. British insects : a familiar description of the form, structure, habits, and transformations of insects. h are sometimes even fatal. A curious legend, preserved among a sect of Kurdswho dwelt at the foot of Mount Sindshar, is quoted bythe author of Episodes of Insect Life, whence we willborrow it verbatim :— When Noahs ark sprang a leak by striking againsta rock in the vicinity of Mount Sindshar, and Noah des-paired altogether oi safety, the Serpent promised to helphim out of his mishap, if he would engage to feed himupon human flesh after the deluge had subsided. Noahpledged himself to do s
. British insects : a familiar description of the form, structure, habits, and transformations of insects. h are sometimes even fatal. A curious legend, preserved among a sect of Kurdswho dwelt at the foot of Mount Sindshar, is quoted bythe author of Episodes of Insect Life, whence we willborrow it verbatim :— When Noahs ark sprang a leak by striking againsta rock in the vicinity of Mount Sindshar, and Noah des-paired altogether oi safety, the Serpent promised to helphim out of his mishap, if he would engage to feed himupon human flesh after the deluge had subsided. Noahpledged himself to do so, and the Serpent, coiling him-self up, drove his body into the fracture and stoppedthe leak. When the pluvious element was appeased,and all were making their way out of the ark, the Serpentinsisted upon the fulfilment of the pledge he hadreceived; but Noah, by Gabriels advice, committedthe Serpent to the flames, and, scattering its ashes inthe air, there arose out of them Flies, Fleas, Lice, Bugs,and all such sorts of vermin as prey upon human blood,and in this mannerwas Noahs pledge redeemed. 332. Deu3 Myiagrus. CHAPTEK XXVI. ORDER XIII. DIPTERA. We now come to the order of Flies, a tribe regardedwith much disfavour by those who, not looking beyondthe apparent evils which they occasion, are ignorant oftheir great importance in the economy of nature. Not only in the ancient times already spoken of—times when a god* was summoned to disperse, as acause of evil, creatures which were in truth its antidote ;not then only, but even to the present day these mostuseful little creatures are thought of, spoken of, andtreated as an unmixed nuisance. In Greece and Rometwo thousand years ago they were looked upon asbringing pestilence; in England to-day, we hear of the* Cholera Ely, not as a Fly coming with, but as one * See Introduction, p. 2, and the figure at the head of this chapter. DIPTERA. 333 bringing disease. In some years the large swarmsof so-called Cholera Flies have been
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