138 THE H1STOB1 OJT ANIMALS. B. V.] 



2 There is a little worm which is called xylophthorus, 1 

 which is no less extraordinary than these animals ; for its 

 variegated head is projected beyond its case, and its feet are 

 at the extremity, as in other worms. The rest of the body 

 is contained in a case made of a substance like spider s web, 

 and a dry material on the outside of this ; so that it appears 

 to walk about with this attached to it. These creatures are 

 attached to their case, and as a snail to its shell, so the 

 whole of the case is joined to the worm, and it does not fall 

 out of it, but is drawn out of it, as if they were joined toge 

 ther. If a person pulls off the case, the creature dies, and 

 becomes as helpless as a snail without its shell. As time 

 advances, this grub becomes a chrysalis, like a caterpillar, 

 and lies without motion : but the nature of the winged 

 creature that is produced has never been ascertained. 



3. The wild figs upon the fig-trees contain a creature 

 called psen ; 2 this is at first a little worm, and afterwards 

 having ruptured the case, the psen flies out, and leaves it 

 behind, it then pierces the unripe figs, and causes them 

 not to fall off, wherefore gardeners place wild fruit near the 

 cultivated kinds, and plant the wild and cultivated plants 

 near each other. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



1. THE sexual intercourse of sanguineous and oviparous 

 quadrupeds takes place in the spring. They do not, how 

 ever, all copulate at the same season ; but some in the spring, 

 others in the summer or autumn, as the season is appropriate 

 for bringing up the young of each species. The tortoise pro 

 duces hard, two-coloured eggs, like those of birds. Having 

 deposited her eggs, she buries them, and makes a beaten 

 place above them. When this is done, she sits upon them. 

 The eggs are hatched the following year. The emys goes 

 out of the water to deposit her eggs, and digs a hole like a 

 cask, in which she places her eggs and leaves them. Having 

 left them alone for less than thirty days, she digs them up 

 again and hatches them and leads them at once to the water. 



Tinea graminella, Tinea lichenella, Tinea Xylophorus, or perhaps 

 larva of Phryganea. 



3 Cynips Psenea. 



