Home1815 Edition

RAVET

Volume 17 · 96 words · 1815 Edition

an insect shaped like a may-bug, or cockchafer, (see Scarabaeus), with which the island of Guadaloupe is much peopled. It has a stinking smell, preys upon paper, books, and furniture, and whatever they do not gnaw is discoloured by their ordure. These nasty insects, which are very numerous, and appear chiefly by night, would be intolerable, were it not for a large spider, some of them as long as a man's fist, which entangles them in its web, and otherwise surprieses them. On which account the inhabitants of the island are very careful of these spiders.