88 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



ideas of coarser anatomy. His views on the origin of insects, 

 in which he repeated the common belief of his time, will be 

 later discussed. 



A contemporary and pupil of Aristotle's was the Greek 

 physician and botanist Theophrastus (371-286 B. C.), an 

 author whose writings were not especially on zoology, but who 

 had something to say about common insects, and especially bees 

 and honey. 



With this group of ancient writers Pliny must also be placed. 

 He lived in the first century of our era (A. D. 23-79), and his 

 writings, so far as they relate to natural history, are similar to 

 those of Aristotle, whom he followed closely. The only work of 

 the many publications by this most prolific Roman author which 

 has come down to our time in its entirety is his Historia 

 Naturales, in 37 volumes, in the main a compilation. Insects 

 are treated in the i ith book. In this he deals largely with bees, 

 silk- worms, locusts (Cicada) and grasshoppers, spiders, and 

 other common insects, and gives, among other items of value, 

 some very interesting though often erroneous observations on 

 anatomy, physiology, and habits. He insists, on general 

 grounds, that insects breathe air, and also that, while not possess 

 ing the blood of the higher animals, they have a fluid which is its 

 equivalent. Of classification there is even less attempt than in 

 Aristotle. Cuvier, who has, perhaps, studied Pliny's work more 

 closely than any other, ranks it as one of the most valuable pro 

 ductions of antiquity. 



Various other Roman writers have discussed insects, usually 

 bees, as Virgil, Ovid, Columella, etc., and Pliny refers to several 

 other Greek authors whose waitings are entirely lost among 

 them Aristomachus of Soli, who is said to have studied bees 

 exclusively for 58 years, and Philiscus of Thasos, u who passed 

 his life in desert spots tending swarms of bees."* 



Aristotle and Pliny are practically 7 the only ones of the 

 "ancients" whose works are of value and accessible nowadays, 

 and nothing important occurs after them until beyond the i6th 

 century. t 



* Bonn's Pliny, p. 8, Book XI. 



t Claudius yElianus (^Elien), a Greek physician living in the 2d century, 



