250 STUDIES IN INSECT LIFE, ETC. 

 lives 540 years, and there is but one on the earth 

 at a time. This rarity is dwelt on by Rosalind 

 (" As You Like It," IV. iii. 17), who anticipates 

 Charles Lamb's " If they were young phoenixes, 

 indeed, that were born one in a year ! ' Its 

 habit of expiring in what Mr. Crummies called 

 a " blaze of fireworks," and from its bones and 

 marrow engendering again " at first a sort of small 

 worm, which in time changes into a little bird," 

 were all well known to Shakespeare's characters. 

 Among other mythical animals to which Shake- 

 speare frequently refers is the basilisk, or cock- 

 atrice, which is figured by Aldrovandus as a 

 scaly, long-tailed animal with four pairs of legs, 

 carrying a crown upon its beaked head. Topsell 

 tells us : 



' This Beast is called by the Graecian Baziliscos 

 and by the Latine Regulus, because he seemeth 

 to be the King of Serpents, not for his magnitude 

 or greatnesse : For there are many Serpents 

 bigger than he, as there be many foure-footed 

 Beastes bigger than the Lyon, but, because of 

 his stately pace, and magnanimious mind : for 

 hee creepeth not on the earth like other Serpents, 

 but goeth halfe upright, for which occasion all 

 other Serpentes avoyde his sight. And it seemeth 



