804 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

abound in Egypt in an equal degree with mosquitos, so
that is almost impossible to be wholly free from them.
They belong to that division of the insect world, the mem-
bers of which undergo no transformation from larva to pupa
and thence to the perfect insect. There are two families,
Pediculida, living on man and quadrupeds, and Nirmida,
living on birds: the species vary according to the animal
on which they live.

Tur Horner.—There are several notices of the hornet
in the Scriptures, according to our translation, In Exodus
xxiii. is the following: “I will send hornets before thee,
which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the
Hittite from before thee.” And again, in Deuteronomy vii.,
“Moreover the Lord thy God will send the Aornet among
them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from
thee, be destroyed ;” and in Joshua xxiv. is recorded the
fulfilment of these promises—“I sent the hornet before
you, which drove them out before you, even the two kings
of the Amorites; but not with thy sword, nor with thy
bow.” Many interpreters consider these texts in a figurative
sense, the hornet denoting either fear, which caused the
Canaanites to flee before Israel, or plagues and diseases,
causing the same result; and the Scripture language, as