166 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. PART I. 



saying a little of the caterpillar, or the palmer-fly or 

 worm ; that by them you may guess what a work it 

 were, in a discourse, but to run over those very many 

 flies, worms, and little living creatures, with which the 

 sun and summer adorn and beautify the river-banks, 

 and meadows ; both for the recreation and contem- 

 plation of us anglers, pleasures which, I think, my- 

 self enjoy more than any other man that is not of rny 

 profession. 



Pliny holds an opinion, that many have their birth, 

 or being, from a dew that in the spring falls upon the 

 leaves of trees ; and that some kinds of them, are from 

 a dew left upon herbs or flowers ; and others, from a 

 dew left upon coleworts or cabbages : All which kinds 

 of dews being thickened and condensed, are by the sun's 

 generative heat, most of them, hatched,- and, in three 

 days, made giving creatures * : and these of several 

 shapes and colours ; some being hard and tough, some 

 smooth and soft ; some are horned in their head, some in 

 their tail, some have none ; some have hair, some none; 

 some have sixteen feet, some less and some 

 havc none, but, (as our Topsel hath , with 

 great diligence, observed,) those which have 

 none, move upon the earth, or upon broad leaves, their 

 motion being not unlike to the waves of the sea. Some 

 of them, he also observes to be bred of the eggs of other 

 caterpillars, and that those in their time turn to be but- 

 terflies ; and, again, that their eggs turn the following 

 year to be caterpillars t. And some affirm, that every 

 plant has its particular fly or caterpillar, which it breeds 

 and feeds. I have seen, and may therefore affirm it, a 

 green caterpillar, 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 



* The doctrine of spontaneous or equivocal generation is now univer- 

 $ally exploded ; and all the phenomena that seem to support it, are account- 

 ed for on other principle*. See Derham's Phys. TLeol. Chap. 15, and the 

 authorities there cited. As also Mr. Ray's Wisdom of God manifested in the 

 works of the Creation, 298. and Franc. Redi, De Gen. Insect. 



} Whoever is desirous of knowing more of Caterpillars, and of the 

 several flies produced by them, may consult Joannes Goedartius De 

 's, with the Affendix of Dr, Lister, Lend, 8vo. 1685. 



