and hare B. In hawks, owls, crows, storks, and poultry. C. In the scarabæus fimetarius; silpha obscura, carabas, and gryllus. D. In the papilio articæ ; p. betulæ ; p. quercus; sphinx Euphorbiæ; phalæna caja; ph. quercus; ph. pellionella; found under the skin of the larves, and very destructive to them; sometimes solitary, and from four to seven inches long. The species chiefly worthy of notice is, F. medinensis, of the division A, is the dracunculus, or Guinea-worm. The body is entirely pale yellowish. It inhabits both the Indies, and is frequently in the morning dew, whence it enters the naked feet of the slaves, and creates the most troublesome itchings, generally accompanied with inflammation and fever. It must be cautiously drawn out by means of a piece of silk tied round its head:

for if, by being too much strained, the animal should break, the part remaining under the skin grows with redoubled vigour, and often occasions a fatal inflammation. It is frequently twelve feet long, and not larger than a horse-hair.

[Syst. Nat. Turton. Sloane.

3. Fury, or Furia.

Furia infernalis.-LINN.

THERE is only one species of this genus; and it is denominated Fury, not without good reason, if we may rely on the accounts which have been given of the torments it sometimes inflicts on the person it happens to attack. Its character is a thin, thread-shaped body, edged along each side with a row of sharp, reversed prickles, lying close to the edge of the body, or at very acute angles. It bears a resemblance therefore to a minute scolopendra, or centipede; and from the structure of its body, is enabled to perforate the skin in an instant, so as not to be extracted without extreme difficulty. It is pretended that this worm, in the marshy parts of Sweden, and some other countries, is conveyed by some means or other through the air, and drops on the bodies of cattle and men; producing almost immediately a pain so insupportable, as sometimes to prove fatal in the space of a quarter of an hour. Linnæus tells us that he himself once experienced the effects of this animal, near the city of Lund, in Sweden. Dr. Solander once gave a slight description of this worm; but from the difficulty of obtaining recent specimens, its nature is still obscure; and even its very existence has been occasionally doubted; particularly by Blumenbach and Muller. There seems, however, to be no good reason for questioning the existence of some such animal, though the accounts of its extraordinary qualities may have been exaggerated. The best account of it is in a quarto pamphlet, published by a Dr. Hagen, as an academical thesis: in which all the observations relative to it are summed up in a concise manner, and its real existence, seemingly, well ascertained. It is said to be generally about three-quarters of an inch long.

[Muller. Shaw.

CHAP. 111.

INSECTS.

Insecta.-LINN.

SECTION 1.

Death-Watch.

Ptinus Fatidicus.-LINN.

THE genus Ptinus, like that of Dermestes, or book-worm, consists

of small insects which, in general, have similar habits, living both in their larva and complete state among dry animal substances, and some species in dry wood, committing great havoc among the older articles of furniture, which they pierce with innumerable holes, thus causing their gradual destruction.

To this genus belongs the celebrated insect distinguished by the title of the death-watch, or ptinus fatidicus. Among the popular superstitions which the almost general illumination of modern times has not been able to obliterate, the dread of the death-watch may well be considered as one of the most predominant, and still continues to disturb the habitations of rural tranquillity with groundless fears, and absurd apprehensions. It is not indeed to be imagined that they who are engaged in the more important cares of providing the immediate necessaries of life, should have either leisure or inclination to investigate with philosophic exactness the causes of a particular sound: yet it must be allowed to be a very singular circunstance, that an animal so common should not be more universally known, and the peculiar noise which it occasionally makes be more universally understood. It is chiefly in the advanced state of spring that this alarming little animal commences its sound, which is no other than the call or signal by which the male and female are led to each other, and which may be considered as analogous to the call of birds; though not owing to the voice of the insect, but to its beating on any hard substance with the shield or fore-part of its head.

The prevailing number of distinct strokes which it beats is from seven to nine, or eleven; which very circumstance may perhaps add, in some degree, to the curious character which it bears among the vulgar. These sounds or beats are given in pretty quick succession, and are repeated at uncertain intervals; and in old houses where the insects are numerous, may be heard at almost every hour of the day; especially if the weather be warm. The sound exactly resembles that which may be made by beating moderately hard with the nail on the table. The insect is of a colour so near resembling that of decayed wood, viz. an obscure greyish brown, that it may for a considerable time elude the search of the enquirer. It is about a quarter of an inch in length, and is moderately thick in proportion, and the wing-shells are marked with numerous irregular variegations of a lighter or greyer cast than the ground-colour. In the 20th and 22d volume of the Philosophical Transactions, may be found a description of this species by the celebrated Derham, with some very just observations relative to its habits and general appearance; and it seems singular that so remarkable an insect should have almost escaped the notice of more modern entomologists. In the twelfth edition of the Systema Naturæ of Linnæus it does not appear; but is probably the Dermestes tesselatus of Fabricius, in which case he seems to have placed it in a wrong genus. Ridiculous, and even incredible as it may appear, it is an animal that may in some measure be tamed: at least it may be so far familiarized as to be made to beat occasionally, by taking it out of its confinement, and beating on a table or board, when it will readily answer the noise, and will continue to beat as often as required.

We must be careful not to confound this animal, which is the real death-watch of the vulgar, emphatically so called, with a much smaller insect of a very different genus, which makes a sound like the ticking of a watch, and continues it for a long time without intermission. It belongs to a totally different order, and is the Termes pulsatorium of Linnæus.

Naturalist's Miscell.