GNATS.

The Gnat of Scripture-Straining out the Gnat and swallowing the camel, a typographical error-Probable identity of the Gnat and the mosquito.

IT has already been stated that only one species of fly is mentioned by name in the Scriptures. This is the Gnat, the name of which occurs in the familiar passage, " Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat and swallow a camel" (Matt. xxiii. 24).

"He sent divers sorts of flies among them which devoured them."-PsA. xxviii. 45.

I may again mention here that the words "strain at" ought to have been printed "strain out," the substitution of the one for the other being only a typographical error. The allusion is made to a custom which is explained by reference to the preced

ing article on the fly. In order to avoid taking flies and other insects into the mouth while drinking, a piece of thin linen stuff was placed over the cup, so that if any insects, as was usually the case, had got into the liquid, they would be "strained out " by the linen.

Whether or not any particular species of insect was signified by the word "gnat" is very doubtful, and in all probability the word is only used to express the contrast between the smallest known insects and the largest known beasts. Gnats, especially those species which are popularly known by the word “mosquito,” are very plentiful in many parts of Palestine, especially those which are near water, and are as annoying there as in other lands which they inhabit.

APTERA AND APANIPTERA.

THE LOUSE.

Insect parasites-The plague of Lice-Its effect on the magicians or priests—The Hebrew word Chinnim-Probability that it may be represented by "tick "Habits of the ticks, their dwellings in dust, and their effects on man and beast.

WE close the history of insects mentioned in Scripture with two parasites of a singularly disagreeable character.

With respect to the former of them, we find it mentioned in the account of the great plagues of Egypt. After the two plagues of the waters and the frogs, both of which were imitated by the magicians, i.e. the priests, a third was brought upon Egypt, which affected the magicians even more than the people, for a reason which we shall presently see :

"And the Lord said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice, throughout all the land of Egypt.

"And they did so; for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man

and in beast; all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt.

"And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not: so there were lice upon man and upon beast."

Now it is hardly possible to conceive a calamity which would have told with greater effect upon the magicians, by whose advice Pharoah had resisted the requests of Moses and Aaron.

Living in a land where all, from the highest to the lowest, were infested with parasites, the priests were so much in advance of the laity that they were held polluted if they harboured one single noxious insect upon their persons, or in their clothing. The clothing, being linen, could be kept clean by frequent washing, while the possibility of the body being infested by parasites was prevented by the custom of shaving the whole of the body, from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot, at least once in every three days.

It may easily be imagined, therefore, how terrible this visitation must have been to such men. As swine to the Pharisee, as the flesh of cattle to the Brahmin, so was the touch of a parasite to the Egyptian priest. He was degraded in his own estimation and in that of his fellows. He could perform no sacred offices: so that, in fact, all the idolatrous worship of Egypt ceased until this particular plague had been withdrawn.

We now come to a consideration of the insect which is signified by the Hebrew word chinnim. Sir Samuel Baker is of opinion that the word ought to have been translated as "ticks," and for the following reasons:—

After quoting the passage which relates to the stretching of Aaron's rod over the dust, and the consequence of that action, he proceeds as follows: "Now the louse that infests the human body and hair has no connexion whatever with dust, and, if subjected to a few hours' exposure to the dry heat of the burning sand, it would shrivel and die. But a tick is an inhabitant of the dust, a dry horny insect, without any apparent moisture in its composition. It lives in hot sand and dust, where it cannot possibly obtain nourishment until some wretched animal should lie down upon the spot, and become covered with these horrible vermin.

"I have frequently seen dry desert places so infested with

ticks that the ground was perfectly alive with them, and it would have been impossible to have rested upon the earth. In such spots, the passage in Exodus has frequently seemed to me as bearing reference to these vermin, which are the greatest enemy to man and beast. It is well known that from the size of a grain of sand, in their natural state, they will distend to the size of a hazel nut after having preyed for some days on the body of an animal." ("Nile Tributaries," p. 122.)

Granting that this suggestion be the correct one, as it certainly is the most consistent both with actual facts and with the words of Holy Writ, the plague would lose none of its intensity, but would, if anything, be more horrible. Only those who have suffered from them can appreciate the miseries caused by the attack of these ticks, which cling so tightly that they can scarcely be removed without being torn in pieces, and without leaving some portion of their head beneath the skin of their victim. Man and beast suffer equally from them, as is implied in the words of Scripture, and, unless they are very cautiously removed, painful and obstinate is the result of their bites.

THE FLEA.

Prevalence of the Flea in the East, and the annoyance caused by them to tra vellers-Fleas of the Lebanon-The Bey's bedfellows-The Pasha at the bath -Use of the word in Scripture.

THIS active little pest absolutely swarms in the East. The inhabitants are so used to the Fleas that either the insects do not touch them, or by long custom they become so inured to their attack that the bites are not felt.

But every traveller in Eastern lands has a tale to tell about the Fleas, which seem to be accepted as one of the institutions. of the country, and to be contemplated with perfect equanimity. Miss Rogers, for example, in her "Domestic Life in Palestine," mentions how she was obliged to stand upon a box in order

to be out of the reach of a large company of Fleas that were hopping about on the floor!

Mr. Urquhart, experienced Orientalist as he was, found on one occasion that the Fleas were too strong for him. He had forgotten his curtain, and was invaded by armies of Fleas, that marched steadily up the bed and took possession of their prey. The people were quite amused at his complaints, and said that their Bey could not sleep without a couple of hundred of them in his bosom. Mr. Urquhart suggests that these little creatures act as a wholesome irritant to the skin, and says that the last two mouthfuls of every meal are for the benefit of the Fleas.

In order to show the perfect indifference with which the presence of these little pests is regarded, I quote a passage from Mr. Farley's Druses of the Lebanon." He was in a Turkish bath, and was much amused at a scene which presented itself.

"A man, whose skin resembled old discoloured vellum, was occupying himself with the somewhat undignified pursuit of pursuing with great eagerness something that, from the movement of his hands, seemed continually to elude him, jumping about and taking refuge in the creases and folds of his shirt, that was spread out over his lap as he sat cross-legged on his bedstead like a tailor on his board. This oddity was no less a dignitary than a Pasha."

This extract also serves to illustrate the two passages in Scripture wherein the word "flea" is mentioned, and in both of which it is used as a metaphor to express weakness on the one side and power on the other.

The first occurs in 1 Sam. xxiv. 14:-" After whom is the king of Israel come out? After whom dost thou pursue? After a dead dog, after a flea?" The second is in chap. xxvi. of the same book, ver. 20: "Now therefore. . . . the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea, as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains." The reader will see how completely the anecdote of the Pasha in the bath illustrates this passage.