THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 91 



prey,* which those that walk by the rivers, may in summer see 

 fasten on smaller flies, and I think, make them their food. And 

 it is observable, that as there be these flies of prey whicii 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 accident. 



It is endless 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,"f" our Topsel, and others say of 

 the palmer-worm or caterpillar ; that whereas others content 

 themselves to feed on particular herbs or leaves, — for most think 

 those very leaves that gave them life and shape, give them a par- 

 ticular 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 content- 

 ing himself, as others do, with any one certain place for his abode, 

 nor any certain kind of herbs or flowers for his feeding ; but will 

 boldly and disorderly wander up and down, and not endure to be 

 kept to a diet, or fixed to a particular place. 



Nay, the very colors of caterpillars are, as one has observed, 

 very elegant and beautiful : I shall, for a taste of the rest, de- 

 scribe one of them, which I will sometime the next month shew 

 you feeding on a willow-tree, and you shall find him punctually 

 to answer this very description ;:j: " his lips and mouth somewhat 



* The Sphinx Lagustri, or the caterpillar of the privet hawk moth, 

 which is not a fly of prey, as Walton thinks. — Rennie. 



t Ulysses Aldrovandus, born at Bolo;:jna, 1527, professor of physic and 

 philosophy. He travelled extensively in search of minerals, plants, ani- 

 mals, birds, fishes, &,c. ; and expended all his means in procuring figures 

 for his plates from the best specimens. He died blind and utterly poor in 

 a hospit.il at Bologna. He wrote a hundred and twenty books, and one, 

 De Piscibus, published at Bologna, edited by J. C. Uteruerius and M. Ant. 

 Bernia, 16.3'5!, and at Frankfort 1040. His great work, On Birds and In- 

 sects, in six large folio volumes, was published during his life, and con- 

 tinued on his plan after his death. The passage in the text occurs in his 

 Serpcntwn et Draconum Historia, ]G40. Walton is quoting at second 

 hand. — Compiled by Am. Ed. 



X This description is marked as a quotation in the first edition ; but the 

 author quoted from is not given. It is not Lord Bacon, though Walton says 



