CATERPILLAR.] NATURAL HISTORY. 57 



suffocation. It must needs be an unclean and impure beast 

 that liveth only upon vermin and by ravening, for it is 

 commonly said of a man when he [s]neezeth that he hath 

 eaten with Cats ; likewise, the familiars of witches do most 

 ordinarily appear in the shape of Cats, which is an argu- 

 ment that this beast is dangerous to soul and body. 



Topsell, "Four-footed Beasts," pp. 81-3. 



Caterpillar. 



Caterpillars eat my leaves away. 



ii. HENRY VI., iii. I, 90. 



WHEN the rainbow toucheth the tree, no Caterpillars will 

 hang on the leaves. Lilly, Epilogue to "Campaspe." 



IF you would destroy Caterpillars, do thus : Anoint all 

 the bottom of the tree round about with tar, then get a 

 great sort of ants or pismires, and put them in some bag, 

 and draw the same by a cord unto the tree, and so let it 

 hang there, so that it touch the body of the tree, and the 

 ants letted to go down from the tree by the means of the 

 tar will for want of food eat and destroy all the Cater- 

 pillars there, without hurting any of the fruit. This was 

 told me for a very truth. 



Lupton, "A Thousand Notable Things," bk. x. 51. 



THE Malshrag [i.e., Caterpillar] is a nesh [soft] worm 

 and full of matter, distinguished with divers colours, shining 

 as a star by night, and hath many colours and foul shape 

 by day. And is not without some pestilential venom, for 

 when he creepeth upon an hot member of a man, he 

 scaldeth the skin, and maketh whelks [i.e., pustules] arise. 



Bartholomew (Eerthelei), bk. xviii. 47. 



V. Vermin and Worm. 



SOME Caterpillars are the offspring and breed of dew, as 

 common experience can witness. All Caterpillars are not 

 converted into aurelias [chrysalis], but some of them being 

 gathered and drawn together on a heap (as the vine- 

 fretters), do grow at length to putrefaction, from which 



