OF THE HUMAN BODY. 89 



of years it came to pass that as soon as any one 

 was bitten by a tarantula, they played to him, and 

 he was obliged to dance. Hence it might easily 

 happen that people were unable to imagine a tar- 

 antula bite without its being followed by music, 

 and, in consequence, by dancing. Thus the bite 

 and the remedy came to be so mixed up together, 

 that the people, and with them Ferrante, could no 

 longer distinguish between the two. « The bite is 

 a product of the animal, the dancing a product of 

 the music, as we may every day see in the ball- 

 rooms. 



4. The bees, and humble-bees, wasps, and 

 hornets. 



5. The ants. Of course we need not here speak 

 in detail of the caterpillars, toads, and snakes, 

 which may accidentally wound and poison men 

 with their bite ; nor of the lizards, if any of them 

 are really venomous. They would not be men- 

 tioned here at all, if the popular belief had not 

 regarded some of the last-mentioned animals, as 

 well as salamanders, frogs, and tadpoles, certain 

 caterpillars, centipedes, beetles, etc., as actual 

 parasites of man, and supposed that these animals, 

 nay, even some species of fishes, such as the eels. 



