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.

The History of Insects · 第 13 / 21 题