100 THE COMPLETE ANGLER 



again, that their eggs turn the following year to be cater- 

 pillars. And some affirm, that every plant has his 

 particular fly or caterpillar, which it breeds and feeds. 

 I have seen, and may therefore affirm it, a green cater- 

 pillar, or worm, as big as a small peascod, which had 

 fourteen legs, eight on the belly, four under the neck, 

 and two near the tail. It was found on a hedge of privet 

 and was taken thence, and put into a large box, and a 

 little branch or two of privet put to it, on which I saw it 

 feed as sharply as a dog gnaws a bone : it lived thus five 

 or six days, and thrived, and changed the colour two or 

 three times ; but, by some neglect in the keeper of it, it 

 then died, and did not turn to a fly : but if it had lived, 

 it had doubtless turned to one of those flies that some call 

 flies of prey, which those that walk by the rivers may, in 

 summer, see fasten on smaller flies, and, I think, make 

 them their food. And 'tis observable, that as there be 

 these flies of prey, which be very large, so there be others, 

 very little, created, I think, only to feed them, and breed 

 out of I know not what ; whose life, they say, nature 

 intended not to exceed an hour ; and yet that life is thus 

 made shorter by other flies, or by accident. 



It is needless to tell you what the curious searchers into 

 nature's productions have observed of these worms and 

 flies : but yet I shall tell you what Aldrovandus,* our 

 Topsel, and others, say of the palmer-worm, or caterpillar, 

 that whereas others content themselves to feed on particu- 

 lar herbs or leaves, for most think those very leaves that 

 gave them life and shape, give them a particular feeding 

 and nourishment, and that upon them they usually abide ; 

 yet he observes, that this is called a pilgrim, or palmer- 

 worm, for his very wandering life, and various food ; not 

 contenting himself, as others do, with any one certain 



* Ulysses Aldrovandus, a great physician and naturalist of 

 Bologna ; he wrote a hundred and twenty books on several subjects, 

 and a treatise De Piscibus, published at Frankfort, 1640. H. 



