[ The eleventh Booke of 



Slmnc to ftie, and one whole dale be kept covered all over with figtree afhes, they will revive aud G 

 be quickeagaine Butfiippofe they benotonely dead, but their bodies alio loft and gone, feme 

 fay they may be repaired and a new fwarnie cngendcedjby laying the frefh paunches of oxen oe 

 kine newly killed, with the dung,garbage and all, within a dunghill there to putrifie* Firgill affo- 

 meth, that the carkafles of any young fteercs, will doe the fame: like as; dead horfes will breed 

 Wafpes and Hornets: and Affes carrion turne to be Beetle- fliesj by acertaine metamorphofis 

 which Nature maketh/rom one creature to another. And yet there be none of all thefe, but are 

 feene to engender; howbeit the manner of their breedis much after the nature of Bees* 



Chap. xxi. 



^ Of i^afpes aftdHomih H 



Afpcs ufe to build them nefls on high, of earth and clay, and therein doc make their 

 roomes and cells of Wax. Hornets, in caves and holes under the ground. All thefe ve-^ 

 : rily have their chambers made with fixe corners , and yet their nefls confift of fome 



barke and fubftance like cobwebs. And as they be a barbarous and favagekind of creatures , fa 

 their young is not uniforme : one is readie to flie abroad, whiles another is yet but yong and not 

 fledge, and a third ameereworme andgrubftill. All thefe breed in the Autumne, and never in 

 the Spring* When the moone is in the full, they encreafc marveiloufly. As for the little Wafps, 

 called Ichneumones (and lefle they be than others) they ufe to kill one kind of Spiders called 

 iPhalangia, and carrie them into their nefts : they belineare them all over with a linimentjfit over I 

 them, and fo procreate their ownekind, Moreover^all the fort of thefe live upon flefh,contrarie 

 to the manner of BeeSjWhich will not touch a dead carcafTe. But Wafpes hunt after the greater ' 

 flics : and when they have whipt off their heads,carrie away the refl: of their bodies for their pro*, 

 vifion. The wild Hornets ufe to keepe in hollow trees. All winter time, like other Infeds, they lie 

 hidden, and live not above twoyeeres. If aman be flung with them,hardly he efcapeth without 

 an ague. And fbme have written jthat 27 pricks of theirs will kill a man.The other Hornets which 

 feeine to be the gentler, be of two forts. The lefTe of bodie, doc workc and travaile for their li- 

 ving, and they die when winter iscome. But the greater fort of them continue twoyeeresrand 

 thole alfo are nothing daungerous,but mild and tra (Stable. Thefe make their nefls in the fpring, 

 and the fame for the moft parthaving foure dores or entries unto thcm,whcrein the leffer labou- K 

 ring Hornets abovefaid, are engendred. When thofc are quick,brought to perfe£tion,and got- 

 ten abroad,they build longer nalh ; in which they bring foorih thofe that fhall be mothers and 

 breeders : by which time,thofe young Hornets that worke, be readie to doe their bufinefle and 

 feed thefe other.Now thefe mothers appearc broader than the refl: and doubtfuilitis, whether 

 they have any ihng or no ?becaufe they are never feen to thruH them forth. Thefe likewife have 

 their drones among them, as well as Bees. Somethinke, that toward winter, thefe all doc ioofe 

 their flings.Neither Hornets nor Wafpes, have kings or fvvarms, af ter the manner of Bees : buc 

 yet they rcpaire their kind and maintaine their race by a new breed and generation. 



Chap. xXii. £ 



of ^ilhemrmes : the Bembjlimy and Nec^ddus.And tvho frfi 

 invented filke cloth* 



A Fourth kind of flic there is, breeding in Aflyria, and greater than thofe above-named, 

 called Bombyx, p. the Silkeworme.] They build theirnefls of earth and clay, clofe flic- 

 king to fome flone or rocke,in manner of fait: and withall fo hard,that fcarfely a man may 

 enter them with the point of a fpeare . In which they make alfo waxe , but in more plentie than 

 Bees: and after thatjbring forth a greater worme than all the refl before rehearfed . Thefe flies 

 engender alfo after another fort J namely, of a greater worme or grub, putting forth two horns 

 after that kind : and thefe be certain Cankerwormes. Then thefe grow afterwards to be Bomby- H 

 iij 5 and fo forward to Necydali : of which, in fix moneths after,comc thefilkeworms Bombyces, 

 Siike worms fpin and weave webs hke to thofe of the Spiders, and all to pleafe our dainty dames, 

 whorhereof make their fine filkes and velvets, forme their coflly garments and fuperfluousap- 

 pareil, which are called Bombycina. Thefirfhh^tdevifed to unweave thefe webs of the Silke- 



worme^ 



