☷ All XXXVII booksEnter the Living Codex ↗

LIBER XI · CAPUT 35

MOTHS, CANTHARIDES, GNATS—AN INSECT THAT BREEDS IN THE SNOW

MOTHS, CANTHARIDES, GNATS—AN INSECT THAT BREEDS IN THE SNOW. Complete modern editorial illustration created specifically for this chapter.
MOTHS, CANTHARIDES, GNATS—AN INSECT THAT BREEDS IN THE SNOW · EDITORIAL PLATE XI.35 · modern editorial plate
MOTHS, CANTHARIDES, GNATS—AN INSECT THAT BREEDS IN THE SNOW. Complete modern editorial illustration created specifically for this chapter.

Latine · Mayhoff 1906

Idem pulvis in lanis et veste tineas creat, praecipue si araneus una includatur. sitiens enim et omnem umorem absorbens ariditatem ampliat. hoc et in chartis nascitur. est earum genus tunicas suas trahientium quo cocleae modo; sed harum pedes cernuntur. spoliatae ex- spirant. si aderevere, faciunt chrysallidem. ficarios culices caprificus generat, cantharidas vermiculi ficorum et piri et peuces et cynacanthae et rosae. venenum hoc remedia secum habet: alae medentur, quibus demptis letale est. rursus alia genera culicum acescens natura gignit, quippe cum et in nive* inveniantur vetustiore vermiculi* rutili — nam et ipsa nix vetustate rufescit — hirti pilis, in Media quidem candidi*, grandiores torpentesque.

English · Bostock & Riley 1855–57

Dust, too, is productive of worms in wools and cloths, and this more especially if a spider should happen to be enclosed in them: for, being sensible of thirst, it sucks up all the moisture, and thereby increases the dryness of the material. These will breed in paper also. There is one kind which carries with it its husk, in the same manner as the snail, only that the feet are to be seen. If deprived of it, it does not survive; and when it is fully developed, the insect becomes a chrysalis. The wild fig-tree produces gnats, known as “ficarii;” and the little grubs of the fig-tree, the pear-tree, the pine, the wild rose, and the common rose produce cantharides, when fully developed. These insects, which are venomous, carry with them their antidote; for their wings are useful in medicine, while the rest of the body is deadly. Again, liquids turned sour will produce other kinds of gnats, and white grubs are to be found in snow that has lain long on the ground, while those that lie above are of a reddish colour—indeed, the snow itself becomes red after it has lain some time on the ground. These grubs are covered with a sort of hair, are of a rather large size, and in a state of torpor.