ANIMALS WHICH BREED IN WOOD

Latine · Mayhoff 1906

Sic quaedam ex imbri generantur in terra, quaedam et in ligno. nec enim cossi tantum in eo, sed etiam tabani ex eo nascuntur et alias, ubicumque umor est nimius, sicut intra hominem taeniae tricenum pedum, aliquando et plurium longitudine. iam in carne exanima et viventium quoque hominum et capillo, qua foeditate et Sulla dictator et Alcman ex clarissimis Graeciae poetis obiere. hoc quidem et aves infestat, phasianas vero interemit nisi pulverantes sese; pilos habentium asinum tantum inmunem hoc malo credunt et oves. gignuntur autem et vestis genere, praecipue lanicio interemptarum a lupis ovium. aquas quoque quasdam, quibus lavemur, fertiliores eius generis invenio apud auctores, quippe cum etiam cerae id gignant quod animalium minimum existimatur. alia rursus generantur sordibus aridi soli, posteriorum lascivia crurum petauristae, alia pulvere umido in cavernis volucria.

English · Bostock & Riley 1855–57

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 found, as much as three hundred feet or more in length.

Then, too, in dead carrion there are certain animals produced, 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 which 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 productive 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 “petauristæ,” 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.