ARMY MEDICAL LIBRARY WASHINGTON Founded 1836 Section. Number ./@.3 0_f£_3__ Fobm 113c, W. D.. S. G. O. po 3—10543 (Revised June 13, 1936) — THE , ^ JT« 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 8CH0LAB OF CLARE HALL, CAMBRIDGE, VOL. III. LONDON: HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. MDCCCLT. 1 wz 1257 v. 3 CONTENTS. OP THE THIED VOLUME. BOOK XL THE VARIOUS KINDS OF INSECTS. ClTAP. _ 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. LI. 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. Ericaaum. 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 larva? 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 IV CONTENTS. Chap. Pa^i 29. The generation of spiders ................ '2'J 30. Scorpions ...................... ib. 81. 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. Thehair........................ ib. 48. The bones of the head..................47 49. The brain ......................ib. 60. 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 ......................,3, 59. The nostrils ............ .......... t3, 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 side's 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. ThetonsUs; theuvula; theepiglossis; the tracheal artery; theguUet 62 67. The neck; the throat; the dorsal spine ..........63 68. The throat; the guUet; the stomach.......... °. 64 69. The heart; the blood; the vital spirit........ ., ^# 70. Those animals which have the largest heart, and those which have the smaUest. What animals have two hearts .. .. 65 71. When the custom was first adopted of examining the heart in the inspection of the entrails .............. 66 CONTEXTS. V Chap. Pag« 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. Ani- mals 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 mUk cheese cannot be made. Rennet; the various kinds of aliment in mUk .. 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.............. tb. 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 VI CONTEXTS. Chap. Vw 104. Varicose veins....................88 105. The gait, the feet, the legs................ 89 106. Hoofs ........................«*■ 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, aUay hunger and thirst 99 BOOK XII. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF TBEES. 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 chamaeplatanus. 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 caUed ariena..............110 13. Indian trees, the names of which are unknown. Indian trees which bear flax....................HI 14. The pepper-tree.—The various kinds of pepper—bregma—zin- giberi, or zimpirebi..................#_ 15. CaryophyUon, lycion, and the Chironian pyxacanthus .. .. 113 16. Macir ........................U4 17. Sugar .._................' .'.' " " ,j# 18. Trees of Ariana, Gedrosia, and Hyrcania.........115 19. Trees of Bactriana, bdeUium, 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 ................ ll'y 21. Trees of the islands of the Persian Sea. The cotton*tree! \ ."." ib CONTENTS. VU Citap. Page 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. Costns.........................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. Thetrees 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. Enhaemon ......................134 39. The tree called bratus..................135 40. The tree calledstobrum ................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. Phcenicobalanus ....................143 48. The sweet-scented calamus; the sweet-scented rush......144 49. Hammoniacum ....................ib. 60. Sphagnos ......................145 51. Cypros ........................146 52. Aspalathos, or erysisceptrum................ib. 53. Maron ........................147 54. Balsamum; opobalsamum; and xylobalsamum........ib. 55. Storax.............. ..-;.........151 56. Galbanum .......... ,. \. .. L.. r.. .. 152 57. Panax........................ib. 58. Spondylium ......................153 59. Malobathrum........J .. i............ib. 60. Omphacium........' .. \............ib. 61. Bryon, cenanthe, and massaris .. .. ■ .. .. _......154 62. Elate or spathe ........../..-..£......155 63. Cinnamon or comacum .. .. ~.. .T~>.....T .. .. 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 Vlll CONTENTS. Chap. PllKa 3. Diapasma, magma ; the mode of testing unguents ......166 4. The excesses to which luxury has run iu 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........................*'*. 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. Thecucus ......................183 19. The Egyptian thorn ..................ib. 20. Nine kinds of gum. The sarcocoUa............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 iEthiopia..................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 thymelsea, 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. Thecoccygia; the apharce................»'J 42. The ferula ......................ib. 43. The thapsia ......................205 44. The capparis or cynosbaton, otherwise ophiostaphyle .. .. .. 206 45. The saripha ......................207 46. The royal thorn .. ,.................#. 47. The cytisus ...................,' "* 208 CONTENTS. IX Chap. _ , Pag" 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 ................*'*. 62. 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 S. 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.................• ** ,"• •' 2-i4 17. At what period four kinds of wine were first served at table .. to. 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........................*' 22. Twelve kinds of wine with miraculous properties ......tbz 23. What wines it is not lawful to use in the sacred rites......263 24. How must is usuaUy prepared ..............**• 25. Pitch and resin ....................264 26. Vinegar—lees of wine..................*°° 27. Wine-vessels—wine-ceUars................**• 28. Drunkeuuess.................• •• • • 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 oUve, and of new olive oU ........278 X CONTENTS. Chap . Pae° 3. Olive oU: the countries in which it is produced, and its various quaUties ......................f,79 4. Fifteen varieties of the olive................*°* 5. The nature of olive oil........... •• •• •• ,;i84 6. The culture of the olive: its mode of preservation. Ine method of making olive oil..................285 7. Forty-eight varieties of artificial oils. The cicus-tree or croton, or sUi, or sesamum 286 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 ......................*'*• 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 smeU 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 nothern regions .. .. 340 CONTENTS. XI Chap. page 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. ThegaU-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 Undcn-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 Xii CONTENTS. Chap. . P«S9 45. Trees which bear no fruit: trees looked upon as ill-omened .. 385 46. Trees which lose their fruit or flowers most readily......38fi 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. Crataegum........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 wUlow, 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 durabUity of wood .. .. 423 80. Varieties of the teredo..................425 81. The woods used in buUding ..............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 ScipVo Africanus. A tree at Rome five hundred years old .. .. 429 86. Trees as old as the City............ ' 433 87. Trees in the suburban districts older than the City .. .".' ' ib contents. xiii ClIAP. page 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 byApoUo. 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 va- rieties of them: cadytas, polypodion, phaulias, hippophaeston 433 93. Three varieties of mistletoe. The nature of mistletoe and simUar 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 shps 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. xiv CONTENTS. Chap. . PaSe 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. WUlow-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 ..................«'*• 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. E Actus. E..... Amphora. E As. E ..... As. E [weight] Concha, Smaller, G and E Concha, Larger, G and E Congius. E ......... Cubitus. G ......... Cubitus. E ......... Culeus. E ......... Cyathus. G and E..... Denarius. E ......... Denarius. E. [weight] ... Digitus, or Finger. E. ... Drachma. G Hemina. E Jugerum. E Libra, or Pound. E. Mina.* G Modius. E. [dry measure] Obolus. G ......... Obolus. G. [weight] Palmus, or Handbreadth. E Passus, or Pace.f E ..£ of a Sextarius, .1238 pint. .. 120 Pedes or Eoman feet. . .48 Sextarii, 5 gall. 7.577 pints. ..2^ farthings. Copper. ..See "Libra." ..•0412 pint. ..•1238 pint. ..'5.9471 pints. ..1 foot 6.2016 inches. ..1 foot 5.4744 inches. ..20 Amphorae, 118 gall. 7.546 pints. ..t^ of a Sextarius, .0825 pint. ..16 Asses, 8£ pence. Silver. ,..52.5 to 60 grains. ..^6 of a Pes, .7281 inch. ..•63 grains. ..See " Semisextarius." ..240 Pedes or Eoman feet by 120. ...llf ounces 60.45 grains, avoird. ...15 ounces 83.75 grains, avoird. ..-| of an Amphora, 1 gall. 7.8576 ,..1|.5 pence. Silver. [pints. ..10.5 grains. ...2.9214 inches. ...5 Eoman feet, 4 ft. 10.248 inches. * In B. xii. c. 32—it is supposed by some that it is the Roman Libra that is meant, under the name of " Mina," as containing eighty-four Denarii. If so, it must be the old Roman Libra, as it is more generally thought that the Libra of Pliny's time contained ninety-six Denarii, of sixty grains, within a fraction. t One thousand Paces made a Roman " Mille Passuum," or MUe, 1618 yards English. GEEEK AND EOMAN MONET, WEIGHTS, AND MEASTJBES. Pes, or Foot. E ..... Pollex, or Thumb. E .. Quadrans. E .■....... Quadrans. E [weight] .. Quadrantal. E ...... Quartarius, E......... Quinarius. E ........ Scripulum, or Scruple. E Semisextarius. E ....., Sestertius. R ........ Sestertium. E........, Sextarius. E ........ Spithama, or Span. G .. Stadium. G and E..... Teruncius. E ......... Ulna, or Ell. E ...... TJncia, or Inch. E ..... Uncia, or Ounce. E..... Urna. E............ Victoriatus. E........ ...12 Uncia?, 11.6496 inches. ...See " Uncia" [lineal measure]. ...•53,125 farthing. Copper, ...3 Unciae, 2f ounces 97.21 grs. ...See "Amphora." ...I of a Sextarius, .2477 pint. ...^ of a Denarius. ...-2l4 of an Uncia, 18.06 grains. ...^ of a Sextarius. .. .i of a Denarius. Brass or Silver. ...1000 Sestertii, £7 16s 3d. ...£ of a Congius, .9911 pint. ...9.1008 inches. ...£ of a Eoman mile, 606 feet 9 in. ... See "Quadrans" [weight & money]. ...6 feet, 81 inch. ...TV of a Pes, .9708 inch. ...TV of a Libra. 433.666 grs. .. .^ of an Amphora. ........See " Quinarius." The Schoenus, 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 561b. 15^oz. 100.32 grains. The Commercial Talent was 85lb. 2^oz. 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 Drachmae, or about f 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 SMAtLUESS OF INSECTS. W E shall now proceed to a description of the insects, a subject replete with erjdless difficulties j1 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 fur- nished 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,"2 from the incisures or divisions which sepa- rate 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, how- ever, this division is not complete, as it is surrounded by wrinkled folds ; and thus the flexible vertebrae 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, 1 " Immensse subtilitatis." As Cuvier remarks, the ancients have com- mitted more errors in reference to the insects, than to any other portion of the animal world. The discovery of the microscope has served more than anything to correct these erroneous notions. 2 " Insecta," " articulated." VOL. 111. B 2 flint's natueal HISTOET. [Book XI. in the very largest among them, she found her task easy and her materials ready and pliable; but in those 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 ?—hot to speak of creatures that might be mentioned of still smaller size—Where, I say, has she found room to place in itthe 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,3 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, * 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 informa- tion I am about to give relative thereto, seeing that, in the 3 The trunk of the gnat, Cuvier says, contains five silken and pointed threads, which together have tbe effect of a sting. * The Teredo navalis of Linnaeus, not an insect, but one of the mollusks. This is the same creature that is mentioned in B. xvi. c. 80 ; but that spoken of in B. viii. c. 74, must have beeu a land insect. Chap. 2.] INSECTS. 3 study of Nature, there are none of her works that are unworthy of our consideration. CHAP. 2. (3.)--WHETHEE INSECTS RESPIRE, AND WHETHER THEY HAVE BLOOD. Many authors deny that insects respire.6 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,6 and this, notwithstanding the humming of bees, the chirping of grass- hoppers, and the sounds emitted by numerous other insects which will be considered in their respective places. Por 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 speaking7 of the marine animals; and that, notwithstanding the density and the vast depth of the water which would appear to impede all breathing. l:, I ,,hat person could very easily believe that there can be any v\< u-cs that fly to and fro, and live in the very midst of the c.un • i" >. 1' respiration, while, at the same time, they themselves ure devoid of that respiration ; that they can be possessed of the requisite instincts for nourishment, gene- ration, working, and making provision even for time to come, in the enjoyment too (although, certainly, they are not pos- sessed of the organs which act, as it were, as the receptacles 5 They respire by orifices in the sides of the body, known to naturalists as stigmata. The whole body, Cuvier says, forms, in a measure, a system of lungs. 6 Cuvier remarks that the various noises made by insects are in reality not the voice, as they are not produced by air passing tbrough a larynx. ' B. ix. c. 6. 13 2 4 FLINT'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XI. of those senses) of the powers of hearing, smelling, and tast- ing, as well as those other precious gifts of Nature, address, courage, and skilfulness ? That these creatures have no blood8 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 saepia9 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,10 bones, spines, cartilages, fat, nor flesh; nor yet so much as a frail shell; like some of the marine ani- mals, nor even anything that can with any propriety be termed skin ; but they have a body which is of a kind of inter- mediate 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,11 than hard. Such, then, is all that they are, and nothing more:Vi 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 8 Cuvier remarks, that they have a nourishing fluid, which is of a white colour, and acts in place of blood. 9 The dye of sjepia, Cuvier remarks, is not blood, nor does it act as such, being an excrementitious liquid. It has in addition a bluish, transparent, blood. The same also with the juices of the purple. 10 "Nervos." Cuvier says that all insects have a brain, a sort of spinal marrow, and nerves. " "Tutius." 12 Insects have no fat, Cuvier says, except when in the chrysalis state ; but they have a fibrous flesh of a whitish colour. They have also viscera, trachea, nerves, and a most complicated organization. Chap. 5.] BEES. D 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 scolo- pendra. 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 admi- ration, 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 dis- play 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 pos- sibly 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 OP BEES. Bees keep within the hive during the winter—for whence are they to derive the strength requisite to withstand frosts and shows, and the northern blasts ? The same, in fact, is done by all insects, but not to so late a period; as those 6 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTOEY. [Book XI. 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 Vergiliae, 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, in- deed, 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-glue12 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, PISSO- CEROS, AND PROPOLIS. The persons who understand this subject, call the substance which forms the first foundation of their combs, commosis,13 the next, pissoceros,1* and the third propolis;15 which last is placed between the other layers and the wax, and is remarkable for its utility in medicine.16 The commosis forms the first crust or layer, and has a bitter taste; and upon it is laid the pisso- ceros, a kind of thin wax, which acts as a sort of varnish. The propolis is produced from the sweet gum of the vine or 12 "Melligo." For further information on this subject consult Bevan on the Honey Bee. 13 Or "conusis," " gummy matter." 14 Pitch-wax. 15 A kind of bee-glue; the origin of the name does not seem to be known. Reaumur says that they are all different varieties of bee-glue. 16 See B. xxii. c. 50. Chap. 8.] BEES. 7 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 CERTNTHOS. In addition to this, the bees form collections of erithace or bee-bread, which some persons call "sandaraca,"17 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 cavi- ties 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 wax18 from the blossoms of all trees and plants, with the sole exception of the rumex19 and the echinopodes,26 both being kinds of herbs. It is by mistake, however, that spartum is excepted;21 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 nu- merous. Bees are not injurious to fruit of any kind; they will 17 Different combinations of the pollen of flowers, on which bees feed. 18 It is formed from the honey that the bee has digested. 19 Sorrel, or monk's rhubarb. 20 A kind of broom. 21 Spanish broom, the Stipa tenacissima of Linnseus. Ropes were made of it. See B. xix. c. 7. 8 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XI. 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 ex- peditions, 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,22 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 Avater, and charge the downy surface of their bodies with drops of liquid. Those among them that are young23 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 22 Or, the " wild man." 23 Huber has discovered that there are two kinds of bees of neutral sex, or, as he calls them, unprolific females, the workers, which go out, and the nurses, which are smaller, and stay in the hive to tend the larva?. Chap. 10.] BEES. 9 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 food24 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 e\Ten feed separately. Commencing at the vaulted roof of the hive, they begin the construction of their cells, and, just as we do in the manu- facture of a Aveb, 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 gene- rally left empty Avhen constructed, that there may be nothing exposed to view which may invite theft; and it is the last ones, more especially, that are filled Avith 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 favour- able breeze, and if a gale should happen to spring up, they poise themselves in the air with little stones, by way of bal- last ; some writers, indeed, say that they place them upon their shoulders. Wrhen the wind is contrary, they fly close to the ground, taking care, however, to keep clear of the brambles. It is Avonderful what strict watch is kept upon their work: all instances of idleness are carefully remarked, the offenders are 24 From the honey found in the corolla; of flowers. This, after being prepared in the first stomach of the bee, is deposited in the cell which is formed for its reception. 10 PLINY'B NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XI. chastised, and on a repetition of the fault, punished with death. Their sense of cleanliness, too, is quite extraordinary ; every- thing 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, Avhen they are obliged to cease their ordinary labours, they employ themselves in carrying it oui. 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, there- by 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 abundantM 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,26 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 them2' without mercy. And not only in their labours do the drones give them their assistance, but in the propagation of their spe- cies 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 greater28 the multitude of the drones, the more 25 Cuvier says that the three kinds of cells are absolutely necessary, and that they do not depend on the greater or less abundance. The king of the ancients is what we know as the queen bee, which is impregnated by the drones or males. 26 This is the fact, but not so their imperfect state. 27 They do not work, but merely impregnate the queen; after which they are driven from the hive, and perish of cold and starvation. 58 It appears, as Cuvier says, that the ancients had some notion that the swarm was multiplied by the aid of the drones. Chap. 12.] QUALITIES OE HONEY. 11 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,29 spacious and grand, separated from the rest, and surmounted by a sort of dome: if this promi- nence sifbuld happen to be flattened, all hopes of progeny are lost. All the cells are hexagonal, each foot30 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 perform- , ance 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,81 mostly at the rising of the constellations, and more especially when Sirius is shining; never, however, before the rising of the Vergiliae, 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 29 Cuvier says that the cell for the future queen is different from the others, and much larger. The bees also supply the queen larva much more abundantly with food, and of more delicate quality. a0 Cuvier says that this coincidence with the number of the legs is quite accidental, as it is with the mouth that the animal constructs the cell. 41 The basis of it is really derived from the calix or corolla of flowers. 12 FLINT'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XI. 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 sethereal 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.32 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 throAvn 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,33 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. Butwhatever the country in which it may happen to have been produced, there are three different kinds of honey.—Spring honey34 is that made in a comb which has been constructed of flowers, from which circumstance it has received the name of an- thinum. There are some persons who say that this should not be touched, because the more abundant the nutriment, the » See B. iv. c. 24. 33 In the last Chapter. 34 Qr « Flower-honey." Chap. 14.] VARIOUS KINDS OF HONEY. 13 stronger will be the coming SAvarm; 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 ;35 it is gene- rally 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 constel- lation, 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. 35 Season-honey. 14 PLINY's NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XL CHAP. 15. (15.)—HOW HONEY IS TESTED. ERIOEUM. TEIRA- LIX, 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 AVHich flows of itself, like must or oil, has received from'us the name of acetum.™ 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 ;37 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 Avhich 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 worthless- ness. The other proofs of its goodness are the fine aroma of its smell, its being of a sweetness that closely borders on the sour,38 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 com- mencing this gathering at the first ripening of the wild fig; others39 have made it the day that is sacred to Vulcan.40 (16.) The third kind of honey, which is the least esteemed of all, is the wild honey, known by the name of ericaum,}1 It is collected by the bees after the first showers of autumn, when the heather42 alone is blooming in the woods, from which circumstance it derives its sandy appearance. It is mostly pro- 36 " Vinegar " is the ordinary meaning. 37 Sillig remarks that the whole of this passage is corrupt. 38 Hence, perhaps, its name of " acetuni." 39 The people of Italy. 40 The 10th of the calends of September, or 23rd August. 41 Or " heath-honey." In the north of England the hives are purposely taken to the moors. 43 •'Erice," "heather." seems to be a preferable reading to "myrice," •' tamarisk," which is adopted by Sillig. Chap. 15.] BEES. 15 duced at the rising of Arcturus, beginning at the day43 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 Vergilias, a pe- riod of forty-eight days, that the heather is in the greatest abun- dance. The Athenians call this plant by the name of tetralix,u and the Euboeans 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 gather- ing terminates at the end of the vintage and the setting of the Vergilias, mostly about the ides of November.45 Expe- rience teaches us that Ave 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 nourish- ment. 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 Vergiliae, up to which period they are asleep. Some persons, when they take the honey, Aveigh 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 par- ticular 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 allying 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 deAV, will very 13 12th September. 44 " Tetralicem " seems preferable to " tamaricem." 45 13th November. 16 pliny's natural history. [Book XI. quickly receive injury from the taint thus contracted : hence it is that among the various kinds of honey which are pre- served, there is one which is known by the name of acapnon.* 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 witnessed47 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 male48 in the hive, and is endowed with such ex- traordinary proportions, that it may not become exhausted in the performance of its duties. Hence it is, that no off- spring can be produced without it, all the other bees being females,49 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 diffi- culty meets us—the circumstance that sometimes, at the ex- tremity of the combs, there are produced bees of a larger size, which put the others to flight. This noxious bee bears the name of oestrus,60 and how is it possible that it should ever be produced, if it is the fact that the bees themselves form their progeny ?51 A fact, however, that is well ascertained, is, that bees sit,52 like the domestic fowl, that which is hatched by them at 46 " Unsmoked " honey. 47 It takes place while they are on the wing. 48 The only prolific female, in reality. 49 Some unprolific females and some males, in reality. 50 Cuvier thinks that either hornets, or else the drones, must be alluded to. Virgil, Georg. B. iv. 1. 197, et seg., is one of those who think that bees are produced from flowers. 61 /. e. from flowers. 52 They arrange the eggs in the cells, but they cannot be said to sit. Chap. 16.] BEES. 17 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 Avere made of the choicest flowers, nor has he at any time the form of a grub, but from the very first is provided with Avings.53 The rest of the bees, as soon as they begin to assume a shape, have the name of nympha,^ while the drones are called sirenes, or cephenes. If a per- son 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 occa- sion 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 deve- loped in the space of forty-five days. In some combs, there is found what is known by the name of " nail" wax ;55 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 seve- ral kings; but afterwards, when this progeny begins to arrive at a mature age, with one accord56 they put to death the in- ferior ones, lest they should create discord in the swarm.57 There are two sorts of king bees ; those of a reddish colour are better than the black and mottled ones. The kings have 53 This is not the fact. The queen bee commences as a larva, and that the larva of a working bee, Cuvier says, which, placed in a larger cell, and nurtured in a different manner, developes its sex and becomes the queen of the new swarm. 54 They are then in the chrysalis state. M "Clavus." 56 It is the first hatched queen that puts the others to death. 57 In consequence, really, of their pregnancy. VOL. III. c 18 PLI>'1''S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XI. always a peculiar form of their own, and are double the size of any of the rest; their wings are shorter59 than those of the others, their legs are straight, their walk more upright, and they have a Avhite spot on the forehead, which bears some re- semblance 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 num- bers of which are always at hand, and yet, after all, it is not agreed among authors whether or not the king59 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 obedi- ence which his subjects manifest in his presence is quite sur- prising. 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 j 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 Avill 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 58 The greater size of the abdomen makes the wings look shorter. so The queen has a sting, like the working bees, but uses it less fre- quently. Chap. 18.] OMENS AFFORDED BY A SWARM OF BEES. 19 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 SAVARM 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 sweet- ness 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 j60 a proof, indeed, that the conjectures of soothsayers are not by any means in- fallible, 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, thejr cannot exist, and it is with the greatest reluct- ance 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 Avho 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,"61 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 60 A place in Germany, where Drusus, the brother of Tiberius, gained a victory over the Germans : the locality is unknown. 61 " Fur." A variety, probably, of the drone. c 2 20 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XI. fail the inhabitants of any particular hive, the swarm makes a concerted attack upon a neighbouring one, with the A'iew 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 op- ponents. 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 dust62 among them, or raising a smoke; and if milk or honey mixed with water is placed be- fore them, they speedily become reconciled. CHAP. 19. (18.)--THE VARIOUS KINDS OF BEES. There are field bees also, and wild bees, ungainly in appear- ance, 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,63 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 folloAV; and they assert, also, that after they have thus lost their sting they become drones,64 62 So Virgil says— ---------" Haec certamina tanta Pulveris exigui jactu compressa quiescent."—Georg. iv. 87. 63 If it is left in the wound, the insect dies, being torn asunder. 6i Of course this is fabulous, as the drones are males. Chap. 20.] THE DISEASES OF BEES. 21 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 degenerate65 nature; these wage continual warfare against them, as also does a species of gnat, which is known by the name of " mulio ;"66 swallows, too, and various other birds prey upon them. Frogs lie in Avait 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 injuri- ous 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,67 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 bring- ing 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 65 Though belonging to the same class, they are not of degenerate kinds. 68 The "mule-gnat." 67 See Virgil, Georg. B. iv. 1. 27. 00 PLINY* S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XI. 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 elaros,68 and if they fail to rear their young, they are suffering from the effects of that known as Mapsigonia.69 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 espe- cially 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,70 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 fatal71 to not only bees, but all other insects as well, and more especially if they are placed 68 The reading seems doubtful, and the meaning is probably unknown. 69 " Injury of the young." 70 There are two kinds of hive-moth—the Phalsena tinea mellanella of Linnaeus, and the Phalsena tortrix cereana. It deposits its larva in holes which it makes in the wax. 71 In consequence of closing the stigmata, and so impeding their respi- ration. The same result, no doubt, is produced by the honey when smeared over their bodies. Chap. 23.] METHODS OF RENEWING THE SWARM. 23 in the sun, after the head has been immersed in it. Some- times, too, they themselves are the cause of their own de- struction ; as, for instance, when they see preparations being made for taking their honey, and immediately fall to de- vouring 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 Aroracious, no less than those that are sluggish and idle. Their own honey e\'en may be productive of injury to them ; for if they are smeared Avith 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 haA'e I here enumerated !—to Avhich a crea- ture that proves so bountiful to us is exposed. In the appro- priate place72 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 pos- sessed of the sense of hearing. When their work is com- pleted, their offspring brought forth, and all their duties ful- filled, 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, Avhen the hour for taking their food has come, returning home. The extreme period of their life, supposing that they escape acci- dent and the attacks of their enemies, is only seven years; a hive, it is said, never lasts more than ten.73 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 belly74 of an ox newly killed, » B. xxi. c. 42. 73 Cuvier says that a hive has been known to last more than thirty years: but it is doubtful if bees ever live so long as ten, or, except the queen, little more than one. 74 Though Virgil tells the same story, in B. iv. of the Georgics, in rela- tion to the shepherd Aristueus, all this is entirely fabulous. 24 PLINY S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XL covered over with dung. Virgil also says75 that this may be done Avith the body of a young bull, in the same way that the car- case of the horse produces wasps and hornets, and that of the ass beetles, Nature herself effecting these changes of one sub- stance 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 APPRO- PRIATE AVHAT BELONGS TO OTHERS. Wasps build their nests of mud in lofty places,76 and make wax therein: hornets, on the other hand, build in holes or under ground. With these two kinds the cells are also hex- agonal, 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 un- shapely 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 par- ticularly. The wasp which is known as the ichneumon,77 a smaller kind than the others, kills one kind of spider in parti- cular, 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.78 In addi- tion 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 Avho say that thrice nine stings will suffice to kill a man. Of 7i Georg. B. iv. 1. 284, et seg. "6 Under roofs, and sometimes in the ground: hornets build in the hollows of trees. 77 Called " Sphsex " by Linnaeus. 7s The true version is, that after killing the insect they bury it with their eggs as food for their future young. Chap. 26.] THE SILK-WORM. 25 the other hornets, which seem not to be so noxious, there are two kinds; the Avorking 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.79 In spring they build their nests, which have generally four entrances, and here it is that the Avorking 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 doubt- ful 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 Avinter. Neither hornets nor wasps ha\-e 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 kind80 of insect is the bombyx,81 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 LARV.S 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 necy- dalus, and after that, in six months, it becomes a silk-worm.82 79 Cuvier says that it is the males, and not the females, that have no sting. 60 What modern naturalists call the " Hymenoptera." 81 Some kind of wasp, or, as Cuvier says, probably the mason bee. 82 Called "bombyx" also; though, as Cuvier remarks, of a kind al- together different from the preceding one. 26 pliny's natural history. [Book XL 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.' Pam- phile, a Avoman of Cos,83 the daughter of Platea, was the firstH1 person who discovered the art of unravelling these webs and spinning a tissue therefrom ; indeed, she ought not to be de- prived of the glory of having discovered the art of making vestments which, while they cover a woman, at the same mo- ment 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 Avith 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 enve- loped. 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 cocoons85 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 use86 of garments formed of this material, in consequence of 83 The first kinds of silk dresses worn by the Eoman ladies were from this island, and, as Pliny says, were known by the name of Cow vestes. These dresses were so fine as to be transparent, and were sometimes dyed purple, and enriched with stripes of gold. They probably had their name from the early reputation which Cos acquired by its manufactures of silk. *4 This account is derived from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 19. 85 "Lanificia." 66 Early in the reign of Tiberius, as we learn from Tacitus, the senate Chap. 28.] SPIDERS. 27 their extreme lightness in summer: for, so greatly have man- ners 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, how- ever, 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 run- ning 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-spider87 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 dis- plays in its operations. These spin a large web, and the ab- domen 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 secreting88 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 Avarp 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 enacted " ne vestis Serica viros faedaret" — " That men should not defile themselves by wearing garments of silk," Ann. B. ii. c. 33. 87 The Aranea lupus of Linnseus. 89 As Cuvier observes, he has here guessed at the truth. 28 pliny's NATURAL HISTORY. Book XI. its web and the tenacious texture of the woof, Avhich 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 Avould 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 great- est 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 archi- tectural skill, too, is its hole arched over, and how well de- fended 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 care- fully shut up from view, that it is impossible to perceive whe- ther there is anything within or not! And then too, how ex- traordinary 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 suc- cessfully 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 for- tune 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 ia Chap. 30.] SCORPIONS. 29 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 couple89 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 con- siderable 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 pro- duces maggots90 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 more91 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 dis- charge 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 89 They copulate in a manner dissimilar to that of any other insects— the male fecundates the female by the aid of feelers, which he introduces into the vulva of the female situate beneath the anterior part of the abdomen. 90 Cuvier remarks, that the scorpion is viviparous; but the young are white when born, and wrapped up in an oval mass, for which reason they may easily be taken for maggots or grubs. 9'1 This must be understood of the scorpion of Egypt, Libya, and Syria. The sting of that of the south of Europe is not generally dangerous. 30 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XI. 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 most92 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.93 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 Avhich 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. How- ever, they94 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 scorpion95 mixed with wine. It 92 Cuvier seems to regard this as fanciful: he says that the instances of seven joints are but rarely to be met with. 93 There are no winged scorpions. Cuvier thinks that he may possibly allude to the panorpis, or scorpion-fly, the abdomen of which terminates in a forceps, which resembles the tail of the scorpion. 94 Probably the panorpis. 95 See B. xxix. c. 29. Chnp. 32.] THE GRASSHOPPER. ol is the belief also that there is nothing more baneful to the scorpion and the stellio,90 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 stellio97 has in some measure the same nature as the chameleon, as it lives upon nothing but deAV, and such spiders68 as it may happen to find. CHAP. 32.--THE GRASSHOPPER : THAT IT HAS NEITHER MOUTH NOR OUTLET FOR FOOD. The cicada99 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 A-oice. The others are of the flying kind, and have a note; there are two sorts, those knoAvn as achetee, 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 na- tions in the east that feed upon these insects, the Parthians 96 The starred or spotted lizard. 97 The stellio of the Romans is the " ascalabos " or " ascalabotes " of the Greeks, the lizard into which Ascalabus was changed by Ceres: see Ovid, Met. B. v. 1. 450, et seg. Pliny also mentions this in B. xxix. c. 4, though he speaks of some difference in their appearance. It is a species of gecko, the tarentola of Italy, the tarente of Provence, and the geckotta, probably, of Lacepede. The gecko, Cuvier says, is not venomous"; but it causes small blisters to rise on the skin when it walks over it, the result, probably, of the extreme sharpness of its nails. 98 See c. 28 of this Book, and B. viii. c. 95; B. xxx. c. 27. 99 A genpral name for the grasshopper. Cuvier remarks, that Pliny is less clear on this subject than Aristotle, the author from whom he has borrowed. 32 pliny's natural history. [Book XI. even, wealthy and affluent as they are. They prefer the male before it has had sexual intercourse, and the female after; and they take1 their eggs, which are white. They en- gender with the belly upwards. Upon the back they have a sharp-edged instrument,2 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.3 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 breast4 of the animal, and is em- ployed by it in sucking up the dew. The corselet itself forms a kind of pipe; and it is by means of this that the achetae 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,"5 which is the largest, and the " frumentaria,"6 by many known as the " avenaria;"7 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 couri- 1 "Correptis" seems a preferable reading to "conrupti," that adopted by Sillig. 3 The female has this, and employs it for piercing dead branches in which to deposit its eggs. 3 The " mother of the grasshopper." 4 The trunk of the grasshopper, Cuvier says, is situate so low down, that it seems to be attached to the breast. With it the insect extracts the iuices of leaves and stalks. J » Or "twig-grasshopper." o 0r "corn-grasshopper." . 7 Or " oat-grasshopper. Chap. 34.] THE BEETLE. 33 tries, 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 Cephal- lenia, 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 be- yond the river, in the territory of Locri,8 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.9 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 pur- pose of defending themselves, the latter for the supplying of their wants. If pulled from off the body, the Avings of an insect will not grow again; no insect which has a sting in- serted 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 ;10 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 kind11 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 8 The river Caecina. See B. iii. c. 15. This river is by Strabo, B. vi. c. 260, called the Alex. iElian has the story that the Locrian grasshop- pers become silent in the territory of Rhegium, and those of Rhegium in the territory of Locri, thereby implying that they each have a note in its own respective country. 9 Cuvier says that the observations in this Chapter, derived from Aris- totle, are remarkable for their exactness, and show that that philosopher had studied insects with the greatest attention. 10 Or sheath ; the Coleoptera of the naturalists. 11 The flying stag-beetle, the Lucanus cervus of Linnaeus. VOL. III. D 34 pliny's natural history. [Book XI. bite. These beetles are suspended from the neck of infants by way of remedy against certain maladies : Nigidius calls them "lucani." There is another kind12 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 others13 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 sidesu and haunches, sends forth at night a light which resembles that of fire; being resplendent, at one moment, as it expands its wings,16 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 beetle18 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 " 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 " Can- tharolethus." 18 The wings of all insects are formed without19 any division in 12 The dung-beetle, the Scarabaeus pilularius of Linnaeus. 13 Various kinds of crickets. 14 Cuvier says that it is on the two sides of the abdomen that the male carries its light, while the whole posterior part of the female is shining. 15 In the glow-worm of France, the Lampyris noctiluca of Linnaeus, the female is without wings, while the male gives but little light. In that of Italy, the Lampyris Italica, both sexes are winged. 16 " Blattae." See B. xxix. c. 39, where three kinds are specified. 17 This beetle appears to be unknown. Cuvier suggests that the Scara- baeus nasicornis of Linnaeus, which haunts dead bark, or the Scarabsua auratus may be the insect referred to. 18 " Fatal to the beetle." 19 Cuvier remarks that this assertion, borrowed from Aristotle, is incor- rect. The wings of many of the Coleoptera are articulated in the middle, and so double, one part on the other, to enter the sheath. Chap. 35.] LOCUSTS. 35 them, and they none of them have a tail,20 with the exception of the scorpion ; this, too, is the only one among them that has arms,21 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 instead22 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 tongue23 is nothing more than a tube. These insects, too, have no teeth. Others, again, have little horns pro- truding 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.24 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 legs25 and wings. Hence it is that a Avet spring destroys their eggs, while, if it is dry, they mul- tiply in great abundance. Some persons maintain that they breed twice a year, and die the 6ame number of times; that they bring forth at the rising26 of the Vergilise, and die at the rising of the Dog-star,27 after which others spring up in 50 Cuvier remarks, that the panorpis has a tail very like that of the scor- pion ; and that the ephemera, the ichneumons and others, have tails also. Aristotle, in the corresponding place, only says that the insects do not use the tail to direct their flight. 21 These are merely the feelers of the jaws. 22 Not instead of, but in addition to, the tongue, by the aid of which they suck. 23 Evidently meaning the trunk. 2* See B. xxix. c. 39. 25 It is not true that the young locusts are destitute of feet. 2« 7th May. « 18th July. 36 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XI, their places: according to some, it is at the settingM 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.29 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 three30 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 sup- posed, because their wings have been drenched by the damp. ness 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 won- dered at, as they have to endure hunger all the time as well, foi this it is which causes them to be thus seeking pastures in other lands. This is looked upon as a plague31 inflicted by the angei 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 im- mense 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. 25 llth May. 29 Cuvier treats this story as purely imaginary. 30 Cuvier says that some have been known nearly a foot lon°-, but not more. 31 He alludes to the ravages committed by the swarms of the migratory locust, Grillus migratorius of Linnaeus. Chap. 36.] ANTS. 37 Those from Africa are the ones which chiefly devastate Italy ; and more than once the Eoman 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 Cyrenaica32 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 kill- ing 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,33 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 pro- duce 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,34 and they sa Julius Obsequens speaks of a pestilence there, created by the dead bodies of the locusts, which caused the death of 8000 persons. 33 See also B. vi. c. 35. . ,.„,., 3* "What are commonly called ants' eggs, are in reality their larva; and nymphee. Enveloped in a sort of tunic, these last, Cuvier says, are like grains of corn, and from this probably has arisen the story that they lay 38 pliny's natural history. [Book XI. AA-ork in common, like bees; but whereas the last make theirfood, the former only store35 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 shoul- ders. 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.36 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.37 What vast throngs are then to be seen hurrying together, what anxious enquiries appear to be made, and what earnest parleys38 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 up grains against the winter, a period through which in reality they do not eat. ss They stow away bits of meat and detached portions of fruit, to nourish their larvae with their juices. 36 It is in reality their larvae that they thus bring out to dry. The working ants, or neutrals, are the ones on which these labours devolve: the males and females are winged, the working ants are without wings. 37 " Ad recognitionem mutuam." 38 Some modern writers express an opinion that when they meet, they converse and encourage one another by the medium of touch and smell. Chap. 37.] THE CHRYSALIS. 39 of Hercules, at Erythree,39 haye 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 Dardae. It has the colour of a cat, and is in size as large as an Egyptian wolf.40 This gold, which it ex- tracts 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 pro- vided 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 man- ner ; and some more especially from dew. This dew settles upon the radish" leaf in the early days of spring; but when it has been thickened by the action of the sun, it becomes re- duced to the size of a grain of millet. Erom this a small grub afterwards arises, which, at the end of three days, becomes transformed into a caterpillar. Eor 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. 39 See B. v. c. 31. 40 M. de Veltheim thinks that by this is really meant the Canis corsac, the small fox of India, but that by some mistake it was represented by travellers as an ant. It is not improbable, Cuvier says, that some quadru- ped, in making holes in the ground, may have occasionally thrown up some grains of the precious metal. The story is derived from the narratives of Clearchus and Megasthenes. Another interpretation of this story has also been suggested. We find from some remarks of Mr. Wilson, in the Transactions of the Asiatic Society, on the Mahabharata, a Sanscrit poem, that various tribes on the mountains Meru and Mandara (supposed to lie between Hindostan and Tibet) used to sell grains of gold, which they calledpaippilaka, or "ant-gold," which, they said, was thrown up by ants, in Sanscrit called pippilaka. In travelling westward, this story, in itself, no doubt, untrue, may very probably have been magnified to its present dimensions. 11 Cuvier observes, that this is a very correct account of the cabbage or radish butterfly, the Papilio brassicae or Papilio raphani of Linnaeus. 40 pliny's natural history. [Book XI, 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-worms42 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-worms43 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 pro- duced, and in the hair, too, of living men. It was through such vermin as this that the Dictator Sylla,44 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 water45 which we use for bathing are more pro- ductive 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 '' petauristae,"46 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,47 also, that is generated in the summer, 42 Cossi. See B. xvii. c. 37. 43 Tamiee. 44 He alludes to the Morbus pediculosus. 45 Aristotle says, in the corresponding passage, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 26, that the animals which are affected by lice, are more particularly exposed to them when they change the water in which they wash 46 Or "leapers." 47 He alludes to dog-ticks and ox-ticks, the Acarus ricinus of Linnseus, and the Acarus reduvius of Schrank. Chap. 41.] MOTHS, ETC. 41 which has its head always buried deep in the skin [of a beast], and so, riving on its blood, swells to a large size. This is the only living creature tfiat has no outlet48 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 sub- ject 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 insect49 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 worms50 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 mois- ture, 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,61 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,52 when fully developed. These insects, which are venomous, carry with them their antidote; for their wings are useful in 48 In c. 32 he has said the same of the grasshopper, in relation to it3 drink. 49 A variety of the Cynips of Linnaeus, which in vast numbers will sometimes adhere to the ears of dogs. 50 These are really the larvae of night-moths. His account here is purely imaginary. 51 He speaks of the Cynips psenes of Linnaeus, which breeds on the blossom of the fig-tree, and aids in its fecundation. See B. xv. c. 21. 62 He alludes to various coleopterous insects, which are not included among the Cantharides of the modern naturalists. They are first an egg, then a larva, then a nympha, and then the insect fully developed. 42 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XI. medicine,53 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 srAw that has lain long on the ground, while those that lie above are of a reddish64 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, pro- duces 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 " py- rausta." 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 par- ticles, like a grape-stone in appearance ; from which there issues an animal55 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."56 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 transforma- tions take place in periods of three or four days. The other insects of this kind that are winged, generally die in the m See B. xxix. c. 30. 64 The redness sometimes observed on the snow of the Alps and the Pyrenees, is supposed by De Lamarck to be produced by animalculae: other naturalists, however, suppose it to arise from vegetable or mineral causes. 55 Cuvier thinks that he alludes to a variety of the ephemera or thephry- ganea of Linnaeus, the case-wing flies, many of which are particularly short-lived. These are by no means peculiar to the river Bo? or Hvpanis. * " Living for a day." & Jr Chap. 44.] ANIMALS WHICH HAVE TUFTS AND CRESTS. 43 autumn, the gad-fly becoming quite blind57 even before it dies. Elies which have been drowned in water, if they are covered with ashes,58 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 ac- count 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 phoenix59 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 stymphalis60 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,"61 a name which it has transferred to one of our legions.62 We have already made mention, also, of one bird83 to which Nature has given a crest, which it can fold or unfold at pleasure: the birds of the coot kind64 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. 67 They only appear to be so, from the peculiar streaks on the eyes. Linnaeus has hence called one variety, the Tabanus caecutiens. 58 Or with pounded chalk or whitening, ^lian adds, "if they are placed in the sun," which appears necessary for the full success of the experiment. Life appears to be suspended in such cases for a period of surprising length. 89 Probably the golden pheasant, as already mentioned. 60 Some kind of neron or crane, Cuvier thinks. 61 The Alauda cristata of Linnffius, so called from " galera," a pointed cap like a helmet. <« The fifth legion. 63 The hoopoe, B. x. c. 44. 61 Savigny and Cuvier take this to be the Ardea Virgo of Linnaeus, a native of Xumidia. 44 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XI, CHAP. 45.—-THE VARIOUS KINDS OF HORNS. ANIMALS IN WHICH THET 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 Actseon and of Cippus even, in Latin story, as nothing more nor less than fables.65 And, indeed, in no department of her works has Nature displayed a greater capriciousness. In providing ani- mals with these weapons, she has made merry at their ex- pense ; 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 resem- blance of its horns to a " subula,"66 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."*7 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 caestus 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 deer68 they bend forward. The strepsiceros,69 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.69* In the oxen of Phrygia, the horns are moveable,70 65 The suddenness of their appearance, no doubt, was fabulous; but we have well-authenticated cases in recent times of substances growing on the human head, to all appearance resembling horns, and arising from a dis- ordered secretion of the hair. Witness the case of Mary Davies, a so- called horn from whose head is preserved in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. The story of Genucius Cippus, the Roman praetor, is told to Ovid, Met. B. xv. 1. 565, et seg. * ' ' 66 A spitter, or second year stag, according to Cuvier. 67 " Broad-horned." The Cervus dama of Linnaeus. 53 " Dama." The Antelope redunca of Linnaeus, Cuvier thinks. 99 No doubt a kind of antelope. M* " Lyras" seems preferable to "liras." i° There are several varieties of oxen, in which the horns adhere to the skin, and not to the cranium. Chap. 45.] VARIOUS KINDS OF HORNS. 45 like the ears; and among the cattle of the Troglodytae, 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.71 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 vari- ous 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 ce- rastes ;72 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,73 a pair of which will hold a couple of urnae :74 other tribes, again, point their spears with them. With us they are cut into laminae, 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 axe known as " cestrota,"75 or horn-pictures. The horns of all animals are hollow within, it being only at the tip that they are solid : the only excep- tion 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 boil- ing wax, and if they are split down when they are first shoot- ing, they may be twisted different ways, and so appear to be 71 B. viii.cc.29—31. 12 The Coluber cerastes of Linnaeus. See B. viii. c. 35. 73 The drinking-horns of our Saxon ancestors are well known to the antiquarian. 74 The " urna" was half an "amphora," or nearly three gallons. ?s See B. xxxv. c. 41. 46 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XI. four in number upon one head. In females the horns are gene- rally 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,76 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 other77 animals it adheres to the bone. CHAP. 46.—THE HEADS OF ANIMALS. THOSE WHICH HAVE NOSE. 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,"78 as also those of Gallia, " Comata."79 There is, however, a great difference in this respect according to the various countries. In the island of Myconus,60 the people are born without hair, just as at Caunus the inhabitants are afflicted with the spleen 76 The rhinoceros. See B. viii. c. 39. 77 He surely must except the Phrygian oxen with the moveable horns, which he has previously mentioned. 78 Or "long-haired." See B. iii. c. 7. 7» See B. iv. c. 31. so See B iv> c 22_ Chap. 49.] THE BRAIN. 47 from their birth.81 There are some animals, also, that are natu- rally bald, such as the ostrich, for instance, and the aquatic raven, which last has thence derived its Greek"2 name. It is but rarely that the hair falls off in women, and in eunuchs 6uch is never known to be the case ; nor yet does any person lose it before having known sexual intercourse.83 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 su- tures indented like a comb. When broken asunder they can- not be united, but the extraction of a small portion is not ne- cessarily fatal, as a fleshy cicatrix forms, and so makes good the loss. We have already mentioned, in their respective84 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 poly- pus, 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 enve- loped 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 61 See B. v. c. 29. M *a\a/cpo*:opa?. See B. X. C. 68. 93 He borrows this from Aristotle. 84 B. viii. c. 54, and B. x. c. 58. The skull of the bear is not thinner or weaker than that of other animals of its own size ; but the skull of the parrot, in proportion to those of other birds, is remarkably hard. 48 FLINT'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XL 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 ani- mal in which it is known to palpitate85 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 ele- vated 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 stags86 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 E1ES 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 85 See B. vii. c. 1. BS Cuvier says that these are the larvae of the oestrus, which are deposited on the lips of quadrupeds, and so make their way to various cavities. Chap. 52.] THE EYES. 49 which we have mentioned87 as cartilaginous, and the viper. These animals have only cavities instead of ears, with the ex- ception 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 droop- ing 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 fore- head 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 pre- cious portion of the human body, and which, by the enjoyment 87 B. ix. c. 40. VOL. III. IB 50 pliny's NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XI. 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 solen88 will start away from an iron instrument when placed near it. Among quadrupeds the mole89 has no sight, though it has something that bears a re- semblance to eyes, if we remove the membrane that is ex- tended in front of them. Among birds also, it is said that a species of heron, which is known as the "leucus,"90 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 grass- hoppers have eyes. In snails,91 the two small horns with which they feel their way, perform the duties of eyes. Neither the mawworm92 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, re- markably 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 88 Or razor-sheath. See B. x. c. 88. 89 Aristotle was of this opinion, but Galen maintained that the mole mm see. Its eye is extremely small, and hard on the surface. 90 Or " white" heron. As Cuvier remarks, this is probably a mere augur's fable. 91 It is almost needless to remark, that both snails, as well as locusts and grasshoppers, have eyes. 9* Lumbricus. Chap. 54.] THE THEORY OF SIGHT. 51 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 spoken93 at sufficient length. Blue94 eyes are the best for seeing in the dark. It is said that Tiberius Caesar, like no other human being, was so endowed by Nature, that on awaking in the night95 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 Caesar had at the corners of the eyes a white fleshy substance, covered with veins, which would occasionally become suffused with blood; with the Emperor Caius96 they had a fixed, steady gaze, while Nero could see nothing distinctly without wink- ing, 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 per- sons we generally look upon as the most timid. No persons have the eye all of one colour; that of the middle of the eye is always different from the white which surrounds it. In all animals there is no part*in the whole body that is a stronger exponent of the feelings, and in man more especially, for it is from the expression of the eye that we detect clemency, moderation, compassion, hatred, love, sadness, and joy. From the eyes, too, the various characters of persons are judged of, according as they are ferocious, me- 93 B. vii. c. 2. 94 " Caesii." 95 The same has been said also of Cardan, the elder Scaliger, Theodore Beza, the French physician Muiran, and the republican Camille Desmoulins. 96 Caligula. E 2 52 plint's natural history. [Book XI. nacing, sparkling, sedate, leering, askance, downcast, or Ian- guishing. Beyond a doubt it is in the eyes that the mind has its abode: sometimes the look is ardent, sometimes fixed and steady, at other times the eyes are humid, and at others, again, half closed. From these it is that the tears of pity flow, and when we kiss them we seem to be touching the very soul. It is the eyes that weep, and from them proceed those streams that moisten our cheeks as they trickle down. And what is this liquid that is always so ready and in such abundance in our moments of grief, and where is it kept in reserve at other times ? It is by the aid of the mind that we see, by the aid of the mind that we enjoy perception; while the eyes, like so many vessels, as it were, receive its visual faculties and trans- mit them. Hence it is that profound thought renders a man blind for the time, the powers of sight being withdrawn from external objects and thrown inward: so, too, in epilepsy, the mind is covered with darkness, while the eyes, though open, are able to see nothing. In addition to this, it is the fact that hares, as well as many human beings, can sleep with the eyes open, a thing which the Greeks express by the term ■/.opvfiavnav. Nature has composed the eye of numerous mem- branes of remarkable thinness, covering them with a thick coat to ensure their protection against heat and cold. This coat she purifies from time to time by the lachrymal humours, and she has made the surface lubricous and slippery, to protect the eye against the effects of a sudden shock. CHAP. 55.--THE NATURE OF THE PUPIL--EYES WHICH DO NO! SHUT. In the midst of the cornea of the eye Nature has formed a window in the pupil, the small dimensions of which do not permit the sight to wander at hazard and with uncertainty, but direct it as straight as though it were through a tube, and at the same time ensure its avoidance of all shocks com- municated by foreign bodies. The pupils are surrounded by a black circle in some persons, while it is of a yellowish cast with others, and azure again with others. By this happy combina- tion the light is received by the eye upon the white that lies around the pupil, and its reflection being thus tempered, it fails to impede or confuse the sight by its harshness. So complete a mirror, too, does the eye form, that the pupil, Chap. 55.] THE NATURE OF THE PUPIL. 53 small as it is, is able to reflect the entire image of a man. This97 is the reason why most birds, when held in the hand of a person, will more particularly peck at his eyes; for seeing their own likeness reflected in the pupils, they are attracted to it by what seem to be the objects of their natural affection. It is only some few beasts of burden that are subject to maladies of the eyes towards the increase of the moon: but it is man alone that is rescued from blindness by the discharge of the humours98 that have caused it. Many persons have had their sight restored after being blind for twenty years; while others, again, have been denied this blessing from their very birth, without there being any blemish in the eyes. Many persons, again, have suddenly lost their sight from no apparent cause, and without any preceding'injury. The most learned authors say that there are veins which communicate from the eye to the brain, but I am inclined to think that the communi- cation is with the stomach; for it is quite certain that a person never loses the eye without feeling sickness at the stomach. It is an important and sacred duty, of high sanction among the Romans, to close99 the eyes of the dead, and then again to open them when the body is laid on the funeral pile, the usage having taken its rise in the notion of its being improper • that the eyes of the dead should be beheld by man, while it is an equally great offence to hide them from the view of heaven. Man is the only living creature the eyes of which are subject to deformities, from which, in fact, arose the family names of " Strabo"1 and "Paetus."2 The ancients used to call a man who was born with only one eye, "codes," and "ocella,"a person whose eyes were remarkably small. " Luscinus" was the surname given to one who happened to have lost one eye by an accident. The eyes of animals that see at night in the dark, eats, for instance, are shining and radiant, so much so, that it is impos- sible to look upon them; those of the she-goat, too, and the wolf are resplendent, and emit a light like fire. The eyes of the sea-calf and the hyaena change successively to a thousand 97 Hardouin with justice doubts the soundness of this alleged reason. 98 He alludes, probably, to some method of curing cataract; perhaps somewhat similar to that mentioned by him in B. xx. c. 20. 99 This was done by the nearest relatives. This usage still prevails in this country, the eyelids being pressed down with pieces of gold or silver. 1 Or "squint-eyed." 8 Or "cock-eyed." 5-1 pliny's natural history. [Book XI. colours; and the eyes, when dried, of most of the fishes will give out light in the dark, just in the same way as the trunk of the oak when it has become rotten with extreme old age. We have already mentioned3 the fact, that animals which turn, not the eyes but the head, for the purpose of looking round, are never known to wink. It is said,4 too, that the chame- leon is able to roll the eye-balls completely round. Crabs look sideways, and have the eyes enclosed beneath a thin crust. Those of craw-fish and shrimps are very hard and prominent, and lie in a great measure beneath a defence of a similar nature. Those animals, however, the eyes of which are hard, have worse sight than those of which the eyes are formed of a humid substance. It is said that if the eyes are taken away from the young of serpents and of the swallow,5 they will grow again. In all insects and in animals covered with a shell, the eyes move just in the same way as the ears of quadrupeds do; those among them which have a brittle6 covering have the eyes hard. All animals of this nature, as well as fishes and insects, are destitute of eye-lids, and their eyes have no cover- ing ; but in all there is a membrane that is transparent like glass, spread over them. chap. 56.—the hair of the eye-lids ; what animals abb without them. animals which can see on one side only. Man has lashes on the eye-lids on either side; and women even make it their daily care to stain them ;7 so ardent are they in the pursuit of beauty, that they must even colour their very eyes. It was with another view, however, that Nature had provided the hair of the eyelids—they were to have acted, so to say, as a kind of rampart for the protection of the sight, and as an advanced bulwark against the approach of insects or other objects which might accidentally come in their way. It is not without some reason that it is said that the eye- lashes8 fall off with those persons who are too much given to venereal pleasures. Of the other animals, the only ones that have eyelashes are those that have hair on the rest of the body as well; but the quadrupeds have them on the upper 3 B. viii. c. 45. i B. viii. c. 51. 5 See B. xxv. c. 50. 6 Or crustaceous covering. 7 Kohl is still used in the east for the same purpose. 8 Aristotle says so, Hist. Anim. B. iii. c. 10. Chap. 59.] THE NOSTRILS. 55 eyelid only, and the birds on the lower one: the same is the case also with those which have a soft skin, such as the serpent, and those among the quadrupeds that are oviparous, the lizard, for instance. The ostrich is the only one among the birds that, like man, has eyelashes on either side. CHAT. 57.--ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NO EYELIDS. All birds, however, have not eyelids: hence it is, that those which are viviparous have no nictation of the eye. The heavier kinds of birds shut the eye by means of the lower eyelid, and they wink by drawing forward a mem- brane which lies in the corner of the eye. Pigeons, and other birds of a similar nature, shut the two eyelids ; but the quad- rupeds which are oviparous, such, for instance, as the tortoise and the crocodile, have only the lower eyelid moveable, and never wink, in consequence of the hardness of the eye. The edge of the upper eyelid was by the ancients called " cilium," from which comes our word " supercilia.9" If the eyelid happens to be severed by a wound it will not reunite,10 which is the case also with some few other parts of the human body. CHAP. 58.—THE CHEEKS. Below the eyes are the cheeks, a feature which is found in man only. From the ancients they received the name of " genac," and by the laws of the Twelve Tables, women were forbidden to tear them.11 The cheeks are the seat of bashfulness; it is on them more particularly that blushes are to be seen. CHAP. 59.--THE NOSTRILS. Within the cheeks is the mouth, which gives such strong indications of the feelings of joyousness and laughter; and above it, but in man only, is the nose, whieh modern notions have stamped as the exponent of sarcasm and ridicule.12 In no other animal but man, is the nose thus prominent; birds, serpents, and fishes, have no nostrils, but apertures only for the purpose of smell. It is from the peculiarity of the nose 9 " The eyebrows." »° This is not the fact. 11 With their nails when mourning for the dead. 12 Hence the word "nasutus," a sneering, captious, or sarcastic man. 56 pliny's natural history. [Book XI. that are derived the surnames of " Simus" 13 and "Silo." Children born in the seventh month often have the ears and the nostrils imperforate. CHAP, 60.—THE MOUTH ; THE LIPS ; THE CHIN ; AND THJ JAW-BONE. It is from the " labia," or lips, that the Brocchi14 have re- ceived the surname of Labeo. All animals that are viviparous have a mouth that is either well-formed, or harshly defined, as the case may be. Instead of lips and mouth, the birds have a beak that is horny and sharp at the end. With birds that live by rapine, the beak is hooked inwards, but with those which gather and peck only, it is straight: those animals, again, which root up grass or puddle in the mud, have the muzzle broad, like swine. The beasts of burden employ the mouth in place of hands in gathering their food, while those which live by rapine and slaughter have it wider than the rest. No animal, with the exception of man, has either chin or cheek-bones. The crocodile is the only animal that has the upper jaw-bone15 moveable; among the land quadrupeds it is the same as with other animals, except that they can move it obliquely. CHAP. 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. Teeth are arranged in three different ways, serrated, in one continuous row, or else protruding from the mouth. When serrated they unite together, just like those of a comb, in order that they may not be worn by rubbing against one another, as in serpents, fishes, and dogs,16 for instance. In some creatures they are set in one continuous row, man and the horse, for instance; while in the wild boar, the elephant, and the hippopotamus, they protrude from the mouth.17 Among those set in one continuous row, the teeth which divide the food are broad and sharp, while those which grind it are double; the teeth which lie between the incisive and the molar teeth, are those known as the canine or dog-teeth; these 13 " Flat-nosed," and " snub-nosed." « A Eoman family—the reading of this word seems doubtful. 15 In reality, the under one only. 16 He is incorrect in speaking of dogs as having serrated teeth 17 In the dugong also, babiroussa, muntjac, and others. Chap. 62.] THE TEETH OF SERPENTS. 57 are by far the largest in those animals which have serrated teeth. Those animals which have continuous rows of teeth, have them either situate on both sides of the mouth, as in the horse, or else have no fore-teeth in the upper part of the mouth, as is the case with oxen, sheep, and all the animals that ruminate. The she-goat has no upper teeth, except the two front ones. No animals which have serrated teeth, have them protruding18 from the mouth ; among these, too, the fe- males rarely have them; and to those that do have them, they are of no19 use: hence it is, that while the boar strikes, the sow bites. No animal with horns has projecting teeth ; and all such teeth are hollow, while in other animals the teeth are solid. All20 fish have the teeth serrated, with the exception of the scarus,21 this being the only one among the aquatic animals that has them level22 at the edges. In addition to this, there are many fishes that have teeth upon the tongue and over the whole of the mouth, in order that, by the multi- tude of the bites which they inflict, they may soften those articles of food which they could not possibly manage by tearing. Many animals, also, have teeth in the palate, and even in the tail;23 in addition to which, some have them in- clining to the interior of the mouth, that the food may not fall out, the animal itself having no other means of retaining it there. CHAP. 62.--THE TEETH OF SERPENTS ; THEIR POISON. A BIRD WHICH HAS TEETH. The asp also, and other serpents, have similar teeth ; but in the upper jaw, on the right and left, they have two of extreme length, which are perforated with a small tube in the interior, 18 The morse and the dugong are instances to the contrary. 19 The females of the elephant, morses dugong, chevrotin, and muntjac have them, and they are equally as useful as with the male, only, perhaps, not so strong. 20 This is incorrect, unless he merely means ranged in one continuous line; and even then he is in error. 21 See B. ix. c. 29. This is called the parrot-fish, from the resemblance of its upper and lower jaws to the beak of a parrot. 22 They present this appearance from being worn away at the surface. 23 Rondelet would read " gula," the throat. This, though repudiated by Hardouin, is approved of by Cuvier, who justly looks upon the ordinary reading as an absurdity. Many fish, he says, and more especially the osseous ones, have teeth in the pharynx. 58 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XI, just like the sting of the scorpion, and it is through tliese that they eject their venom. The writers who have made the most diligent enquiries on the subject, inform us that this venom is nothing but the gall of the serpent, and that it is conveyed to the mouth by certain veins which run beneath the spine; indeed, there are some who state that there is only one poison- fang, and that being barbed at the end, it is bent backwards when the animal has inflicted a bite. Other writers, however, affirm that on such an occasion the fang falls out, as it is very easily displaced, but that it soon grows24 again; this tooth, they say, is thus wanting in the serpents which we see handled about by persons.25 It is also stated that this fang exists in the tail of the scorpion, and that most of these animals have no less than three. The teeth of the viper are concealed in the gums : the animal, being provided with a similar venom, exercises the pressure of its fangs for the purpose of instilling the poison in its bite. No winged creatures have teeth, with the sole exception of the bat. The camel is the only one among the animals with- out horns, that has no fore-teeth26 in the upper jaw. None of the horned animals have serrated27 teeth. Snails, too, have teeth; a proof of which are the vetches which we find gnawed away by snails of the very smallest size. To assert that among marine animals, those that have shells, and those that are cartilaginous have fore-teeth, and that the sea-urchin has five teeth, I am very much surprised how such a notion could hare possibly28 arisen. With insects the sting supplies the place of teeth; the ape has teeth just like those in man.29 The elephant 24 There is always one fang, at least, ready to supply the place of the one in front, if lost by any accident. *5 Like the jugglers of the East at the present day. But it is very doubtful whether the poison fang is in all instances previously extracted from the serpents which they handle. 26 But the camel, as well as the lama, has an incisive bone, provided with an incisive tooth on each side, and has canine and molar teeth as well. 37 If by this term he means teeth separated from each other, the asser- tion is incorrect, as in these animals we find the molars separated from the lower incisives by a very considerable space. 28 Cuvier says, as far as the sea-urchin is concerned, very simply, and merely by looking at it, as its five teeth are very apparent. 29 The incisors are in number, and very nearly in appearance, like those of man. The canines are different in shape, though similar in number. What he says about the elephant, is peculiar to that of India. Chap. 63.] THE TEETH. 59 has in the interior of the mouth fourteen teeth, adapted for chewing, in addition to those which protrude; in the male these are curved inwards, but in the female they are straight, and project outwards. The sea-mouse,30 a fish which goes be- fore the balaena, has no teeth at all, but in place of them, the interior of the mouth is lined with bristles, as well as the tongue and palate. Among the smaller land quadrupeds, the two fore-teeth in each jaw are the longest. CHAP. 63.--WONDERFUL CIRCUMSTANCES CONNECTED WITH THE TEETH. The other animals are born with31 teeth, whereas man has them only at the seventh32 month after his birth. While other33 animals keep their teeth to the time of their death, man, the lion, the beasts of burden, the dog, and the rumi- nating animals, all change them; the lion and the dog, how- ever, change none34 but the canine teeth. The canine tooth of the wolf, on the right side, is held in high esteem as an amulet.35 There is no animal that changes the maxillary teeth, which stand beyond the canine teeth. With man, the last teeth, which are known as the " genuini," or cheek teeth,36 come about the twentieth year, and with many men, and females as well, so late even as the eightieth ; but this only in the case of those who have not had them in their youth. It is a well-known fact, that the teeth are sometimes shed in old age, and replaced by others. Mucianus has stated that he, himself, saw one Zocles, a native of Samothrace, who had a new set of teeth when he was past his one hundred and fourth year. In addition to these facts, in man males have more teeth than females,37 which is the case also in sheep, goats, and swine. 30 See B. ix. c. 88. 31 Very few other animals are born with teeth, in their natural state. Apes, dogs, and cats are not born with teeth. 32 From the fourth to the eighth month in reality, during which the four central incisors appear. 35 The only ones that do not change are those which have three molars on each side of the jaw. 34 This is erroneous: they change the incisors and molars as well. 35 See B. xxviii. c. 78. 36 By us known as the "wisdom" teeth. 37 This is not the fact: they have usually the same number, but there are exceptions on both sides. The same is also the case with sheep, goats, and swine. 60 pliny's natural history. [Book Xi Timarchus, the son of Nicocles the Paphian, had a double" row of teeth in his jaws : the same person had a brother also who never changed his front teeth, and, consequently, wore them to the very stumps. There is an instance, also, of a man having a tooth growing in the palate.39 The canine teeth," when lost by any accident, are never known to come again. While in all other animals the teeth grow of a tawny colour with old age, with the horse, and him only, they become whiter the older he grows. CHAP. 64.--HOW AN ESTIMATE IS FORMED OF THE AGE OF ANIMALS FROM THEIR TEETH. The age, in beasts of burden,41 is indicated by the teeth. In the horse they are forty in number. At thirty months it loses the two fore-teeth in either jaw, and in the following year the same number next to them, at the time that the eye-teeth" come. At the beginning of the fifth year the animal loses two teeth, which grow again in the sixth, and in the seventh it has all its teeth, those which have replaced the others, and those which have never been changed. If a horse is gelded43 before it changes its teeth, it never sheds them. In a similar manner, also, the ass loses four of its teeth in the thirtieth month, and the others from six months to six months. If a she-ass hap- pens not to have foaled before the last of these teeth are shed, it is sure to be barren.44 Oxen change their teeth at two years old: with swine they are never changed.46 When these several indications of age have been lost in horses and other beasts of burden, the age is ascertained by the projecting of the teeth, the greyness of the hair in the eyebrows, and the hollow pits that form around them ; at this period the animal is supposed to be about sixteen46 years old. In the human 38 This is not very uncommon. 39 Not at all an uncommon occurrence. 40 Of the second set. 41 It is only in the horse and the ass that these indications can be re- lied upon. 42 Columellares. 43 This has no such effect. 44 The contrary is the case: it will be more prolific. 45 Swine change them just the same as other animals. 46 By certain appearances in the incisors, the age of a horse up to its twenty-fourth year, or even beyond, may be judged of: the other signs cannot be so positively relied upon. Chap. 65.] THE TONGUE. 61 teeth there is a certain venom; for if they are placed uncovered before a mirror, they will tarnish its brightness, and they will kill young pigeons while yet unfledged. The other parti- culars relative to the teeth have been already47 mentioned under the head of the generation of man. When teething first commences, the bodies of infants are subject to certain maladies. Those animals which have serrated teeth inflict the most dangerous bites.48 CHAP. 65.--THE TONGUE ; ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NO TONGUE. THE NOISE MADE BY FROGS. THE PALATE. The tongue is not similarly formed in all animals. Ser- pents have a very thin tongue, and three-forked,49 which they vibrate to and fro: it is of a black colour, and when drawn from out of the mouth, of extraordinary length. The tongue of the lizard is two-forked, and covered with hair.50 That of the sea-calf also is twofold,61 but with the serpents it is of the thinness of a hair; the other animals employ it to lick the parts around the mouth. Fishes have nearly the whole of the tongue adhering to the palate, while in the crocodile the whole of it does adhere thereto : but in the aquatic animals the palate, which is fleshy, performs the duty of the tongue as the organ of taste. In lions, pards, and all the animals of that class, and in cats as well, the tongue is covered with asperities,52 which overlap each other, and bear a strong resemblance to a rasp. Sueh being its formation, if the animal licks a man's skin, it will wear it away by making it thinner and thinner; for which reason it is that the saliva of even a perfectly tame animal, being thus introduced to the close vicinity of the blood, is apt to bring on madness. Of the tongue of the purple we have made mention63 already. With the frog the end of the tongue adheres to the mouth, while the inner part is disjoined from the sides of the gullet; and it is by this means that the males give utterance to their croaking, at the season at which 47 B. viii. c. 15. 48 " Saevissima dentibus," seems to be a preferable reading to " ssevissime dentiunt." 49 Only two-forked in reality. 60 It is not covered with hair. 51 It is not bifurcate. 63 These are horny, conical papilla?, the summits of which point back- wards. 53 See B. ix. c. 60. 62 pliny's natural history. [Book XI. they are known as ololygones.54 This happens at stated periods of the year, at which the males invite the females for the purposes of propagation: letting down the lower lip to the surface of the water, they receive a small portion of it in the mouth, and then, by quavering with the tongue, make a gur- gling noise, from which the croaking is produced which we hear. In making this noise, the folds of the mouth, becoming distended, are quite transparent, and the eyes start from the head and burn again with the effort. Those insects which have a sting in the lower part of the body, have teeth, and a tongue as well; with bees it is of considerable length, and in the grasshopper it is very prominent. Those insects which have a fistulous sting in the mouth, have neither tongue nor teeth; while others, again, have a tongue in the interior of the mouth, the ant, for instance. In the elephant the tongue is remark- ably broad; and while with all other animals, each according to «its kind, it is always perfectly at liberty, with man, and him alone, it is often found so strongly tied down by certain veins, that it becomes necessary to cut them. We find it stated that the pontiff Metellus had a tongue so ill adapted for articulation, that he is generally supposed to have voluntarily submitted to torture for many months, while preparing to pronounce the speech which he was about to make on the de- dication of the temple of Opifera.55 In most persons the tongue is able to articulate with distinctness at about the seventh year; and many know how to employ it with such re- markable skill, as to be able to imitate the voices of various birds and other animals with the greatest exactness. The other animals have the sense of taste centred in the fore-part of the tongue ; but in man it is situate in the palate as well. CHAP. 66.--THE TONSILS ; THE UVA ; THE EPIGLOSSIS ; THE ARTERY ; THE GULLET. In man there are tonsils at the root of the tongue ; these in , swine are called the glandules. The uvula,56 which is suspended between them at the extremity of the palate, is found only in man. Beneath this lies a smaller tongue, known by the 54 "Criers." 65 One of the titles of the goddess Fortuna. »6 u Tjva)» or « grape." Chap. 67.] THE NECK. 63 name of " epiglossis,"57 but it is wanting in animals that are oviparous. Placed as it is between two passages, the functions of the epiglottis are of a twofold nature. The one of these passages that lies more inward is called the [tracheal] artery, and leads to the lungs and the heart: the epiglottis covers it during the action of eating, that the drink or food may not go the wrong way, and so be productive of suffering, as it is by this passage that the breath and the voice are conveyed. The other or exterior passage is called the "gula,"56 and it is by this passage that the victuals and drink pass : this leads to the belly, while the former one communicates with the chest.59 The epiglottis covers the pharynx, in its turn, when only the breath or the voice is passing, in order that the victuals may not inopportunely pass upwards, and so disturb the breathing or articulation. The tracheal artery is composed of cartilage and flesh, while the gullet is formed of a sinewy substance united with flesh. CHAP. 67.--THE NECK ; THE THROAT; THE DORSAL SPINE. The neck is found to exist in no animal but those which have both these passages. All the others which have the gullet only, have nothing but a gorge or throat. In those which have a neck, it is formed of several rounded vertebras, and is flexible, and joined together by distinct articulations, to allow of the animal turning round the head to look. The lion, the wolf, and the hyaena are the only animals in which it is formed of a single60 rigid bone. The neck is annexed to the spine, and the spine to the loins. The vertebral column is of a bony substance, but rounded, and pierced within, to afford a passage for the marrow to descend from the brain! It is generally concluded that the marrow is of the same nature as the brain, from the fact that if the membrane of exceeding thinness which covers it is pierced, death immediately ensues.61 Those animals which have long legs have a long throat as well 57 More generally " epiglottis." It is found in some few reptiles. This passage is omitted by Sillig. 58 Gullet, or pharynx. S9 Stomachum. 611 All these animals, on the contrary, have seven vertebrte. 61 This is not the fact. The spinal marrow, even, may be wounded, without death being the immediate result. 64 pliny's natural history. [Book XI. which is the case also with aquatic birds, although they have short legs, as well as with those which have hooked talons. chap. 68.—the throat; the gullet; the stomach. Man only, and the swine, are subject to swellings in the throat, which are mostly caused by the noxious quality of the water62 which they drink. The upper part of the gullet is called the fauces, the lower the stomach.63 By this name is understood a fleshy concavity, situate behind the tracheal artery, and join- ing the vertebral column; it extends in length and breadth like a sort of chasm.61 Those animals which have no. gullet have no stomach either, nor yet any neck or throat, fishes, for example ; and in all these the mouth communicates immedi- ately with the belly. The sea-tortoise65 has neither tongue nor teeth; it can break anything, however, with the sharp edge of its muzzle. After the tracheal artery there is the oesophagus, which is indented with hard asperities resembling bramble-thorns, for the purpose of levigating the food, the in- cisions66 gradually becoming smaller as they approach the belly. The roughness at the very extremity of this organ strongly re- sembles that of a blacksmith's file chap. 69.—the heart; the blood; the vital spirit. In all other animals but man the heart is situate in the middle of the breast; in man alone it is placed just below the pap on the left-hand side, the smaller end terminating in a point, and bearing outward. It is among the fish only that this point is turned towards the mouth. It is asserted that the heart is the first among the viscera that is formed in the foetus, then the brain, and last of all, the eyes: it is said, too, that the eyes are the first organs that die, and the heart the very last of all. The heart also is the principal seat of the heat of the body; it is constantly palpitating, and moves as though it were one animal enclosed within another. It is also enve- 63 Snow-water, we know, is apt to produce goitre. 63 " Stomachus." More properly, the oesophagus, or ventricle. ,4 Lacunae modo. 65 Or turtle. It has a tongue, and though it has no teeth, the jaws are edged with a horny substance like the bills of birds. 86 '< Crenis" is read for " renis:" otherwise the passage is unintelligible: it is still most probably in a corrupt state. Chap. 70.] ANIMALS WHICH HATE TWO HEARTS. 65 loped in a membrane equally supple and strong, and is pro- tected by the bulwarks formed by the ribs and the bone of the breast, as being the primary source and origin of life. It contains within itself the primary receptacles for the spirit and the blood, in its sinuous cavity, which in the larger animals is threefold,67 and in all twofold at least: here it is that the mind68 has its abode. From this source proceed two large veins, which branch into the fore-part and the back of the body, and which, spreading out in a series of branches, convey the vital blood by other smaller veins over all parts of the body. This is the only one69 among the viscera that is not affected by maladies, nor is it subject to the ordinary penalties of human life; but when injured, it produces instant death. While all the other viscera are injured, vitality may still remain in the heart. CHAP. 70.—THOSE ANIMALS WHICH HAVE THE LARGEST HEART, AND THOSE WHICH HAVE THE SMALLEST. WHAT ANIMALS HAVE TWO HEARTS. Those animals are looked upon as stupid and lumpish which have a hard, rigid heart, while those in which it is small are courageous, and those are timid which have it very large. The heart is the largest, in proportion to the body, in the mouse, the hare, the ass, the stag, the panther, the weasel, the hyaena, and all the animals, in fact, which are timid, or dan- gerous only from the effects of fear. In Paphlagonia the par- tridge has a double heart. In the heart of the horse and the ox there are bones sometimes found. It is said that the heart increases every year in man, and that two drachmae in weight are added70 yearly up to the fiftieth year, after which period it decreases yearly in a similar ratio; and that it is for this reason that men do not live beyond their hundredth year, the heart then failing them : this is the notion entertained by the Egyptians, whose custom it is to embalm the bodies of the «7 Among all the mammiferae and the birds, the heart has four cavities, two on each side. 8 Mens. 69 This is a mistake. The heart is subject to disease, equally with other parts of the body. . . 70 In spite of what Schenkius says in confirmation of Pliny, this is very doubtful. Of course it must increase from childhood, but the in- crease surely does not continue till the fiftieth year. VOL. III. F 66 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XI dead, and so preserve them. It is said that men have been born with the heart covered with hair, and that such persons are excelled by none in valour and energy; such, for instance, as Aristomenes,71 the Messenian, who slew three hundred Lacedaemonians. Being covered with wounds, and taken pri- soner, he, on one occasion, made his escape by a narrow hole which he discovered73 in the stone quarry where he was im- prisoned, while in pursuit of a fox which had found that mode of exit. Being again taken prisoner, while his guards were fast asleep he rolled himself towards a fire close by, and, at the expense of his body, burnt off the cords by which he was bound. On being taken a third time, the Lacedaemonians opened his breast while he was still alive, and his heart was found covered with hair. CHAP. 71.--WHEN THE CUSTOM WAS FIRST ADOPTED OF EXAMINING THE HEART IN THE INSPECTION OF THE ENTRAILS. On an examination of the entrails, to find a certain fatty part on the top of the heart, is looked upon as a fortunate presage. Still, however the heart has not always been con- sidered as forming a part of the entrails for this purpose. It was under Lucius Postumius Albinus, the King of the Sacri- fices,73 and after the 126th Olympiad, when King Pyrrhushad quitted Italy, that the aruspices began to examine the heart, as part of the consecrated entrails. The first day that the Dictator Csesar appeared in public, clothed in purple, and sit- ting on a seat of gold, the heart was twice found wanting "4 when he sacrificed. From this circumstance has risen a great question among those who discuss matters connected with divination—whether it was possible for the victim to have lived without that organ, or whether it had lost it at the very moment73 of its death. It is asserted that the heart cannot be 71 See an account of him in the Messeniaca of Pausanias. 72 In this part of the story may have originated that of the escape of Sindbad the Sailor, when buried in the vault with the body of his wife.— See the "Arabian Nights." <3 " Bex Sacrorum." This was a priest elected from the patricians, on whom the priestly duties devolved, which had been originally performed by the kings of Rome. He ranked above the Pontifex Maxinius, but was possessed of little or no political influence. 74 No doubt there was trickery in this. 75 By supernatural agency. Chap. 73.] 1HE LIVER. 67 burnt of those persons who die of the cardiac disease; and the same is said of those who die by poison. At all events, there is still in existence an oration pronounced by Vitellius,76 in which he accuses Piso of this crime, and employs this alleged fact as one of his proofs, openly asserting that the heart of Germanicus Caesar could not be burnt at the funeral pile, in consequence of his having been poisoned. On the other hand, the peculiar nature77 of the disease under which Germanicus was labouring, was alleged in Piso's defence. CHAP. 72.--THE LUNGS : IN WHAT ANIMALS THEY ARE THE LAR- GEST, AND IN WHAT THE SMALLEST. ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NOTHING BUT LUNGS IN THE INTERIOR OF THE BODY. CAUSES WHICH PRODUCE EXTRAORDINARY SWIFTNESS IN ANIMALS. Beneath the heart are the lungs, the laboratory in which the respiration is prepared. The use of these, is to draw in the air and then expel it; for which purpose their substance is of a spongy nature, and filled with cavernous holes. Some few among the aquatic animals have lungs, as we have already stated ;78 and among the rest of those which are oviparous, they are small, of a fungous nature, and containing no blood; hence it is, that these animals do not experience thirst. It is for the same reason also, that frogs and seals are able to remain so long under water. The tortoise, too, although it has lungs of remarkable size, and extending throughout the whole of the shell, is also equally destitute of blood. The smaller the lungs are in proportion to the body, the greater is the swiftness of the animal. It is in the chameleon that the lungs are the largest in proportion to the body; in which, in fact, it has no other viscera at all.79 CHAP. 73.--THE LIVER : IN WHAT ANIMALS, AND IN WHAT PART THERE ARE TWO LIVERS FOUND. The liver is on the right side : in this part is situate what has been called the "head of the entrails," and it is subject 76 This was P. Vitellius, who served under Germanicus in Germany. He was one of the accusers of Cn. Piso, who was charged with having poisoned Germanicus. 77 The cardiac disease, as alleged. 7S B. ix. c. 6. 19 Bat see B. viii. c. 51, and B. xxviii. c. 29. F 2 69 pliny's natural history. [Book XI. to considerable variations. No liver ^ at all was found in a victim which was sacrificed by M. Marcellus, about the period when he was killed in battle against Hannibal; while in a victim which was slain on the following day, a double liver was found. It was wanting, also, in a victim sacrificed by C. Marius, at Utica, and in one which was offered by the Emperor Caius81 upon the calends of January,81* on the occasion of his en- tering the year of the consulship in which he was slain: the same thing happened, also, to his successor, Claudius, in the month in which he was cut off82 by poison. When the late Emperor Augustus was sacrificing at Spoletum, upon the first day of his entering on the imperial dignity, in six different victims the liver was found rolled over within itself, from the very lowest lobe; and the answer that was given by the diviners was to the effect that, in the course of the year, he would gain a twofold sway. It is of evil omen to find an incision in the head of the entrails, except on occasions of disquietude and alarm; for then it is significant of cutting all cares, and so putting an end to them. The hares that are found in the vicinity of Briletum83 and Tharne, and in the Chersonnesus on the Propontis, have a double liver; but, what is very singular, if they are removed to another place, they will lose one of them. CHAP. 74.--THE GALL; AVHERE SITUATE, AND IN WHAT ANIMALS IT IS DOUBLE. ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NO GALL, AND OTHERS IN WHICH IT IS NOT SITUATE IN THE LIVER.- In the liver is the gall, which, however, does not exist in every animal. At Chalcis, in Eubcea, none of the cattle have it, while in the cattle of the Isle of Naxos, it is of extraordi- nary size, and double, so that to a stranger either of these facts would appear as good as a prodigy. The horse, the mule, the ass, the stag, the roe-buck, the wild boar, the camel, and the dolphin have no gall, but some kinds of rats and mice have it. 80 Plutarch says that it was the "caput," or "head" of the liver that was wanting. M. Marcellus was slain while reconnoitring the Carthaginian camp by night. 81 Caligula. si* ist 0f January. 82 By his niece and wife, Agrippina, the mother of Nero. 5:1 See B. iv. c. 11. Tharne does not seem to be known. Of course, this story about the hares is fabulous. Chap. 75.] THE PROPERTIES OF THE GALL. 69 Some few men are without it, and such persons enjoy robust health and a long life. There are some authors who say that the gall exists in the horse, not in the liver, but in the paunch, and that in the stag it is situate either in the tail or the intestines; and that hence it is, that those parts are so bitter that dogs will not touch them. The gall, in fact, is nothing else but the worst parts of the blood purged off, and for this reason it is that it is so bitter : at all events, it is a well-known fact, that no animal has a liver unless it has blood as well. The liver receives the blood from the heart, to which it is united, and then disperses it in the veins. CHAP. 75.--THE PROPERTIES OF THE GALL. When the gall is black, it is productive of madness in man, and if it is wholly expelled death will ensue. Hence it is, too, that the word " bile" has been employed by us to characterize a harsh, embittered disposition; so powerful are the effects of this secretion, when it extends its influence to the mind. In addition to this, when it is dispersed over the whole of the body, it deprives the eyes, even, of their natural colour; and when ejected, will tarnish copper vessels even, rendering everything black with which it comes in contact; so that no one ought to be surprised that it is the gall which constitutes the venom of serpents. Those animals of Pontus which feed on wormwood have no gall: in the raven, the quail, and the pheasant, the gall-bladder is united to the renal parts, and, on one side only, to the intestines. In many animals, again, it is united only to the intestines, the pigeon, the hawk, and the murena, for example. In some few birds it is situate in the liver ; but it is in serpents and fishes that it is the largest in proportion. With the greater part of birds, it extends all along throughout the intestines, as in the hawk and the kite. In some other birds, also, it is situate in the breast as well: the gall, too, of the sea-calf is celebrated for its application to many purposes. From the gall of the bull a colour is extracted like that of gold. The'aruspices have consecrated the gall to Nep- tune and the influence of water. The Emperor Augustus found a double gall in a victim which he was sacrificing on the day of his victory at Actium. 70 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [B°°k XL CHAP. 76.—IN WHAT ANIMALS THE LIVER INCREASES AND DB- CREASES WITH THE MOON. OBSERVATIONS OF THE ARUSP1CES RELATIVE THERETO, AND REMARKABLE PRODIGIES. It is said, that in the small liver of the mouse .the number of lobes corresponds to the day of the moon, and that they are found to be just as many in number as she is days old; in addition to which, it is said that it increases at the winter sol- stice. In the rabbits of Baetica, the liver is always found to have a double lobe. Ants will not touch one lobe of the liver of the bramble-frog, in consequence of its poisonous nature, it is generally thought. The liver is remarkable for its powers of preservation, and sieges have afforded us remarkable in- stances of its being kept so long as a hundred years.81 CHAP. 77.--THE DIAPHRAGM. THE NATURE OF LAUGHTER. The entrails of serpents and lizards are of remarkable length. It is related that—a most fortunate omen—Csecina of Volaterrae beheld two dragons arising from the entrails of the victim; and this will not be at all incredible, if we are ready to believe that while King Pyrrhus was sacrificing, the day upon which he died, the heads of the victims, on being cut off, crawled along the ground and licked up their own blood. In man, the entrails are separated from the lower part of the viscera by a certain membrane, which is called the " praecordia," M because it is extended in front of the heart; the Greeks have given it the name of " phrenes." All the principal viscera have been enclosed by Nature, in her prudent foresight, in their own pe- culiar membranes, just like so many sheaths, in fact. With re- ference to the diaphragm, there was a peculiar reason for this wise provision of Nature, its proximity to the guts, and the chances that the food might possibly intercept the respiration. It is to this organ that is attributed quick and ready wit, and hence it is that it has no fleshy parts, but is composed of fine sinews and membranes. This part is also the chief seat of gaiety of mind, a fact which is more particularly proved by the titillation of the arm-holes, to which the midriff extends; 84 There must be some corrupt reading here; for, as Sillig remarks, who ever heard of a siege which lasted a hundred years ? 85 Or diaphragm; from "pra," "before," and " cor," the « heart." Chap. 79.] THE INTESTINES. 71 indeed, in no part of the body is the skin more fine; for this reason it is, also, that we experience such peculiar pleasure in scratching the parts in its vicinity. Hence it is, that in battles and gladiatorial combats, many persons have been known to be pierced through the midriff, and to die in the act of laughing.86 CHAP. 78.--THE BELLY : ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NO BELLY. WHICH ARE THE ONLY" ANIMALS THAT VOMIT. In those animals which have a stomach, below the diaphragm the belly is situate. In other animals it is single, but in those which ruminate it is double; in those, again, which are destitute of blood, there is no belly, for the intestinal canal commences in some of them at the mouth, and returns to that part, as is the case with the saepia and the polypus. In man it is connected with the extremity of the stomach, and the same with the dog. These are the only creatures that have the belly more narrow at the lower part; hence it is, too, that they are the only ones that vomit, for on the belly being filled, the narrowness at its extremity precludes the food from passing ; a thing that cannot possibly be the case with the animals in which the belly is more capacious at the ex- tremity, and so leaves a free passage for the food to the lower parts of the body. CHAP. 79.--THE SMALL GUTS, THE FRONT INTESTINES, THE ANUS, THE COLON. THE CAUSES OF THE INSATIATE VORACITY OF CER- TAIN ANIMALS. After the belly we find in man and the sheep the " lactes,"87 the place of which in other animals is occupied by the " hillae :"88 it is through these organs that the food passes. We then find the larger intestines, which communicate with the anus, and which in man consist of extremely sinuous folds. Those animals which have the longest intestinal canal, are the most voracious; and those which have the belly the most loaded with fat, are the least intelligent. There are some birds, also, which have two receptacles; the one of which is the crop, in which they stow away the food which 66 "With Sardonic laughter, as Hardouin remarks. L w Or small guts. 88 Or front intestines. 72 PLINY S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XI. they have just swallowed, while the other is the belly, into which they discharge the food when it is duly prepared and digested; this is the case with the domestic fowl, the ring-dove, the pigeon, and the partridge. The other birds are in general destitute of crop, but then they have a more ca- pacious gorge, the jackdaw, the raven, and the crow, for in- stance : some, again, are constituted in neither manner, but have the belly close to the gorge, those, for instance, which have the neck very long and narrow, such as the porphyrio.89 In the solid-hoofed animals the belly is rough and hard, while in some land animals it is provided with rough asperi- ties like teeth,90 and in others, again, it has a reticulated sur- face like that of a file. Those animals which have not the teeth.on both sides, and do not ruminate, digest the food in the belly, from whence it descends to the lower intestines. There is an organ in all animals attached in the middle to the navel, and in man similar in its lower part to that of the swine, the name given thereto by the Greeks being " colon," a part of the body which is subject to excruciating pains." In dogs this gut is extremely contracted, for which reason it is that they are unable to ease it, except by great efforts, and not without considerable suffering. Those animals with which the food passes at once from the belly through the straight intestine, are of insatiate appetite, as, for instance, the hind-wolf,92 and among birds the diver. The elephant has four93 bellies; the rest of its intestines are similar to those of the swine, and the lungs are four times as large as those of the ox. The belly in birds is fleshy, and formed of a callous substance. In that of young swallows there are found little white or pink pebbles, known by the name of " chelidonii," and said to be employed in magical incantations. In the second belly of the heifer there is a black tufa found, round like a ball,94 and of no weight to speak of: this, it is generally thought, is. singu- 69 The coot, probably. 90 He alludes to the papilla? of the mucous gland 91 The colic. 92 " Lupus cervarius." Probably the lynx. 93 The belly of the elephant presents five transversal folds. _94 See B. xxviii. c. 77. This substance, known by the name of effawo- pile, consists of the hair which the animal has swallowed when lickin^ itself. It assumes a round form, in consequence of the action of the in' testines. Chap. 81.] THE KIDNEYS. 73 larly efficacious in laborious deliveries, if it happens not to have touched the ground. CHAP. 80.—THE OMENTUM: THE SPLEEN; ANIMALS WHICH ARE WITHOUT IT. The belly and the intestines are covered with a caul known as the " omentum," consisting of a fatty, thin membrane; except in the case of those animals which are oviparous. To this membrane is attached the spleen, which lies on the left side, and opposite the liver: sometimes, indeed, it changes place with the liver, but such a case is looked upon as nothing less than a prodigy. Some persons imagine that a spleen of extremely diminutive size exists in the oviparous animals, as also in serpents ; at all events, it is to be detected in the tortoise, the crocodile, the lizard, and the frog; though it is equally certain that it does not exist in the bird known as the " aegocephalos,"95 nor yet in those animals which are des- titute of blood. The spleen sometimes offers a peculiar impe- diment in running, for which reason the region of the spleen is cauterized9" in runners who are troubled with pains there. It is said also, that if the spleen is removed97 by an incision, animals may survive. There are some persons who think that with the spleen man loses the power of laughing, and that excessive laughter is caused by the overgrowth of it. There is a territory of Asia, known as Scepsis,93 in which it is said that the spleen of the cattle is remarkably small, and that from thence it is that remedies for diseases of the spleen have been introduced. CHAP. 81.--THE KIDNETS : ANIMALS WHICH HAVE FOUR KID- NEYS. ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NONE. About Briletum and Tharne98* the stags have four kidneys: while, on the other hand, those animals which have wings and scales have99 none. The kidneys adhere to the upper part of 93 Perhaps the godwit, or stone-plover, the Scolopax aegocephala of Linnaeus. 96 See also B. xxvi. c. 83. 97 This may be done with safety in dogs or other animals. *3 See B. v. c. 32.