418 
Flint's natiteal history. 
[Book XXIX. 
rain, as some think. The thick pulp of a spider's body, mixed 
with oil of roses, is also used for the ears; or else the pulp applied 
by itself with saffron or in wool : a cricket, too, is dug up with 
some of its earth, and applied. Mgidius attributes great^''^ 
virtues to this insect, and the magicians still greater, and all 
because it walks backwards, pierces the earth, and chirrups by 
night ! The mode of catching it is by throwing an ant,^^ made 
fast with a hair, into its hole, the dust being first blown away 
to prevent it from concealing itself : the moment it seizes the 
ant, it is drawn out. 
The dried craw of poultry, a part that is generally thrown 
away, is beaten up in wine, and injected warm, for suppura- 
tions of the ears ; the same, too, with the grease of poultry. 
On pulling off the head of a black beetle,^^ it yields a sort 
of greasy substance, which, beaten up with rose oil, is marvel- 
lously good, they say, for affections of the ears : care must be 
taken, however, to remove the wool very soon, or else this sub- 
stance will be speedily transformed into an animal, in the 
shape of a small grub. Some writers assert that two or three 
of these insects, boiled in oil, are extremely efficacious for the 
ears ; and that they are good, beaten up and applied in linen, 
for contusions of those organs. 
This insect, also, is one of those that are of a disgusting 
character ; but I am obliged, by the admiration which I feel for 
the operations of IsTature, and for the careful researches, of the 
ancients, to enter somewhat more at large upon it on the pre- 
sent occasion. Their writers have described several varieties 
of it ; the soft beetle, for instance, which, boiled in oil, has 
been found by experience to be a very useful liniment for 
warts. Another kind, to which they have given the name of 
my loecon,'''^*^ is generally found in the vicinity of mills: de- 
prived of the head, it has been found to be curative of leprosy 
— at least Musa^^ and Picton^^ have cited instances to that effect. 
In the middle ages there were many superstitions with reference to 
this insect, some of which have survived to the present day. 
''^ Ajasson seems to think that this passage means that the ant itseif 
adopts this plan of catching the cricket. If so, he is certainly in error, 
and his attack upon Pliny's credulity is, in this instance at least, misplaced. 
19 See B. xi. c. 34, and B. xxv. c. 60. 
Inhabiting mills." 
21 See B. xix. c. 38, and B. xxv. c. 38. 
22 Of this writer nothing is known. 
