ess.

In examining the louse with a microscope, its external deformity strikes
us with disgust. It has six feet, two eyes, and a sort of sting,
proboscis, or sucker, with which it pierces the skin, and sucks the
blood. The skin of the louse is hard and transparent, with here and
there several bristly hairs: at the end of each leg are two claws, by
which it is enabled to lay hold of the hairs, on which it climbs. There
is scarcely any animal known to multiply so fast as this unwelcome
intruder: from an experiment of Lieuenhoek, a louse in eight weeks, may
see five thousand of its descendants.

Among the ancients, what is called the lousy disease was not uncommon:
Antiochus, Herod, and others are said to have died of this disorder.

ITCH ... MITE.

[Illustration]

CHEGO ... DEATHWATCH.

There are many species of mites, beside the itch animal and mite above:
to the naked eye, they appear like moving particles of dust: but the
microscope discovers them to be perfect animals, having as regular a
figure, and performing all the functions of life as perfectly as
creatures that exceed them many times in bulk: their eggs are so small
that a regular computation shews that 90 millions of them are not so
large as a common Pigeon's egg.

The Chego is a very small animal, about one fourth the size of a common
flea: it is very troublesome, in warm climates, to the poor blacks, such
as go barefoot, and the slovenly: it penetrates the skin, under which it
lays a bunch of eggs, which swell to the bigness of a small pea.

The Deathwatch, of which there are two kinds, is an insect famous for a
ticking noise, like a watch, which superstitious people take for a
presage of death, in the family where it is heard.

SCORPION.

[Illustration]

This is one of the largest of the insect tribe. It is met with in
different countries, and of various sizes, from two or three inches to
nearly a foot in length: it somewhat resembles a lobster, and casts its
skin, as the lobster does its shell.

Scorpions are common in hot countries: they are very bold and watchful:
when any thing approaches, they erect their tails, and stand ready to
inflict the direful sting. In some parts of Italy and France, they are
among the greatest pests that plague mankind: they are very numerous,
and are most common in old houses, in dry or decayed walls, and among
furniture, insomuch that it is attended with, much danger to remove the
same: their s