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- worms 42 are produced in wood, but gad-flies also and 

 other insects issue from it, whenever there is an excess of 

 moisture ; just as in man, tape-worms 43 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 OP 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 water 45 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 _ " petauristse," 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 Taenia?. 



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 Linnaeus, 

 and the Acarus reduvius of Schrank. 



