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THE
NATURAL HISTORY
OF
PLINY.
TRANSLATED,
WITH COPIOUS NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS
BY THE LATE
JOHN BOSTOCK, M.D., F.R.S.,
AND
H. T. RILEY, ESQ., B.A.,
LATE SCHOLAR OF CLARE HALL, CAMBRIDGE.
VOL. III.
LONDON:
HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.
MDCCCLV.
CONTENTS.
OF THE THIRD VOLUME.
BOOK XI.
THE VARIOUS KINDS OF INSECTS.
CHAP. Page
1. The extreme smallness of insects 1
2. Whether insects respire, and whether they have blood 3
3. The bodies of insects 4
4. Bees 5
5. The order displayed in the works of bees _ib._
6. The meaning of the terms commosis, pissoceros, and propolis 6
7. The meaning of erithace, sandaraca, or cerinthos 7
8. What flowers are used by the bees in their work _ib._
9. Persons who have made bees their study 8
10. The mode in which bees work _ib._
11. Drones 10
12. The qualities of honey 11
13. Where the best honey is produced 12
14. The kinds of honey peculiar to various places _ib._
15. How honey is tested. Ericæum. Tetralix, or sisirum 14
16. The reproduction of bees 16
17. The mode of government of the bees 18
18. Happy omens sometimes afforded by a swarm of bees 19
19. The various kinds of bees 20
20. The diseases of bees 21
21. Things that are noxious to bees 22
22. How to keep bees to the hive 23
23. Methods of renewing the swarm _ib._
24. Wasps and hornets: animals which appropriate what belongs
to others 24
25. The bombyx of Assyria 25
26. The larvæ of the silk-worm—who first invented silk cloths _ib._
27. The silk-worm of Cos—how the Coan vestments are made 26
28. Spiders; the kinds that make webs; the materials used by
them in so doing 27
29. The generation of spiders 29
30. Scorpions _ib._
31. The stellio 31
32. The grasshopper: that it has neither mouth nor outlet
for food _ib._
33. The wings of insects 33
34. The beetle. The glow-worm. Other kinds of beetles 33
35. Locusts 35
36. Ants 37
37. The chrysalis 39
38. Animals which breed in wood 40
39. Insects that are parasites of man. Which is the smallest
of animals? Animals found in wax even _ib._
40. An animal which has no passage for the evacuations _ib._
41. Moths, cantharides, gnats—an insect which breeds in the
snow 41
42. An animal found in fire—the pyrallis, or pyrausta 42
43. The animal called hemerobion _ib._
44. The nature and characteristics of all animals considered
limb by limb. Those which have tufts and crests 43
45. The various kinds of horns. Animals in which they are
moveable 44
46. The heads of animals. Those which have none 46
47. The hair _ib._
48. The bones of the head 47
49. The brain _ib._
50. The ears. Animals which hear without ears or apertures 48
51. The face, the forehead, and the eye-brows 49
52. The eyes—animals which have no eyes, or have only one
eye _ib._
53. The diversity of the colour of the eyes 50
54. The theory of sight—persons who can see by night _ib._
55. The nature of the pupil—eyes which do not shut 52
56. The hair of the eye-lids; what animals are without them.
Animals which can see on one side only 54
57. Animals which have no eye-lids 55
58. The cheeks _ib._
59. The nostrils _ib._
60. The mouth; the lips; the chin; and the jaw-bone 56
61. The teeth; the various kinds of teeth; in what animals
they are not on both sides of the mouth: animals which
have hollow teeth _ib._
62. The teeth of serpents; their poison. A bird which has
teeth 57
63. Wonderful circumstances connected with the teeth 59
64. How an estimate is formed of the age of animals from their
teeth 60
65. The tongue; animals which have no tongue. The noise made
by frogs. The palate 61
66. The tonsils; the uvula; the epiglossis; the tracheal
artery; the gullet 62
67. The neck; the throat; the dorsal spine 63
68. The throat; the gullet; the stomach 64
69. The heart; the blood; the vital spirit _ib._
70. Those animals which have the largest heart, and those
which have the smallest. What animals have two hearts 65
71. When the custom was first adopted of examining the heart
in the inspection of the entrails 66
72. The lungs: in what animals they are the largest, and in
what the smallest. Animals which have nothing but lungs
in the interior of the body. Causes which produce
extraordinary swiftness in animals 67
73. The liver; in what animals, and in what part there are two
livers found _ib._
74. The gall; where situate, and in what animals it is double.
Animals which have no gall, and others in which it is
not situate in the liver 68
75. The properties of the gall 69
76. In what animals the liver increases and decreases with the
moon. Observations on the aruspices relative thereto, and
remarkable prodigies 70
77. The diaphragm. The nature of laughter _ib._
78. The belly: animals which have no belly. Which are the only
animals that vomit 71
79. The small guts, the front intestines, the anus, the
colon. The causes of the insatiate voracity of certain
animals _ib._
80. The omentum: the spleen; animals which are without it 73
81. The kidneys: animals which have four kidneys. Animals which
have none _ib._
82. The breast: the ribs 74
83. The bladder: animals which have no bladder _ib._
84. The womb: the womb of the sow: the teats 75
85. Animals which have suet: animals which do not grow fat _ib._
86. The marrow: animals which have no marrow 76
87. Bones and fish-bones: animals which have neither.
Cartilages 77
88. The nerves: animals which have none _ib._
89. The arteries; the veins: animals without arteries or veins.
The blood and the sweat 78
90. Animals, the blood of which coagulates with the greatest
rapidity: other animals, the blood of which does not
coagulate. Animals which have the thickest blood: those
the blood of which is the thinnest: animals which have
no blood _ib._
91. Animals which are without blood at certain periods of
the year 79
92. Whether the blood is the principle of life 80
93. The hide of animals _ib._
94. The hair and the covering of the skin 81
95. The paps: birds which have paps. Remarkable facts connected
with the dugs of animals 82
96. The milk: the biestings. Cheese: of what milk cheese cannot
be made. Rennet; the various kinds of aliment in milk 83
97. Various kinds of cheese 85
98. Differences of the members of man from those of other
animals 86
99. The fingers, the arms _ib._
100. Resemblance of the ape to man _ib._
101. The nails 87
102. The knees and the hams _ib._
103. Parts of the human body to which certain religious ideas
are attached 88
104. Varicose veins 88
105. The gait, the feet, the legs 89
106. Hoofs _ib._
107. The feet of birds 90
108. The feet of animals, from those having two feet to those
with a hundred.—Dwarfs 91
109. The sexual parts.—Hermaphrodites _ib._
110. The testes.—The three classes of eunuchs 92
111. The tails of animals _ib._
112. The different voices of animals 93
113. Superfluous limbs 95
114. Signs of vitality and of the moral disposition of man,
from the limbs 96
115. Respiration and nutriment 97
116. Animals which when fed upon poison do not die, and the
flesh of which is poisonous 98
117. Reasons for indigestion. Remedies for crudity _ib._
118. From what causes corpulence arises; how it may be
reduced _ib._
119. What things, by merely tasting of them, allay hunger
and thirst 99
BOOK XII.
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF TREES.
1. The honourable place occupied by trees in the system of
nature 101
2. The early history of trees 102
3. Exotic trees. When the plane-tree first appeared in Italy,
and whence it came 103
4. The nature of the plane-tree 104
5. Remarkable facts connected with the plane-tree _ib._
6. The chamæplatanus. Who was the first to clip green shrubs 106
7. How the citron is planted _ib._
8. The trees of India 107
9. When ebony was first seen at Rome. The various kinds of
ebony 109
10. The Indian thorn _ib._
11. The Indian fig _ib._
12. The pala: the fruit called ariena 110
13. Indian trees, the names of which are unknown. Indian
trees which bear flax 111
14. The pepper-tree.—The various kinds of
pepper—bregma—zingiberi, or zimpirebi _ib._
15. Caryophyllon, lycion, and the Chironian pyxacanthus 113
16. Macir 114
17. Sugar _ib._
18. Trees of Ariana, Gedrosia, and Hyrcania 115
19. Trees of Bactriana, bdellium, or brochon, otherwise
malacha, or maldacon, scordastum. Adulterations used
in all spices and aromatics; the various tests of them
and their respective values _ib._
20. Trees of Persis 117
21. Trees of the islands of the Persian Sea. The cotton tree _ib._
22. The tree called cyna. Trees from which fabrics for
clothing are made in the east 118
23. A country where the trees never lose their leaves _ib._
24. The various useful products of trees 119
25. Costus _ib._
26. Nard. The twelve varieties of the plant _ib._
27. Asarum, or foal-foot 121
28. Amomum.—Amomis 122
29. Cardamomum 123
30. The country of frankincense _ib._
31. The trees which bear frankincense 125
32. Various kinds of frankincense 126
33. Myrrh 129
34. The trees which produce myrrh 130
35. The nature and various kinds of myrrh _ib._
36. Mastich 132
37. Ladanum and stobolon _ib._
38. Enhæmon 134
39. The tree called bratus 135
40. The tree called stobrum _ib._
41. Why Arabia was called “Happy” 136
42. Cinnamomum. Xylocinnamum 137
43. Cassia 140
44. Cancamum and tarum 141
45. Serichatum and gabalium 142
46. Myrobalanum _ib._
47. Phœnicobalanus 143
48. The sweet-scented calamus; the sweet-scented rush 144
49. Hammoniacum _ib._
50. Sphagnos 145
51. Cypros 146
52. Aspalathos, or erysisceptrum _ib._
53. Maron 147
54. Balsamum; opobalsamum; and xylobalsamum _ib._
55. Storax 151
56. Galbanum 152
57. Panax _ib._
58. Spondylium 153
59. Malobathrum _ib._
60. Omphacium _ib._
61. Bryon, œnanthe, and massaris 154
62. Elate or spathe 155
63. Cinnamon or comacum _ib._
BOOK XIII.
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF EXOTIC TREES, AND AN ACCOUNT OF UNGUENTS.
1. Unguents—at what period they were first introduced 159
2. The various kinds of unguents—twelve principal
compositions 160
3. Diapasma, magma; the mode of testing unguents 166
4. The excesses to which luxury has run in unguents 167
5. When unguents were first used by the Romans 168
6. The palm-tree 169
7. The nature of the palm-tree 170
8. How the palm-tree is planted 172
9. The different varieties of palm-trees, and their
characteristics 173
10. The trees of Syria: the pistacia, the cottana, the
damascena, and the myxa 178
11. The cedar. Trees which have on them the fruit of three
years at once _ib._
12. The terebinth 179
13. The sumach-tree _ib._
14. The trees of Egypt. The fig-tree of Alexandria 180
15. The fig-tree of Cyprus 181
16. The carob-tree _ib._
17. The Persian tree. In what trees the fruits germinate
the one below the other 182
18. The cucus 183
19. The Egyptian thorn _ib._
20. Nine kinds of gum. The sarcocolla 184
21. The papyrus: the use of paper: when it was first
invented 185
22. The mode of making paper 186
23. The nine different kinds of paper 187
24. The mode of testing the goodness of paper 189
25. The peculiar defects in paper 190
26. The paste used in the preparation of paper 191
27. The books of Numa _ib._
28. The trees of Æthiopia 193
29. The trees of Mount Atlas. The citrus, and the tables
made of the wood thereof 194
30. The points that are desirable or otherwise in these
tables 195
31. The citron-tree 198
32. The lotus _ib._
33. The trees of Cyrenaica. The paliurus 200
34. Nine varieties of the Punic apple. Balaustium _ib._
35. The trees of Asia and Greece; the epipactis, the erica,
the Cnidian grain or thymelæa, pyrosachne, cnestron,
or cneoron 201
36. The tragion: tragacanthe _ib._
37. The tragos or scorpio; the myrica or brya; the ostrys 202
38. The euonymos 203
39. The tree called eon _ib._
40. The andrachle 204
41. The coccygia; the apharce _ib._
42. The ferula _ib._
43. The thapsia 205
44. The capparis or cynosbaton, otherwise ophiostaphyle 206
45. The saripha 207
46. The royal thorn _ib._
47. The cytisus 208
48. The trees and shrubs of the Mediterranean. The phycos,
prason, or zoster 209
49. The sea bryon 210
50. Plants of the Red Sea 211
51. Plants of the Indian Sea _ib._
52. The plants of the Troglodytic Sea; the hair of Isis:
the Charito-blepharon 212
BOOK XIV.
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FRUIT-TREES.
1 and 2. The nature of the vine. Its mode of
fructification 215
3. The nature of the grape, and the cultivation of the vine 218
4. Ninety-one varieties of the vine 222
5. Remarkable facts connected with the culture of the vine 233
6. The most ancient wines 236
7. The nature of wines 238
8. Fifty kinds of generous wines 239
9. Thirty-eight varieties of foreign wine 245
10. Seven kinds of salted wines 247
11. Eighteen varieties of sweet wine. Raisin-wine and
hepsema 248
12. Three varieties of second-rate wine 251
13. At what period generous wines were first commonly made
in Italy 251
14. The inspection of wine ordered by King Romulus 252
15. Wines drunk by the ancient Romans 253
16. Some remarkable facts connected with wine-lofts.
The Opimian wine 254
17. At what period four kinds of wine were first served
at table _ib._
18. The uses of the wild vine. What juices are naturally
the coldest of all 255
19. Sixty-six varieties of artificial wine 256
20. Hydromeli, or melicraton 261
21. Oxymeli _ib._
22. Twelve kinds of wine with miraculous properties 262
23. What wines it is not lawful to use in the sacred rites 263
24. How must is usually prepared _ib._
25. Pitch and resin 264
26. Vinegar—lees of wine 268
27. Wine-vessels—wine-cellars _ib._
28. Drunkenness 270
29. Liquors with the strength of wine made from water
and corn 274
BOOK XV.
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FRUIT-TREES.
1. The olive.—How long it existed in Greece only.—At what
period it was first introduced into Italy, Spain,
and Africa 277
2. The nature of the olive, and of new olive oil 278
3. Olive oil: the countries in which it is produced, and
its various qualities 279
4. Fifteen varieties of the olive 281
5. The nature of olive oil 284
6. The culture of the olive: its mode of preservation.
The method of making olive oil 285
7. Forty-eight varieties of artificial oils. The cicus-tree
or croton, or sili, or sesamum 286
8. Amurca 291
9. The various kinds of fruit-trees and their natures.
Four varieties of pine-nuts 292
10. The quince. Four kinds of cydonia, and four varieties
of the struthea _ib._
11. Six varieties of the peach 293
12. Twelve kinds of plums 294
13. The peach 296
14. Thirty different kinds of pomes. At what period foreign
fruits were first introduced into Italy, and whence 297
15. The fruits that have been most recently introduced _ib._
16. Forty-one varieties of the pear 300
17. Various methods of grafting trees. Expiations for
lightning 302
18. The mode of keeping various fruits and grapes 303
19. Twenty-nine varieties of the fig 307
20. Historical anecdotes connected with the fig 309
21. Caprification 311
22. Three varieties of the medlar 314
23. Four varieties of the sorb _ib._
24. Nine varieties of the nut 315
25. Eighteen varieties of the chesnut 318
26. The carob 319
27. The fleshy fruits. The mulberry _ib._
28. The fruit of the arbutus 320
29. The relative natures of berry fruits 321
30. Nine varieties of the cherry 322
31. The cornel. The lentisk 323
32. Thirteen different flavours of juices _ib._
33. The colour and smell of juices 325
34. The various natures of fruit 326
35. The myrtle 328
36. Historical anecdotes relative to the myrtle 328
37. Eleven varieties of the myrtle 330
38. The myrtle used at Rome in ovations 331
39. The laurel; thirteen varieties of it 332
40. Historical anecdotes connected with the laurel 334
BOOK XVI.
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FOREST TREES.
1. Countries that have no trees 339
2. Wonders connected with trees in the northern regions 340
3. The acorn oak. The civic crown 341
4. The origin of the presentation of crowns 342
5. Persons presented with a crown of leaves 343
6. Thirteen varieties of the acorn 345
7. The beech 346
8. The other acorns—wood for fuel _ib._
9. The gall-nut 350
10. Other productions on these trees besides the acorn _ib._
11. Cachrys 351
12. The kermes berry 353
13. Agaric _ib._
14. Trees of which the bark is used 354
15. Shingles 355
16. The pine _ib._
17. The pinaster 356
18. The pitch-tree: the fir _ib._
19. The larch: the torch-tree 357
20. The yew 360
21. Methods of making tar—how cedrium is made 361
22. Methods by which thick pitch is prepared _ib._
23. How the resin called zopissa is prepared 363
24. Trees the wood of which is highly valued. Four varieties
of the ash 365
25. Two varieties of the linden-tree 366
26. Ten varieties of the maple 367
27. Bruscum: molluscum; the staphylodendron 368
28. Three varieties of the box-tree _ib._
29. Four varieties of the elm 370
30. The natures of the various trees according to their
localities: the mountain trees, and the trees of the
plain _ib._
31. Trees which grow on a dry soil: those which are found in
wet localities: those which are found in both
indifferently 372
32. Division of trees into various species 373
33. Trees which do not lose their foliage. The rhododendron.
Trees which do not lose the whole of their foliage.
Places in which there are no trees _ib._
34. The nature of the leaves which wither and fall 374
35. Trees which have leaves of various colours; trees with
leaves of various shapes. Three varieties of the poplar 375
36. Leaves which turn round every year 376
37. The care bestowed on the leaves of the palm, and the uses
to which they are applied 377
38. Remarkable facts connected with leaves _ib._
39. The natural order of the production of plants 379
40. Trees which never blossom. The juniper 380
41. The fecundation of trees. Germination: the appearance of
the fruit 381
42. In what order the trees blossom 383
43. At what period each tree bears fruit. The cornel 384
44. Trees which bear the whole year. Trees which have on them
the fruit of three years 385
45. Trees which bear no fruit: trees looked upon as
ill-omened 385
46. Trees which lose their fruit or flowers most readily 386
47. Trees which are unproductive in certain places 387
48. The mode in which trees bear _ib._
49. Trees in which the fruit appears before the leaves _ib._
50. Trees which bear two crops in a year. Trees which bear
three crops 388
51. Which trees become old with the greatest rapidity, and
which most slowly 389
52. Trees which bear various products. Cratægum 390
53. Differences in trees in respect of the trunks and
branches 391
54. The branches of trees 392
55. The bark of trees 393
56. The roots of trees _ib._
57. Trees which have grown spontaneously from the ground 394
58. How trees grow spontaneously—diversities in their
nature, the same trees not growing everywhere 395
59. Plants that will not grow in certain places 396
60. The cypress 397
61. That the earth often bears productions which it has never
borne before 399
62. The ivy—twenty varieties of it _ib._
63. The smilax 402
64. Water plants: the rush: twenty-eight varieties of the
reed 403
65. Reeds used for arrows, and for the purpose of writing 404
66. Flute reeds: the reed of Orchomenus; reeds used for
fowling and fishing 405
67. The vine-dresser’s reed 408
68. The willow: eight varieties of it 409
69. Trees, in addition to the willow, which are of use in
making withes 410
70. Rushes: candle-rushes: rushes for thatching 411
71. The elder: the bramble _ib._
72. The juices of trees 412
73. The veins and fibres of trees 413
74. The felling of trees 415
75. The opinion of Cato on the felling of timber 416
76. The size of trees: the nature of wood: the sappinus 417
77. Methods of obtaining fire from wood 421
78. Trees which are proof against decay: trees which never
split 422
79. Historical facts connected with the durability of wood 423
80. Varieties of the teredo 425
81. The woods used in building 426
82. Carpenters’ woods 427
83. Woods united with glue _ib._
84. Veneering 428
85. The age of trees. A tree that was planted by the first
Scipio Africanus. A tree at Rome five hundred years
old 429
86. Trees as old as the City 430
87. Trees in the suburban districts older than the City _ib._
88. Trees planted by Agamemnon the first year of the Trojan
war: other trees which date from the time that the
place was called Ilium, anterior to the Trojan war 431
89. Trees planted at Argos by Hercules: others planted by
Apollo. A tree more ancient than Athens itself _ib._
90. Trees which are the most short-lived 432
91. Trees which have been rendered famous by remarkable
events _ib._
92. Plants which have no peculiar spot for their growth:
others that grow upon trees, and will not grow in
the ground. Nine varieties of them: cadytas, polypodion,
phaulias, hippophæston 433
93. Three varieties of mistletoe. The nature of mistletoe
and similar plants 434
94. The method of making birdlime 435
95. Historical facts connected with the mistletoe 435
BOOK XVII.
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CULTIVATED TREES.
1. Trees which have been sold at enormous prices 438
2. The influence of weather upon trees: what is the proper
situation for the vine 441
3. What soils are to be considered the best 446
4. The eight kinds of earth boasted of by the Gauls and
Greeks 452
5. The employment of ashes 455
6. Manure 456
7. Crops which tend to improve the land: crops which
exhaust it 459
8. The proper mode of using manure _ib._
9. The modes in which trees bear 460
10. Plants which are propagated by seed _ib._
11. Trees which never degenerate 461
12. Propagation by suckers 463
13. Propagation by slips and cuttings 464
14. Seed-plots _ib._
15. The mode of propagating the elm 467
16. The holes for transplanting 468
17. The intervals to be left between trees 472
18. The nature of the shadow thrown by trees 473
19. The droppings of water from the leaves 474
20. Trees which grow but slowly: those which grow with
rapidity 475
21. Trees propagated from layers _ib._
22. Grafting: the first discovery of it 477
23. Inoculation or budding _ib._
24. The various kinds of grafting _ib._
25. Grafting the vine 482
26. Grafting by scutcheons 483
27. Plants which grow from a branch 485
28. Trees which grow from cuttings: the mode of planting
them 486
29. The cultivation of the olive _ib._
30. Transplanting operations as distributed throughout the
various seasons of the year 487
31. The cleaning and baring of the roots, and moulding them 491
32. Willow-beds 492
33. Reed-beds 493
34. Other plants that are cut for poles and stakes 494
35. The culture of the vine and the various shrubs which
support it 495
36. How grapes are protected from the ravages of insects 517
37. The diseases of trees _ib._
38. Prodigies connected with trees 526
39. Treatment of the diseases of trees 528
40. Methods of irrigation 529
41. Remarkable facts connected with irrigation _ib._
42. Incisions made in trees 530
43. Other remedies for the diseases of trees _ib._
44. Caprification, and particulars connected with the fig 531
45. Errors that may be committed in pruning _ib._
46. The proper mode of manuring trees 532
47. Medicaments for trees _ib._
GREEK AND ROMAN MONEY, WEIGHTS, AND MEASURES MENTIONED BY PLINY.
Acetabulum. R 1/8 of a Sextarius, .1238 pint.
Actus. R 120 Pedes or Roman feet.
Amphora. R 48 Sextarii, 5 gall. 7.577 pints.
As. R 2-1/8 farthings. Copper.
As. R [weight] See “Libra.”
Concha, Smaller, G and R .0412 pint.
Concha, Larger, G and R .1238 pint.
Congius. R 5.9471 pints.
Cubitus. G 1 foot 6.2016 inches.
Cubitus. R 1 foot 5.4744 inches.
Culeus. R 20 Amphoræ, 118 gall. 7.546 pints.
Cyathus. G and R 1/12 of a Sextarius, .0825 pint.
Denarius. R 16 Asses, 8-1/2 pence. Silver.
Denarius. R. [weight] 52.5 to 60 grains.
Digitus, or Finger. R 1/16 of a Pes, .7281 inch.
Drachma. G .63 grains.
Hemina. R See “Semisextarius.”
Jugerum. R 240 Pedes or Roman feet by 120.
Libra, or Pound. R 11-3/4 ounces 60.45 grains, avoird.
Mina.[1] G 15 ounces 83.75 grains, avoird.
Modius. R. [dry measure] 1/3 of an Amphora, 1 gall.
7.8576 pints.
Obolus, G 1-1/2 pence + .5 farthings. Silver.
Obolus. G. [weight] 10.5 grains.
Palmus, or Handbreadth. R 2.9214 inches.
Passus, or Pace.[2] R 5 Roman feet, 4 ft. 10.248 inches.
Pes, or Foot. R 12 Unciæ, 11.6496 inches.
Pollex, or Thumb. R See “Uncia” [lineal measure].
Quadrans. R .53125 farthings. Copper.
Quadrans. R [weight] 3 Unciæ, 2-3/4 ounces 97.21 grs.
Quadrantal. R See “Amphora.”
Quartarius. R 1/4 of a Sextarius, .2477 pint.
Quinarius. R 1/2 of a Denarius.
Scripulum, or Scruple. R 1/24 of an Uncia, 18.06 grains.
Semisextarius. R 1/2 of a Sextarius.
Sestertius. R 1/4 of a Denarius. Brass or Silver.
Sestertium. R 1000 Sestertii, £7 16s. 3d.
Sextarius. R 1/6 of a Congius, .9911 pint.
Spithama, or Span. G 9.1008 inches.
Stadium. G and R 1/8 of a Roman mile, 606 feet 9 in.
Teruncius. R See “Quadrans” [weight & money].
Ulna, or Ell. R 6 feet, 81 inch.
Uncia, or Inch. R 1/12 of a Pes, .9708 inch.
Uncia, or Ounce. R 1/12 of a Libra. 433.666 grs.
Urna. R 1/2 of an Amphora.
Victoriatus. R See “Quinarius.”
The Schœnus, an Egyptian and Persian lineal measure, varied
considerably; being sometimes thirty, and sometimes forty Stadia. See
B. v. c. 11, B. vi. c. 30, and B. xii. c. 30.
The Attic Talent, as a weight, was equal to 56lb. 15-1/4oz. 100.32
grains. The Commercial Talent was 85lb. 2-1/2oz. 70.7 grs. The Silver
Attic, or Great Talent, was in value £343 15s. or, according to Pollux,
£406 5s. The Gold, or Sicilian Talent, was equal in weight to six Attic
Drachmæ, or about 3/4 oz. and 71 grs. The Egyptian Talent, as a measure
of weight, was equal to about twice the Attic Talent.
NATURAL HISTORY OF PLINY.
BOOK XI.
THE VARIOUS KINDS OF INSECTS.
CHAP. 1. (1.)—THE EXTREME SMALLNESS OF INSECTS.
We shall now proceed to a description of the insects, a subject replete
with endless difficulties;[3] for, in fact, there are some authors who
have maintained that they do not respire, and that they are destitute
of blood. The insects are numerous, and form many species, and their
mode of life is like that of the terrestrial animals and the birds.
Some of them are furnished with wings, bees for instance; others
are divided into those kinds which have wings, and those which are
without them, such as ants; while others, again, are destitute of
both wings and feet. All these animals have been very properly called
“insects,”[4] from the incisures or divisions which separate the body,
sometimes at the neck, and sometimes at the corselet, and so divide
it into members or segments, only united to each other by a slender
tube. In some insects, however, this division is not complete, as it
is surrounded by wrinkled folds; and thus the flexible vertebræ of the
creature, whether situate at the abdomen, or whether only at the upper
part of the body, are protected by layers, overlapping each other;
indeed, in no one of her works has Nature more fully displayed her
exhaustless ingenuity.
(2.) In large animals, on the other hand, or, at all events, in the
very largest among them, she found her task easy and her materials
ready and pliable; but in these minute creatures, so nearly akin as
they are to non-entity, how surpassing the intelligence, how vast the
resources, and how ineffable the perfection which she has displayed.
Where is it that she has united so many senses as in the gnat?—not to
speak of creatures that might be mentioned of still smaller size—Where,
I say, has she found room to place in it the organs of sight? Where
has she centred the sense of taste? Where has she inserted the power
of smell? And where, too, has she implanted that sharp shrill voice of
the creature, so utterly disproportioned to the smallness of its body?
With what astonishing subtlety has she united the wings to the trunk,
elongated the joints of the legs, framed that long, craving concavity
for a belly, and then inflamed the animal with an insatiate thirst for
blood, that of man more especially! What ingenuity has she displayed in
providing it with a sting,[5] so well adapted for piercing the skin!
And then too, just as though she had had the most extensive field for
the exercise of her skill, although the weapon is so minute that it can
hardly be seen, she has formed it with a twofold mechanism, providing
it with a point for the purpose of piercing, and at the same moment
making it hollow, to adapt it for suction.
What teeth, too, has she inserted in the teredo,[6] to adapt it for
piercing oak even with a sound which fully attests their destructive
power! while at the same time she has made wood its principal
nutriment. We give all our admiration to the shoulders of the elephant
as it supports the turret, to the stalwart neck of the bull, and the
might with which it hurls aloft whatever comes in its way, to the
onslaught of the tiger, or to the mane of the lion; while, at the
same time, Nature is nowhere to be seen to greater perfection than in
the very smallest of her works. For this reason then, I must beg of
my readers, notwithstanding the contempt they feel for many of these
objects, not to feel a similar disdain for the information I am about
to give relative thereto, seeing that, in the study of Nature, there
are none of her works that are unworthy of our consideration.
CHAP. 2. (3.)—WHETHER INSECTS RESPIRE, AND WHETHER THEY HAVE BLOOD.
Many authors deny that insects respire,[7] and make the assertion upon
the ground, that in their viscera there is no respiratory organ to be
found. On this ground, they assert that insects have the same kind of
life as plants and trees, there being a very great difference between
respiring and merely having life. On similar grounds also, they assert
that insects have no blood, a thing which cannot exist, they say, in
any animal that is destitute of heart and liver; just as, according to
them, those creatures cannot breathe which have no lungs. Upon these
points, however, a vast number of questions will naturally arise; for
the same writers do not hesitate to deny that these creatures are
destitute also of voice,[8] and this, notwithstanding the humming of
bees, the chirping of grasshoppers, and the sounds emitted by numerous
other insects which will be considered in their respective places.
For my part, whenever I have considered the subject, I have ever felt
persuaded that there is nothing impossible to Nature, nor do I see
why creatures should be less able to live and yet not inhale, than to
respire without being possessed of viscera, a doctrine which I have
already maintained, when speaking[9] of the marine animals; and that,
notwithstanding the density and the vast depth of the water which would
appear to impede all breathing. But what person could very easily
believe that there can be any creatures that fly to and fro, and live
in the very midst of the element of respiration, while, at the same
time, they themselves are devoid of that respiration; that they can
be possessed of the requisite instincts for nourishment, generation,
working, and making provision even for time to come, in the enjoyment
too (although, certainly, they are not possessed of the organs which
act, as it were, as the receptacles of those senses) of the powers of
hearing, smelling, and tasting, as well as those other precious gifts
of Nature, address, courage, and skilfulness? That these creatures have
no blood[10] I am ready to admit, just as all the terrestrial animals
are not possessed of it; but then, they have something similar, by way
of equivalent. Just as in the sea, the sæpia[11] has a black liquid in
place of blood, and the various kinds of purples, those juices which
we use for the purposes of dyeing; so, too, is every insect possessed
of its own vital humour, which, whatever it is, is blood to it. While
I leave it to others to form what opinion they please on this subject,
it is my purpose to set forth the operations of Nature in the clearest
possible light, and not to enter upon the discussion of points that are
replete with doubt.
CHAP. 3. (4.)—THE BODIES OF INSECTS.
Insects, so far as I find myself able to ascertain, seem to have
neither sinews,[12] bones, spines, cartilages, fat, nor flesh; nor yet
so much as a frail shell, like some of the marine animals, nor even
anything that can with any propriety be termed skin; but they have a
body which is of a kind of intermediate nature between all these, of an
arid substance, softer than muscle, and in other respects of a nature
that may, in strictness, be rather pronounced yielding,[13] than hard.
Such, then, is all that they are, and nothing more:[14] in the inside
of their bodies there is nothing, except in some few, which have an
intestine arranged in folds. Hence it is, that even when cut asunder,
they are remarkable for their tenacity of life, and the palpitations
which are to be seen in each of their parts. For every portion of them
is possessed of its own vital principle, which is centred in no limb
in particular, but in every part of the body; least of all, however,
in the head, which alone is subject to no movements unless torn off
together with the corselet. No kind of animal has more feet than the
insects have, and those among them which have the most, live the
longest when cut asunder, as we see in the case of the scolopendra.
They have eyes, and the senses as well of touch and taste; some of them
have also the sense of smelling, and some few that of hearing.
CHAP. 4. (5.)—BEES.
But among them all, the first rank, and our especial admiration, ought,
in justice, to be accorded to bees, which alone, of all the insects,
have been created for the benefit of man. They extract honey and
collect it, a juicy substance remarkable for its extreme sweetness,
lightness, and wholesomeness. They form their combs and collect wax,
an article that is useful for a thousand purposes of life; they are
patient of fatigue, toil at their labours, form themselves into
political communities, hold councils together in private, elect chiefs
in common, and, a thing that is the most remarkable of all, have their
own code of morals. In addition to this, being as they are, neither
tame nor wild, so all-powerful is Nature, that, from a creature so
minute as to be nothing more hardly than the shadow of an animal, she
has created a marvel beyond all comparison. What muscular power, what
exertion of strength are we to put in comparison with such vast energy
and such industry as theirs? What display of human genius, in a word,
shall we compare with the reasoning powers manifested by them? In this
they have, at all events, the advantage of us—they know of nothing but
what is for the common benefit of all. Away, then, with all questions
whether they respire or no, and let us be ready to agree on the
question of their blood; and yet, how little of it can possibly exist
in bodies so minute as theirs.—And now let us form some idea of the
instinct they display.
CHAP. 5. (6.)—THE ORDER DISPLAYED IN THE WORKS OF BEES.
Bees keep within the hive during the winter—for whence are they to
derive the strength requisite to withstand frosts and snows, and the
northern blasts? The same, in fact, is done by all insects, but not
to so late a period; as those which conceal themselves in the walls
of our houses, are much sooner sensible of the returning warmth. With
reference to bees, either seasons and climates have considerably
changed, or else former writers have been greatly mistaken. They retire
for the winter at the setting of the Vergiliæ, and remain shut up till
after the rising of that constellation, and not till only the beginning
of spring, as some authors have stated; nor, indeed, does any one in
Italy ever think of then opening the hives. They do not come forth to
ply their labours until the bean blossoms; and then not a day do they
lose in inactivity, while the weather is favourable for their pursuits.
First of all, they set about constructing their combs, and forming the
wax, or, in other words, making their dwellings and cells; after this
they produce their young, and then make honey and wax from flowers,
and extract bee-glue[15] from the tears of those trees which distil
glutinous substances, the juices, gums, and resins, namely, of the
willow, the elm, and the reed. With these substances, as well as others
of a more bitter nature, they first line the whole inside of the hive,
as a sort of protection against the greedy propensities of other small
insects, as they are well aware that they are about to form that which
will prove an object of attraction to them. Having done this, they
employ similar substances in narrowing the entrance to the hive, if
otherwise too wide.
CHAP. 6. (5.)—THE MEANING OF THE TERMS COMMOSIS, PISSOCEROS, AND
PROPOLIS.
The persons who understand this subject, call the substance which
forms the first foundation of their combs, _commosis_,[16] the next,
_pissoceros_,[17] and the third _propolis_;[18] which last is placed
between the other layers and the wax, and is remarkable for its utility
in medicine.[19] The commosis forms the first crust or layer, and has a
bitter taste; and upon it is laid the pissoceros, a kind of thin wax,
which acts as a sort of varnish. The propolis is produced from the
sweet gum of the vine or the poplar, and is of a denser consistency,
the juices of flowers being added to it. Still, however, it cannot be
properly termed wax, but rather the foundation of the honey-combs; by
means of it all inlets are stopped up, which might, otherwise, serve
for the admission of cold or other injurious influences; it has also a
strong odour, so much so, indeed, that many people use it instead of
galbanum.
CHAP. 7.—THE MEANING OF ERITHACE, SANDARACA, OR CERINTHOS.
In addition to this, the bees form collections of _erithace_ or
bee-bread, which some persons call “sandaraca,”[20] and others
“cerinthos.” This is to serve as the food of the bees while they are
at work, and is often found stowed away in the cavities of the cells,
being of a bitter flavour also. It is produced from the spring dews and
the gummy juices of trees, being less abundant while the south-west
wind is blowing, and blackened by the prevalence of a south wind. On
the other hand, again, it is of a reddish colour and becomes improved
by the north-east wind; it is found in the greatest abundance upon the
nut trees in Greece. Menecrates says, that it is a flower, which gives
indications of the nature of the coming harvest; but no one says so,
with the exception of him.
CHAP. 8. (8.)—WHAT FLOWERS ARE USED BY THE BEES IN THEIR WORK.
Bees form wax[21] from the blossoms of all trees and plants, with
the sole exception of the rumex[22] and the echinopodes,[23] both
being kinds of herbs. It is by mistake, however, that spartum is
excepted;[24] for many varieties of honey that come from Spain, and
have been made in the plantations of it, have a strong taste of that
plant. I am of opinion, also, that it is without any sufficient reason
that the olive has been excepted, seeing that it is a well-known fact,
that where olives are in the greatest abundance, the swarms of bees are
the most numerous. Bees are not injurious to fruit of any kind; they
will never settle on a dead flower, much less a dead carcase. They
pursue their labours within three-score paces of their hives; and when
the flowers in their vicinity are exhausted, they send out scouts from
time to time, to discover places for forage at a greater distance. When
overtaken by night in their expeditions, they watch till the morning,
lying on their backs, in order to protect their wings from the action
of the dew.
CHAP. 9. (9.)—PERSONS WHO HAVE MADE BEES THEIR STUDY.
It is not surprising that there have been persons who have made bees
their exclusive study; Aristomachus of Soli, for instance, who for a
period of fifty-eight years did nothing else; Philiscus of Thasos,
also, surnamed Agrius,[25] who passed his life in desert spots, tending
swarms of bees. Both of these have written works on this subject.
CHAP. 10. (10.)—THE MODE IN WHICH BEES WORK.
The manner in which bees carry on their work is as follows. In the
day time a guard is stationed at the entrance of the hive, like the
sentries in a camp. At night they take their rest until the morning,
when one of them awakes the rest with a humming noise, repeated twice
or thrice, just as though it were sounding a trumpet. They then take
their flight in a body, if the day is likely to turn out fine; for they
have the gift of foreknowing wind and rain, and in such case will keep
close within their dwellings. On the other hand, when the weather is
fine—and this, too, they have the power of foreknowing—the swarm issues
forth, and at once applies itself to its work, some loading their
legs from the flowers, while others fill their mouths with water, and
charge the downy surface of their bodies with drops of liquid. Those
among them that are young[26] go forth to their labours, and collect
the materials already mentioned, while those that are more aged stay
within the hives and work. The bees whose business it is to carry the
flowers, with their fore feet load their thighs, which Nature has made
rough for the purpose, and with their trunks load their fore feet:
bending beneath their load, they then return to the hive, where there
are three or four bees ready to receive them, and aid in discharging
their burdens. For, within the hive as well, they have their allotted
duties to perform: some are engaged in building, others in smoothing,
the combs, while others again are occupied in passing on the materials,
and others in preparing food[27] from the provision which has been
brought; that there may be no unequal division, either in their labour,
their food, or the distribution of their time, they do not even feed
separately.
Commencing at the vaulted roof of the hive, they begin the construction
of their cells, and, just as we do in the manufacture of a web, they
construct their cells from top to bottom, taking care to leave two
passages around each compartment, for the entrance of some and the exit
of others. The combs, which are fastened to the hive in the upper part,
and in a slight degree also at the sides, adhere to each other, and are
thus suspended altogether. They do not touch the floor of the hive,
and are either angular or round, according to its shape; sometimes,
in fact, they are both angular and round at once, when two swarms are
living in unison, but have dissimilar modes of operation. They prop
up the combs that are likely to fall, by means of arched pillars, at
intervals springing from the floor, so as to leave them a passage for
the purpose of effecting repairs. The first three ranks of their cells
are generally left empty when constructed, that there may be nothing
exposed to view which may invite theft; and it is the last ones, more
especially, that are filled with honey: hence it is that the combs are
always taken out at the back of the hive.
The bees that are employed in carrying look out for a favourable
breeze, and if a gale should happen to spring up, they poise themselves
in the air with little stones, by way of ballast; some writers,
indeed, say that they place them upon their shoulders. When the wind
is contrary, they fly close to the ground, taking care, however, to
keep clear of the brambles. It is wonderful what strict watch is kept
upon their work: all instances of idleness are carefully remarked, the
offenders are chastised, and on a repetition of the fault, punished
with death. Their sense of cleanliness, too, is quite extraordinary;
everything is removed that might be in the way, and no filth is allowed
to remain in the midst of their work. The ordure even of those that are
at work within, that they may not have to retire to any distance, is
all collected in one spot, and on stormy days, when they are obliged
to cease their ordinary labours, they employ themselves in carrying it
out. When it grows towards evening, the buzzing in the hive becomes
gradually less and less, until at last one of their number is to be
seen flying about the hive with the same loud humming noise with which
they were aroused in the morning, thereby giving the signal, as it
were, to retire to rest: in this, too, they imitate the usage of the
camp. The moment the signal is heard, all is silent.
(11.) They first construct the dwellings of the commonalty, and then
those of the king-bee. If they have reason to expect an abundant[28]
season, they add abodes also for the drones: these are cells of a
smaller size, though the drones themselves are larger than the bees.
CHAP. 11.—DRONES.
The drones have no sting,[29] and would seem to be a kind of imperfect
bee, formed the very last of all; the expiring effort, as it were, of
worn-out and exhausted old age, a late and tardy offspring, and doomed,
in a measure, to be the slaves of the genuine bees. Hence it is that
the bees exercise over them a rigorous authority, compel them to take
the foremost rank in their labours, and if they show any sluggishness,
punish them[30] without mercy. And not only in their labours do the
drones give them their assistance, but in the propagation of their
species as well, the very multitude of them contributing greatly to the
warmth of the hive. At all events, it is a well-known fact, that the
greater[31] the multitude of the drones, the more numerous is sure
to be the progeny of the swarm. When the honey is beginning to come
to maturity, the bees drive away the drones, and setting upon each in
great numbers, put them all to death. It is only in the spring that the
drones are ever to be seen. If you deprive a drone of its wings, and
then replace it in the hive, it will pull off the wings of the other
drones.
CHAP. 12.—THE QUALITIES OF HONEY.
In the lower part of the hive they construct for their future sovereign
a palatial abode,[32] spacious and grand, separated from the rest,
and surmounted by a sort of dome: if this prominence should happen
to be flattened, all hopes of progeny are lost. All the cells are
hexagonal, each foot[33] having formed its own side. No part of this
work, however, is done at any stated time, as the bees seize every
opportunity for the performance of their task when the days are fine;
in one or two days, at most, they fill their cells with honey.
(12.) This substance is engendered from the air,[34] mostly at the
rising of the constellations, and more especially when Sirius is
shining; never, however, before the rising of the Vergiliæ, and then
just before day-break. Hence it is, that at early dawn the leaves of
the trees are found covered with a kind of honey-like dew, and those
who go into the open air at an early hour in the morning, find their
clothes covered, and their hair matted, with a sort of unctuous liquid.
Whether it is that this liquid is the sweat of the heavens, or whether
a saliva emanating from the stars, or a juice exuding from the air
while purifying itself, would that it had been, when it comes to us,
pure, limpid, and genuine, as it was, when first it took its downward
descent. But as it is, falling from so vast a height, attracting
corruption in its passage, and tainted by the exhalations of the earth
as it meets them, sucked, too, as it is from off the trees and the
herbage of the fields, and accumulated in the stomachs of the bees—for
they cast it up again through the mouth—deteriorated besides by the
juices of flowers, and then steeped within the hives and subjected to
such repeated changes—still, in spite of all this, it affords us by
its flavour a most exquisite pleasure, the result, no doubt, of its
æthereal nature and origin.
CHAP. 13. (13.)—WHERE THE BEST HONEY IS PRODUCED.
The honey is always best in those countries where it is to be found
deposited in the calix of the most exquisite flowers, such, for
instance, as the districts of Hymettus and Hybla, in Attica and Sicily
respectively, and after them the island of Calydna.[35] At first,
honey is thin, like water, after which it effervesces for some days,
and purifies itself like must. On the twentieth day it begins to
thicken, and soon after becomes covered with a thin membrane, which
gradually increases through the scum which is thrown up by the heat.
The honey of the very finest flavour, and the least tainted by the
leaves of trees, is that gathered from the foliage of the oak and the
linden, and from reeds.
CHAP. 14. (14.)—THE KINDS OF HONEY PECULIAR TO VARIOUS PLACES.
The peculiar excellence of honey depends, as already stated,[36] on
the country in which it is produced; the modes, too, of estimating
its quality are numerous. In some countries we find the honey-comb
remarkable for the goodness of the wax, as in Sicily, for instance, and
the country of the Peligni; in other places the honey itself is found
in greater abundance, as in Crete, Cyprus, and Africa; and in others,
again, the comb is remarkable for its size; the northern climates, for
instance, for in Germany a comb has been known to be as much as eight
feet in length, and quite black on the concave surface.
But whatever the country in which it may happen to have been produced,
there are three different kinds of honey.—Spring honey[37] is that
made in a comb which has been constructed of flowers, from which
circumstance it has received the name of _anthinum_. There are some
persons who say that this should not be touched, because the more
abundant the nutriment, the stronger will be the coming swarm; while
others, again, leave less of this honey than of any other for the bees,
on the ground that there is sure to be a vast abundance at the rising
of the greater constellations, as well as at the summer solstice, when
the thyme and the vine begin to blossom, for then they are sure to find
abundant materials for their cells.
In taking the combs the greatest care is always requisite, for when
they are stinted for food the bees become desperate, and either pine
to death, or else wing their flight to other places: but on the other
hand, over-abundance will entail idleness, and then they will feed
upon the honey, and not the bee-bread. Hence it is that the most
careful breeders take care to leave the bees a fifteenth part of this
gathering. There is a certain day for beginning the honey-gathering,
fixed, as it were, by a law of Nature, if men would only understand or
observe it, being the thirtieth day after the bees have swarmed and
come forth. This gathering mostly takes place before the end of May.
The second kind of honey is “summer honey,” which, from the
circumstance of its being produced at the most favourable season, has
received the Greek name of _horaion_;[38] it is generally made during
the next thirty days after the solstice, while Sirius is shining in all
its brilliancy. Nature has revealed in this substance most remarkable
properties to mortals, were it not that the fraudulent propensities of
man are apt to falsify and corrupt everything. For, after the rising of
each constellation, and those of the highest rank more particularly, or
after the appearance of the rainbow, if a shower does not ensue, but
the dew becomes warmed by the sun’s rays, a medicament, and not real
honey, is produced; a gift sent from heaven for the cure of diseases
of the eyes, ulcers, and maladies of the internal viscera. If this is
taken at the rising of Sirius, and the rising of Venus, Jupiter, or
Mercury should happen to fall on the same day, as often is the case,
the sweetness of this substance, and the virtue which it possesses of
restoring men to life, are not inferior to those attributed to the
nectar of the gods.
CHAP. 15. (15.)—HOW HONEY IS TESTED. ERICÆUM. TETRALIX, OR SISIRUM.
The crop of honey is most abundant if gathered at full moon, and
it is richest when the weather is fine. In all honey, that which
flows of itself, like must or oil, has received from us the name of
_acetum_.[39] The summer honey is the most esteemed of all, from the
fact of its being made when the weather is driest: it is looked upon as
the most serviceable when made from thyme;[40] it is then of a golden
colour, and of a most delicious flavour. The honey that we see formed
in the calix of flowers is of a rich and unctuous nature; that which
is made from rosemary is thick, while that which is candied is little
esteemed. Thyme honey does not coagulate, and on being touched will
draw out into thin viscous threads, a thing which is the principal
proof of its heaviness. When honey shows no tenacity, and the drops
immediately part from one another, it is looked upon as a sign of its
worthlessness. The other proofs of its goodness are the fine aroma
of its smell, its being of a sweetness that closely borders on the
sour,[41] and being glutinous and pellucid.
Cassius Dionysius is of opinion that in the summer gathering the
tenth part of the honey ought to be left for the bees if the hives
should happen to be well filled, and even if not, still in the same
proportion; while, on the other hand, if there is but little in them,
he recommends that it should not be touched at all. The people of
Attica have fixed the period for commencing this gathering at the first
ripening of the wild fig; others[42] have made it the day that is
sacred to Vulcan.[43]
(16.) The third kind of honey, which is the least esteemed of all, is
the wild honey, known by the name of _ericæum_.[44] It is collected by
the bees after the first showers of autumn, when the heather[45] alone
is blooming in the woods, from which circumstance it derives its sandy
appearance. It is mostly produced at the rising of Arcturus, beginning
at the day[46] before the ides of September. Some persons delay the
gathering of the summer honey until the rising of Arcturus, because
from then till the autumnal equinox there are fourteen days left, and
it is from the equinox till the setting of the Vergiliæ, a period
of forty-eight days, that the heather is in the greatest abundance.
The Athenians call this plant by the name of _tetralix_,[47] and the
Eubœans _sisirum_, and they look upon it as affording great pleasure to
the bees to browse upon, probably because there are no other flowers
for them to resort to. This gathering terminates at the end of the
vintage and the setting of the Vergiliæ, mostly about the ides of
November.[48] Experience teaches us that we ought to leave for the bees
two-thirds of this crop, and always that part of the combs as well,
which contains the bee-bread.
From the winter solstice to the rising of Arcturus the bees are buried
in sleep for sixty days, and live without any nourishment. Between the
rising of Arcturus and the vernal equinox, they awake in the warmer
climates, but even then they still keep within the hives, and have
recourse to the provisions kept in reserve for this period. In Italy,
however, they do this immediately after the rising of the Vergiliæ,
up to which period they are asleep. Some persons, when they take the
honey, weigh the hive and all, and remove just as much as they leave:
a due sense of equity should always be stringently observed in dealing
with them, and it is generally stated that if imposed upon in this
division, the swarm will die of grief. It is particularly recommended
also that the person who takes the honey should be well washed
and clean: bees have a particular aversion, too, to a thief and a
menstruous woman. When the honey is taken, it is the best plan to drive
away the bees by means of smoke, lest they should become irritated, or
else devour the honey themselves. By often applying smoke, too, they
are aroused from their idleness to work; but if they have not duly
incubated in the comb, it is apt to become of a livid colour. On the
other hand, if they are smoked too often, they will become tainted;
the honey, too, a substance which turns sour at the very slightest
contact with dew, will very quickly receive injury from the taint thus
contracted: hence it is that among the various kinds of honey which are
preserved, there is one which is known by the name of _acapnon_.[49]
CHAP. 16.—THE REPRODUCTION OF BEES.
How bees generate their young has been a subject of great and subtle
research among the learned; seeing that no one has ever witnessed[50]
any sexual intercourse among these insects. Many persons have
expressed an opinion that they must be produced from flowers, aptly
and artistically arranged by Nature; while others, again, suppose that
they are produced from an intercourse with the one which is to be found
in every swarm, and is usually called the king. This one, they say, is
the only male[51] in the hive, and is endowed with such extraordinary
proportions, that it may not become exhausted in the performance of
its duties. Hence it is, that no offspring can be produced without it,
all the other bees being females,[52] and attending it in its capacity
of a male, and not as their leader. This opinion, however, which is
otherwise not improbable, is sufficiently refuted by the generation of
the drones. For on what grounds could it possibly happen that the same
intercourse should produce an offspring part of which is perfect, and
part in an imperfect state? The first surmise which I have mentioned
would appear, indeed, to be much nearer the truth, were it not the
case that here another difficulty meets us—the circumstance that
sometimes, at the extremity of the combs, there are produced bees of
a larger size, which put the others to flight. This noxious bee bears
the name of _œstrus_,[53] and how is it possible that it should ever
be produced, if it is the fact that the bees themselves form their
progeny?[54]
A fact, however, that is well ascertained, is, that bees sit,[55] like
the domestic fowl, that which is hatched by them at first having
the appearance of a white maggot, and lying across and adhering so
tenaciously to the wax as to seem to be part of it. The king, however,
from the earliest moment, is of the colour of honey, just as though he
were made of the choicest flowers, nor has he at any time the form of
a grub, but from the very first is provided with wings.[56] The rest
of the bees, as soon as they begin to assume a shape, have the name of
_nymphæ_,[57] while the drones are called _sirenes_, or _cephenes_. If
a person takes off the head of either kind before the wings are formed,
the rest of the body is considered a most choice morsel by the parents.
In process of time the parent bees instil nutriment into them, and
sit upon them, making on this occasion a loud humming noise, for the
purpose, it is generally supposed, of generating that warmth which is
so requisite for hatching the young. At length the membrane in which
each of them is enveloped, as though it lay in an egg, bursts asunder,
and the whole swarm comes to light.
This circumstance was witnessed at the suburban retreat of a man of
consular dignity near Rome, whose hives were made of transparent
lantern horn: the young were found to be developed in the space of
forty-five days. In some combs, there is found what is known by the
name of “nail” wax;[58] it is bitter and hard, and is only met with
when the bees have failed to hatch their young, either from disease
or a natural sterility, it is the abortion, in fact, of the bees. The
young ones, the moment they are hatched, commence working with their
parents, as though in a course of training, and the newly-born king is
accompanied by a multitude of his own age.
That the supply may not run short, each swarm rears several kings; but
afterwards, when this progeny begins to arrive at a mature age, with
one accord[59] they put to death the inferior ones, lest they should
create discord in the swarm.[60] There are two sorts of king bees;
those of a reddish colour are better than the black and mottled ones.
The kings have always a peculiar form of their own, and are double the
size of any of the rest; their wings are shorter[61] than those of the
others, their legs are straight, their walk more upright, and they have
a white spot on the forehead, which bears some resemblance to a diadem:
they differ, too, very much from the rest of the community, in their
bright and shining appearance.
CHAP. 17. (17.)—THE MODE OF GOVERNMENT OF THE BEES.
Let a man employ himself, forsooth, in the enquiry whether there has
been only one Hercules, how many fathers Liber there have been, and all
the other questions which are buried deep in the mould of antiquity!
Here behold a tiny object, one to be met with at most of our country
retreats, and numbers of which are always at hand, and yet, after all,
it is not agreed among authors whether or not the king[62] is the only
one among them that is provided with no sting, and is possessed of no
other arms than those afforded him by his majestic office, or whether
Nature has granted him a sting, and has only denied him the power of
making use of it; it being a well-known fact, that the ruling bee
never does use a sting. The obedience which his subjects manifest in
his presence is quite surprising. When he goes forth, the whole swarm
attends him, throngs about him, surrounds him, protects him, and will
not allow him to be seen. At other times, when the swarm is at work
within, the king is seen to visit the works, and appears to be giving
his encouragement, being himself the only one that is exempt from work:
around him are certain other bees which act as body-guards and lictors,
the careful guardians of his authority. The king never quits the hive
except when the swarm is about to depart; a thing which may be known
a long time beforehand, as for some days a peculiar buzzing noise is
to be heard within, which denotes that the bees are waiting for a
favourable day, and making all due preparations for their departure. On
such an occasion, if care is taken to deprive the king of one of his
wings, the swarm will not fly away. When they are on the wing, every
one is anxious to be near him, and takes a pleasure in being seen in
the performance of its duty. When he is weary, they support him on
their shoulders; and when he is quite tired, they carry him outright.
If one of them falls in the rear from weariness, or happens to go
astray, it is able to follow the others by the aid of its acuteness
of smell. Wherever the king bee happens to settle, that becomes the
encampment of all.
CHAP. 18.—HAPPY OMENS SOMETIMES AFFORDED BY A SWARM OF BEES.
And then, too, it is that they afford presages both of private and
public interest, clustering, as they do, like a bunch of grapes, upon
houses or temples; presages, in fact, that are often accounted for by
great events. Bees settled upon the lips of Plato when still an infant
even, announcing thereby the sweetness of that persuasive eloquence for
which he was so noted. Bees settled, too, in the camp of the chieftain
Drusus when he gained the brilliant victory at Arbalo;[63] a proof,
indeed, that the conjectures of soothsayers are not by any means
infallible, seeing that they are of opinion that this is always of evil
augury. When their leader is withheld from them, the swarm can always
be detained; and when lost, it will disperse and take its departure to
find other kings. Without a king, in fact, they cannot exist, and it
is with the greatest reluctance that they put them to death when there
are several; they prefer, too, to destroy the cells of the young ones,
if they find reason to despair of providing food; in such case they
then expel the drones. And yet, with regard to the last, I find that
some doubts are entertained; and that there are some authors who are
of opinion that they form a peculiar species, like that bee, the very
largest among them all, which is known by the name of the “thief,”[64]
because it furtively devours the honey; it is distinguished by its
black colour and the largeness of its body. It is a well-known fact,
however, that the bees are in the habit of killing the drones. These
last have no king of their own; but how it is that they are produced
without a sting, is a matter still undetermined.
In a wet spring the young swarms are more numerous; in a dry one the
honey is most abundant. If food happens to fail the inhabitants of any
particular hive, the swarm makes a concerted attack upon a neighbouring
one, with the view of plundering it. The swarm that is thus attacked,
at once ranges itself in battle array, and if the bee-keeper should
happen to be present, that side which perceives itself favoured by
him will refrain from attacking him. They often fight, too, for other
reasons as well, and the two generals are to be seen drawing up their
ranks in battle array against their opponents. The dispute generally
arises in culling from the flowers, when each, the moment that it is
in danger, summons its companions to its aid. The battle, however, is
immediately put an end to by throwing dust[65] among them, or raising
a smoke; and if milk or honey mixed with water is placed before them,
they speedily become reconciled.
CHAP. 19. (18.)—THE VARIOUS KINDS OF BEES.
There are field bees also, and wild bees, ungainly in appearance,
and much more irascible than the others, but remarkable for their
laboriousness and the excellence of their work. Of domestic bees there
are two sorts; the best are those with short bodies, speckled all over,
and of a compact round shape. Those that are long, and resemble the
wasp in appearance, are an inferior kind; and of these last, the very
worst of all are those which have the body covered with hair. In Pontus
there is a kind of white bee, which makes honey twice a month. On the
banks of the river Thermodon there are two kinds found, one of which
makes honey in the trees, the other under ground: they form a triple
row of combs, and produce honey in the greatest abundance.
Nature has provided bees with a sting, which is inserted in the abdomen
of the insect. There are some who think that at the first blow which
they inflict with this weapon they will instantly die,[66] while
others, again, are of opinion that such is not the case, unless the
animal drives it so deep as to cause a portion of the intestines to
follow; and they assert, also, that after they have thus lost their
sting they become drones,[67] and make no honey, being thus castrated,
so to say, and equally incapable of inflicting injury, and of making
themselves useful by their labours. We have instances stated of horses
being killed by bees.
They have a great aversion to bad smells, and fly away from them; a
dislike which extends to artificial perfumes even. Hence it is that
they will attack persons who smell of unguents. They themselves, also,
are exposed to the attacks of wasps and hornets, which belong to the
same class, but are of a degenerate[68] nature; these wage continual
warfare against them, as also does a species of gnat, which is known by
the name of “mulio;”[69] swallows, too, and various other birds prey
upon them. Frogs lie in wait for them when in quest of water, which,
in fact, is their principal occupation at the time they are rearing
their young. And it is not only the frog that frequents ponds and
streams that is thus injurious to them, but the bramble-frog as well,
which will come to the hives even in search of them, and, crawling up
to the entrance, breathe through the apertures; upon hearing which, a
bee flies to the spot, and is snapped up in an instant. It is generally
stated that frogs are proof against the sting of the bee. Sheep, too,
are peculiarly dangerous to them, as they have the greatest difficulty
in extricating themselves from the fleece. The smell of crabs,[70] if
they happen to be cooked in their vicinity, is fatal to them.
CHAP. 20.—THE DISEASES OF BEES.
Bees are also by nature liable to certain diseases of their own. The
sign that they are diseased, is a kind of torpid, moping sadness: on
such occasions, they are to be seen bringing out those that are sick
before the hives, and placing them in the warm sun, while others,
again, are providing them with food. Those that are dead they carry
away from the hive, and attend the bodies, paying their last duties, as
it were, in funeral procession. If the king should happen to be carried
off by the pestilence, the swarm remains plunged in grief and listless
inactivity; it collects no more food, and ceases to issue forth from
its abode; the only thing that it does is to gather around the body,
and to emit a melancholy humming noise. Upon such occasions, the usual
plan is to disperse the swarm and take away the body; for otherwise
they would continue listlessly gazing upon it, and so prolong their
grief. Indeed, if due care is not taken to come to their aid, they will
die of hunger. It is from their cheerfulness, in fact, and their bright
and sleek appearance that we usually form an estimate as to their
health.
(19) There are certain maladies, also, which affect their productions;
when they do not fill their combs, the disease under which they are
labouring is known by the name of _claros_,[71] and if they fail to
rear their young, they are suffering from the effects of that known as
_blapsigonia_.[72]
CHAP. 21.—THINGS THAT ARE NOXIOUS TO BEES.
Echo, or the noise made by the reverberation of the air, is also
injurious to bees, as it dismays them by its redoubled sounds; fogs,
also, are noxious to them. Spiders, too, are especially hostile to
bees; when they have gone so far as to build their webs within the
hive, the death of the whole swarm is the result. The common and
ignoble moth,[73] too, that is to be seen fluttering about a burning
candle, is deadly to them, and that in more ways than one. It devours
the wax, and leaves its ordure behind it, from which the maggot known
to us as the “teredo” is produced; besides which, wherever it goes, it
drops the down from off its wings, and thereby thickens the threads of
the cobwebs. The teredo is also engendered in the wood of the hive,
and then it proves especially destructive to the wax. Bees are the
victims, also, of their own greediness, for when they glut themselves
overmuch with the juices of the flowers, in the spring season more
particularly, they are troubled with flux and looseness. Olive oil is
fatal[74] to not only bees, but all other insects as well, and more
especially if they are placed in the sun, after the head has been
immersed in it. Sometimes, too, they themselves are the cause of their
own destruction; as, for instance, when they see preparations being
made for taking their honey, and immediately fall to devouring it with
the greatest avidity. In other respects they are remarkable for their
abstemiousness, and they will expel those that are inclined to be
prodigal and voracious, no less than those that are sluggish and idle.
Their own honey even may be productive of injury to them; for if they
are smeared with it on the fore-part of the body, it is fatal to them.
Such are the enemies, so numerous are the accidents—and how small a
portion of them have I here enumerated!—to which a creature that proves
so bountiful to us is exposed. In the appropriate place[75] we will
treat of the proper remedies; for the present the nature of them is our
subject.
CHAP. 22. (20.)—HOW TO KEEP BEES TO THE HIVE.
The clapping of the hands and the tinkling of brass afford bees great
delight, and it is by these means that they are brought together; a
strong proof, in fact, that they are possessed of the sense of hearing.
When their work is completed, their offspring brought forth, and all
their duties fulfilled, they still have certain formal exercises to
perform, ranging abroad throughout the country, and soaring aloft in
the air, wheeling round and round as they fly, and then, when the hour
for taking their food has come, returning home. The extreme period of
their life, supposing that they escape accident and the attacks of
their enemies, is only seven years; a hive, it is said, never lasts
more than ten.[76] There are some persons, who think that, when dead,
if they are preserved in the house throughout the winter, and then
exposed to the warmth of the spring sun, and kept hot all day in the
ashes of fig-tree wood, they will come to life again.
CHAP. 23.—METHODS OF RENEWING THE SWARM.
These persons say also, that if the swarm is entirely lost, it may be
replaced by the aid of the belly[77] of an ox newly killed, covered
over with dung. Virgil also says[78] that this may be done with the
body of a young bull, in the same way that the carcase of the horse
produces wasps and hornets, and that of the ass beetles, Nature herself
effecting these changes of one substance into another. But in all
these last, sexual intercourse is to be perceived as well, though the
characteristics of the offspring are pretty much the same as those of
the bee.
CHAP. 24. (21.)—WASPS AND HORNETS: ANIMALS WHICH APPROPRIATE WHAT
BELONGS TO OTHERS.
Wasps build their nests of mud in lofty places,[79] and make wax
therein: hornets, on the other hand, build in holes or under ground.
With these two kinds the cells are also hexagonal, but, in other
respects, though made of the bark of trees, they strongly resemble the
substance of a spider’s web. Their young also are found at irregular
intervals, and are of unshapely appearance; while one is able to fly,
another is still a mere pupa, and a third only in the maggot state.
It is in the autumn, too, and not in the spring, that all their young
are produced; and they grow during the full moon more particularly.
The wasp which is known as the ichneumon,[80] a smaller kind than
the others, kills one kind of spider in particular, known as the
phalangium; after which it carries the body to its nest, covers it over
with a sort of gluey substance, and then sits and hatches from it its
young.[81] In addition to this, they are all of them carnivorous, while
on the other hand bees will touch no animal substance whatever. Wasps
more particularly pursue the larger flies, and after catching them cut
off the head and carry away the remaining portion of the body.
Wild hornets live in the holes of trees, and in winter, like other
insects, keep themselves concealed; their life does not exceed two
years in length. It is not unfrequently that their sting is productive
of an attack of fever, and there are authors who say that thrice nine
stings will suffice to kill a man. Of the other hornets, which seem
not to be so noxious, there are two kinds; the working ones, which
are smaller in size and die in the winter; and the parent hornets,
which live two years; these last, indeed, are quite harmless.[82] In
spring they build their nests, which have generally four entrances,
and here it is that the working hornets are produced: after these
have been hatched they form other nests of larger size, in which to
bring forth the parents of the future generation. From this time the
working hornets begin to follow their vocation, and apply themselves to
supplying the others with food. The parent hornets are of larger size
than the others, and it is very doubtful whether they have a sting, as
it is never to be seen protruded. These races, too, have their drones.
Some persons are of opinion that all these insects lose their stings
in the winter. Neither hornets nor wasps have a king, nor do they
ever congregate in swarms; but their numbers are recruited by fresh
offspring from time to time.
CHAP. 25. (22.)—THE BOMBYX OF ASSYRIA.
A fourth class of this kind[83] of insect is the bombyx,[84] which is a
native of Assyria, and is of larger size than any of those which have
been previously mentioned. They construct their nests of a kind of mud
which has the appearance of salt, and then fasten them to a stone,
where they become so hard, that it is scarcely possible to penetrate
them with a dart even. In these nests they make wax, in larger
quantities than bees, and the grub which they then produce is larger.
CHAP. 26.—THE LARVÆ OF THE SILK-WORM—WHO FIRST INVENTED SILK CLOTHS.
There is another class also of these insects produced in quite a
different manner. These last spring from a grub of larger size, with
two horns of very peculiar appearance. The larva then becomes a
caterpillar, after which it assumes the state in which it is known
as _bombylis_, then that called _necydalus_, and after that, in six
months, it becomes a silk-worm.[85] These insects weave webs similar
to those of the spider, the material of which is used for making the
more costly and luxurious garments of females, known as “bombycina.”
Pamphile, a woman of Cos,[86] the daughter of Platea, was the first[87]
person who discovered the art of unravelling these webs and spinning a
tissue therefrom; indeed, she ought not to be deprived of the glory of
having discovered the art of making vestments which, while they cover a
woman, at the same moment reveal her naked charms.
CHAP. 27. (23.)—THE SILK-WORM OF COS—HOW THE COAN VESTMENTS ARE MADE.
The silk-worm, too, is said to be a native of the isle of Cos, where
the vapours of the earth give new life to the flowers of the cypress,
the terebinth, the ash, and the oak which have been beaten down by
the showers. At first they assume the appearance of small butterflies
with naked bodies, but soon after, being unable to endure the cold,
they throw out bristly hairs, and assume quite a thick coat against
the winter, by rubbing off the down that covers the leaves, by the
aid of the roughness of their feet. This they compress into balls by
carding it with their claws, and then draw it out and hang it between
the branches of the trees, making it fine by combing it out as it were:
last of all, they take and roll it round their body, thus forming a
nest in which they are enveloped. It is in this state that they are
taken; after which they are placed in earthen vessels in a warm place,
and fed upon bran. A peculiar sort of down soon shoots forth upon the
body, on being clothed with which they are sent to work upon another
task. The cocoons[88] which they have begun to form are rendered soft
and pliable by the aid of water, and are then drawn out into threads
by means of a spindle made of a reed. Nor, in fact, have the men even
felt ashamed to make use[89] of garments formed of this material, in
consequence of their extreme lightness in summer: for, so greatly have
manners degenerated in our day, that, so far from wearing a cuirass,
a garment even is found to be too heavy. The produce of the Assyrian
silk-worm, however, we have till now left to the women only.
CHAP. 28. (24.)—SPIDERS; THE KINDS THAT MAKE WEBS; THE MATERIALS USED
BY THEM IN SO DOING.
It is by no means an absurdity to append to the silk-worm an account
of the spider, a creature which is worthy of our especial admiration.
There are numerous kinds of spiders, however, which it will not be
necessary here to mention, from the fact of their being so well known.
Those that bear the name of _phalangium_ are of small size, with bodies
spotted and running to a point; their bite is venomous, and they leap
as they move from place to place. Another kind, again, is black, and
the fore-legs are remarkable for their length. They have all of them
three joints in the legs. The smaller kind of wolf-spider[90] does not
make a web, but the larger ones make their holes in the earth, and
spread their nets at the narrow entrance thereof. A third kind, again,
is remarkable for the skill which it displays in its operations. These
spin a large web, and the abdomen suffices to supply the material
for so extensive a work, whether it is that, at stated periods the
excrements are largely secreted in the abdomen, as Democritus thinks,
or that the creature has in itself a certain faculty of secreting[91]
a peculiar sort of woolly substance. How steadily does it work with
its claws, how beautifully rounded and how equal are the threads as it
forms its web, while it employs the weight of its body as an equipoise!
It begins at the middle to weave its web, and then extends it by adding
the threads in rings around, like a warp upon the woof: forming the
meshes at equal intervals, but continually enlarging them as the web
increases in breadth, it finally unites them all by an indissoluble
knot. With what wondrous art does it conceal the snares that lie in
wait for its prey in its checkered nettings! How little, too, would it
seem that there is any such trap laid in the compactness of its web
and the tenacious texture of the woof, which would appear of itself
to be finished and arranged by the exercise of the very highest art!
How loose, too, is the body of the web as it yields to the blasts,
and how readily does it catch all objects which come in its way! You
would fancy that it had left, quite exhausted, the thrums of the upper
portion of its net unfinished where they are spread across; it is with
the greatest difficulty that they are to be perceived, and yet the
moment that an object touches them, like the lines of the hunter’s
net, they throw it into the body of the web. With what architectural
skill, too, is its hole arched over, and how well defended by a nap of
extra thickness against the cold! How carefully, too, it retires into a
corner, and appears intent upon anything but what it really is, all the
while that it is so carefully shut up from view, that it is impossible
to perceive whether there is anything within or not! And then too, how
extraordinary the strength of the web! When is the wind ever known to
break it, or what accumulation of dust is able to weigh it down?
The spider often spreads its web right across between two trees, when
plying its art and learning how to spin; and then, as to its length,
the thread extends from the very top of the tree to the ground, while
the insect springs up again in an instant from the earth, and travels
aloft by the very self-same thread, thus mounting at the same moment
and spinning its threads. When its prey falls into its net, how on the
alert it is, and with what readiness it runs to seize it! Even though
it should be adhering to the very edge of its web, the insect always
runs instantly to the middle, as it is by these means that it can most
effectually shake the web, and so successfully entangle its prey. When
the web is torn, the spider immediately sets about repairing it, and
that so neatly, that nothing like patching can ever be seen. The spider
lies in wait even for the young of the lizard, and after enveloping the
head of the animal, bites its lips; a sight by no means unworthy of
the amphitheatre itself, when it is one’s good fortune to witness it.
Presages also are drawn from the spider; for when a river is about to
swell, it will suspend its web higher than usual. In calm weather these
insects do not spin, but when it is cloudy they do, and hence it is,
that a great number of cobwebs is a sure sign of showery weather. It
is generally supposed that it is the female spider that spins, and the
male that lies in wait for prey, thus making an equal division of their
duties.
CHAP. 29.—THE GENERATION OF SPIDERS.
Spiders couple[92] backwards, and produce maggots like eggs; for I
ought not to defer making some mention of this subject, seeing, in
fact, that of most insects there is hardly anything else to be said.
All these eggs they lay in their webs, but scattered about, as they
leap from place to place while laying them. The phalangium is the only
spider that lays a considerable number of them, in a hole; and as
soon as ever the progeny is hatched it devours its mother, and very
often the male parent as well, for that, too, aids in the process of
incubation. These last produce as many as three hundred eggs, the
others a smaller number. Spiders take three days to hatch their eggs.
They come to their full growth in twenty-eight days.
CHAP. 30. (25.)—SCORPIONS.
In a similar manner to the spider, the land scorpion also produces
maggots[93] 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[94] 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[95] 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.[96] 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[97] 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[98] mixed with wine. It is the
belief also that there is nothing more baneful to the scorpion and
the stellio,[99] 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[100] has in some measure the same nature as the chameleon,
as it lives upon nothing but dew, and such spiders[101] as it may
happen to find.
CHAP. 32.—THE GRASSHOPPER: THAT IT HAS NEITHER MOUTH NOR OUTLET FOR
FOOD.
The cicada[102] 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[103] their eggs, which are white. They engender with the
belly upwards. Upon the back they have a sharp-edged instrument,[104]
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_.[105] 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[106] 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,”[107] which is the largest, and the “frumentaria,”[108] by
many known as the “avenaria;”[109] 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,[110] 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.[111]
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;[112] 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[113] 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[114] 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[115] 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[116] and haunches,
sends forth at night a light which resembles that of fire; being
resplendent, at one moment, as it expands its wings,[117] 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[118] 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[119]
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.”[120]
The wings of all insects are formed without[121] any division in them,
and they none of them have a tail,[122] with the exception of the
scorpion; this, too, is the only one among them that has arms,[123]
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[124] 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[125] 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.[126]
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[127] 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[128] of the Vergiliæ, and die at the rising
of the Dog-star,[129] after which others spring up in their places:
according to some, it is at the setting[130] 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.[131] 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[132] 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[133] 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[134]
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,[135] 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,[136] and they work in
common, like bees; but whereas the last make their food, the former
only store[137] 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.[138] 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.[139] What vast throngs are then to
be seen hurrying together, what anxious enquiries appear to be made,
and what earnest parleys[140] 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,[141] 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.[142] 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[143] 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[144]
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[145] 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,[146] 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[147] 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,”[148] 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,[149] 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[150] 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[151] 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[152] 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,[153] 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,[154] when fully
developed. These insects, which are venomous, carry with them their
antidote; for their wings are useful in medicine,[155] 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[156]
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[157] 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.”[158] 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[159] even before it dies. Flies which have been drowned in
water, if they are covered with ashes,[160] will return to life.
CHAP. 44. (37.)—THE NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF ALL ANIMALS
CONSIDERED LIMB BY LIMB. THOSE WHICH HAVE TUFTS AND CRESTS.
In addition to what is already stated, we will add an account of every
part of the body of an animal, taken limb by limb.
All those which have blood, have a head as well. A small number of
animals, and those only among the birds, have tufts of various kinds
upon the head. The phœnix[161] has a long row of feathers on it, from
the middle of which arises another row; peacocks have a hairy tuft,
resembling a bushy shrub; the stymphalis[162] has a sort of pointed
crest, and the pheasant, again, small horns. Added to these, there
is the lark, a little bird, which, from the appearance of its tuft,
was formerly called “galerita,” but has since received the Gallic
name of “alauda,”[163] a name which it has transferred to one of our
legions.[164] We have already made mention, also, of one bird[165]
to which Nature has given a crest, which it can fold or unfold at
pleasure: the birds of the coot kind[166] have also received from
her a crest, which takes its rise at the beak, and runs along the
middle of the head; while the pie of Mars, and the Balearic crane, are
furnished with pointed tufts. But the most remarkable feature of all,
is the crest which we see attached to the heads of our domestic fowls,
substantial and indented like a saw; we cannot, in fact, strictly call
it flesh, nor can we pronounce it to be cartilage or a callosity, but
must admit that it is something of a nature peculiar to itself. As to
the crests of dragons, there is no one to be found who ever saw one.
CHAP. 45.—THE VARIOUS KINDS OF HORNS. ANIMALS IN WHICH THEY ARE
MOVEABLE.
Horns, too, of various forms have been granted to many animals of the
aquatic, marine, and reptile kind, but those which are more properly
understood under that name belong to the quadrupeds only; for I look
upon the tales of Actæon and of Cippus even, in Latin story, as nothing
more nor less than fables.[167] And, indeed, in no department of her
works has Nature displayed a greater capriciousness. In providing
animals with these weapons, she has made merry at their expense; for
some she has spread them out in branches, the stag, for instance; to
others she has given them in a more simple form, as in the “subulo,”
so called from the resemblance of its horns to a “subula,”[168] or
shoemaker’s awl. In others, again, she has flattened them in the shape
of a man’s hand, with the fingers extended, from which circumstance
the animal has received the name of “platyceros.”[169] To the roe-buck
she has given branching horns, but small, and has made them so as not
to fall off and be cast each year; while to the ram she has given
them of a contorted and spiral form, as though she were providing it
with a cæstus for offence. The horns of the bull, again, are upright
and threatening. In this last kind, the females, too, are provided
with them, while in most it is only the males. The chamois has them,
curving backwards; while in the fallow deer[170] they bend forward. The
strepsiceros,[171] which in Africa bears the name of addax, has horns
erect and spiral, grooved and tapering to a sharp point, so much so,
that you would almost take them to be the sides of a lyre.[172] In the
oxen of Phrygia, the horns are moveable,[173] like the ears; and among
the cattle of the Troglodytæ, they are pointed downwards to the ground,
for which reason it is that they are obliged to feed with the head on
one side. Other animals, again, have a single horn, and that situate in
the middle of the head, or else on the nose, as already stated.[174]
Then, again, in some animals the horns are adapted for butting, and
in others for goring; with some they are curved inwards, with others
outwards, and with others, again, they are fitted for tossing: all
which objects are effected in various ways, the horns either lying
backwards, turning from, or else towards each other, and in all cases
running to a sharp point. In one kind, also, the horns are used for the
purpose of scratching the body, instead of hands.
In snails the horns are fleshy, and are thus adapted for the purpose
of feeling the way, which is also the case with the cerastes;[175]
some reptiles, again, have only one horn, though the snail has always
two, suited for protruding and withdrawing. The barbarous nations of
the north drink from the horns of the urus,[176] a pair of which will
hold a couple of urnæ:[177] other tribes, again, point their spears
with them. With us they are cut into laminæ, upon which they become
transparent; indeed, the rays of a light placed within them may be
seen to a much greater distance than without. They are used also for
various appliances of luxury, either coloured or varnished, or else
for those kinds of paintings which are known as “cestrota,”[178] or
horn-pictures. The horns of all animals are hollow within, it being
only at the tip that they are solid: the only exception is the stag,
the horn of which is solid throughout, and is cast every year. When
the hoofs of oxen are worn to the quick, the husbandmen have a method
of curing them, by anointing the horns of the animal with grease. The
substance of the horns is so ductile, that even while upon the body of
the living animal, they can be bent by being steeped in boiling wax,
and if they are split down when they are first shooting, they may be
twisted different ways, and so appear to be four in number upon one
head. In females the horns are generally thinner than in the males, as
is the case, also, with most kinds of wool-bearing animals.
No individuals, however, among sheep, or hinds, nor yet any that have
the feet divided into toes, or that have solid hoofs, are furnished
with horns; with the sole exception of the Indian ass,[179] which is
armed with a single horn. To the beasts that are cloven-footed Nature
has granted two horns, but to those that have fore-teeth in the upper
jaw, she has given none. Those persons who entertain the notion that
the substance of these teeth is expended in the formation of the
horns, are easily to be refuted, if we only consider the case of the
hind, which has no more teeth than the male, and yet is without horns
altogether. In the stag the horn is only imbedded in the skin, but in
the other[180] animals it adheres to the bone.
CHAP. 46.—THE HEADS OF ANIMALS. THOSE WHICH HAVE NONE.
The head of the fish is very large in proportion to the rest of the
body, probably, to facilitate its diving under water. Animals of the
oyster and the sponge kind have no head, which is the case, also, with
most of the other kinds, whose only sense is that of touch. Some,
again, have the head blended with the body, the crab, for instance.
CHAP. 47.—THE HAIR.
Of all animals man has the longest hair upon the head; which is the
case more especially with those nations where the men and women in
common leave the hair to grow, and do not cut it. Indeed, it is from
this fact, that the inhabitants of the Alps have obtained from us the
name of “Capillati,”[181] as also those of Gallia, “Comata.”[182]
There is, however, a great difference in this respect according to
the various countries. In the island of Myconus,[183] the people are
born without hair, just as at Caunus the inhabitants are afflicted
with the spleen from their birth.[184] There are some animals, also,
that are naturally bald, such as the ostrich, for instance, and the
aquatic raven, which last has thence derived its Greek[185] name. It
is but rarely that the hair falls off in women, and in eunuchs such
is never known to be the case; nor yet does any person lose it before
having known sexual intercourse.[186] The hair does not fall off below
the brain, nor yet beneath the crown of the head, or around the ears
and the temples. Man is the only animal that becomes bald, with the
exception, of course, of such animals as are naturally so. Man and the
horse are the only creatures whose hair turns grey; but with man this
is always the case, first in the fore-part of the head, and then in the
hinder part.
CHAP. 48.—THE BONES OF THE HEAD.
Some few persons only are double-crowned. The bones of the head are
flat, thin, devoid of marrow, and united with sutures indented like a
comb. When broken asunder they cannot be united, but the extraction
of a small portion is not necessarily fatal, as a fleshy cicatrix
forms, and so makes good the loss. We have already mentioned, in their
respective[187] places, that the skull of the bear is the weakest of
all, and that of the parrot the hardest.
CHAP. 49.—THE BRAIN.
The brain exists in all animals which have blood, and in those sea
animals as well, which we have already mentioned as mollusks, although
they are destitute of blood, the polypus, for instance. Man, however,
has, in proportion to his body, the most voluminous brain of all.
This, too, is the most humid, and the coldest of all the viscera, and
is enveloped above and below with two membranous integuments, for
either of which to be broken is fatal. In addition to these facts, we
may remark that the brain is larger in men than in women. In man the
brain is destitute of blood and veins, and in other animals it has
no fat. Those who are well informed on the subject, tell us that the
brain is quite a different substance from the marrow, seeing that on
being boiled it only becomes harder. In the very middle of the brain
of every animal there are small bones found. Man is the only animal in
which it is known to palpitate[188] during infancy; and it does not
gain its proper consistency until after the child has made its first
attempt to speak. The brain is the most elevated of all the viscera,
and the nearest to the roof of the head; it is equally devoid of flesh,
blood, and excretions. The senses hold this organ as their citadel; it
is in this that are centred all the veins which spring from the heart;
it is here that they terminate; this is the very culminating point
of all, the regulator of the understanding. With all animals it is
advanced to the fore-part of the head, from the fact that the senses
have a tendency to the direction in which we look. From the brain
proceeds sleep, and its return it is that causes the head to nod. Those
creatures, in fact, which have no brain, never sleep. It is said that
stags[189] have in the head certain small maggots, twenty in number:
they are situate in the empty space that lies beneath the tongue, and
around the joints by which the head is united to the body.
CHAP. 50.—THE EARS. ANIMALS WHICH HEAR WITHOUT EARS OR APERTURES.
Man is the only animal the ears of which are immoveable. It is from
the natural flaccidity of the ear, that the surname of _Flaccus_ is
derived. There is no part of the body that creates a more enormous
expense for our women, in the pearls which are suspended from them.
In the East, too, it is thought highly becoming for the men, even, to
wear gold rings in their ears. Some animals have large, and others
small ears. The stag alone has them cut and divided, as it were; in
the field-mouse they have a velvet surface. All the animals that are
viviparous have ears of some kind or other, with the sole exception of
the sea-calf, the dolphin, the fishes which we have mentioned[190]
as cartilaginous, and the viper. These animals have only cavities
instead of ears, with the exception of the cartilaginous fishes and
the dolphin, which last, however, it is quite clear possesses the
sense of hearing, for it is charmed by singing, and is often taken
while enraptured with the melody: how it is that it does hear, is
quite marvellous. These animals, too, have not the slightest trace of
olfactory organs, and yet they have a most acute sense of smell.
Among the winged animals, only the horned owl and the long-eared owl
have feathers which project like ears, the rest having only cavities
for the purpose of hearing; the same is the case, also, with the scaly
animals and the serpents. Among horses and beasts of burden of all
kinds, it is the ears which indicate the natural feelings; when the
animal is weary, they are drooping and flaccid; when it is startled,
they quiver to and fro; when it is enraged, they are pricked up; and
when it is ailing, they are pendant.
CHAP. 51.—THE FACE, THE FOREHEAD, AND THE EYE-BROWS.
Man is the only creature that has a face, the other animals having
only a muzzle or a beak. Other animals have a forehead as well, but
it is only on the forehead of man that is depicted sorrow, gladness,
compassion, or severity. It is the forehead that is the index of the
mind. Man has eyebrows, also, which move together or alternately;
these, too, serve in some measure as indications of the feelings. Do
we deny or do we assent, it is the eyebrows, mostly, that indicate
our intentions. Feelings of pride may be generated elsewhere, but it
is here that they have their principal abode; it is in the heart that
they take their rise, but it is to the eyebrows that they mount, and
here they take up their position. In no part of the body could they
meet with a spot more lofty and more precipitous, in which to establish
themselves free from all control.
CHAP. 52.—THE EYES—ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NO EYES, OR HAVE ONLY ONE EYE.
Below the forehead are the eyes, which form the most precious portion
of the human body, and which, by the enjoyment of the blessings of
sight, distinguish life from death. Eyes, however, have not been
granted to all animals; oysters have none, but, with reference to some
of the shell-fish, the question is still doubtful; for if we move the
fingers before a scallop half open, it will immediately close its
shell, apparently from seeing them, while the solen[191] will start
away from an iron instrument when placed near it. Among quadrupeds
the mole[192] has no sight, though it has something that bears a
resemblance to eyes, if we remove the membrane that is extended in
front of them. Among birds also, it is said that a species of heron,
which is known as the “leucus,”[193] is wanting of one eye: a bird
of most excellent augury, when it flies towards the south or north,
for it is said that it portends thereby that there is about to be an
end of perils and alarms. Nigidius says also, that neither locusts
nor grasshoppers have eyes. In snails,[194] the two small horns with
which they feel their way, perform the duties of eyes. Neither the
mawworm[195] nor any other kind of worm has eyes.
CHAP. 53.—THE DIVERSITY OF THE COLOUR OF THE EYES.
The eyes vary in colour in the human race only; in all other animals
they are of one uniform colour peculiar to the kind, though there
are some horses that have eyes of an azure colour. But in man the
varieties and diversities are most numerous; the eyes being either
large, of middling size, remarkably small, or remarkably prominent.
These last are generally supposed to be very weak, while those which
are deep-seated are considered the best, as is the case also with those
which in colour resemble the eyes of the goat.
CHAP. 54.—THE THEORY OF SIGHT—PERSONS WHO CAN SEE BY NIGHT.
In addition to this, there are some persons who can see to a very
great distance, while there are others, again, who can only distinguish
objects when brought quite close to them. The vision of many stands in
need of the rays of the sun; such persons cannot see on a cloudy day,
nor yet after the sun has set. Others, again, have bad sight in the
day-time, but a sight superior to that of others by night. Of persons
having double pupils, or the evil eye, we have already spoken[196] at
sufficient length. Blue[197] eyes are the best for seeing in the dark.
It is said that Tiberius Cæsar, like no other human being, was so
endowed by Nature, that on awaking in the night[198] he could for
a few moments distinguish objects just as well as in the clearest
daylight, but that by degrees he would find his sight again enveloped
in darkness. The late Emperor Augustus had azure eyes like those of
some horses, the white being larger than with other men; he used to be
very angry if a person stared intently at them for this peculiarity.
Claudius Cæsar had at the corners of the eyes a white fleshy substance,
covered with veins, which would occasionally become suffused with
blood; with the Emperor Caius[199] they had a fixed, steady gaze,
while Nero could see nothing distinctly without winking, and having
it brought close to his eyes. The Emperor Caius had twenty pairs of
gladiators in his training-school, and of all these there were only
two who did not wink the eyes when a menacing gesture was made close
to them: hence it was that these men were invincible. So difficult a
matter is it for a man to keep his eyes from winking: indeed, to wink
is so natural to many, that they cannot desist from it; such persons we
generally look upon as the most timid.