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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A13821	The historie of serpents. Or, The second booke of liuing creatures wherein is contained their diuine, naturall, and morall descriptions, with their liuely figures, names, conditions, kindes and natures of all venemous beasts: with their seuerall poysons and antidotes; their deepe hatred to mankind, and the wonderfull worke of God in their creation, and destruction. Necessary and profitable to all sorts of men: collected out of diuine scriptures, fathers, phylosophers, physitians, and poets: amplified with sundry accidentall histories, hierogliphicks, epigrams, emblems, and ænigmaticall obseruations. By Edvvard Topsell.	Topsell, Edward, 1572-1625?	1608 (1608)	STC 24124; ESTC S122051	444,728	331

swelling of the Spleene He writeth also further that if a man catch a Spyder as she is glyding and descending downe-wards by her thred and so being crushed in the hand then applied to the nauell that the belly will be prouoked to the stoole but beeing taken as shee is ascending and applyed after the same former manner that any loosenes or fluxe is stayed and restrayned thereby The same Pliny also writeth that if a man take a Spyder and lay it vppon a fellon prouided that the sick patient may not know so much that within the space onely of three dayes that terrible and painefull griefe will be cleane taken away And besides he affirmeth that if the head and feete of a spyder be cast away and the rest of the body rubbed and bruised that it will thoroughly remedie the swelling in the fundament proceeding of inflamation If any be vexed with store of lyce and doe vse a suffumigation made onely with Spyders it will cause them all to fall and come away neither will there afterwards any moe breede in that place The fat of a Goose tempered and mixed with a Spyder and oyle of Roses together beeing vsed as an oyntment vpon the breasts preserueth them safelie as that no milke will coagulate or curdle in them after any birth Anonymus Yea that same knotty scourge of rich men the scorne of Phisitians I meane the Gowte which as some learned men hold can by no meanes be remedied yet feeleth mitigation and diminution of paine and curation also onely by the presence of a Spyder if it be taken aliue and her hinder legges cut off and afterward inclosed in a purse made of the hyde of a Stag. Moreouer we see which all other medicines can neuer doe that all they are freed for the most part both from the Gowte in the legges and hands where the spyders are most found where they are most busie in working framing their ingenious deuised webs Doubtlesse this is a rare miracle of nature a wonderfull vertue that is in this contemptible little creature or rather esteemed to be so vile abiect and of no estimation Rich men were happy indeede if they knew how to make vse of their owne good Antonius Pius was wont to say that the sharpe words wittie sayings quirkes subtilties of Sophisters were like vnto Spyders webbes that containe in them much cunning Art and artificiall conceit but had little other good besides If any one be newly dangerously wounded and that the miserable partie feareth a bleeding to death what is a more noble medicine or more ready at hand then a thicke Spyders webbe to bynde hard vpon the wound to stay the inordinate effusion of blood Questionlesse if we were as diligent and greedy to search out the true properties and vertues of our owne domesticall remedies which we would buy of others so deerely we would not enforce our selues with such eager pursute after those of forraine Countries as though things fetcht farre off were better then our owne neere at hand or as though nothing were good wholesome vnlesse it came frō Egypt Arabia or India Surely vnlesse there were some wild worme in our brames or that we were bewitched and possessed with some Furie we would not so farre be in loue with forraine wares or be so much besotted as to seeke for greedy new phisicke and phisicall meanes considering that one poore Spyders webbe will doe more good for the stanching of blood the curation of vlcers the hindering of sanies slyme or slough to grow in any sore to abate and quench inflamations to conglutinate and consolidate wounds more then a cart-loade of Bole fetcht out of Armenia Sorcocolla Sandaracha or that earth vvhich is so much nobilitated by the impresse of a seale and therefore called Terra Sigillata the clay of Samos the durt of Germany or the loame of Lemnos For a cobwebbe adstringeth refrigerateth soldereth ioyneth and closeth vppe wounds not suffering any rotten or filthy matter to remaine long in them And in regard of these excellent vertues and qualities it quickly cureth bleedings at the nose the Haemorrhoides and other bloodie-fluxes whether of the opening of the mouthes of the veines their opertions breakings or any other bloody euacuation that too much aboundeth beeing either giuen by it selfe alone in some Wine eyther inwardlie or outwardly or commixed with the Blood-stone Crocus Martis and other the like remedies fit for the same intentions The cobwebbe is also an ingredient into an vnguent which is made by Phisitians against the disease called Serpego and beeing bound to the swellings of the fundament if there be inflamation ioyned withall it consumeth them without any paine as Marcellus Empiricus testifieth It likewise cureth the watering or dropping of the eyes as Pliny reporteth and beeing applyed with oyle it consolidateth the wounds of the ioynts and some for the same intent vse the ashes of cobwebbes with fine Meale and White-vvine mixed together Some Surgeons there be that cure Warts in this manner They take a Spyders-web roling the same vppe on a round heape like a ball and laying it vppon the wart they then set fire on it and so burne it to ashes and by this way and order the vvarts are eradicated that they neuer after grow againe Marcellus Empiricus taketh Spyders webbes that are found in the Cypresse-tree mixing them with other conuenient remedies so giuing them to a podagricall person for the asswaging of his paine Against the paine of a hollovv tooth Gallen in his first booke De Compos medicum secundum loca much commendeth by the testimony of Archigenes the egges of Spyders beeing tempered and mixed with Oleum Nardinum and so a little of it beeing put into the tooth In like sort Kiramides giueth Spyders egges for the curation of a Tertian-Ague Where-vpon we conclude with Gallen in his booke to Piso that Nature as yet neuer brought foorth any thing so vile meane and contemptible in outward shew but that it hath manifold and most excellent necessary vses if we would shew a greater diligence and not be so squeamish as to refuse those wholesome medicines which are easie to be had and without great charges and trauaile acquired I will adde therefore this one note before I end this discourse that Apes Marmosets or Monkies the Serpents called Lizards the Stellion which is likewise a venomous beast like vnto a Lizard hauing spots in his necke like vnto starres Waspes and the little beast called Ichneumon Swallowes Sparrowes the little Titmouse and Hedge-sparrowes doe often feede full sauourlie vppon Spyders Besides if the Nightingale the Prince of all singing-byrds doe eate any Spyders shee is cleane freed and healed of all diseases vvhatsoeuer In the dayes of Alexander the Great there dwelled in the Cittie of Alexandria a certaine young mayde which from her youth vp was fed and nourished onely with eating of Spyders and for the same cause the King was premonished not to come neere

making their thighes more visible It is som-what questionable whether they lye hid within their caues 4. months or 60. daies for some Authors affirme one thing some another but the reason of the difference is taken from the condition of the cold weather for which cause they lye hid in the winter-time Now forasmuch as the winter in Egypt is not vsually aboue foure months therfore it is taken that they lye but foure months but if it be by accidēt of cold wether prolonged longer thē for the same cause the crocodile is the longer time in the earth During the time they lye hid they eate nothing but sleepe as it is thought immoueably when they come out againe they do not cast their skinnes as other Serpents doe The tayle of a Crocodile is his strongest part and they neuer kill any beast or man but first of all they strike him downe and astonish him with their tailes and for this cause the Egyptians by a Crocodiles tayle doe signifie death darknes They deuoure both men and beasts if they find them in theyr way or neere the bankes of Nilus wherein they abide taking sometimes a calfe from the cow his damme and carrying it whole into the waters And it appeareth by the portraiture of Nealces that a Crocodile drew in an Asse into Nilus as he was drinking and therefore the dogges of Egypt by a kind of naturall instinct do not drinke but as they runne for feare of the Crocodiles wherevpon came the prouerbe Vt canis é Nilo bibit fugit as a dogge at one time drinketh and runneth by Nilus When they desire fishes they put their heads out of the water as it were to sleepe and then suddenly when they espy a booty they leape into the waters vppon them and take them After that they haue eaten and are satisfied then they turne to the land againe and as they lye gaping vpon the earth the little bird Trochilus maketh cleane their teeth and is satisfied by the remainders of the flesh sticking vppon them It is also affirmed by Arnoldus that it is fedde with mud but the holy Crocodile in the Prouince of Arsinoe is fedde with bread flesh wine sweet and hard sodde flesh and cakes and such like thinges as the poore people bring vnto it when they come to see it VVhen the Egyptians will write a man eating or at dinner they paynt a Crocodile gaping They are exceeding fruitefull and prolificall and therfore also in Hieroglyphicks they are made to signifie fruitfulnes They bring forth euery yeere and lay their egges in the earth or dry land For during the space of three-score dayes they lay euery day an egge within the like space they are hatched into young ones by sitting or lying vpon them by course the male one while the female another The time of their hatching is in a moderate and temperate time otherwise they perrish and come to nothing for extremity of heate spoyleth the egge as the buds of some trees are burned and scorched off by the like occasion The egge is not much greater then the egge of a Goose and the young one out of the shell is of the same proportion And so from such a small beginning doth this huge and monstrous Serpent grow to his great stature the reason whereof saith Aristotle is because it groweth all his life long euen to the length of ten or moe cubits When it hath layd the egges it carryeth them to the place where they shall be hatched for by a naturall prouidence and fore-sight it auoydeth the waters of Nilus and therefore euer layeth her egges beyond the compasse of her floods by obseruation whereof the people of Egypt know euery yeere the inundation of Nilus before it happen And in the measure of this place it is apparent that this beast is not indued onely with a spirit of reason but also with a fatidicall or propheticall geographicall delineation for so shee placeth her egges in the brimme or banke of the flood before the flood commeth that the water may couer the nest but not herselfe that sitteth vpon the egges And the like to this is the building of the Beauer as we haue shewed in due place before in the History of Foure-footed beastes So soone as the young ones are hatched they instantly fall into the depth of the vvater but if they meete with frogge snayle or any other such thing fit for their meate they doe presently teare it in peeces the damme byteth it with her mouth as it were punishing the pusillanimity thereof but if it hunt greater things and be greedy rauening industrious and bloody that she maketh much of and killing the other nourisheth and tendereth this aboue measure after the example of the wisest men who loue their childrē in iudgement fore-seeing their industrious inclination and not in affection without regard of worth vertue or merrit It is said by Philes that after the egge is layd by the Crocodile many times there is a cruell stinging Scorpion which commeth out thereof and woundeth the Crocodile that layde it To conclude they neuer prosper but neere the waters and they liue threescore yeeres or the age of a mans life The nature of this beast is to be fearefull rauening malitious and trecherous in getting of his prey the subtiltie of whose spirit is by some attributed to the thinnesse of his blood and by other to the hardnes of his skin and hide How it dealeth with her young ones we haue shewed already as it were trying their nature whether they will degenerate or no and the like things are reported of the Aspes Cancers Torteyses of Egypt From hence came the conceit of Pietas Crocodili the pietie of the Crocodile But as we haue said it is a fearefull Serpent abhorring all manner of noyse especially from the strained voyce of a man and where hee findeth himselfe valiantly assaulted there also hee is discouraged and therefore Marcellinus saith of him Audax Monstrum fugacibus at vbi audacem senserit timidissimum An audacious Monster to them that runne away but most fearefull where he findeth resistance Some haue written that the Crocodile runneth away from a man if he winke with his left eye and looke stedfastly vppon him with his right eye but if this bee true it is not to be attributed to the vertue of the right eye but onely to the rarenesse of sight vvhich is conspicuous to the Serpent from one eye The greatest terrour vnto Crocodiles as both Seneca and Pliny affirme are the inhabitants of the Ile Tentyrus within Nilus for those people make them runne away with their voyces and many times pursue and take them in snares Of these people speaketh Solinus in this manner There is a generation of men in the Ile Tentyrus within the waters of Nilus which are of a most aduerse nature to the Crocodile dwelling also in the same place And although their persons

found in the walls of old houses betwixt the stones and the morter They loue also cleane clothes as we haue sayd already and yet they abhorre all places whereon the Sunne shyneth And it seemeth that the sunne is vtterly against their nature for the same Scorpion which Wolphius had at Montpelier liued in the glasse vntill one day he set in the Sunne and then presently after it dyed To conclude they loue hollow places of the earth neere gutters and sometimes they creepe into mens beddes where vnawares they doe much harme and for this cause the Lybians who among other Nations are most of all troubled with Scorpions do vse to set theyr beddes farre from any wall and very high also from the floore to keepe the Scorpions from ascending vp vnto them And yet fearing all deuises should be too little to secure them against this euill they also set the feete of theyr beddes in vessells of water that so the Scorpion may not attempt so much as to climbe vp vnto them for feare of drowning And also for their further safegard they were socks and hose in theyr beddes so thicke as the Scorpion cannot easily sting thorough them And if the bed be so placed that they cannot get any hold thereof beneath then they clymbe vp to the sieling or couer of the house if there they find any hold for their pinching legges to apprehend and fasten vppon then in their hatred to man-kind they vse this pollicie to come vnto him First one of them as I haue said taketh hold vppon that place in the house or sieling ouer the bed wherein they find the man asleepe and so hangeth thereby putting out and stretching his sting to hurt him but finding it too short and not beeing able to reach him he suffereth another of his fellowes to come and hang as fast by him as he doth vpon his hold and so that second giueth the wound and if that second be not able likewise because of the distance to come at the man then they both admit a third to hang vpon them and so a fourth vpon the third and a fift vpon the fourth vntill they haue made themselues like a chayne to descend from the toppe to the bedde wherin the man sleepeth and the last striketh him after which stroke he first of all runneth away by the backe of his fellow and euery one againe in order till all of them haue withdrawne themselues By this may be collected the crafty disposition of this Scorpion and the great subtiltie and malice that it is indued withall in nature and seeing they can thus accord together in harming a man it argueth their great mutuall loue and concord one with another wherfore I cannot but maruell at them who haue written that the old ones destroy the young all but one which they set vpon theyr owne buttocks that so the damme may be secured from the sting and bytings of her sonne For seeing they can thus hang vpon one another without harme fauouring their owne kinde I see no cause but that nature hath grafted much more loue betwixt the old and the young ones so as neither the old do first destroy the young nor afterward that young one preserued in reuenge of his fellowes quarrell killeth his Parents It is reported by Aristotle that there is a hill in Caria wherein the Scorpions doe neuer sting any strangers that lodge there but onely the naturall borne people of that country And heere-vnto Pliny and Elianus seeme to subscribe when they write that Scorpiones extraneos leniter mordere that is Scorpions byte strangers but gently And heereby it may be collected that they are also by nature very sagacious and can discerne betwixt nature and nature yea the particuler differences in one the same nature To conclude Scorpions haue no power to hurt where there is no blood The naturall amity and enmity they obserue with other creatures commeth now to be handled and I find that it wanteth not aduersaries nor it againe hath no defect of poyson or malice to make resistance and opposition and to take vengeance on such as it meeteth withall The principall of all other subiects of their hatred are virgins and vvomen whom they doe not onely desire to harme but also when they haue harmed are neuer perfectly recouered And this is at all times of the day but vnto men they are most dangerous in the morning fasting before they haue vented their poyson and this is to be obserued that their tayles are neuer vnprouided of stings and sufficient store of venome to hurt vpon all occasions The Lyon is by the Scorpion put to flight wheresoeuer hee seeth it for he feareth it as the enemy of his life and therefore writeth S. Ambrose Exigno Scorpionis aculeo exagitatur Leo the Lyon is much mooued at the small sting of a Scorpion Scorpions doe also destroy other Serpents and are likewise destroyed by them There was one Cellarius a Phisitian in Padua who put together into one viall a Viper and a Scorpion where they continually fought together vntill they had killed one another The Swyne of Scythia which doe safely eate all other kind of Serpents and venomous beasts without all harme yet are destroyed by eating of Scorpions and so great is the poyson of the Sibarite Scopion that the dung thereof beeing trode vppon breedeth vlcers And as in this manner we see the virulence and naturall euill of Scorpions against other liuing creatures so now we are to consider the terrours of the Scorpion for God in nature hath likewise ordained some bodies whereby the Scorpion should be and is dryuen away scarred and destroyed First of all therefore men which are the cheefe and head of all liuing creatures do by naturall instinct kill and destroy Scorpions and therefore Galen wryteth thus Let vs saith he kill Scorpions Spyders and Vipers not because they are euill in themselues but because it is ingrafted in vs by nature to loue that which is good vnto vs but to hate and auert from that which is euill vnto vs Non consider antes genitum ne it a sit an secus not cōsidering whether it were so bred or not As we haue shewed their generation out of putrefaction to be by heate so also is their destruction by heate for they are not able to abide the heate of the sunne and therefore although they cannot liue in cold Northerne Countries but in the hotter yet in the hotter they choose shaddowes holes of the earth couerture of houses and such like vile and obscure places to succour and secure themselues in It is also reported that if Scorpions doe at any time behold a Stellion they stand amazed and wonderfully astonished The Viper also hauing killed a Scorpion becommeth more venomous and the Ibis of Egypt destroyeth Scorpions There are a little kind of Emmets called by the Arabians Gerarets which are eaters of Scorpions The quicke-sighted Hawkes also from whose piercing eye

their meate instantly leape out and so the man that deluded them is ready with a paire of tonges or other instrument to lay hold vpon them and take them by which meanes they take many and of them so taken make oyle of Scorpions And Constantius writeth that if a mans hand be well annointed with iuyce of Radish he may take them without danger in his bare hand In the next place we are to proceede to the venom poyson of Scorpions the instrument or sting whereof lyeth not onely in the tayle but also in the teeth for as Ponzettus writeth Laedit scorpius morsu ictu the Scorpion harmeth both with teeth tayle that is although the greatest harme doe come by the sting in the tayle yet is there also some that cōmeth by their byting This poyson of Scorpions as Pliny out of Apollodorus writeth is white and in the heate of the day is very feruent and plentifull so as at that time they are insatiably and vnquenchably thirsty for not onely the wild or wood Scorpion but also all other are of a hot nature and the symptomes of their bytings are such as follow the effects of hote poysons and therefore saith Rasis all their remedies are of a colde qualitie Yet Galen thinketh otherwise and that the poyson is cold and the effects thereof are also cold For which cause Rondeletus prescribeth oyle of Scorpions to expell the stone and also the cure of the poyson is by strong Garlicke and the best Wine which are hote things And therefore I conclude that although Scorpions be most hote yet is their poyson of a cold nature In the next place I thinke is needfull to expresse the symptomes following the striking or stinging of these venomous Scorpions and they are as Aetius writeth the very same which follow the byting or poyson of that kinde of great Phalanx Spyder called also Teragnatum and that is they are in such case as those persons be which are smitten with the Falling-sicknesse He which is stung by a Scorpion thinketh that he is pressed with the fall of great and cold hayle beeing so cold as if hee were continually in a cold sweat and so in short space the poyson disperseth it selfe vvithin the skinne and runneth all ouer the body neuer ceasing vntill it come to possesse some predominant or principall vitall part and then followeth death For as the skinne is small and thin so the sting pierceth to the bottom thereof and so into the flesh where it woundeth and corrupteth eyther some veyne or arterie or sinew and so the member harmed swelleth immediatly into an exceeding great bulke and quantity and aking with insufferable torment But yet as we haue already said there is a difference of the paine according to the difference of the Scorpion that stingeth If a man be stung in the lower part of his body instantly followeth the extension of his virile member the swelling thereof but if in the vpper part then is the person affected with cold and the place smitten is as if it were burned his countenaunce or face discorted glewish spots about the eyes the teares viscous and slymie hardnes of the articles falling downe of the fundament and a continuall desire to egestion foaming at the mouth coughing conuulsions of the braine and drawing the face backward the hayre standes vpright palenesse goeth ouer all the body and a continuall pricking like the pricking of needels Also Gordomus writeth that if the pricke fall vppon an artery there followeth swouning but if on a nerue there speedily followeth putrefaction and rottennesse And those Scorpions which haue wings make wounds with a compasse like a bow whose succeeding symptomes are both heate and cold and if they hurt about the caniculer dayes their wounds are very sildome recouered The Indian Scorpions cause death three months after their wounds But most wonderfull is that which Strabo relateth of the Albenian Scorpions and Spyders whereof hee saith are two kinds and one kind killeth by laughing the other by weeping And if any Scorpion hurt a vaine in the head it causeth death by madnesse as writeth Paracelsus When an oxe or other beast is strooken with a Scorpion his knees are drawne together and he halteth refusing meate out of his nose floweth a greene humour and when hee is layd he careth not for rising againe These and such like are the symptomes that follow the bytings and stingings of Scorpions for the cure whereof I will remit the Reader to that excellent discourse written by Wolphius wherein are largely and learnedly expressed whatsoeuer Art could collect out of nature And seeing we in our Country are free from Scorpions and therefore shal haue no neede to feare their poyson it shall not I trust offend my Reader if I cut off the relation of Scorpions cures as a thing which cannot benefit either the English-Reader or else much adorne this history and so I will proceede to the medicines drawne out of Scorpions The application or vse of Scorpions in medicine is eyther by powder or by oyle or by applying them brused to their owne wounds wherefore euery one of these are to be handled particularly and first of all for the powder it is made by vstion or burning in this manner They take tenne Scorpions and put them aliue into a new earthen potte whose mouth is to be dammed vp with loame or such like stuffe then must it be sette vpon a fire of Vine-tree-shreddes and therein must the pot stand day and night vntill all within it be consumed to powder and you shall know by their white colour when they be enough otherwise if they be browne or burned they must be continued longer and the vse of this powder is to expell the stone Againe they vse to make this powder another way they take twentie Scorpions and put them in a little earthen pot with a narrow mouth which mouth must be stopped and then the potte put into a Furnace by the space of sixe houres which Furnace must also be kept close within and with a gentle fire then after sixe houres take off the pot and bruse the Scorpions into powder and keepe that powder for the vse afore-said There are other waies also to prepare this powder but in all preparations the attendant and assistant must take heede of the fume or smoake that commeth from it for that is very venomous and contagious But besides there are many things to be obserued heerein as first that the Scorpions be aliue and that they be killed in oyle then that they be put in whole with euery member without mutilation and that the Scorpions appointed for this confection be of the strongest poyson and the time of their collection to be when the Sunne is in Leo and not in Scorpius as some without reason haue imagined The oyle so made is distinguished into two kindes one simple and the other compound The simple is made of a conuenient number of Scorpions as

her least peraduenture he might be infected by her poysonous breath or by the venome euaporated by her sweating Albertus likewise hath recorded in his writings that there vvas a certaine noble young Virgine dwelling at Colen in Germany who from her tender yeeres was fedde onely with Spyders And thus much we English-men haue knowne that there was one Henry Lilgraue liuing not many yeeres since beeing Clarke of the Kitchen to the right noble Ambrose Dudley Earle of Warwicke who would search euery corner for Spyders and if a man had brought him thirtie or fortie at one time he would haue eaten them all vp very greedily such was his desirous longing after them OF THE STELLION THey are much deceiued that confound the greene Lyzard or any other vulgar Lyzard for because the Stellion hath a rustie colour and yet as Matthiolus writeth seeing Aristotle hath left recorded that there are venomous Stellions in Italy he thinketh that the little white beast with starres on the backe found about the Cittie ofRome in the vvalls and ruines of old houses and is there called Tarentula is the Stellion of which Aristotle speaketh and there it liueth vpon Spyders Yet that there is another and more noble kind of Stellion aunciently so called of the Learned shall afterward appeare in the succeeding discourse This Beast or Serpent is called by the Graecians Colottes Ascalobotes Galeotes and such an one was that which Aristophanes faineth from the side of a house eased her belly into the mouth of Socrates as hee gaped when in a Moone-shine night hee obserued the course of the starres and motion of the Moone The reason of this Greeke name Ascalabotes is taken from Ascalos a circle because it appeareth on the backe full of such circles like starres as writeth Perottus Howbeit that seemeth to be a fayned Etymologie and therefore I rather take it that Ascala signifieth impuritie and that by reason of the vncleanenesse of this beast it was called Ascalabetes or as Suidas deriueth it of Colobates because by the helpe and dexteritie of the fingers it clymbeth vppe the walls euen as Rats and myce or as Kiramides will haue it from Calos signifying a peece of wood because it clymbeth vppon wood and Trees And for the same reason it is called Galeotes because it clymbeth like a Weasill but at this day it is vulgarly called among the Graecians Liakoni although some are also of opinion that it is also knowne among them by the words Thamiamithos and Psammamythe Among the vulgar Haebrewes it is sometimes called Letaah and sometimes Semmamit as Munster vvriteth The Arrabians call it Sarnabraus and Senabras a Stellion of the Gardens And peraduenture Guarill Guasemabras Alurel and Gnases And Syluaticus also vseth Epithetes for a Stellion And the generall Arabian word for such creeping byting things is Vasga which is also rendered a dragon of the house Insteed of Colotes Albertus hath Arcolus The Germaines English and French haue no words for this Serpent except the Latine word and therefore I was iustly constrained to call it a Stellion in imitation of the Latine word As I haue shewed some difference about the name so it now ensueth that I should doe the like about the nature and place of their abode First of all therefore I must put a difference betwixt the Italian Stellion or Tarentula and the Thracian or Graecian for the Stellion of the Ancients is propper to Gracia For they say this Stellion is full of Lentile spots or speckles making a sharpe or shrill shrieking noyse and is good to be eaten but the other in Italy are not so Also they say in Sicilia that their Stellions inflict a deadly byting but those in Italy cause no great harme by their teeth They are couered with a skin like a shell or thicke barke and about their backes there are many little shining spots like eyes from whence they haue their names streaming like starres or droppes of bright cleare water according to this verse of Ouid. Aptumque colori Nomen habet varijs Stellatus corpor a guttis Which may be englished thus And like his spotted hiew so is his name The body starred ouer like drops of rayne It mooueth but slowly the backe and tayle beeing much broader then is the backe and tayle of a Lyzard but the Italian Tarentulaes are white and in quantitie like the smallest Lyzards and the other Graecian Lyzards called at this day among them Haconi is of bright siluer colour and are very harmefull and angry whereas the other are not so but so meeke and gentle as a man may put his fingers into the mouth of it without danger One reason of their white bright shining colour is because they want blood and therefore it was an errour in Syluaticus to say that they had blood The teeth of this Serpent are very small and crooked and whensoeuer they byte they sticke fast in the wound and are not pulled forth againe except with violence The tayle is not very long yet when by any chaunce it is broken bytten or cut off then it groweth againe They liue in houses and neere vnto the doores and windowes thereof make their lodgings and some-times in dead-mens graues and Sepulchres but most commonly they clymbe and creepe aloft so as they fall downe againe some-times into the meate as it is in dressing and sometimes into other things as we haue already said into Socrates mouth when they descend of their owne accord they creepe side-long They eate Hony and for that cause creepe into the hiues of Bees except they be very carefully stopped as Virgill writeth Nam saepe fauos ignotus adedit Stellio Many times the Stellion at vnawares meeteth with the Hony combes They also of Italy many times eate Spyders They all lye hidde foure monthes of the yeere in vvhich time they eate nothing and twice in the yeere that is to say both in the Spring-time and Autumne they cast theyr skinne which they greedily eate so soone as they haue stripped it off Which Theophrastus and other Authors write is an enuious part in this Serpent or creeping creature because they vnderstand that it is a noble remedy against the Falling-sicknesse vvherefore to keepe men from the benefit and good which might come there-by they speedily deuoure it And from this enuious and subtile part of the Stellion commeth the cryme in Vlpianus called Crimen Stellionatus that is when one man fraudulently preuenteth another of his money or wares or bargaine euen as the Stellion dooth man-kind of the remedy which commeth vnto them by and from his skinne This cryme is also called Extortion and among the Romans when the Tribunes did with-draw from the Souldiours their prouision of victuall and Corne it is said Tribunos qui per Stellatur as Militibus aliquid abstulissent capitali poena affecit And therefore Budaeus relateth a history of two Tribunes who for this stellature were worthilie stoned to death by the commaundement of the