Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

PESTS OF THE WOODS 251flections and four black stripes on the upper part ofthe body. This is a blow-tiy which has the sickeninghabit of laying its eggs in wounds, and even inthe nostrils of sleeping men. Several fatalities fromthis cause have been reported in our country; theyhave been much more numerous in South America.The gusanero of tropical America is described by atraveler as '* a beast of a fly that attacks you, youknow not when, till after three or four months youknow that he has done so by the swelling up of thebitten part into a fair-sized boil, from which issues amaggot of perhaps an inch and a half in length."Another Amazonian fly of similar habits is the birni,whose larva generates a grub in one's skin that requirescareful extraction, lest it be crushed in theoperation, " and then," said a native, " gentlemenoften go to o outro mundo" (the other world).The motuca of Brazil has ways similar to those ofour black-fly, and, like it, can easily be killed withone's fingers.Pests of the Tropics.—While I am on thistopic, it may add a little to the contentment of thoseouters who are unable to seek adventure in farawaylands, but must needs camp within a hundred milesor so of home, if I transcribe from the pages of awell-known naturalist the following notes on someof the impediments to travel in the tropics:"But the most numerous and most dreaded of all animalsin the middle Amazons are the insects. Nearly allkinds of articulate life here have either sting or bite. Thestrong trade wind keeps the lower Amazons clear of thewinged pests; but soon after leaving Manaos, and especiallyon the Maranon in the rainy season, the travelerbecomes intimately acquainted with half a dozen insectsof torture:(i) The sanguinary mosquito. . . . There are severalspecies, most of them working at night; but one black fellowwith white feet is diurnal. Doctor Spruce experimentedupon himself, and found that he lost, by leuing theblood-letters have their own way, three ounces of bloodper day. . . . The ceaseless irritation of these ubiquitouscreatures makes life almost intolerable. The great Cortez,afcfc^ ?l] his victories, could not forget his struggles with