1. Hair-worm.

Gordius aquaticus.-LINN.

This resembles a horse-hair in its shape, and is hence often de. nominated horse-hair worm, or seta equina. It inhabits soft staguant 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 cel. lular 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; phalana caja; pb. 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, gene. rally 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 extraor dinary qualities may have been exaggerated. The best account of it is in a quarto pamphlet, published by a Dr. Hagen, as an aca demical 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. III.

INSECTS.

Insecta. LINN.

SECTION I.

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 havock 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 con. tinues 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 circumstance, 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 per haps 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 a table. The insect is of a colour so nearly resem. bling 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 ap pearance; 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. Ridicu. lous, 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 in termission. It belongs to a totally different order, and is the Termes pulsatorium of Linnæus.

[Naturalist's Miscell.

SECTION II.

Glow-Worm.

Lampyris noctiluca.-LINN.

Lantern-Fly.

Fulgora lanternaria.—LINN.

THERE are various worms, insects, and fishes, that have a power of emitting, perhaps of secreting spontaneously, a considerable portion of light. The subject is curious, and we shall treat of it generally in a subsequent chapter. Among these singular animals, the two we have placed at the head of the present section are the most distinguished. They do not belong to the same order under the systematic arrangement of Linuæus, but we have for the present united them, on account of their correspondence in this respect.

The LAMPYRIS NOCTILUCA, or GLOW-WORM, is a highly cu rious and interesting animal. It is seen during the summer months, as late as the close of August, if the season be mild, on dry banks, about woods, pastures, and hedgeways, exhibiting, as soon as the dusk of the evening commences, the most vivid and beautiful phosphoric splendour, in form of a round spot of considerable size. The animal itself, which is the female insect, measures about three-quar ters of an inch in length, and is of a dull earthy brown colour on the upper parts, and beneath more or less tinged with rose-colour; with the two or three last joints of the body of a pale or whitish sulphur-colour. It is from these parts that the phosphoric light abovementioned proceeds, which is of a yellow colour, with a very slight cast of green: the body, exclusive of the thorax, consists of ten joints or divisions. The larva, pupa, and complete female insect scarcely differ perceptibly from each other in general appear ance, but the phosphoric light is strongest in the complete animal. The glow-worm is a slow-moving insect, and in its manner of walking frequently seems to drag itself on by starts or slight efforts as it were. The male is smaller than the female, and is provided both with wings and wing-sheaths: it is but rarely seen; and it seems, even at present, not very clearly determined whether it be luminous