. WATER-RUG.] NATURAL HISTORY. 337 



taken; for all agree that the scarabees [beetles] are procreated 

 from them ; rather I am of opinion that they are sprung 

 from the dead bodies of horses, for the horse is a valiant 

 and warlike creature. Other sorts of them are produced 

 out of the putrid corpse of the crocodiles. Wasps come 

 out of the putrefaction of an old deer's head, flying some- 

 times out of the head, sometimes out of the nostrils. Also 

 Wasps are begotten of the earth and rottenness of some 

 kind of fruits. The Wasps called Ichneumons are less than 

 the rest ; they kill spiders, and carry them into their nests, 

 and daub them over with dirt, and so sitting upon them 

 do procreate their own species. Of the Wasps as well wild 

 as tame some have no sting ; also very many of them that 

 have stings lose them upon the approach of winter. They 

 feed on flesh of serpents and then they sting mortally. 

 They themselves are a plaister for their own stings. The 

 distilled water of common Wasps applied to the belly makes 

 it swell as if it had the dropsy, by which trick [the guile- 

 less man is deceived by the designing woman]. The Wasp 

 will not come near any man that is anointed with oil and 

 the juice of mallows. 



Tbos. Mouffet, "Theatre of Insects," pp. 921-6. 



THE Wasp scorns that flower from which she hath fetched 

 her wax. Euphues' Golden Legacy." 



WASPS feeding on serpents make their stings more 

 venomous. Lilly, " Sappho and Phaon," iii. 3. 



V. Fly. 

 Water-rat. 



MERCHANT OF VENICE, i. 3, 23. 

 WATER-RAT. 7. Otter. MinsMs Dictionary, /.r. 



THE Water-rat hunteth fishes in the winter. 



Topsel/, "Four-footed Beasts," p. 404. 



'Water-rug. 



MACBETH, iii. i, 94. 



[Probably a rough-haired watei-dog; perhaps a water-spaniel.] 



22 



