Chaps. 30-43.

Chap. 30. (25.)—Scorpions.

In a similar manner to the spider, the land scorpion also produces maggots [Cuvier remarks, that the scorpion is viviparous; but the young are white when born, and wrapped up in an oval mass, for which reason they may easily be taken for maggots or grubs.] similar to eggs, and dies in a similar manner. This animal is a dangerous scourge, and has a venom like that of the serpent; with the exception that its effects are far more [This must be understood of the scorpion of Egypt, Libya, and Syria. The sting of that of the south of Europe is not generally dangerous.] painful, as the person who is stung will linger for three days before death ensues. The sting is invariably fatal to virgins, and nearly always so to matrons. It is so to men also, in the morning, when the animal has issued from its hole in a fasting state, and has not yet happened to discharge its poison by any accidental stroke. The tail is always ready to strike, and ceases not for an instant to menace, so that no opportunity may possibly be missed. The animal strikes too with a sidelong blow, or else by turning the tail upwards. Apollodorus informs us, that the poison which they secrete is of a white colour, and he has divided them into nine classes, distinguished mostly by their colours—to very little purpose, however, for it is impossible to understand which among these it is that he has pronounced to be the least dangerous. He says, also, that some of them have a double sting, and that the males—for he asserts that they are engendered by the union of the sexes—are the most dangerous. These may easily be known, he says, by their slender form and greater length. He states, also, that they all of them have venom in the middle of the day, when they have been warmed by the heat of the sun, as, also, when they are thirsty—their thirst, indeed, can never be quenched. It is an ascertained fact, that those which have seven joints in the tail are the most [Cuvier seems to regard this as fanciful: he says that the instances of seven joints are but rarely to be met with.] deadly; the greater part, however, have but six.

For this pest of Africa, the southern winds have provided means of flight as well, for as the breeze bears them along, they extend their arms and ply them like so many oars in their flight; the same Apollodorus, however, asserts that there are some which really have wings. [There are no winged scorpions. Cuvier thinks that he may possibly allude to the panorpis, or scorpion-fly, the abdomen of which terminates in a forceps, which resembles the tail of the scorpion.] The Psylli, who for their own profit have been in the habit of importing the poisons of other lands among us, and have thus filled Italy with the pests which belong to other regions, have made attempts to import the flying scorpion as well, but it has been found that it cannot live further north than the latitude of Sicily. However, they [Probably the panorpis.] are sometimes to be seen in Italy, but are quite harmless there; they are found, also, in many other places, the vicinity of Pharos, in Egypt, for instance. In Scythia, the scorpion is able to kill the swine even with its sting, an animal which, in general, is proof against poisons of this kind in a remarkable degree. When stung, those swine which are black die more speedily than others, and more particularly if they happen to throw themselves into the water. When a person has been stung, it is generally supposed that he may be cured by drinking the ashes of the scorpion [See B. xxix. c. 29.] mixed with wine. It is the belief also that there is nothing more baneful to the scorpion and the stellio, [The starred or spotted lizard.] than to dip them in oil. This last animal is also dangerous to all other creatures, except those which, like itself, are destitute of blood: in figure it strongly resembles the common lizard. For the most part, also, the scorpion does no injury to any animal which is bloodless. Some writers, too, are of opinion that the scorpion devours its offspring, and that the one among the young which is the most adroit avails itself of its sole mode of escape, by placing itself on the back of the mother, and thus finding a place where it is in safety from the tail and the sting. The one that thus escapes, they say, becomes the avenger of the rest, and at last, taking advantage of its elevated position, puts its parents to death. The scorpion produces eleven at a birth.

Chap. 31. (26.)—The Stellio.

The stellio [The stellio of the Romans is the “ascalabos” or “ascalabotes” of the Greeks, the lizard into which Ascalabus was changed by Ceres: see Ovid, Met. B. v. l. 450, et seq. Pliny also mentions this in B. xxix. c. 4, though he speaks of some difference in their appearance. It is a species of gecko, the tarentola of Italy, the tarente of Provence, and the geckotta, probably, of Lacepède. The gecko, Cuvier says, is not venomous; but it causes small blisters to rise on the skin when it walks over it, the result, probably, of the extreme sharpness of its nails.] has in some measure the same nature as the chameleon, as it lives upon nothing but dew, and such spiders [See c. of this Book, and B. viii. c. 95; B. xxx. c. 27.] as it may happen to find.

Chap. 32.—The Grasshopper: That It Has Neither Mouth nor Outlet for Food.

The cicada [A general name for the grasshopper. Cuvier remarks, that Pliny is less clear on this subject than Aristotle, the author from whom he has borrowed.] also lives in a similar manner, and is divided into two kinds. The smaller kind are born the first and die the last, and are without a voice. The others are of the flying kind, and have a note; there are two sorts, those known as achetæ, and the smaller ones called tettigonia: these last have the loudest voice. In both of these last-mentioned kinds, it is the male that sings, while the female is silent. There are nations in the east that feed upon these insects, the Parthians even, wealthy and affluent as they are. They prefer the male before it has had sexual intercourse, and the female after; and they take [“Correptis” seems a preferable reading to “conrupti,” that adopted by Sillig.] their eggs, which are white. They engender with the belly upwards. Upon the back they have a sharp-edged instrument, [The female has this, and employs it for piercing dead branches in which to deposit its eggs.] by means of which they excavate a hole to breed in, in the ground. The young is, at first, a small maggot in appearance, after which the larva assumes the form in which it is known as the tettigometra. [The “mother of the grasshopper.”] It bursts its shell about the time of the summer solstice, and then takes to flight, which always happens in the night. The insect, at first, is black and hard.

This is the only living creature that has no mouth; though it has something instead which bears a strong resemblance to the tongues of those insects which carry a sting in the mouth: this organ is situate in the breast [The trunk of the grasshopper, Cuvier says, is situate so low down, that it seems to be attached to the breast. With it the insect extracts the juices of leaves and stalks.] of the animal, and is employed by it in sucking up the dew. The corselet itself forms a kind of pipe; and it is by means of this that the achetæ utter their note, as already mentioned. Beyond this, they have no viscera in the abdomen. When surprised, they spring upwards, and eject a kind of liquid, which, indeed, is our only proof that they live upon dew. This, also, is the only animal that has no outlet for the evacuations of the body. Their powers of sight are so bad, that if a person contracts his finger, and then suddenly extends it close to them, they will come upon it just as though it were a leaf. Some authors divide these animals into two kinds, the “surcularia,” [Or “twig-grasshopper.”] which is the largest, and the “frumentaria,” [Or “corn-grasshopper.”] by many known as the “avenaria;” [Or “oat-grasshopper.”] this last makes its appearance just as the corn is turning dry in the ear.

(27.) The grasshopper is not a native of countries that are bare of trees—hence it is that there are none in the vicinity of the city of Cyrene—nor, in fact, is it produced in champaign countries, or in cool and shady thickets. They will take to some places much more readily than others. In the district of Miletus they are only to be found in some few spots; and in Cephallenia, there is a river which runs through the country, on one side of which they are not to be found, while on the other they exist in vast numbers. In the territory of Rhegium, again, none of the grasshoppers have any note, while beyond the river, in the territory of Locri, [The river Cæcina. See B. iii. c. 15. This river is by Strabo, B. vi. c. 260, called the Alex. Ælian has the story that the Locrian grasshoppers become silent in the territory of Rhegium, and those of Rhegium in the territory of Locri, thereby implying that they each have a note in its own respective country.] they sing aloud. Their wings are formed similarly to those of bees, but are larger, in proportion to the body.

Chap. 33. (28.)—The Wings of Insects.

There are some insects which have two wings, flies, for instance; others, again, have four, like the bee. The wings of the grasshopper are membranous. Those insects which are armed with a sting in the abdomen, have four wings. None of those which have a sting in the mouth, have more than two wings. The former have received the sting for the purpose of defending themselves, the latter for the supplying of their wants. If pulled from off the body, the wings of an insect will not grow again; no insect which has a sting inserted in its body, has two wings only.

Chap. 34.—The Beetle. The Glow-worm. Other Kinds of Beetles.

Some insects, for the preservation of their wings, are covered with a crust; [Or sheath; the Coleoptera of the naturalists.] the beetle, for instance, the wing of which is peculiarly fine and frail. To these insects a sting has been denied by Nature; but in one large kind [The flying stag-beetle, the Lucanus cervus of Linnæus.] we find horns of a remarkable length, two-pronged at the extremities, and forming pincers, which the animal closes when it is its intention to bite. These beetles are suspended from the neck of infants by way of remedy against certain maladies: Nigidius calls them “lucani.” There is another kind [The dung-beetle, the Scarabæus pilularius of Linnæus.] of beetle, again, which, as it goes backwards with its feet, rolls the dung into large pellets, and then deposits in them the maggots which form its young, as in a sort of nest, to protect them against the rigours of winter. Some, again, fly with a loud buzzing or a drony noise, while others [Various kinds of crickets.] burrow numerous holes in the hearths and out in the fields, and their shrill chirrup is to be heard at night.

The glow-worm, by the aid of the colour of its sides [Cuvier says that it is on the two sides of the abdomen that the male carries its light, while the whole posterior part of the female is shining.] and haunches, sends forth at night a light which resembles that of fire; being resplendent, at one moment, as it expands its wings, [In the glow-worm of France, the Lampyris noctiluca of Linnæus, the female is without wings, while the male gives but little light. In that of Italy, the Lampyris Italica, both sexes are winged.] and then thrown into the shade the instant it has shut them. These insects are never to be seen before the grass of the pastures has come to maturity, nor yet after the hay has been cut. On the other hand, it is the nature of the black beetle [“Blattæ.” See B. xxix. c. 39, where three kinds are specified.] to seek dark corners, and to avoid the light: it is mostly found in baths, being produced from the humid vapours which arise therefrom. There are some beetles also, belonging to the same species, of a golden colour and very large size, which burrow [This beetle appears to be unknown. Cuvier suggests that the Scarabæus nasicornis of Linnæus, which haunts dead bark, or the Scarabæus auratus may be the insect referred to.] in dry ground, and construct small combs of a porous nature, and very like sponge; these they fill with a poisonous kind of honey. In Thrace, near Olynthus, there is a small locality, the only one in which this animal cannot exist; from which circumstance it has received the name of “Cantharolethus.” [“Fatal to the beetle.”]

The wings of all insects are formed without [Cuvier remarks that this assertion, borrowed from Aristotle, is incorrect. The wings of many of the Coleoptera are articulated in the middle, and so double, one part on the other, to enter the sheath.] any division in them, and they none of them have a tail, [Cuvier remarks, that the panorpis has a tail very like that of the scorpion; and that the ephemera, the ichneumons and others, have tails also. Aristotle, in the corresponding place, only says that the insects do not use the tail to direct their flight.] with the exception of the scorpion; this, too, is the only one among them that has arms, [These are merely the feelers of the jaws.] together with a sting in the tail. As to the rest of the insects, some of them have the sting in the mouth, the gad-fly for instance, or the “tabanus,” as some persons choose to call it: the same is the case, too, with the gnat and some kinds of flies. All these insects have their stings situate in the mouth instead [Not instead of, but in addition to, the tongue, by the aid of which they suck.] of a tongue; but in some the sting is not pointed, being formed not for pricking, but for the purpose of suction: this is the case more especially with flies, in which it is clear that the tongue [Evidently meaning the trunk.] is nothing more than a tube. These insects, too, have no teeth. Others, again, have little horns protruding in front of the eyes, but without any power in them; the butterfly, for instance. Some insects are destitute of wings, such as the scolopendra, for instance. [See B. xxix. c. 39.]

Chap. 35.—Locusts.

Those insects which have feet, move sideways. Some of them have the hind feet longer than the fore ones, and curving outwards, the locust, for example.

(29.) These creatures lay their eggs in large masses, in the autumn, thrusting the end of the tail into holes which they form in the ground. These eggs remain underground throughout the winter, and in the ensuing year, at the close of spring, small locusts issue from them, of a black colour, and crawling along without legs [It is not true that the young locusts are destitute of feet.] and wings. Hence it is that a wet spring destroys their eggs, while, if it is dry, they multiply in great abundance. Some persons maintain that they breed twice a year, and die the same number of times; that they bring forth at the rising [th May.] of the Vergiliæ, and die at the rising of the Dog-star, [th July.] after which others spring up in their places: according to some, it is at the setting [th May.] of Arcturus that the second litter is produced. That the mothers die the moment they have brought forth, is a well-known fact, for a little worm immediately grows about the throat, which chokes them: at the same time, too, the males perish as well. This insect, which thus dies through a cause apparently so trifling, is able to kill a serpent by itself, when it pleases, by seizing its jaws with its teeth. [Cuvier treats this story as purely imaginary.] Locusts are only produced in champaign places, that are full of chinks and crannies. In India, it is said that they attain the length of three [Cuvier says that some have been known nearly a foot long, but not more.] feet, and that the people dry the legs and thighs, and use them for saws. There is another mode, also, in which these creatures perish; the winds carry them off in vast swarms, upon which they fall into the sea or standing waters, and not, as the ancients supposed, because their wings have been drenched by the dampness of the night. The same authors have also stated, that they are unable to fly during the night, in consequence of the cold, being ignorant of the fact, that they travel over lengthened tracts of sea for many days together, a thing the more to be wondered at, as they have to endure hunger all the time as well, for this it is which causes them to be thus seeking pastures in other lands. This is looked upon as a plague [He alludes to the ravages committed by the swarms of the migratory locust, Grillus migratorius of Linnæus.] inflicted by the anger of the gods; for as they fly they appear to be larger than they really are, while they make such a loud noise with their wings, that they might be readily supposed to be winged creatures of quite another species. Their numbers, too, are so vast, that they quite darken the sun; while the people below are anxiously following them with the eye, to see if they are about to make a descent, and so cover their lands. After all, they have the requisite energies for their flight; and, as though it had been but a trifling matter to pass over the seas, they cross immense tracts of country, and cover them in clouds which bode destruction to the harvests. Scorching numerous objects by their very contact, they eat away everything with their teeth, the very doors of the houses even.

Those from Africa are the ones which chiefly devastate Italy; and more than once the Roman people have been obliged to have recourse to the Sibylline Books, to learn what remedies to employ under their existing apprehensions of impending famine. In the territory of Cyrenaica [Julius Obsequens speaks of a pestilence there, created by the dead bodies of the locusts, which caused the death of 8000 persons.] there is a law, which even compels the people to make war, three times a year, against the locusts, first, by crushing their eggs, next by killing the young, and last of all by killing those of full growth; and he who fails to do so, incurs the penalty of being treated as a deserter. In the island of Lemnos also, there is a certain measure fixed by law, which each individual is bound to fill with locusts which he has killed, and then bring it to the magistrates. It is for this reason, too, that they pay such respect to the jack-daw, which flies to meet the locusts, and kills them in great numbers. In Syria, also, the people are placed under martial law, and compelled to kill them: in so many countries does this dreadful pest prevail. The Parthians look upon them as a choice food, [See also B. vi. c. 35.] and the grasshopper as well. The voice of the locust appears to proceed from the back part of the head. It is generally believed that in this place, where the shoulders join on to the body, they have, as it were, a kind of teeth, and that it is by grinding these against each other that they produce the harsh noise which they make. It is more especially about the two equinoxes that they are to be heard, in the same way that we hear the chirrup of the grasshopper about the summer solstice. The coupling of locusts is similar to that of all other insects that couple, the female supporting the male, and turning back the extremity of the tail towards him; it is only after a considerable time that they separate. In all these kinds of insects the male is of smaller size than the female.

Chap. 36. (30.)—Ants.

The greater part of the insects produce a maggot. Ants also produce one in spring, which is similar to an egg, [What are commonly called ants’ eggs, are in reality their larvæ and nymphæ. Enveloped in a sort of tunic, these last, Cuvier says, are like grains of corn, and from this probably has arisen the story that they lay up grains against the winter, a period through which in reality they do not eat.] and they work in common, like bees; but whereas the last make their food, the former only store [They stow away bits of meat and detached portions of fruit, to nourish their larvæ with their juices.] it away. If a person only compares the burdens which the ants carry with the size of their bodies, he must confess that there is no animal which, in proportion, is possessed of a greater degree of strength. These burdens they carry with the mouth, but when it is too large to admit of that, they turn their backs to it, and push it onwards with their feet, while they use their utmost energies with their shoulders. These insects, also, have a political community among themselves, and are possessed of both memory and foresight. They gnaw each grain before they lay it by, for fear lest it should shoot while under ground; those grains, again, which are too large for admission, they divide at the entrance of their holes; and those which have become soaked by the rain, they bring out and dry. [It is in reality their larvæ that they thus bring out to dry. The working ants, or neutrals, are the ones on which these labours devolve: the males and females are winged, the working ants are without wings.] They work, too, by night, during the full moon; but when there is no moon, they cease working. And then, too, in their labours, what ardour they display, what wondrous carefulness! Because they collect their stores from different quarters, in ignorance of the proceedings of one another, they have certain days set apart for holding a kind of market, on which they meet together and take stock. [“Ad recognitionem mutuam.”] What vast throngs are then to be seen hurrying together, what anxious enquiries appear to be made, and what earnest parleys [Some modern writers express an opinion that when they meet, they converse and encourage one another by the medium of touch and smell.] are going on among them as they meet! We see even the very stones worn away by their footsteps, and roads beaten down by being the scene of their labours. Let no one be in doubt, then, how much assiduity and application, even in the very humblest of objects, can upon every occasion effect! Ants are the only living beings, besides man, that bestow burial on the dead. In Sicily there are no winged ants to be found.

(31.) The horns of an Indian ant, suspended in the temple of Hercules, at Erythræ, [See B. v. c. 31.] have been looked upon as quite miraculous for their size. This ant excavates gold from holes, in a country in the north of India, the inhabitants of which are known as the Dardæ. It has the colour of a cat, and is in size as large as an Egyptian wolf. [M. de Veltheim thinks that by this is really meant the Canis corsac, the small fox of India, but that by some mistake it was represented by travellers as an ant. It is not improbable, Cuvier says, that some quadruped, in making holes in the ground, may have occasionally thrown up some grains of the precious metal. The story is derived from the narratives of Clearchus and Megasthenes. Another interpretation of this story has also been suggested. We find from some remarks of Mr. Wilson, in the Transactions of the Asiatic Society, on the Mahabharata, a Sanscrit poem, that various tribes on the mountains Meru and Mandara (supposed to lie between Hindostan and Tibet) used to sell grains of gold, which they called paippilaka, or “ant-gold,” which, they said, was thrown up by ants, in Sanscrit called pippilaka. In travelling westward, this story, in itself, no doubt, untrue, may very probably have been magnified to its present dimensions.] This gold, which it extracts in the winter, is taken by the Indians during the heats of summer, while the ants are compelled, by the excessive warmth, to hide themselves in their holes. Still, however, on being aroused by catching the scent of the Indians, they sally forth, and frequently tear them to pieces, though provided with the swiftest camels for the purpose of flight; so great is their fleetness, combined with their ferocity and their passion for gold!

Chap. 37. (32.)—The Chrysalis.

Many insects, however, are engendered in a different manner; and some more especially from dew. This dew settles upon the radish [Cuvier observes, that this is a very correct account of the cabbage or radish butterfly, the Papilio brassicæ or Papilio raphani of Linnæus.] leaf in the early days of spring; but when it has been thickened by the action of the sun, it becomes reduced to the size of a grain of millet. From this a small grub afterwards arises, which, at the end of three days, becomes transformed into a caterpillar. For several successive days it still increases in size, but remains motionless, and covered with a hard husk. It moves only when touched, and is covered with a web like that of the spider. In this state it is called a chrysalis, but after the husk is broken, it flies forth in the shape of a butterfly.

Chap. 38. (33.)—Animals Which Breed in Wood.

In the same manner, also, some animals are generated in the earth from rain, and some, again, in wood. And not only wood-worms [Cossi. See B. xvii. c..] are produced in wood, but gad-flies also and other insects issue from it, whenever there is an excess of moisture; just as in man, tape-worms [Tæniæ.] are sometimes found, as much as three hundred feet or more in length.

Chap. 39.—Insects That Are Parasites of Man. Which Is the Smallest of Animals? Animals Found in Wax Even.

Then, too, in dead carrion there are certain animals produced, and in the hair, too, of living men. It was through such vermin as this that the Dictator Sylla, [He alludes to the Morbus pediculosus.] and Alcman, one of the most famous of the Grecian poets, met their deaths. These insects infest birds too, and are apt to kill the pheasant, unless it takes care to bathe itself in the dust. Of the animals that are covered with hair, it is supposed that the ass and the sheep are the only ones that are exempt from these vermin. They are produced, also, in certain kinds of cloth, and more particularly those made of the wool of sheep which have been killed by the wolf. I find it stated, also, by authors, that some kinds of water [Aristotle says, in the corresponding passage, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 26, that the animals which are affected by lice, are more particularly exposed to them when they change the water in which they wash.] which we use for bathing are more productive of these parasites than others. Even wax is found to produce mites, which are supposed to be the very smallest of all living creatures. Other insects, again, are engendered from filth, acted upon by the rays of the sun—these fleas are called “petauristæ,” [Or “leapers.”] from the activity which they display in their hind legs. Others, again, are produced with wings, from the moist dust that is found lying in holes and corners.

Chap. 40. (34.)—An Animal Which Has No Passage for the Evacuations.

There is an animal, [He alludes to dog-ticks and ox-ticks, the Acarus ricinus of Linnæus, and the Acarus reduvius of Schrank.] also, that is generated in the summer, which has its head always buried deep in the skin [of a beast], and so, living on its blood, swells to a large size. This is the only living creature that has no outlet [In c. 32 he has said the same of the grasshopper; in relation to its drink.] for its food; hence, when it has overgorged itself, it bursts asunder, and thus its very aliment is made the cause of its death. This insect never breeds on beasts of burden, but is very commonly seen on oxen, and sometimes on dogs, which, indeed, are subject to every species of vermin. With sheep and goats, it is the only parasite. The thirst, too, for blood displayed by leeches, which we find in marshy waters, is no less singular; for these will thrust the entire head into the flesh in quest of it. There is a winged insect [A variety of the Cynips of Linnæus, which in vast numbers will sometimes adhere to the ears of dogs.] which peculiarly infests dogs, and more especially attacks them with its sting about the ears, where they are unable to defend themselves with their teeth.

Chap. 41. (35.)—Moths, Cantharides, Gnats—An Insect That Breeds in the Snow.

Dust, too, is productive of worms [These are really the larvæ of night-moths. His account here is purely imaginary.] in wools and cloths, and this more especially if a spider should happen to be enclosed in them: for, being sensible of thirst, it sucks up all the moisture, and thereby increases the dryness of the material. These will breed in paper also. There is one kind which carries with it its husk, in the same manner as the snail, only that the feet are to be seen. If deprived of it, it does not survive; and when it is fully developed, the insect becomes a chrysalis. The wild fig-tree produces gnats, [He speaks of the Cynips psenes of Linnæus, which breeds on the blossom of the fig-tree, and aids in its fecundation. See B. xv. c..] known as “ficarii;” and the little grubs of the fig-tree, the pear-tree, the pine, the wild rose, and the common rose produce cantharides, [He alludes to various coleopterous insects, which are not included among the Cantharides of the modern naturalists. They are first an egg, then a larva, then a nympha, and then the insect fully developed.] when fully developed. These insects, which are venomous, carry with them their antidote; for their wings are useful in medicine, [See B. xxix. c. 30.] while the rest of the body is deadly. Again, liquids turned sour will produce other kinds of gnats, and white grubs are to be found in snow that has lain long on the ground, while those that lie above are of a reddish [The redness sometimes observed on the snow of the Alps and the Pyrenees, is supposed by De Lamarck to be produced by animalculæ: other naturalists, however, suppose it to arise from vegetable or mineral causes.] colour—indeed, the snow itself becomes red after it has lain some time on the ground. These grubs are covered with a sort of hair, are of a rather large size, and in a state of torpor.

Chap. 42. (36.)—An Animal Found in Fire—The Pyrallis or Pyrausta.

That element, also, which is so destructive to matter, produces certain animals; for in the copper-smelting furnaces of Cyprus, in the very midst of the fire, there is to be seen flying about a four-footed animal with wings, the size of a large fly: this creature is called the “pyrallis,” and by some the “pyrausta.” So long as it remains in the fire it will live, but if it comes out and flies a little distance from it, it will instantly die.

Chap. 43.—The Animal Called Hemerobion.

The Hypanis, a river of Pontus, brings down in its waters, about the time of the summer solstice, small membranous particles, like a grape-stone in appearance; from which there issues an animal [Cuvier thinks that he alludes to a variety of the ephemera or the phryganea of Linnæus, the case-wing flies, many of which are particularly short-lived. These are by no means peculiar to the river Bog or Hypanis.] with four legs and with wings, similar to the one just mentioned. It does not, however, live more than a single day, from which circumstance it has obtained the name of “hemerobion.” [“Living for a day.”] The life of other insects of a similar nature is regulated from its beginning to its end by multiples of seven. Thrice seven days is the duration of the life of the gnat and of the maggot, while those that are viviparous live four times seven days, and their various changes and transformations take place in periods of three or four days. The other insects of this kind that are winged, generally die in the autumn, the gad-fly becoming quite blind [They only appear to be so, from the peculiar streaks on the eyes. Linnæus has hence called one variety, the Tabanus cæcutiens.] even before it dies. Flies which have been drowned in water, if they are covered with ashes, [Or with pounded chalk or whitening. Ælian adds, “if they are placed in the sun,” which appears necessary for the full success of the experiment. Life appears to be suspended in such cases for a period of surprising length.] will return to life.