40 
pliky's natural histoet. 
[Book XL 
CHAP. 38. (33.) ANIMALS WHICH BEEED IN "WOOD. 
In the same manner, also, some animals are generated in 
the earth from rain, and some, again, in wood. And not only 
wood-worms*^ are produced in wood, but gad-flies also and 
other insects issue from it, whenever there is an excess of 
moisture ; just as in man, tape-worms*^ are sometimes founds 
as much as three hundred feet or more in length. 
CHAP. 39. INSECTS THAT AEE PARASITES OF MAN. WHICH IS 
THE SMALLEST OF ANIMALS ? ANIMALS FOUND IN WAX EYEN. 
Then, too, in dead carrion there are certain animals pror 
duced, and in the hair, too, of living men. It was through 
such vermin as this that the Dictator Sylla,** and Alcman, 
one of the most famous of the Grecian poets, met their deaths. 
These insects infest birds too, and are apt to kill the pheasant, 
unless it takes care to bathe itself in the dust. Of the animals 
that are covered with hair, it is supposed that the ass and the 
sheep are the only ones that are exempt from these vermin. 
They are produced, also, in certain kinds of cloth, and more 
particularly those made of the wool of sheep wjiich have been 
killed by the wolf. I find it stated, also, by authors, that 
some kinds of water*^ which we use for bathing are more pro- 
ductive of these parasites than others. Even wax is found to 
produce mites, which are supposed to be the very smallest of 
all living creatures. Other insects, again, are engendered 
from filth, acted upon by the rays of the sun — these fleas are 
called petauristse,'"*^ from the activity which they display 
in their hind legs. Others, again, are produced with wings, 
from the moist dust that is found lying in holes and corners. 
CHAP. 40. (34.) — AN ANIMAL WHICH HAS NO PASSAGE FOR THE 
EVACUATIONS. 
There is an animal,"*'' also, that is generated in the summer, 
42 Cossi, See B. xvii. c. 37. Taeni©. 
4* He alludes to the Morbus pediculosus. 
45 Aristotle says, in the corresponding passage, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 26, 
that the animals which are affected by lice, are more particularly exposed 
to them when they change the water in which they wash. 
^ Or "leapers." 
He alludes to dog-ticks and ox-ticks, the Acarus ricinus of Linnseus, 
and the Acarus reduvius of Schrank. 
