[Footnote 1:  Scolopendra crassa, Temp.]

There is a smaller species[1], that frequents dwelling-houses; it is about one quarter the size of the preceding, and of a dirty olive colour, with pale ferruginous legs.  It is this species that generally inflicts the wound, when persons complain of being bitten by a scorpion; and it has a mischievous propensity for insinuating itself into the folds of dress.  The bite at first does not occasion more suffering than would arise from the penetration of two coarsely-pointed needles; but after a little time the wound swells, becomes acutely painful, and if it be over a bone or any other resisting part, the sensation is so intolerable as to produce fever.  The agony subsides after a few hours’ duration.  In some cases the bite is unattended by any particular degree of annoyance, and in these instances it is to be supposed that the contents of the poison gland had become exhausted by previous efforts, since, if much tasked, the organ requires rest to enable it to resume its accustomed functions and to secrete a supply of venom.

[Footnote 1:  Scolopendra pallipes.]

The Fish-insect.—­The chief inconvenience of a residence in Ceylon, both on the coast and in the mountains, is the prevalence of damp, and the difficulty of protecting articles liable to injury from this cause.  Books, papers, and manuscripts rapidly decay; especially during the south-west monsoon, when the atmosphere is saturated with moisture.  Unless great precautions are taken, the binding fades and yields, the leaves grow mouldy and stained, and letter-paper, in an incredibly short time, becomes so spotted and spongy as to be unfit for use.  After a very few seasons of neglect, a book falls to pieces, and its decomposition attracts hordes of minute insects, that swarm to assist in the work of destruction.  The concealment of these tiny creatures during daylight renders it difficult to watch their proceedings, or to discriminate the precise species most actively engaged; but there is every reason to believe that the larvae of the death-watch and numerous acari are amongst the most active.  As nature seldom peoples a region supplied with abundance of suitable food, without, at the same time, taking measures of precaution against the disproportionate increase of individuals; so have these vegetable depredators been provided with foes who pursue and feed greedily upon them.  These are of widely different genera; but instead of their services being gratefully recognised, they are popularly branded as accomplices in the work of destruction.  One of these ill-used creatures is a tiny, tail-less scorpion (Chelifer[1]), and another is the pretty little silvery creature (Lepisma), called by Europeans the “fish-insect."[2]

[Footnote 1:  Of the first of these, three species have been noticed in Ceylon, all with the common characteristics of being nocturnal, very active, very minute, of a pale chesnut colour, and each armed with a crab-like claw.  They are