The Pine Cockchafer 



as we know it from observation. Sometimes 

 the errors are flagrant; sometimes the al- 

 lusions are grotesque and imbecile. Pro- 

 vided that they have a decent sound, how 

 greatly preferable are locutions in which en- 

 tomology finds nothing to dissect! 



Fullo would be one of these, if the word 

 had not a first sense which at once occurs to 

 the mind. This Latin expression means a 

 "fuller," one who "fulls" cloth under run- 

 ning water, dressing it and ridding it of the 

 stiffness of the weaving. What connection 

 has the Cockchafer who forms the subject of 

 this chapter with the working fuller? You 

 may rack your brains in vain : no acceptable 

 answer will come. 



The term fullo, applied to an insect, oc- 

 curs in Pliny. In one chapter the igreat 

 naturalist treats of remedies for jaundice, 

 fevers and dropsy. A little of everything 

 plays its part in this pharmacopoeia: a black 

 Dog's longest tooth; a Mouse's nose 

 wrapped in a pink rag; a green Lizard's right 

 eye torn from the living reptile and placed 

 in a kid-skin bag; a Snake's heart, torn out 

 with the left hand; the four joints of a Scor- 

 pion's tail, including the sting, wrapped up 

 in a black cloth, provided that for three days 

 195 



