90 GENERATION OF INSECTS 



selves into eggs [pupae], owing, perhaps, to the chilly 

 season, at the end of November. 



Hear now what Pliny writes in the twenty-first book 

 of his " Natural History " : " Another wonderful thing 

 occurs in the Isle of Candia ; here is Mt. Carina, which is 

 nine miles in circumference, and flies are never found in 

 this district. The honey made there is never troubled by 

 flies, and is for this reason in great demand for medicinal 

 purposes.'* Zese relates the same thing about Attic 

 honey, and gives the reason that Attica has great quanti- 

 ties of thyme, the strong odor of which is very disagree- 

 able to flies. M. Glica, in his Greek Annals, is of the 

 same opinion, but I have seen flies lay their eggs, or their 

 worms, in thyme, and have seen the young flies hatch 

 out of them; and these flies would not only greedily eat 

 honey thinned with a decoction of thyme, but would also 

 swallow an electuary composed of honey and leaves of 

 thyme. Perhaps that story may have been true in Pliny's 

 time and on Mt. Carina, but to-day, in Tuscany, it must 

 be classed among fables. Therefore, in order to termi- 

 nate as soon as possible this long and tedious letter, I 

 will say again that as all dead flesh, fish, plants and fruits 

 form a good breeding place for flies and other winged 

 animals, Hkewise all kinds of fungi are suitable for this 

 purpose. I speak, however, of fungi that have been 

 picked, therefore dead, so to say, and decayed ; for those 

 rooted in the ground and on trees, living, that is, pro- 

 duce another kind of worms, differing in every respect 

 from the worms, issue of flies ; the worms coming from 

 fungi do not crawl along, but walk on their feet like 

 silk-worms, and have a short, blunt head, not sharp and 

 long, as in the other case. These worms, then, on at- 

 taining full growth, escape from their birthplace in the 



