this Serpents History They are brought out of the Easterne Countries or out of Aegypt yet the Monkes of Mesuen affirme that they had seene Scinkes or Crocodiles of the earth about Rome Syluaticus and Platearius in Apulia But howsoeuer their affections may lead them to coniecture of this serpent I rather beleeue that it is an Affrican beast seldome foūd in Asia or Europe They loue the bankes of Nilus although they dare not enter the water and for this cause some haue thought but vntruely that when the Crocodile layeth her egges in the water the young is there also engendered and hatched and is a Crocodile of the water but if they lay theyr egges on the dry Land from thence commeth the Scinke or Crocodile of the earth This folly is euidently refuted because that they neuer lay egges in the water but all vpon the dry Land They are found as I haue said before in Aegypt and also in Affricke and among the Lydians of Mauritania otherwise called Lodya or rather Lybia among the Pastorall or Plow-men Affricans among the Arabians and neere the red Sea for all those at this day solde at Venice are brought from those partes The greatest in the world are in India as Cardan teacheth who are in all thinges like Lizards sauing in their excrements which smell or sauour more strongly and generally the difference of their quantity ariseth from the Country which they inhabite for in the hotter and moyster country they are greater in the hotter dryer Region they are smaller generally they exceede not two or three cubits in length with an answerable proportionable body which is thus described There bee certaine crosse lines which come along the backe one by one somewhat white and of a dusky colour and those that be dusky haue also in them some white spots The vpper part of the necke is very dusky the head and the tayle are more white the feet and all the neather part of the breast and belly are white with appearance vpon them of some scales or rather the skinne figured in the proportion of scales vppon either feete they haue fiue distinct fingers or clawes the length of their Legges is a Thumbe and a halfe that is three inches the tayle two fingers long the body sixe so that the whole length from the head to the tippe of the tayle which is first thicke and then very small at the end is about eyght fingers When they haue taken them they bowell them and fill theyr bodies with Sugar and Silke of Wooll and so they sell them for a reasonable price That which I haue written of their length of eyght fingers is not so to bee vnderstood as though they neuer exceeded or came short of that proportion for some-times they are brought into these partes of the World twenty or foure and twenty fingers long sometimes againe not aboue fiue or sixe fingers long When they lay theyr Egges they commit them to the earth euen as the Crocodiles of the water doe They liue vpon the most odoriferous flowers and therefore is his flesh so sweete and his dung or excrements odoriferous They are enemies to Bees and liue much about Hiues insomuch as some haue thought they did lay their Egges in Hiues and there hatch their young ones But the occasion of this error was that they savve young ones brought by theyr Parents into some Hiue to feede vpon the labouring Bee For the compassing of theyr desire they make meale of any tree which they haue ground in the Mill of their owne mouths and that they mix with blacke Hellebor iuyce or with the liquor of Mallowes this meale so tempered they lay before the hiues wherof assoone as the Bees tast they dye and then commeth the Crocodile with her young ones and lick thē vp and beside Bees I doe not read they are hurtfull to any The Indians haue a little beast about the quantity of a little Dogge which they call Phattage very like to a Scinke or Crocodile of the Earth hauing sharp scales as cutting as a saw There is some hurt by this beast vnto men for which cause I may iustly reckon it among the venomous for if it chance to bite any man if the wounded man fall into a seuer before he make water he dyeth for it but if he first make water the beast dyeth and the man escapeth It is thought that it containeth a kind of naturall magicke witch-craft or sorcery and therefore they say it hath a stupifying power changing the mind from louc to hatred and from hatred to loue againe The powder of this Serpent drunke in Wine if it stirre venerous lust it hurteth the Nerues and sinnewes There be certaine magicall deuises raysed out of this Serpent which are not woorth the writing as not hauing in them any dram of wit learning or truth and therefore I will not trouble the Reader with them but follow on the conclusion of this Crocodiles story in the Narration of the medicinall vertues which are farre moe and more operatiue then those in the former Crocodile for I thinke Almighty GOD blesseth meekenes and innocency with excesse of grace in men and beastes as may be seene in these two kindes of Crocodiles the dung and excrement of the one beeing more worth then the body of the other through harmelesse innocency The body of this Serpent to be dryed after it hath line long in salt and to bee preserued in Noosewort as Ruellius and Marcellus write but truth is there is no need of Salt where Nosewort is applyed because the Arcrimony of this Hearb doth easily dry vp the moysture of the beast keeping Wormes from breeding in it With the powder thus prepared venerious men stirre vp their lustes Mithridate is called Diasincu because it is compounded of the Scinke or Crocodile of the earth and it containeth in it a most noble Antidote against all poysons Gallen had an Antidote against Scorptions which among other thinges containeth in it the flesh of a Crocodile of the Earth wherewithall he cured all them that had beene stung with Scorpions in Lybia It is also good agaynst the byting of mad beastes and pleurises against poysoned Hony or the crudity and loathing that commeth in the stomacke by eating of sound Honny It is profitable against empoysoned Arrowes or Dartes being taken immediately before or after the wound as Apelles hath obserued Serapio did make a medicine compounded of the dung of this Crocodile and applyed the same against the falling sicknesse Of the body of this Scinke except the head and the feete being sod or rosted and eaten by them that haue the Sciattica an old cough especially children or the paine of the loynes giueth them much ease They are also mixed with medicines against the paine of the feete as Galen did for Amarantus the Grammartan They are also good in medicine against the coldnesse of the sinnewes This beast is very hot and therefore increaseth the seede
like Brasse yet darke and dusky and their belly partly white and partly of an earthy colour but vpon either side they had certaine little prickes or spottes like printed Starres their length was not past foure fingers their eyes looked backward and the holes and passages of their â—ares were round the fingers of their feet were very small beeing fiue in number both before and behinde vvith small nailes and behind that was the longest which standeth in the place of a mans fore-finger and one of them standeth different from the other as the Thumbe doth vppon a mans hand but on the forefeete all of them stand equall not one behinde or before another Now concerning the different kinds of Lizards I must speake as breefely as I can in this place wherein I shall comprehend both the Countries wherein they breâ—de and also their seuerall kinds with some other accidents necessary to be knowne There is a kind of Lizard called Guarell or Vrell and Alguarill with the dung whereof the Physitions do cure little pimples and spots in the face and yet Bellunensis maketh a question whether this be to be referred to the Lizards or not because Lizards are not found but in the couÌ„trey out of Citties and these are found euery where There is also another kind of Lizard called Lacertus Martensis which being sâ—â—ted with the head and purple Wooll Oyle of Cedar and the powder of burnt Paper so put into a linnen-cloth and rubbed vpon a bald place doe cause the haire that is falne off to come againe There be other Lyzards called by the Graecians Arurae and by the Latines Lacertae Pissininae which continually abide in greene corne these burned to powder and the same mixed with the best wine and hony doe cure blind eyes by an oyntment The picture of the Lyzard with the belly vpward Albertus writeth that a friend of his worthy of credit did tell him that he had seene in Prouence a part of Fraunce and also in Spaine Lyzards as bigge as a mans legge is thick but not very long and these did inhabit hollow places of the earth and that many times when they perceiued a man or a beast passe by them they would suddainly leape vppe to his face at one blow pull off his cheek The like also is reported of Piemont in France where there be Lyzards as great as little puppies and that the people of the Country do seeke after their dunge or excrements for the sweetnes and other vertues thereof In Lybia there are Lyzards two cubits long and in one of the Fortunate-Ilands called Capraria there are also exceeding great Lyzards In the Iland of Dioscorides neere to Arabia the lesser there are very great Lyzards the flesh whereof the people eate and the satte they seeth and vse in steede of oyle these are two cubits long and I know not whether they be the same which the Affricans call Dubh and liue in the desarts of Lybia They drinke nothing at all for water is present death vnto them so that a man would thinke that this Serpent were made all of fire because it is so presently destroyed with water Beeing killed there commeth no blood out of it neither hath it any poyson but in the head tayle This the people hunt after to eate for the tast of the flesh is like the tast of Frogges flesh and when it is in the hole or denne it is very hardly drawne forth except with spades and Mattocks whereby the passages are opened and beeing abroad it is swift of foote The Lyzards of India especially about the Mountaine Nisa are 24. foote in length their colour variable for their skin seemeth to be flourished with certaine pictures soft tender to be handled I haue heard that there hangeth a Lyzard in the Kinges house at Paris whose body is as thicke as a mans body and his length or stature little lesse it is said it was taken in a prison or common Gaole beeing found sucking the legges of prisoners and I doe the rather beleeue this because I remember such a thing recorded in the Chronicles of Fraunce and also of another some-what lesser preserued in the same Cittie in a Church called Saint Anthonies And to the intent that this may seeme no strange nor incredible thing it is reported by Volatteran that when the King of Portugall had conquered certaine Ilands in Ethiopia in one of them they slew a Lyzard which had deuoured or swallowed downe a whole infant so great wide was the mouth thereof it was eight cubits long and for a rare miracle it was hanged vppe at the gate Flumentana in Rome in the roofe dedicated to the virgin Mary Besides these there are other kind of Lyzards as that called Lacerta vermicularis because it liueth vpon wormes Spyders in the narrow walls of old buildings Also a siluer-coloured Lyzard called Liacome liuing in dry and sunne-shining places Another kind called Senabras and Adare and Sennekie Scen is a redde Lyzard as Siluaticus writeth but I rather take it to be the Scincke or Crocodile of the earth which abound neere the Red-Sea There is also another kinde of Lyzard called Lacertus Solaris a Lyzard of the Sunne to whom Epiphanius compareth certaine Heretickes called Sapmsaei because they perceiue their eye-sight to bee dimme and dull They turne themselues fasting in theyr Caues to the East or Sunne-rysing whereby they recouer their eye-sight againe In Sarmatia a Countrey of the Rutenes there is a Prouince called Samogithia wherein the Lyzards are very thicke blacke and great which the foolish Countrey people do worshippe very familiarly as the Gods of good fortune for vvhen any good befalleth them they intertaine them with plentifull banquets and liberall cheare but if any harme or mischaunce happen vnto them then they vvith-dravv that liberality and intreate them more coursely and so these dizzardly people thinke to make these Lizards by this meanes more attentiue and vigilant for theyr welfare and prosperity In the Prouince of Caraia Subiect to the Tartars there are very great Lizards or at least wise Serpents like Lizard sbred containing in length ten yards with an answerable and correspondent compasse and thicknesse Some of these want their fore-Legges in place whereof they haue clawes like the clavves of a Lyon or talants of a Falcon. Their head is great and their eyes like two great Loaues Their mouth and the opening thereof so wide as it may swallow downe a whole man armed with great long and sharp teeth so as neuer any man or other creature durst without terror looke vpon that Serpent Wherefore they haue inuented this art or way to take them The Serpent vseth in the day time to lye in the Caues of the Earth or else in hollovv plaees of Rockes and Mountaines In the night time it commeth forth to feede ranging vp and and down seeking what it may deuour neither sparing Lyon Beare nor Bull or smaller beast but
vndoubted Antiquaries and also the euidence of all ages not excepting this wherein we liue wherein are and haue beene shewed publiquely many Serpents and Serpents skinnes I receiue warrant sufficient to expresse what they haue obserued and assured aunswere for all future Obiections of ignorant incredulous and vnexperienced Asses Wherefore as the life of Serpents is long so is the time of theyr groweth and as their kindes be many as wee shall manifest in the succeeding discourse so in their multitude some grow much greater and bigger then other Gellius writeth that when the Romanes were in the Carthagenian warre and Attilius Regulus the Consull had pitched his Tents neere vnto the riuer Bragrada there was a Serpent of monstrous quantitie which had beene lodged within the compasse of the Tents and therefore did cause to the whole Armie exceeding great calamitie vntill by casting of stones with slings and many other deuises they oppressed and slew that Serpent and afterward fleyed off the skinne and sent it to Rome which was in length one hundred and twentie feete And although this seemeth to be a Beast of vnmatchable stature yet Possidonius a Christian Writer relateth a storie of another which was much greater for hee writeth that he saw a Serpent dead of the length of an acre of Land and all the residue both of head and bodie were answerable in proportion for the bulke of his bodie was so great and lay so high that two Horsemen could not see one the other beeing at his two sides and the widenes of his mouth was so great that hee could receiue at one time within the compasse thereof a horse and a man on his backe both together The scales of his coate or skinne beeing euery one like a large buckler or target So that now there is no such cause to wonder at the Serpent which is said to be killed by S. George which was as is reported so great that eight Oxen were but strength enough to drawe him out of the Cittie Silena There is a Riuer called Rhyndacus neere the Coasts of Bythinia wherein are Snakes of exceeding monstrous quantitie for when thorough heate they are forced to take the water for their safegard against the sunne and birds come flying ouer the poole suddenlie they raise their heads and vpper parts out thereof and swallow them vp The Serpents of Megalauna are said by Pausanias to be thirtie cubits long and all their other part answerable But the greatest in the world are found in India for there they grow to such a quantitie that they swallow vp whole Bulls and great Stagges Wherefore I doe not maruell that Porus the King of India sent to Augustus Caesar very huge Vipers a Serpent of tenne cubits long a Torteise of three cubits and a Partridge greater then a Vulture For Alexander in his nauigation vpon the Red-Sea saith that hee saw Serpents fortie cubits long and all their other parts and members of the same quantity Among the Scyritae the Serpents come by great swarmes vppon their flocks of sheepe and cattell and some they eate vp all others they kill and sucke out the blood and some part they carry away But if euer there were any thing beyond credite it is the relation of Volateran in his twelfth booke of the New-found Lands wherein he writeth that there are Serpents of a myle long which at one certaine time of the yeere come abroad out of their holes and dennes of habitation and destroy both the Heards and Heard-men if they find them Much more fauourable are the Serpents of a Spanish Island who doe no harme to any liuing thing although they haue huge bodies and great strength to accomplish their desires In the kingdome of Senega their Serpents are so great that they deuoure whole beasts as Goates and such like without breaking any one of their bones In Calechute they are as great as their greatest Swine and not much vnlike them except in their head which doth farre exceede a Swines And because the King of that Country hath made a Lavv that no man kill a Serpent vnder paine of death they are as great in number as they are in quantitie for so great is his error that hee deemeth it as lawfull to kill a Man as a Serpent All kindes of Serpents are referred to their place of habitation which is eyther the earth or the waters of the earth and the serpents of the earth are moe in number then the serpents of the vvater except the serpents of the Sea And yet it is thought by the most learned Rabbines that the serpents of the Sea are fishes in the likenes of Dragons Nowe the places of Serpents abode beeing thus generally capitulated wee must enter into a farther narration of their habitations and regions of their natiue breeding In the first place India nourisheth many and diuers sorts of Serpents especially in the Kingdome of Morfilium and Alexander the Emperour found among other Beasts sundry kinds of serpentâ— in a long Desert which is on the North-side of India But all the Nations of the World may giue place to Ethiopia for multitude and varietie for there they gather together on heapes and lye in compasse like round hills visibly apparant to the eyes of them that behold them a farre off The like is said of all Affrica for in Numidia euery yeere there are many men women and children destroyed by Serpents The Island Pharus is also by the testimony of the Egyptians filled with serpents The Coastes of Elymais are annoyed by serpents and the Caspians are so annoyed by serpents which come swymming in the floods that men cannot sayle that waies but in the Winter-time For from the beginning of the Spring or aequinoctiall they seeme for their number to approch fauening like troupes and Armies There are also certaine Ilands called Ophiusae insulae named after Ophis a serpent for the multitude bred therein And there are serpents in Candy Ephesus and all hot Countries for this priuiledge hath GOD in nature giuen to the colder Countreys that they are lesse annoyed with serpents and their serpents also lesse nocent and hurtfull and therefore the serpents of Europe are fewer in number lesser in quantity and more resistable for their weakenes and strength There were a people in Campania called Osci because of the multitude of serpents bred among them Likewise there are great store in Lombardy and Ferrara And whereas we haue saide that the most nocent and harmfull serpents are breddâ— in the hotest Regions where they engender more speedily and also grow into greater proportions yet is it not to be vnderstood of any speciall propertie appertayning to them alone for I read in Olaus Magnus his description of the Northerne Regions of serpents of as great quantitie as in any other place of the World but yet their poyson is not halfe so venomous hurtfull as in the hoter Regions especially the Affrican serpents In Botina
neere Liuonia there are great store of great serpents also so that the Heard-men are at continuall war and contention with them for defence of their flock Likewise in the Mountaines of Heluetia and Auergne whereof there are many wonders reported in the world which I will not stand vpon to relate in this place We reade also that some places haue beene disinhabited dispeopled by serpents such were the people of Scythia called Neuri who before the war of Darius were constrained to forsake theyr soyle because they were annoyed not onely with home-bred serpents but also with many other which came from other parts and so the Country remaineth desolate to this present day the ancient Inhabitants beeing all remooued to dwell among the Buditani The Cittie Amyclae in Italy as M Varro writeth was destroyed also by serpents And there be certains places of the world which haue receiued their denomination from serpents besides the Ophiusae neere Creete The Iland Tenos was called Hydrussa and Ophiussa so were Cremiuscos Aepolium and the Mountaines Macrocremnij Rhodus the long Ilands Ophiades in the Arabian coast which after it had remained a long time desart was purged and cleered from serpents by the Kings of Egypt Nicaenetus also calleth Cyprus Ophiodia And in Pausanias we read of a place name Opheos Kephale the Serpents head The like might be saide of Riuers as of Orontes called also Ophites and Ophis in Pontus which deuideth a sunder Colchis and the Country Thiamica Ebusus nourisheth no serpents and the earth thereof hath in it a secret vertue to driue away serpents wherefore it is much desired of all men to carry about them for that it hath beene often prooued that neuer any venomous beast durst aduenture vpon any man possessed thereof The like is said of Ireland as our owne Chronicles doe plentifully declare and therefore I will spare to enter into any narration thereof To come therfore to the more particular abode of Serpents especially of such as are knowne to vs we must leaue of the talke and nominaton of Kingdoms and descend to dennes holes caues dunghils sheep-coats valleys rocks hollow-walls and trees woods greene pastures hedges and such like places wherein they make their most abode And now and then in these Northerne parts of the world yet sildome they diue downe into the bottome or rootes of trees especially such as are greene all the Winter-time For they finde in them a greater heate or warmth then in other whose leaues fall off and decay in the cold weather except in the rootes of Birch And by reason of their multitude gathered together at the roote of this tree it falleth out that their breath heateth the same and so preserueth the leaues of it from falling off Wherefore in auncient time the ignorant multitude seeing a Birch-tree with greene leaues in the Winter did call it our Ladies Tree or a Holy tree attributing that greenenesse to miracle not knowing the former reason or secrete of Nature Solinus reporteth of such a like wood in a part of Affrica wherein all the Winter time the leaues of all the Trees abide greene the cause is as before recited for that the Serpents liuing at the rootes of the trees in the earth doe heate thē with their breath Neither ought any man to wonder that they should so friendly liue together especially in the winter cold time seeing that by experience in England we know that for warmth they will creepe into bed-straw about the legges of men in their sleepe as may appeare by this succeeding discourse of a true history done in England in the house of a worshipfull Gentleman vpon a seruant of his whom I could name if it were needfull He had a seruaunt that grew very lame and feeble in his legges thinking that he could neuer be warme in his bed did multiply his clothes and couered himselfe more more but all in vaine till at length he was not able to goe about neither could any skill of Phisitian or Surgeon find out the cause It hapned on a day as his Maister leaned at his Parlour window he saw a great Snake to slide along the house side and to creepe into the chamber of this lame man then lying in his bedde as I remember for hee lay in a lowe chamber directly against the Parlour window afore-said The Gentleman desirous to see the issue and what the snake would doe in the chamber followed and looked into the chamber by the window where hee espied the snake to slide vppe into the bed-straw by some way open in the bottome of the bedde which was of old bordes Straightway his hart rising therat he called two or three of his seruaunts and told them what he had seene bidding them goe take their Rapiers kill the said snake The seruing-men came first and remoued the lame man as I remember and then the one of them turned vp the bed and the other two the straw their maister standing without at the hole whereinto the said snake had entered into the chamber The bedde was no sooner turned vp and the Rapier thrust into the straw but there issued forth fiue or six great snakes that were lodged therein Then the seruing-men bestirring themselues soone dispatched them cast them out of doores dead Afterward the lame mans legges recouered and became as strong as euer they were whereby did euidentlie appeare the coldnes of these snakes or Serpents which came close to his legges euerie night did so benumme them as he could not goe And thus for heate they pierce into the holes of chimneyes yea into the toppes of hills and houses much more into the bottomes and rootes of Trees When they perceiue that winter approcheth they find out their resting places wherin they lye halfe dead foure moneths together vntill the Spring-sunne againe communicating her heate to all Creatures reuiueth and as it were raiseth them vp from death to life During which time of cold and vvinter as Seneca writeth Tuto tractari pestifera serpens potest non desunt tunc illi venena sed torpent They may bee safely handled without feare of harme not because they want poyson at that time but because they are drouzie and deadly astonished But there is a question whether when they be in this secrecie or drouzines they awake not to eate or else their sleepe be vnto them in stead of foode Olaus Magnus affirmeth of the Northerne serpents that they eate not at all but are nourished with sleep Cardan saith that they take some little foode as appeareth by those which are carried vp and downe in boxes to be seene and are fedde with branne or cheasill But this may be aunswered that serpents in boxes are not so colde as those in woods and desarts and therefore seeing cold keepeth them from eating the externall heate of the box-house or humane body which beareth them about may be a cause that inclosed serpents feede in
brought forth againe the Aspes fell on them and slew them that had not eaten Cytron but the other had no harme at all The Egyptian Clematis or Periwinke drunke in vineger is very good against the poyson of Aspes so likewise is Corrall in Wine or the leaues of Yew Henbane brused with the leaues thereof and also bitter Hoppes haue the same operation The vrine of a Torteyse drunke is a medicine against all bytings of wild beasts and the vrine of a man hurt by an Aspe as Marcus Varro affirmed in the eyghtieninth yeere of his age according to the obseruation of Serenus saying Si vero horrendum vulnus ferafecerit aspis Vrinam credunt propriam conducere potu Varronis fuit ista senis sententia nec non Plinius vt memorat sumpti iuvat imber aceti Which may be englished thus If that an Aspe a mortall wound doe bite It 's thought his vrine well doth cure againe Such was the saying of old Varro hight And Pliny to drinke vineger like drops of raine But it is more safe to agree with Pliny in the prescription of mans vrine to restraine it to them that neuer had any beards And more particularly against the Aspe called Ptyas Matthiolus out of Dioscorides saith that the quintessence of Aqua vitae and the vsuall antidote both mixed together and drunke is most powerful against the venoms of the deafe Aspe And thus much for the antipathy cure of Aspes byting venomous nature whervnto I will adde for a conclusion that prouerbicall speech of one Aspe borrowing poyson of another out of Tertullian against the Hereticke Marcion who gathereth many of his absurd impieties from the vnbeleeuing Iewes Desinat nunc haereticus á Iudaeo aspis quod aiunt á vipera mutuari venenum that is let the haereticke now cease to borrow his venom of a Iew as the Aspes doe borrow their poyson from Vipers And true it is that this prouerbe hath especiall vse when one bad man is holpe or counselled by another and therefore when Diogenes saw a company of women talking together hee said merrily vnto theÌ„ Aspis par ' echidnes pharmacon daneizetai that is the Aspe borroweth venom of the Viper Thus much of the Aspe ⧠Of the Description and differences of BEES AMongst all the sorts of venomous Insects or cut-wasted creatures the soueraigntie and preheminence is due to the Bees who onely of all others of this kinde are made for the nourishment of mankind all other cut-wasted seruing onely for medicinall vse the delight of the eyes delectation of the eares the ornament trimming and setting forth of the body which they performe at the full They are called of the Hebrewes Deborah The Arabians terme them Albara Nahalea and Zabar The Illirians and Sclauonians Wezilla The Italians Ape api vna sticha moscatella ape or scâ—ppa pecchi The Spanyards Abcia Frenchmen Mousches au miel The Germaines Eenymbe apen The Flemmings Bie The Polonians Pztzota The Irishmen Camilij In Wales a Bee is called Gweniv Amongst the Graecians they haue purchased sundry names according to the diuersitie of Nations countries and places but the most vulgar name is Melissa in Hesiodus Melie Othersome call a Bee Plastis á fingendo of framing Some againe Anthedon and of their colour Zanthai Of their offices and charge Egemones ab imperando from gouerning Sirenes à suam cantu from their sweet voyce The Latines call them by one generall name Apis and Apes Varro sometimes termes them Aues but very improperly for they might better be named Volucres not Aues So much for their names now to the definition A Bee is a cut-wasted liuing creature that can flye hauing foure winges and bloudles the onely Crafts-master of Hony-making Their eies are somewhat of a horny substance hid deep in their bodies as is also their sting they want neither toong nor teeth they haue 4. wings being of a bright and cleare colour growing to their shoulder-blades whereof the two hindermost are the lesser because they might not hinder their flying and out of their short feet or stumps there grow forth as it were two fingers wherein they carry a little stone for the peizing and making weighty their small bodies in stormy tempestuous blustering or troublesome weather for feare least they might be driuen from their house and home by the contrary rage and violence of the winds They do not breath by Plinies good leaue but either pant moue or stirre as the hart or braine doth and by transpiration they are comforted refreshed and made liuely Their stomack is contexed and framed of the thinnest part of all their members wherein they not onely retaine and safely keepe their Honny dew which they haue gathered but also digest purifie and clense it which is the true and onely reason why the Honny of Bees is longer kept pure and fine then any Manna or Meldew or rather it is not at all subiect to corruption Bees euen by nature are much different for some are more domesticall and tame and others againe are altogether wilde vplandish and agrestiall Those former are much delighted with the familiar friendship custome and company of men but these can in no wise brook or endure them but rather keep their trade of hony-making in old trees caues holes and in the ruders and rubbish of old wals and houses Of tame Bees againe some of them liue in pleasant and delightfull Gardens and abounding with all sweet senting odoriferous plants and hearbs and these are great soft fat and big-bellied Others again there be of them that liue in townes and villages whose study and labour is to gather hony from such plants as come next to hand and which grow farther of and these are lesser in proportion of body rough and more vnpleasant in handling but in labour industrie witteand cunning far surpassing the former Of both sorts of these some haue stings as all true Bees haue others againe are without a sting as counterfeit and bastardly Bees which euen like the idle sluggish lyther and rauenous cloystered Monkes thrice worse then theeues you shall see to be more gorbellied haue larger throats and bigger bodies yet neither excellent or markable either for any good behauiour and conditions or gifts of the mind Men call these vnprofitable cattle and good for nothing Fuci that is drones either because they would seem to be labourers when indeed rhey are not or because that vnder the colour and pretence of labour for you shall sometimes haue them to carry wax and to be very busie in forming and making hony-combes they may eate vp all the hony These Drones are of a more blackish colour somewhat shining and are easily knowne by the greatnesse of their bodies Besides some Bees are descended of the kingly race and borne of the bloud Royall where of Aristotle maketh two sorts a yellow kind which is the more noble and the blacke garnished with diuers colours
not able to beare vp it selfe although by Natures immutable decree orderly ruled and rightfully gouerned Aristotle saith that it is not likely that the young waspes are brought forth as a broode because they be so great in bulke as that in reason it should not seeme probable that so small a flye as a waspe should haue such great young ones But this is a bare weake reason not beseeming the dignitie of so great a Philosopher For what can any man alleadge to the contrary why Nature in a lawfull birth and breeding should not as soone and as speedily finish and make to grow and increase as shee doth in generation that proceedes of rottennes or corruption which I hold to be but illegitimate Let vs but call to minde young birds in how short a time after they be out of the shell they be feathered they be able to goe to eate yea quickly increased in strength and growne to theyr full greatnes so that they are in their full flowre ere one be aware All which when one hath throughly considered he will easily iudge that famous Phylosopher Aristotle to haue relyed but vpon a weake proppe hauing scarse probability to stand on his side for the maintenance of his opinion His credit therefore at this time must not be sufficient to barre vs the libertie of contradicting him The same Aristotle the monarch of our moderne learning saith that the â—â—al wormes of waspes before they haue any wings at all are some-what long not much vnlike those wormes which Hippocrates calleth Eâ—lai that breede in flesh called as I iudge â—â—ggots but in our country Gentiles these waspish wormes are somewhat white knowne and easily discerned by their slits or dashes the hinder part of their body being very thicke and grosie hauing a black list or line running along their backs without feet not creeping but rolling tumbling theÌ„selues this way that way confusedly When they haue disburthened themselues of their breed they close vp their cells with a certaine thin small skinne which againe beeing broken when they come to any perfection or growth they get theÌ„selues our of dores into the cleere light at two daies end wil be able to flie round about The Philosopher maketh two kinds of waspes the one wild fell the other more meeke and quiet The wilder sort is sildom seene for they liue breed in mountaines woods in Oke trees not in the earth and this kind is greater blacker more diuersly coloured stingeth more cruelly then the other After they haue liued one whole yeere they are seene to flie away if in the winter the tree be cut downe These kinde of waspes I did once see in a wood in Essex where going vnwarily to gather simples with another Phisitian offending one of this fumish generation the whole swarme of them presently rushed forth about mine eares surely had I not had in my hand some sprigs or branches of broome for my defence I had vndoubtedly payde deerely for this my vnaduisednes if it had not cost me my life for they pursued me in euery place of the wood with a vehement rage for a long season insomuch that I was faine to take me to my heeles so to seeke to saue my selfe from further danger And if our owne countriman Sir Francis Drake himselfe had beene there although hee was as Meteranus a stranger and so vnpartiall in his Belgick Historie right truly obserued Omnium ducum nostri seculi fortissimus ac famosissimus yet I make no doubt but he would haue taken my part and beene a companion with me in this my fearefull flight Some of these vvaspes as well those of the crueller kinde as those of the gentler doe lacke a sting or rather I thinke they vse it not Othersome againe of both sorts are furnished with stinges and those that want them are euer the lesser and weaker neither reuenging themselues any way nor offering to make resistance Contrariwise those who haue stings are greater stronger more quarrellous concentious stubburne and eager Some account these the males and those other stinglesse to be the females Many of those which haue stinges doe for-goe and quite loose them when Winter draweth on as some make reckoning but it was neuer my hap to see this saith the Philosopher in his 9 booke De hist Animal capit 41. If you catch a Waspe holding her fast by the feete suffering her to make her vsuall humming sound you shall haue all those that lacke stinges presently come flying about you which the stinged waspes neuer are seene to doe Therfore some hold this as a good reason to prooue that the one should be the male the other the female Both these sorts both wilde and vnwilde haue beene seene to couple together after the manner of Flyes Besides in respect of sexe both kindes of waspes are deuided into Captaines or Ringleaders and into labourers those former are euer greater in quantitie and of more calme disposition these other both lesser more froward testie peeuish and diuers The males or labourers neuer liue one whole yeere full out but all of them die in the winter time which is euident by this because in the very beginning of cold weather they are as it were frozen or benummed and in the depth or midst of hard winter a man shall hardly or neuer see any of them But yet for all that their Dukes or principall Chiefetaines are seene all the winter long to lye hidde in their lurking holes vnder the earth and indeed many men wheÌ„ they plowed or broke vppe the ground and digged in winter haue found of this sort But as for the labouring waspe I neuer as yet heard of any that could finde them Theyr Principall or Captaine is broader thicker more ponderous and greater then the male waspe and so not very swift in flight for the weightines of their bodies is such an hinderance to them that they cannot flie very farre whereby it commeth to passe that they euer remaine at home in their hiues there making and deuising their combes of a certaine glutinous matter or substance brought vnto them by the worke-waspes thus spending their time in executing and dooing all those duties that are meet in their Cells Waspes are not long liued for theyr Dukes who liue longest doe not exceede tvvo yeeres And the labouring that is the male waspes together with Autumne make an end of their dayes Yea which is more strange whether their Dukes or Captaines of the former yeere after they haue ingendered and brought forth new sprong vp Dukes doe dye together with the newe waspes and whether this doe come to passe after one the selfe-same order or whether yet they doe and may liue any longer time diuers men do diuersly doubt All men hold the wilder kind to be more strong of nature and to continue and hold out the longer For why these other making their nests neere vnto common high-wayes and beaten paths
as much as themselues and to be blinded with the mascarados of absurdities And first if we will beginne to rifle in the monument of former times I will heere produce Aristotles opinion in his fifth booke Histor cap. 19. who there expresly saith that they take their beginning from the greene leaues of herbes namely of Radish and Coleworts by meanes of their small seede of generation beeing like vnto Millit-seede which is there left about the end of Autumne from which femall wormes proceede and of these little wormes in the space of three dayes a Catterpiller is formed about the Spring time or toward the latter end thereof which growing to their due quantitie and well fedde withall they cease at length from any further motion when Autumne beginneth they change both forme and life Pliny is of this mind that Catterpillers fetch all their pedegree rase parentage birth from a dew thickned and incrassated by the heate of the Sunne and so still left behind in leaues and Arnoldus de Villa noua is of the same iudgement Othersome deriue them wholy from Butter-flyes and will haue them to proceede of no other beginning which as soone as they are crept out of their hard shells or scabbards wherein they had lien as it were dead all the Winter as soone as Summer warme weather draweth on they cast certaine egges eyther vnder or aboue the leaues of certaine herbes which egges according to the quantitie of their bodies are either greater or lesser and some of these shelles wherein they are included are of a skye colour others yellow white blacke greene or redde and so beeing at length about foureteene dayes quickned and nourished with the liuely and kindly heate of the Sunne their shell-house beeing broken first commeth forth small Catterpillers like vnto little wormes sauing that they are diuersly coloured who at their first appearance beeing as it should seeme very hungry doe altogether bend themselues to deuoure and eate vp both leaues and flowers especially of those trees and plants whereon they were whilst they were in egges But I am of opinion that not onely this but by diuers other wayes and meanes they may proceede and increase for although the doctrine of Aristotle in this poynt seemeth to be vnsauoury and nothing relishing diuers tastes because hee affirmeth that that little worme which is found vpon Coleworts doth turne into a Catterpiller yet for all that it is not so much without smack of salt or so abhorrent to reason as they would make some beleeue For Nature as shee is able and doth produce and bring foorth a liuing creature from an egge so likewise from a worme shee breedeth a more perfect liuing creature by many degrees and that not by way of corruption but by way and meanes of her excellent perfection For although a worme afterwards be not that thing which before it was so farre as is apparant to outward sence yet for any thing we can gather or perceiue it is that which it was and this That is more by a great deale now then before it was For a worme dyeth not that a Catterpiller may therby spring but to the old body Nature addeth a greater magnitude as for example feete colours winges so that whilst life remaineth it acquireth other parts and other offices There be some also that deride the opinion of Pliny because hee contendeth that Catterpillers haue their beginning and production from dew But it may not be denyed in my conceit that some imperfect small creatures are bred and take life from dew and not without great reason For the Sunne by his kindly heate and warming qualitie worketh and acteth beeing as it were the forme and the moisture or humour is Passiue as the matter or subiect for the heate of the sunne is different from that of the fire for it eyther quickneth and inspireth with life or at least-wise conserueth and maintaineth our life by meanes of likenes proportion or symmetry wherein our liues and spirits respect each other Besides there is nothing more nourishing then Dew for with it onely some certaine small creatures are fedde and doe thereby liue which thing the diuine Poet verie well obserued when he vttered these words Quantum nos nocte reponit So that in respect that it is humour it is matter in respect it is thin it pierceth and easily entereth in and in respect it is attracted and throughly concocted by the Sunne it is the apter made to generation For the preparation of the forme carrieth with it the matter or stuffe as his mate companion So these two meeting together there coÌ„sequently followeth the quickning or taking life of some one creature And not onely are some Catterpillers the of-spring and breed of dew as common experience can witnesse but euen the greatest part of Catterpillers do fetch their stocke and pedegree from Butter-flyes vnlesse it be those that liue vpon Colewarts and Cabbages and those that are called Vine-fretters with some few other For those that liue and breede in Vines called of the Graecians Ipes doe proceede from dew or some dewie and moyst humour which is included in their webbes and there growne to putrefaction For then doe they swarme so exceedingly in some countryes as I dare neither affirme nor otherwise imagine but that they must needes haue such a mighty encrease from putrefaction And this for the most part happeneth when the Easterne wind bloweth and that the warmth of the ayre furthereth and hasteneth forwards any corruption All the whole packe of them are great destroyers and deuourers of herbes and Trees where-vpon Philippis the Parasite as Athenaus sayth in Pythagorista braggeth of himselfe in this wise Apòlaâ—sathumon lachanonte kampe Vescens thyme â—lereque eruca sum I am saith he a Catterpiller that eateth both Tymbe pot-herbs And to this sence speaketh Martiall Erucam malé pascit hortus vnam A Garden hardly and slenderly can suffise to feede one Catterpiller I thinke he meaneth when the time of their wasting and deuouring is gone and past for they commonly leaue but little behind For that beeing past they goe wandering hither and thither vp and downe vncertainely wasted and hunger-starued and so at length pyning away by little and little through famine some seeke them fit places within other-some aboue the earth where they transforme themselues eyther into a bare and empty bagge or case or hanging by a thred into an Aurelia couered with a membrane If this happen in the midst of Sommer the hardrind or shell wherein they are enclosed beeing broken about the time of 24. dayes there flyeth out a Butterflye but if it come to passe in the midst or toward the end of Auâ—umne the Aurelia continueth a whole vvinter neither is there any exclusion before the vernall heat And yet notwithstanding all Catterpillers are not conuerted into Aureliaes but some of theÌ„ being gathered drawne together on a heape as the Vine-fretters do growe at length to putrefaction from
discourse in the fourth chapter thereof There happened saith he within our memory in the Citty Pirizaea that there were two old Cockes which had layd Egges the common people because of opinion that those Egges would engender Cockatrices laboured by all meanes possible to keepe the said cockes from sitting on those egges but they could not with clubs and staues driue them from the Egges vntill they were forced to breake the egges in sunder and strangle the cockes But this point is worth inquiry whether a cocke can conceiue an Egge and after a certaine time lay the same ' without a shell I for my part am perswaded that when a cocke groweth old and ceaseth to tread his female in the ordinary course of nature which is in the seuenth or ninth yeare of his age or at the most in the foureteenth there is a certaine concretion bred within him by the putrified heat of his body through the staying of his seede generatiue which hardeneth vnto an egge is couered with such a shell as is said already the which egge being nourished by the cocke or some other beast bring eth forth a venomous worme such as are bred in the bodies of men or as Waspes Horse-flyes and catterpillers engendered of Horse-dung or other putryfied humours of the earth and so out of this Egge may such a venomous Worme proceede as in proportion of body and pestiferous breath may resemble the Affrican cockatrice or Basiliske and yet it is not the same whereof wee purpose here to intreat but will acknowledge that to be one kind of cockatrice but this kind is generated like other Serpents of the earth for as the auncient Hermes writeth it is both false and impossible that a cockatrice should be hatched of a cockes Egge The same writer maketh mention of a Bazeliske ingendered in dung whereby hee meaneth the Elixir of life wherewithall the Alchimistes conuert mettals The Aegyptians hold opinion that these cockatrices are engendered of the Egges of the Bird called Ibis and therefore they breake those Egges wheresoeuer they finde them and for this cause in theyr Hieroglyphicks when they will signifie a lawfull execution after an vpright iudgment sound institution of their forefathers they are wont to make an Ibis and a cockatrice The countries breeding or bringing forth these cockatrices are sayd to be these First Affricke and therein the Ancient seat or land of the Turkes Nubia and all the wildernes of Affrica the countries Cyrenes Gallen among the Physitions only doubteth whither there be a cockatrice or no whose authority in this case must not be followed seeing it was neuer giuen to mortal man to see know euery thing for besides the holy scriptures vnauoidable authority which both in the prophesie of Esay and Ieremy maketh mention of the cockatrice and her Egges there be many graue humainé Writers whose authority is irrefragable affirming not onely that there be cockatrices but also that they infect the ayre and kill with their sight And Mercuriall affirming that when he was with Maximilion the Emperour hee saw the carkase of a cocatrice reserued in his treasury among his vndoubted monuments Of this Serpent the Poet Georgius Pictorius writeth on this manner Rex est serpentum basiliscus quem modo vincunt Mustelae insultus saeuaque bella ferae Lernaeum vermem basiliscum foeda Cirene Producit cunctis maximè perniciem Et nasci ex ouo galli si credere fas est Decrepiti in fimo sole nitente docent Sed quoniam olfactu loedit visuque ferarum Omne genus credas nulla tenere bona That is to say The Bazeliske the Serpents King I find Yet Weasels him do ' ouercome in warre The Cyren land him breedes of Lernaes kind They to all other a destruction are And if we may beleeue that through the heat of Sunne In old Cockes Egges this beast is raised first Or beastes by fight or smell thereof are all vndone Then i st not good but of his kind the worst Wee doe read that in Rome in the dayes of Pope Leo the fourth there vvas a Cockatrice found in a Vault of Church or Chappell dedicated to Saint Lucea whose pestiferous breath hadde infected the Ayre round about whereby great mortality followed in Rome but how the said Cockatrice came thither it was neuer knowne It is most probable that it was created and sent of GOD for the punnishment of the Citty which I do the more easily beleeue because Segonius Iulius Scaliger do affirme that the sayd pestiferous beast was killed by the prayers of the said Leo the fourth I thinke they meane that by the authoritie of the sayde Byshop all the people were mooued to generall fasting and prayer and so Almighty GOD who was mooued for theyr sinnes to send such a plague amongest them was likewise intreated by their prayers and sutes not onely to reuerse the plague but with the same hand to kill the beast wherewithall it was created euen as once in Aegypt by the hand of Moses hee brought Grasse-hoppers and Lice so by the same hand he droue them away againe There is some small difference amongest the Writers about the quantity and partes of this Serpent which I will breefely reconcile First Aelianus saith that a Cockatrice is not past a spanne in compasse that is as much as a man can gripe in his hand Pliny saith that it is as bigge as twelue fingers Solinus and Isidorus affirme that it is but halfe a foot long Auicen saith that the Arabian Harmena that is the Cockatrice is two cubits and a halfe long Nicander saith Et tribus extenso porrectus corpore palmis that is it is in length but three palmes Aetius sayth that it is as bigge as three handfuls Now for the reconciliation of all these It is to bee vnderstood that Pliny and Aelianus speaketh of the Worme that commeth out of the Cockes Egge in regard of the length but not of the quantity and so confound together that Worme and the Cockatrice For it is very reasonable that seeing the magnitude and greatnesse of the Serpent is concluded to bee at the least a span in compasse that therefore the length of it must needes bee three or foure foote at the shortest else how could it bee such a terrour to other Serpents or how could the fore part of it arise so eminently aboue the earth if the head were not lifted at the least a foote from the ground So then we will take it for graunted that this Serpent is as big as a mans wrist and the length of it aunswerable to that proportion It is likewise questionable whether the Cockatrice haue Winges or no for by reason of his conceiued generation from a Cocke many haue described him in the fore-part to haue Winges and in the hinder part to haue a tayle like a Serpent And the conceit of winges seemeth to bee deriued from Holy Scripture because it is written Esay 14 verse twenty nine
described by Nicander with whose words I will conclude this Historie of the Cockatrice writing as followeth Quod ferit hic multo corpus succenditur igne A membris resoluta suis caro defluit fit Lurida obscuro nigrescit opaca colore Nullae etiam volucres quae faeda cadauera pascunt Sic occisum hominem tangunt vt vultur omnes Huic similes alia pluuiae quoque nuncius aura Coruus nec quaecunque fera per deuia lustra Degunt étali capiunt sibi tabula carne Tum teter vacuas odor hinc exhalat in auras Atque propinquantes penetrant non segniter artus Sin cogente fame ventens aproximet ales Tristia fata refert certamque ex aëre mortem Which may be englished thus When he doth strike the body hurt is set on fire And from the members falleth off the flesh withall It rotten is and in the colour blacke as any myre Refus'd of carrion-feeding-birds both great and small Are all men so destroyed No Vulture or Bitter fierce Or weather-telling-Crow or deserts wildest beast Which liue in dennes sustaining greatest famines force But at their tables doe this flesh detest Then is the ayre repleate with 's lothsome smell Piercing vitall parts of them approaching neere And if a bird it tast to fill his hunger fell It dyes assured death none neede it feare OF THE CORDYLL ALthough I finde some difference about the nature of this lyuing creature and namely whether it bee a Serpent or a Fishe yet because the greater and better part make it a Serpent I will also bring it in his due order in this place for a venomous beast Gesner is of opinion that it is no other but a Lizard of the Water but this cannont agree with the description of Aristotle Bellonius who affirme the Cordill to haue Gilles like a Fish and these are not found in any Lizard The Graecians call this Serpent Kordule and Kordulos whereof the Latines deriue or rather borrow their Cordulus and Cordyla Numenius maketh this a kind of Salamander which the Apothecaryes do in many Countryes falsely sell for the Scincus or Corcodile of the Earth and yet it exceedeth the quantity of a Salamander being much lesse then the crocodile of the earth hauing gils and wanting fins on the sides also a long taile and according to the proportion of the body like a Squirrels although nothing so big vvithout scabs the back being bald and some what black horrible rough thorow some bunches growing therupon which being pressed do yeald a certain humor like milk which being sayd to the Nosthrils doth smell like poyson euen as it is in a Salamander The beake or snout is very blunt or dull yet armed with very sharp teeth The clawes of his forelegges are diuided into foure and on his hinderlegges into fiue there is also a certaine fleshy fin growing all along from the crowne of his head vnto his tayle vppon the backe which when he swimmeth hee erecteth by it is his body sustained in the water from sinking for his body is mooued with crooked winding euen as an Eele or a Lamprey The inward parts of this Serpent are also thus described The tongue is soft and spungy like as is the tongue of a Water-Frogge wherewith as it were with Glew he draweth to his mouth both Leches and Wormes of the earth whereupon it feedeth At the roote of his tongue there is a certaine bunch of flesh which as I thinke supplieth the place of the lightes for when it breatheth that part is especially mooued and it panteth too fro so that thereby I gather either it hath the Lights in that place or else in some other place neere the iawes It wanteth ribs as doth the Salamander and it hath certain bones in the backe but not like the ordinary back-bone of other such Serpents The heart is also all spungy cleaueth to the right side not to the left the left care whereof supplyeth the place of the Pericadium The liuer is very blacke and somewhat clouen at the bending or sloape side the melt somewhat red cleauing to the very bottome of the ventricle The reynes are also very spungy ioyned almost to the Legges in which parts it is most fleshy but in other places especially in the belly and breast it is all skinne and bone It also beareth Egges in her place of conception which is forked or double which are there disposed in order as in other liuing gristly creatures Those Egges are nourished with a kinde of red fatte out of which in due time come the young ones aliue in as great plenty and number as the Salamanders And these thinges are reported by Bellonius besides whom I finde nothing more said that is worthy to be related of this Serpent and therefore I will here conclude the History thereof OF THE CROCODILE BEcause there be many kinds of Crocodiles it is no maruaile although some haue taken the word Crocodilus for the Genus and the seuerall Species they distinguish into the Crocodile of the Earth and the water Of the earth are sub-diuided into the Crocodiles of Bresilia and the Scincus the Crocodiles of the water into this here described which is the vulgar one and that of Nilus of all which we shall entreat in order one successiuely following another But I will not contend about the Genus or Species of this word for my purpose is to open their seuerall natures so far as I haue learned wherein the works of almighty God may be knowne and will leaue the strife of wordes to them that spend their wittes about tearmes sillables only Thus much I find that the auncients had three generall tearmes for all Egge-breeding Serpentes Namely Rana Testudo Lacerta And therefore I may forbear to intreate of Crocodilus as a Genus handle it as a species or particular kinde The Hebreus haue many words which they vse for a Crocodile Koah Leuit. 11. which the Arabians render Hardun and the Persiâ—ds Sanga which word commeth neere the Latine worde Scincus for a Crocodile of the earth and yet that word Koah by Saint Ierom and the Septuagints is translated a Chamaeleon In the same place of Leuiticus the word Zab is interpreted a kinde of Crocodile where-withall Dauid Kimhi confoundeth Gereschint and Rabbi Salomon Faget The Chaldes translate in Zaba The Persians An Rasu The Septuagints a Crocodile of the earth but it is better to follow Saint Hierom in the same because the Text addeth according to his kinde wherefore it is superfluous to adde the distinction of the crocodile of the Earth except it were lawful to eate the Crocodiles of the water In Exod. 8. there is a Fish called Zephardea which commeth out of the waters and eateth men this cannot agree to any Fish in Nilus saue onely the Crocodile and therefore this word is by the Arabians rendered Al Timasch Some do hereby vnderstand Pagulera Grenelera Batrichoi that is great frogs
very greedily for they say it hath in it a refrigeratiue power And there be some which by certaine inchaunting verses doe tame Dragons and rydeth vpon their necks as a man would ride vpon a horse guiding and gouerning them with a bridle Now because we haue already shewed that some dragons haue winges least it should seeme vncredible as the foolish world is apt to beleeue no more then they see I haue therefore thought good to adde in this place a particuler relation of the testimonies of sundry Learned-men concerning these winged Serpents or dragons First of all Megastenes writeth that in India there be certaine flying Serpents which hurt not in the day but in the night time and these do render or make a kind of vrine by the touching whereof all the parts of mortall creatures doe rotte away And there is a Mountaine which deuideth asunder the Kingdome of Narsing a from Alabaris wherein be many winged-serpents sitting vpon trees which they say poyson men with their breath There be many pestilent winged-serpents which come out of Arabia euery yeere by troupes into Egypt these are destroyed by a certaine Black-bird called Ibis who fighteth with thē in the defence of that Country where she liueth so that there lye great heapes of them many times destroyed vpon the earth by these Birds whose bodies may be there visibly seene to haue both wings and legges and their bones beeing of great quantitie and stature remaine vnconsumed for many yeeres after These kinde of Serpents or Dragons couet to keepe about the Trees of Frankinsence which grow in Arabia and when they are driuen away frō thence with the fume or smoake of Stirax then they flie as is afore-said into Egypt and this is to be considered that if it were not for this Stirax all that Country would be consumed with Dragons Neither haue wee in Europe onely heard of Dragons and neuer seene them but also euen in our own Country there haue by the testimonie of sundry Writers diuers been discouered and killed And first of all there was a Dragon or Winged-serpent brought vnto Frauncis the French-King when hee lay at Sancton by a certaine Country-man who had slaine the same Serpent himselfe with a Spade when it sette vppon him in the fields to kill him And this thing was witnessed by many Learned credible men which saw the same and they thought it was not bredde in that Country but rather driuen by the winde thither from some forraine Nation For Fraunce was neuer knowne to breede any such Monsters Among the Pyrenes also there is a cruell kinde of Serpent not past foure foote long and as thicke as a mans arme out of whose sides growe winges much like vnto gristles Gesner also saith that in the yeere of our Lord 1543. there came many Serpents both with wings and legs into the parts of Germany neere Stiria who did bite wound many men incurably Cardan also describeth certaine serpents with wings which hee saw at Parris whose dead bodies were in the hands of Gulielmus Musicus hee saith that they had two legges and small winges so that they could scarce flie the head was little and like to the head of a Serpent their colour bright and without haire or feathers the quantitie of that which was greatest did not exceede the bignes of a Cony and it is saide they vvere brought out of India Besides a further confirmation of these beastes there haue beene noted in all ages for it is written in the Romaine Chronicles the times of their apparision and manifestation When the Riuer of Tiber ouer-flowed aboue the bankes then were many Serpents discouered and many Dragons as in the time of Mauritius the Emperour at what time a dragon came along by the Citty of Rome vpon the waters in the sight of all men and so passed to the Sea after which prodigie there followed a great mortall pestilence In the yeere 1499. the twenty sixe day of May there came a dragon to the Citty of Lucerne which came out of the Lake through Rusa downe along the Riuer many people of all sorts beholding the same There haue beene also Dragons many times seene in Germanie flying in the ayre at mid-day and signifying great and fearefull fiers to follow as it happened neere to the Cittie called Niderburge neere to the shore of the Rhyne in a maruailous cleere sun-shine day there came a dragon three times successiuely together in one day did hang in the ayre ouer a Towne called Sanctogoarin and shaking his tayle ouer that Towne euery time it appeared visibly in the sight of many of the inhabitants and afterwards it came to passe that the said towne was three times burned with fire to the great harme and vndooing of all the people dwelling in the same for they were not able to make any resistance to quench the fire with all the might Art and power that they could raise And it was further obserued that about that time there were many dragons seene washing themselues in a certaine Fountaine or Well neere the towne and if any of the people did by chaunce drinke of the water of that Well theyr bellyes did instantly begin to swell and they died as if they had beene poysoned Where-vpon it was publiquely decreed that the said well should be filled vp with stones to the intent that neuer any man should afterwards be poisoned with that water and so a memory thereof was continued and these thinges are written by Iustinus Goblerus in an Epistle to Gesner affirming that hee did not write fayned things but such things as were true and as he had learned from men of great honestly and credite whose eyes did see and behold both the dragons and the mishaps that followed by fire When the body of Cleomines was crucified and hung vpon the Crosse it is reported by them that were the watch-men about it that there came a dragon and did wind it selfe about his body and with his head couered the face of the dead King oftentimes licking the same and not suffering any bird to come neere and touch the carkasse For vvhich cause there began to be a reuerent opinion of diuinitie attributed to the King vntill such time as wise and prudent men studious of the truth found out the true cause hereof For they say that as Bees are generated out of the body of Oxen and Drones of horses and Hornets of Asses so doe the bodyes of men ingender out of their marrow a Serpent and for this cause the Auncients were moued to consecrate the dragon to noble-spirited men and therefore there was a monument kept of the first Affricanus because that vnder an Oliue planted with his owne hand a dragon was said to preserue his ghost But I will not mingle fables and truth together and therefore I will reserue the morrall discourse of this beast vnto another place and this which I haue written may be sufficient to satisfie
liue in the bottome or rootes of Oakes where they make their nestes for which cause they be called Querculi as if they were deriued from an Oake which caused the Countrey-people to call it Dendrogailla which signifieth the Male and Female in this kind being bred onely in one part of Affricke and in Helâ—spont and there be of them two kinds one of the length of two cubits being very fat round and very sharp scales ouer the backe and they are called Druinae of Drus that signifieth an Oake because they liue in bottome of Oakes they are also called Chelydri because of their sharp skinnes or scales for it is the manner of the Latins and the Graecians to call the hard and rough skinne of the body of man and beast by the name of Chellydra and I take the serpents Cylmdri to be the same that the dryines be Within the scales of this serpent there are bred certaine Flyes with yellow winges as yellow as any Brasse the which Flyes at length do cate and destroy the serpent that breedeth them The colour of theyr backe is blackish and not white as some haue thought and the sauour or smell comming from them like to the smell of a Horses hide wet as it commeth out of the pit to be shauen by the hand of the Tawyer or Glouer And Bellonius writeth that he neuer saw any serpent greater then this Dryine which hee calleth Dendrozailla nor any that hisseth stronger for he affirmeth that one of these put into a sacke was more then a strong Country-man could carry two Miles together without setting it downe and resting And likewise he saith that he saw a skinne of one of these stuffed with hayre which did equall in quantity the legge of a great man The head of this beast is broad and flat and Olaus Magnus writeth that many times and in many places of the North about the beginning of summer these Serpents are found in great companies vnder Oakes one of them beeing their head or Captaine who is known by a white crest or comb on the top of his crowne whom all the residue do follow as the Bees doe their King and Captaine And these by the relation of old men are thought to beget a certaine stone by their mutable breathing vpon some venomous matter found in the trees leaues or earth where they abide For they abide not onely in the rootes but in the hollow bodies of the trees and sometimes for their meate and foode they leaue their habitation and discend into the Fennes and Marshes to hunt Frogges and if at any time they bee assaulted with the Horse-flye they instantly returne backe againe into their former habitation When they goe vppon the earth they go directly or straight for if they should wind themselues to run they would make an offensiue noyse or rather yeeld a more offensiue smell according to these verses of the Poet Lucan Natrix ambiguae coleret qui syrtidos arua Chersidros tractique via fumante Chellidri In English thus The Snake which haunt the doubtfull Syrtes sands And Chelyders by slyding fume on lands Georgius Fabricius writeth that he saw in the Temple of Bacchus at Rome a company of druÌ„ken men dancing leading a male Goat for sacrifice hauing Snakes in their mouths which Snakes Prudentius the Christian Poet calleth Chellidri that is Dryines in these verses following Baccho caper omnibus aris Craeditur virides discindunt ore Chellydros Qui Bromium placare volunt quod et ebria iam tuâ—… Ante occulos regis Satyrorum insania fecit In English thus A Goat to Bacchus on euery alter lyes While sacrificers teare Dryines in peeces small By force of teeth and that before the eyes Of Satyres King mad-drunke they fall The nature of this Serpent is very venemous and hot and therefore it is worthily placed among the first degree or ranke of Serpentes for the smell thereof dooth so stupifie a man as it doth near strangle him for nature refuseth to breath rather theÌ„ to draw in such a filthy ayre And so pestilent is the nature of this beast that it maketh the skin of the body of a man hurt by it loose stinking and rotten the eyes to be blind and full of paine it restraineth the vrine and if it come vpon a man sleeping it causeth often neezing and maketh to vomit bloudy matter If a man tread vpon it at vnawares although it neither sting nor bite him yet it causeth his Legges to swell and his foote to loose the skinne thereof and that which is more strange it is reported that when a Physition cured the hand of one bitten by this Serpent the skinne of his hand also came off and whosoeuer killeth one of these if once he smell the sauour of it whatsoeuer he smelleth afterwardes he still thinketh it smelleth of the Dryine And therefore most pestilent must this Serpent needs be which killeth both by touching and smelling When it hath wounded or bitten there followeth a blacke or redde swelling about the sore also a vehement pain ouer all the body through the speedy dispâ—rsing of the poyson also Pustules or little Wheales madnes drinesse of the body and intollerable thirst trembling and mortification of the members wounded whereof many dye The â—nre is like to the cure of Vipers and besides it is good to take Hart-wort drunke in Wine or Triffolly or the rootes of Daffadill Acornes of all kind of Oakes are profitable against this poyson being beaten to powder and drunke And thus much shall suffice for this Serpent OF THE SERPENTS CALLED Elephants THere be also Serpents called Elephants because whomsoeuer they bite they infect with a kind of a leprosie and I know not whether the Serpent Elops Elopis and Laphiati be the same but because I find no matter worthy in them to be spoken of and they are strangers in our Country the Reader must bee contented with their bare names without further description OF FROGGES FRogges are called by the Hebrewes Zab Zephardea Vrdeana Vrdea Akruka Maskar By the Arabians Hardun Difdah Disphoa Difdapha Altahaul By the Graecians Batrachos whereof commeth the corrupted word Brackatas and Garazum Lalages and Kemberoie signifieth greene Frogges The Italians and Spaniards call it Rana by the Latine word The French Grenouille The Germans Frosch and Frosche and Grassfrosch for a greene Frog The Flemmings Vrosch and Vruesch and Piuit The Illirians Polonians Zaba by a word deriued from the Haebrew It it some question from whence the word Rana is deriued because of much controuersie whether it hath receiued name because it liueth on the land in the water or froÌ„ the croaking voyce which it vseth I will not trouble the English Reader with that discourse onely I am assured that the word Frog in English is deriued from the German word Frosch as many other English wordes are deriued besides the common name of many Frogs Homer in his Commedy of the fight
then is the question at an end but if it be not then must the generation of it be sought for in some other place Thus leauing the stone of the Toade we must proceede to the other parts of the story and first of all their place of habitation which for them of the water is neere the vvater-side and for them of the earth in bushes hedges Rockes and holes of the earth neuer comming abroade while the Sunne shineth for they hate the sunne-shine and theyr nature cannot indure it for which cause they keepe close in their holes in the day time and in the night they come abroad Yet sometimes in rainy-weather and in solitary places they come abroade in the day-time All the Winter-time they liue vnder the earth feeding vppon earth herbes and wormes and it is said they eate earth by measure for they eate so much euery day as they can grype in theyr fore-foote as it were sizing themselues least the whole earth should not serue them till the Spring Resembling heerein great rich couetous men who euer spare to spend for feare they shall want before they die And for 〈◊〉 in auncient time the wise Painters of Germany did picture a woman sitting vpon a â—oade to signifie couetousnes They also loue to eate Sage and yet the roote of 〈◊〉 is to them deadly poyson They destroy Bees without all danger to themselues for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reepe to the holes of their Hiues and there blow in vppon the Bees by which â—…y draw them out of the Hiue and so destroy them as they come out for this 〈…〉 at the water-side they lye in waite to catch them When they come to drink in â—…me they see little or nothing but in the night time they see perfectly and thereâ—…ey come then abroade About their generation there are many worthy obseruations in nature somtimes they are bredde out of the putrefaction and corruption of the earth it hath also been seene that out of the ashes of a Toade burnt not onely one but many Toades haue been regenerated the yeere folowing In the New world there is a Prouince called Dariene the ayre whereof is wonderful vnwholsome because all the country standeth vpon rotten Marishes It is there obserued that when the slaues or seruants water the pauements of the dores from the drops of water which fall on the right hand are instantly many Toades ingendered as in other places such drops of water are turned into gnats It hath also beene seene that women conceiuing with child haue likewise conceiued at the same time a frog or a toade or a Lizard and therefore Platearius saith that those thinges which are medicines to prouoke the menstruous course of women doe also bring foorth the Secondiues And some haue called BufoneÌ„ fratrem Salernitanorum et lacertum fratreÌ„ LombardoruÌ„ that is a toade the brother of the Salernitans the Lizard the brother of the Lombards for it hath been seene that a woman of Salernum hath at one time brought forth a boy and a toade and therfore hee calleth the toade his brother so likewise a woman of Lombardy a Lizard therefore he calleth the Lizard the Lombards brother And for this cause the women of those countries at such time as their child beginneth to quicken in their wombe do drink the iuyce of Parsly Leekes to kill such conceptions if any be There was a woman newly married and when in the opinion of all she was with child in steed of a child she brought forth foure little liuing creatures like frogs and yet shee remained in good health but a little while after shee felt some paine about the rymne of her belly which afterward was eased by applying a fewe remedies Also there was another woman which together with a man-child in her secondines did also bring forth such another beast and after that a Marchants wife did the like in Anconitum But what should be the reason of these so strange vnnaturall conceptions I wil not take vpon me to discide in nature least the omnipotent hand of God should be wronged and his most secrete iust couÌ„sell presumptuously iudged called into question This we know that it was prophesied in the Reuelation that Frogs Locusts should come out of the whore of Babylon and the bottomlesse pit and therfore seeing the seate of the Whore of Babylon is in Italy it may be that God would haue manifested the deprauation of Christian religion beginning among the Italians and there continued in the conioyned birth of men serpents for surely none but deuils incarnate or men conceiued of Serpents brood would so stifly stand in Romish error as the Italians do therefore they seeme to be more addicted to the errors of their Fathers which they say is the religion wherin they were borne then vnto the truth of Iesus Christ which doth vnanswerably detect the pride vanity of the Romish faith But to leaue speaking of the conception of toades in women we wil proceed further vnto their generation in the stomacks bellies of men wherof there may more easily a reason be giuen then of the former Now although that in the earth toades are generated of putrified earth waters yet such a generation cannot be in the body of man for although there be much putrifaction in vs yet not so much as to ingender bones other orgynes such as are in toades as for wormes they are all flesh may more easily be conceiued of the putrifaction in our stomacks But then you wil say how comes it to passe that in mens stomacks there are sound frogs toades I answer that this euill hapneth vnto such men as drinke water for by drinking of water a toades egge may easily slip into the stomack there being of a viscous nature cleaueth fast to the rough parts of the ventricle and it being of a contrary nature to man can neuer be disgested or auoyded and for that cause the venome that is in it neuer goeth out of 〈…〉 stance to poyson the other partes of 〈…〉 med into a Toade without doing 〈…〉 are bredde in the bodies of men 〈…〉 the midst of Trees and Rocks and 〈…〉 are bredde in For the venome is so 〈…〉 ripenesse euen as wee see it is almost an vsuâ—… shall not be perceiued till many dayes weekes 〈…〉 For the casting out of such a Toade bredde in thâ—… They take a Serpent and bowell him then they cut ofâ—… of the body they likewise part into small peeces which 〈…〉 fatte which swymmeth at the toppe which the sicke person 〈…〉 he auoyde all the Toades in his stomacke afterwards he must 〈…〉 ticall medicines And thus much may suffice for the ordinary and 〈…〉 tion of Toades These Toades doe not leape as Frogges doe but because of their 〈…〉 short legges theyr pace is a soft creeping-pace yet some-times in anger they lift vp 〈◊〉 selues endeuouring to doe harme for great is theyr watch obstinacie and desire to be 〈…〉 uenged
or that Venus was wounded by Diomedes or that Vlisses was caryed in Bottles so true I thinke is the shape of this Monster for the head eares tongue Nose and Face of this Monster doe altogether degenerate from all kindes of Serpents which is not vsuall in Monsters but the fore-parts doe at most times resemble the kind to which it belongeth and therefore if it had not been an vnskilfull Painters deuice he might haue framed it in a better fashion and more credible to the world But let it be as it is how doth he know that this euill doth more belong to the Turkes then to the Christians For shall we be so blind and flatter our selues so far as not to acknowledge our sinnes but to lay all the tokens of Iudgement vpon our aduersaries But if there appeared in vs any repentance or amendement of those faults for which God hath suffered in his Iustice that improus Tyrant and tyranicall gouernment to preuaile against Christians then we might thinke that GOD would looke mercifully vppon vs and auert his wrath from vs vppon our enemies But with sorrow and griefe bee it spoken for all the Kings and people of Christendome doe directly go forward without stumbling in those vile courses and odious crying sinnes for which God hath set vp the Turkes against former ages and therefore we haue no cause to hope that euer this rod shall bee cast into the fire vntill the chastisement of God Children haue procured their amendment and if no amendment then all the powers of Heauen the blessed Trinity excepted cannot keepe Christendome from ruine and destruction which God of his infinite mercy turne away from vs. To turne againe to the story of the Hydra I haue also heard that in Venice in the Dukes treasury among the rare Monumentes of that Citty there is preserued a Serpent with seauen heads which if it be true it is the more probable that there is a Hydra and then the Poets were not altogether deceiued that say Hercules killed such an one This Hydra which Hercules slewe they say was ingendered betwixt Echidna and Typhaon and nourished by Iuno in Lerna in hatred of Hercules and they say further that when hee came to kill it there came a Crabbe or Cancer to helpe the Hydra against Hercules who instantly called vpon Iolaus for helpe and so Iolaus slew the Crabbe and Hercules the Hydra Phaaephatus maketh the story of Hercules by killing the Hydra to bee a meere allegory saying that the Hydra was a Castle kept by fifty men the King whereof was called Lernus who was assisted by a Noble man called Cancer against the assaults of Hercules and that Hercules by the help of Iolaus King of the Thebanes ouercame that King and Castle Other say that Lerna and Hidra signifie the two kindes of Enuye distinguished by Inuidia and Inuidentia in himselfe which arise out of the Monstrous filthy fenne of humane corruption like a monstrous hydeous Dragon with whom he stroue and as he strucke off one head or â—entation so two or three other continually arose in the roome thereof And thus much for the Hydra whether it be true or Fabulous OF INNOCENT SERPENTS IDoe read of two kinds of Innocent Serpents one call Lybies because they are onely in Affricke and neuer do hurt vnto men and therefore Nicander was deceiued which maketh this kind of serpent to be the same with the Amodit whose sting or teeth are very mortall and deadly There be also other kindes of harmelesse Serpents as that called Molurus Mustaca and Mylacris which is said to go vpon the taile and it hath no notable propertie except that one thing which giueth it the name for Molurus is deriued from Molis Ouron that is hardly making water There be also Domesticall innocent Serpents Myagrus Orophia and Spathiurus which whether they be one kind or many I will not stand vppon for they are all tearmed by the Germans Hussunck and Husschlang that is a House-Snake They liue by hunting of Mice and Weasels and vpon their heads they haue two little eares like to the eares of a Mouse and because they be as blacke as coales The Italians call them Serpe-Nero and Carbon and garobonazzo and the French-men Anguille-de Hay that is a Snake of hedges There be some that nourish them in Glasses with branne and when they are at liberty they liue in Dunghils also wherein they breede sometimes they haue beene seene to sucke a Cow for then they twist their tailes about the Cowes Legges Mathiolus writeth that the flesh of this Snake when the head taile Intrals fat and Gall are cut off and cast away to be a speciall remedy against the French-poxe There are also other kinds of Innocent Serpents as that called Parea and in Italy Baâ—on and Pagerina which are brought out of the East where these are bred There be no other harmefull Serpents in that Countrey They are of a yellow colour like Gold and about four spannes long vpon either side they haue two lines or strakes which beginne about a hand breadth from their necke and end at their taile They are without poyson as may appeare by the report of Gesner for hee did see a man holde the head aliue in his And thus much shall suffice to haue spoken of Innocent Serpents OF THE LIZARD ALthough there be many kindes of Lyzards yet in this place I will first intreate of the vulgar Lyzard called in the Haebrew Letaah Lanigermusha Lyserda Carbo Pelipah and Eglose The Chaldaeans Haltetha and Humeta The Arabians Ataia Alhathaie or Alhadaie Hardun Arab Samabras Saambras The Graecians in ancient time Sauros and Saura vulgarly at this day Kolisaura The Italians in some places Liguro Leguro Lucerta and Lucertula about Trent Racani and Ramarri and yet Romarro is also vsed for a Toad The Spaniards Lagárto Lacerta Lagartisa and Lagardixa The French Lisarde The Germans Adax and when they distinguish the Male from the Female they expresse the Male Ein Egochs and the Female Egles In Hessia Lydetstch In Flanders Illiria Gesscierka and Gesstier The Latines Lacertus and Lacerta because it hath armes and shoulders like a man and for this cause also the Salamander the Stellion the Crocodile and Scorpions are also called sometimes Lacerti Lyzards And thus much shall suffice for the name The vulgar Lizard is described on this sort the skinne is hard and full of scales according to this saying of Virgill Absint picti squalentia terga Lacerti In English thus Those put away And painted Lizards with their scalie backs The colour of it is pale and distinguished with certain rusty spots as Pliny writeth with long strakes or lines to the taile but generally they are of many colours but the greene with the white belly liuing in bushes hedges is the most beautifull and most respected and of this we shall peculiarly intreat hereafter There haue beene some Lizards taken in the beginning of September whose colour was
with rage of sandy flankes Nor sayles bend downe to blustering Corus wayne Now can it not the swelling sinewes keepe in hold Deformed globe it is and truncke ore-come with waight Vntoucht of flying foules no beakes of young or old Doe him dare eate or beasts full wilde vpon the body bayte But that they dye No man to bury in earth or fire Durst once come nigh nor stand to tooke vpon that haplesse case For neuer ceased the heat of corps though dead to swell Therefore afrayde they ranne away with speedie pace The cure of the poyson of this Serpent is by the Phisitians found out to be wild Purslaine also the flowers and stalke of the bush the Beauers stones called Castoreum drunke with Opponax and Rew in wine and the little Sprat-fish in dyet And thus much of this fire-burning venomous Serpent OF THE RED SERPENT THis kinde of Serpent beeing a serpent of the Sea was first of all found out by Pelicerius Bishoppe of Montpelier as Rondoletus writeth and although some haue taken the same for the Myrus or Berus of which we haue spoken already yet is it manifest that they are deceiued for it hath gills couered with a bony couering and also sinnes to swym withall much greater then those of the Myrus which wee haue shewed already to bee the male Lamprey This Serpent therefore for the outward proportion thereof is like to the Serpents of the Land but of a redde or purplish colour beeing full of crooked or oblique lines descending from the backe to the belly and deuiding or breaking that long line of the backe which beginneth at the head and so stretcheth foorth to the tayle The opening of his mouth is not very great his teeth are very sharpe and like a saw his gills like scalie fishes and vppon the ridge of his backe all along to the tayle and vnder-neath vppon the ryne or brimme of his belly are certaine haires growing or at the least thinne small things like hayres the tayle beeing shut vp in one vndeuided finne Of this kind no doubt are those which Bellonius saith hee sawe by the Lake Abydus which liue in the waters and come not to the Land but for sleepe for hee affirmeth that they are like Land-serpents but in theyr colour they are redde-spotted with some small and duskie spots Gelliusâ—…th â—…th that among the multitude of Sea-serpents some are like Congers and I cannot teâ—…ether that of Vergill be of this kind or not spoken of by Laocoon the Priest of Neptune Solennes taurum ingentum mactabat ad aras Ecce autem gemini á Tenedo tranqulla per alta Horresco referens immensis orbibus angues Incumbunt pelago pariterque ad littora tendunt Pectora quorum inter fluctus arecta iubaeque Sanguineae exuperant vndas pars caetera pontum Pone legit sinuatque immensa volumine terga Fit sonitus spumante saelo c. Which may be englished thus Whilst he a Bull at Altars solemne sacrifice Behold I feare to tell two monstrous snakes appeared Out of Tenedus shore both calme and deepe did rise One part in Sea the other on Land was reared Their breasts and redde-blood manes on waters mounted But backe and tayle on Land from foaming sea thus sounded OF THE SALAMANDER I Will not contrary their opinion which reckon the Salamander among the kinds of Lyzards but leaue the assertion as somewhat tollerable yet they are not to be followed or to be beleeued which would make it a kinde of Worme for there is not in that opinion eyther reason or resemblance What this beast is called among the Hebrewes I cannot learne and therfore I iudge that the Iewes like many other Nations did not acknowledge that there was any such kinde of creature for ignorance bringeth infidelitie in strange things and propositions The Graecians call it Salamandra which word or terme is retained almost in all Languages especially in the Latine and therefore Isidore had more boldnesse and wit then reason to deriue the Latine Salamandra quasi valincendram resisting burning for beeing a Greeke word it needeth not a Latine notation The Arabians call it Saambras and Samabras which may wel be thought to be deriued or rather corrupted from the former word Salamandra or else from the Hebrew word Semamit which signifieth a Stellion Among the Italians and Rhaetians it retaineth the Latine vvord and sometimes in Rhaetia it is called Rosada In the dukedome of Sauoy Pluuina In Fraunce Sourd Blande Albrenne and Arrassade according to the diuers Prouinces in that Kingdome In Spayne it is called Salamantegna In Germany it is called by diuers names as Maall and Punter maall Olm Moll and Molch because of a kinde of liquour in it like milke as the Greeke word Molge from à melgein to sucke milke Some in the Country of Heluetia doe call it Quattertetesh And in Albertus it is likewise called Rimatrix And thus much may suffise for the name thereof The description of theyr seuerall parts followeth which as Auicen and other Authours write is very like a small and vulgar Lyzard except in their quantitie which is greater theyr legges taller and their tayle longer They are also thicker and fuller then a Lyzard hauing a pale white belly and one part of their skinne exceeding blacke the other yellow like Verdigreace both of them very splendent and glistering with a blacke line going all along their backe hauing vppon it many little spots like eyes And from hence it commeth to be called a Stellion or Animal stellatum a creature full of starres and the skinne is rough and balde especially vpon the backe where those spots are out of which as writeth the Scholiast issueth a certaine liquour or humour which quencheth the heate of the fire when it is in the same This Salamander is also foure-footed like a Lyzard and all the body ouer it is set with spots of blacke and yellow yet is the sight of it abhominable and fearefull to man The head of it is great and sometimes they haue yellowish bellyes and tayles and some-times earthy It is some question among the Learned whether there be any discretion of sexe as whether there be in this kinde a male and a female Pliny affirmeth that they neuer engender and that there is not among them eyther male or female no more then there are among Eeles But this thing is iustly crossed both by Bellonius and Agricola for they affirme vpon their owne knowledge that the Salamander engendereth her young ones in her belly like vnto the Viper but first conceiueth egges and she bringeth forth fortie and fiftie at a time which are fully perfected in her wombe and are able to runne or goe so soone as euer they be littered and therefore there must be among them both male and female The Countries wherein are found Salamanders are the Region about Trent and in the Alpes and some-time also in Germany The most commonly frequent the coldest and moystest places as in the shaddow
of time wherein their rage sheweth it selfe by byting and when not but also the difference of place and region for that they byte in some Countries and not in other When they haue bitten there followeth a vehement payne and sâ—abbe vppon the place for the cure whereof there must be taken a decoction of Frogges and the broth must be drunke and the flesh applyed to the sore or else other common remedies against the poyson prescribed in the Treatise following The poyson hereof is great and not inferiour to the poyson of any other Serpent for sometimes by creeping vpon Apple-trees it infecteth and poysoneth all the fruite so that those which eate the same dye and languish they know not whereof and if the heele of a man doe but touch any small part or portion of the spettle of a Salamander it maketh all the hayre of the body to fall of The poyson it selfe is not cold as some haue thought but hote like to the poyson of Cantharides and therefore to be cured by the same meanes as by vomits Glysters Ephemeron and such like Onely Swyne doe eate Salamanders without harme or damage for there is in them a kinde of resistance in nature and yet if man or dogge doe chaunce to eate of that Swyne that hath eaten a Salamander it hath beene obserued that they perrished by the same And this poyson spreadeth it selfe the further when it is dead because it is strengthened by putrefaction and wine or water wherin one of these lyeth dead is empoysoned made mortall thereby to others But in our dayes Salamanders are not so venomous if there be any credite in Brasauolus howbeit I haue heard and read that if at this day a Salamander gâ—… heape of corne she so infecteth it that whatsoeuer eateth of that Corne dyetl sit were of poyson and the Kine of Helueria which are sucked by Salamanders doe euer after remaine barren and without milke and sometime also they dye of that euill And as Arnoldus writeth it casteth forth a certaine mattery white humour like milke out of the mouth wherevpon if a man or any other liuing creature doe but tread he is poysoned thereby and at the least all the hayre of their body falleth off and in like sort they inâ—ect herbes plants of the earth by theyr poyson Sometimes it happeneth that beasts or men haue swallowed Salamanders and then the tongue is inflamed and all the body falleth into grieuous torment by cold corruption and putrefaction part after part and also paines in the fundament in the stomack likewise dropsies and impostumation in the belly crampe of the guttes and relention of vrine For the cure whereof they giue sweete water Calamynts Saint Iohns-wort â—od with the shells Pine-apples leafes of Cypresse Galbanus and hony or Rozen Ammoniacke and Styrax New cow-milke the meale made of flax-seede with sweete water sweet wine and oyle to cause vomits Scammony a decoction of Calamints and figges fatte Baâ—on or hogges-flesh and also the egges of a Torteyse with the flesh thereof besides infinite other remedies ordained by the goodnesse of Almighty God as Phisitians knowe by their owne studie and daily experiments And therefore I hold it sufficient for mee to haue lightly touched them referring those that are desirous to know more vnto the learned collection of Carromus Out of the Salamander it selfe arise also some medicines for it hath a septick power to eate and corrode to take away hayres and the powder thereof cureth cornes and hardnes in the feete The hart tyed to the wrist in a blacke skinne taketh away a quartane-Ague and also Kiradides writeth that being bound vnto a womans thigh it stayeth her monthlie flowers and keepeth her barren But this is worthily reproued for vntruth and therefore I will not commend it to the Reader And thus much for the Salamander OF THE SCORPION SCorpios in Greeke is attributed both to the Scorpion of the Land and of the Sea although some-times for difference sake the scorpions of the earth be called Scorpios chersaios The deriuation is manifold according to some Writers either of Scorpizein ton+'ion that is dispersing his poyson or of Sckanoos erpein because the motion of it is oblique inconstant and vncertaine like as the flame of fire beaten with a small wind The Graecians also vse for a Scorpion Blestas because it casteth poyson octopos from the number of his eight feete And in Ethyopia there is a kind of Scorpion which the Greeks call Sybritae The Latines doe vse indifferently Scorpius Seorpio nepa Cancer also vinula and Geptaria as we find in Ponzettus The Arabians haue many words as Harrab Acrob Achrach and Satoracon Hacparab algerarat algeterat and algenat and alkatareti for little Scorpions which draw their tayles after them Howbeit among these names also Algarat signifieth that little kind of scorpions Algararat the Scorpion with bunches on his backe The Hebrewes according to the opinion of some call a Scorpion Acchabim The Italians Scurtigicio and Scorpione terrestre The French Vn scorpion the Spanyards Alacram alacrani which name they haue also giuen to an Iland in the west-Indies subiect to their dominion In Castilia it is called Escorpion and in Germany Ein scorpion The Countries which breed Scorpions are these that follow in Egypt neere the Citty Coptus are many very great and pestilent stinging Scorpions who kill as soone as they smite Also Ethyopia and Numidia abound with Scorpions especially the latter wherin as writeth Leo Affric are euery yeere found very many that die of their wounds Tenas one of the Cyclades Ilands is called Ophiessa because it yeeldes many Serpents and Scorpions Also in that part of Mauritania which is neere the vvest are Scorpions with wings and without wings likewise in Iberia Caria Lybia And it is also said that once there were many Scorpions brought into India into that part of the Country where the Rhicophagi dwell By the way betwixt Susis in Persia and Media there were wont to abound Scorpions vnder euery stone and turffe for which cause when the King of Persia was wont to goe into Media he gaue commaundement vnto his people to scoure the way by vsing all meanes to kill them giuing gifts to them that killed the greatest number of Scorpions There is an auncient towne in Affricke called Pescara wherein the abundance of Scorpions do so much harme that they driue away the inhabitants all the Sommer-time euery yeere vntill Nouember following And in like sort Diodorus declareth of many other places vtterly forsaken to auoyd the multitude of Scorpions as namely one part of Arabia and the region of India about Arrhatan or the riuer Estumenus likewise neere the Cynamolgi in Ethyopia There is also a Citty called Alabanda standing betwixt two hills or mountaines like as a chest turned inward which Apollonius calleth Cistam inuersam Scorpionibus plenam a chest turned inward full of Scorpions In an Island of
necke thereof are two blanches and betwixt them a hollow place the backe part whereof is attenuated into a thinne and sharpe tayle and vppon eyther chappe they haue many teeth which are sharpe and without poyson for when they byte they doe no more harme then fetch blood onely and these men for ostentation sake weare about their necks and women are much terrified by them in the hands of wanton young boyes The backe of this Snake as writeth Erastus is blackish and the other parts greene like vnto Leekes yet mixed with some whitenesse for by reason it feedeth vppon herbs it beareth that colour They are also carried in mens bosoms and with them they will make knots For the same Erastus affirmeth that he sawe a Fryer knit one of them vp together like a garter but when hee pulled it harder then the Snake could beare it turned the head about bytte him by the hand so as the blood followed yet there came no more harme for it was cured without any medicine and therefore is not venomous In the mountaine of Mauritania called Ziz the Snakes are so familiar with men that they waite vpon them at dinner-time like cats and little dogges and they neuer offer any harme to any liuing thing except they be first of all prouoked Among the Bygerons inhabyting the Pyrenes there be Snakes 4. foote long and as thicke as a mans arme which likewise liue continually in the houses and not onely come peaceably to their tables but also sleepe in their beds without any harme in the night-time they hisse but sildom in the day time and picke vp the crummes which fall from their tables Among the Northerne people they haue household-Snakes as it were houshold-gods and they suffer them both to eate and to play with their Infants lodging them in the cradles with them as if they were faythfull Keepers about them and if they harme any body at any time they account it Pium piaculum a very diuine and happy mischaunce But after they had receiued the Christian-fayth they put away all these superstitions and did no more foster the Serpents broode in detestation of the deuill who beguiled our first Parents in the similitude of a Serpent Yet if it happen at any time that a house be burned all the Snakes hide themselues in their holes in the earth and there in short space they so encrease that when the people come to reedifie they can very hardly displant their number Plautus in his Amphitryo maketh mention of two-maned-Snakes which descended from the clowdes in a shower but this opinion grew from the fiction of the Epidaurian-Snake which onely by the Poets is described with a mane and a combe and therefore I will not expresse the Snake to haue a mane There is no cause why we should thinke all Snakes to be without poyson for the Poet hath not warned vs in vaine where he saith Frigidus ô puèri fugite hinc latet Anguis sub herba Which may be englished thus Fly hence you boyes as farre as feete can beare Vnder this herbe a Snake full cold doth leare For this cause we will leaue the discourse of the harmelesse Snake and come to those which are no way inferiour to any other Serpent their quantitie and spirit beeing considered wherefore we are to consider that of Snakes which are venomous and hurtfull there are two kinds one called the Water-Snake the other the Land-Snake The Water-Snake is called in Greeke Hydra hydros hydrales karouros Enhydris in Latine Natrix and Lutrix Munster calleth it in Hebrew Zepha and Auicen relateth certaine barbe rous names of it as Handrius Andrius and Abides and Kedasuderus Echydrus and Aspistichon The Germans call it Nater Wasser-nater and Wasser-schlange and they describe it in the manner as it is found in their Country which doth not very farre differ from them of our Country heere in England It is as they say in thicknes like the arme of a man or child the bellie thereof yellow and of a golden colour and the backe blackish-greene the very breath of it is so venomous that if a man hold to it a rodde newly cutte off from the Tree it will so infect it that vppon it shall appeare certaine little bagges of gall or poyâ—on And the like effect it worketh vppon a bright naked sword if it doe but touch it with the tongue for the poyson runneth from one end to the other as if it were quicke and leaueth behind a lyne or scorched path as if it had beene burned in the fire And if this Serpent fortune to byte a man in the foote then is the poyson presently dispersed all ouer the body for it hath a fiery qualitie and therefore it continually ascendeth but when once it commeth to the hart the man falleth downe and dyeth And therefore the meetest cure is to hang the party so wounded vppe by the heeles or else speedilie to cut off the member that is bitten And that which is heere said of the vvater-Snake doth also as properly belong to the Land-snake seeing there is no difference betwixt these but that at certaine times of the yeere they forsake the water when it draweth or falleth lowe and so betake themselues to the Land They liue in the water and in the earth but they lay their egges on the land in hedges or in dunghills and especially in those waters which are most corrupt as in pooles where there is store of Frogs Leaches Newtes and but few fishes as in the Lakes about Puteoli and Naples and in England all ouer the Fennes as in Ramsey Holland Ely and oâ—… such like places and when they swymme they beare their breast aboue the water They abound also in Corcyra and about Taracina in Italy and in the Lake Nyclea and especially in Calabria as the Poet writeth Est etiam illa malus Calabris in saltibus Anguis Squammea conuoluens sublato pectore terga Atque notis longam maculosus grandibus aluum Qui dum amnes vlli rumpuntur fontibus dum Vere madent vdo terrae ac pluuialibus austris Stagna colit ripisque habitans hic piscibus atram Improbus ingluuiem ranisque loquacibus explet Postquam exhausta palus terraeque ardore dehiscunt Exilit in siccum flammantia lumnia torquens Saeuit agris asperque siti atque exterritus â—stâ— Which may be thus englished That euill Snake in the Calabrian coasts abides Rowling his scaly backe by holding vp the brest And with great spots vpon large belly glydes When as the Riuers streames in fountaines all are ceast For whiles the moystened spring with raine from Southwind falls It haunts the pooles andin the water all blaoke it feedes In rauening wise both fish and frogs doe fill his gall For why when Sommers drought enforce then must in needes Fly to dry Land rowling his flaming eye Rage in the fields to quench his thirstfull dry There be some Writers that affirme that there is
tender toppes of the Boxe-tree with Olibanum all these being made vp and tempered together to make an Emplaster he counselleth to bee applyed to sinnewes that are layed open cut asunder or that haue receiued any puncture or suffer any payne or aking whatsoeuer Pliny saith that there cannot be a better Medicine found out for broken bones then Earth-worms and field Mice dryed puluerised and so mixed together with Oyle of Roses to be layde in the forme of an emplaster vpon the part fractured Yea to asswage and appease paine both in the ioynts in the sinnewes of Horses there hath not been found out a more notable Medicine as we may well perceiue by the writinges both of Russius Absyrtus and Didymus whereupon Cardan hath obserued that all paynes whatsoeuer may bee mitigated by their apt vsing Carolus Clusius sayth that the Indians doe make an excellent vnguent of Earth-Wormes agaynst the disease called Erysipelas beeing a swelling full of heat and rednesse with paine round about commonly called S. Anthonies fyre And thus it is prepared They first take Earth-Wormes aliue feeding them eyther with the leaues of Moeza or else with fine Meale vntill by this meanes they grow fat afterwards boyling them in an earthen vessell remembring euer to scumme the same they doe strayne them boyling them yet againe to the consistance almost of an emplaster which if it be rightly prepared is of a yellow-collour And this Medicine may well be vsed for any burning or scalding My purpose is not to vouch all those authorities I might concerning the admirable Nature and vertue of Earth-Wormes for so I thinke I might alledge sixe hundreth more which is not meete to be inserted in this place I will therefore now passe to their qualities and medicinall vses for irrationall creatures Pelagonius much commendeth Earth-VVormes as an excellent Medicine for the bots or VVormes that are in Horses and in the bodyes of Oxen and Kine affirming that the best way is to put them aliue into their Nosthrils although without question it were farre better to conueigh them into their mawes by the meanes of some horne Tardinus aduiseth to giue the powder of Earth-VVormes with some hot flesh to Hawkes vvhen they cannot exonerate nature or how Faulkners tearme it I know not For that sayth he will loosen their bellies Moles doe also feede full sauerly vpon them and if they fall a digging it is strange to see with what sudden hast and speede then poore VVormes vvill issue out of the ground In like sort Hogges and Swyne as Varro writeth by their turning vp the mudde and rooting in the earth with their snouts do by this meanes dig vp the Wormes that they may eate them Albertus Magnus saith that Toades doe feede vpon Wormes Bellonius saith that Lizards and Tarentinus that the Sea-fish called Gryff or Grample doth greedily deuour theÌ„ and finally experience it selfe witnesseth that Frogs Eeles Gudgeons Carpes Breames Roches and Trowts doe satisfie their hungry guts by feeding vppon them Aristotle in his eyght booke De Nat. Animal Chap. 3. describeth a certaine Bird that liueth in the waters which Gaza interpreteth Capella though the Phylosopher calleth it Aix and some haue called it Vdhelius that liueth for the most part vpon wormes yea Thrushes Robin-redbreasts Munmurderers and Bramblings Hens Chaffinches Gnat-snappers Bull-finches and all sorts of Crowes will feede vppon them and therefore it is that there bee more Crowes in England then in any other Country in the world respecting the greatnesse because here the soyle being moyst and fat there is aboundance of Earth-wormes seruing for their food as Polydorus Virgilius in his first booke of the History of England which he dedicated to King Henry the eyght hath excellently deliuered The people of India if wee will credit Monardus doe make of these Wormes diuers iuncats as we doe Tarts Marchpanes Wafers and Cheese-cakes to eate in stead of other daynties And the Inhabitants of west India do deuour them raw as Francis Lopez testifieth The people of Europe in no place that euer I heard or read of can endure them to be set on their Tables but for medicinall vses onely they desire them Plautus vseth in stead of a prouerb this that followeth Nunc ab transenna hic turdus Lubricum petit It is an allegorie taken and borrowed from a ginne or snare wherewith Birdes are ta 〈…〉 by which Chrysalus the bondman bringing certain Letters to Nicobolus an old man â—…th and giueth warning that the weake old man was by the reading of the letter no otherwise ensnared intangled deceiued then some birds are taken by subtile and crafty sleights For Transenna is nothing but a deceitfull cord stretched out to take Birdes especially Thrushes or Mauisses withall and Wormes is there proper foode which vvhile they endeuour to entrappe they themselues are deceiued and taken Surely I should not thinke that those Fishers and Anglers to be very wise who to take Wormes vse to poure Lye or water into the earth wherein Hemp Sothern-wood Centery Worme-wood or veruen haue bin long soked or any other strange moysture causing them by this meane to issue forth out of the earth for the Earth Wormes by this kind of dealing being made more bitter vnsauory and vnpleasant no fishes will once touch or tast them but rather seeke to auoyde them But contrary-wise if they will let them lie a whole day in VVheat Meale putting a little Hony to it and then bayte their hookes with them they will be so sweete pleasant and delectable as that the vnwary Fish will sooner bite at it then at Ambrosia the very meat of the Gods Earth-Wormes doe also much good to men seruing them to great vse in that they do prognosticate and fore-tell rainy weather by their sodaine breaking or issuing forth of the ground and if none appeare aboue ground ouer-night it is a great signe it will be calme and fayre weather the next day The ancient people of the world haue euer obserued this as a generall rule that if Wormes pierce through the earth violently in hast by heaps as if they had bored it thorow with some little Auger or Piercer they tooke for it an infallible token of Raine shortly after to fall For the Earth being as it were embrued distayned made moyst and mooued with an imperceptible motion partly by South-wind partly also a vaporous ayre it yeeldeth an easie passage for round VVormes to wind out of the inward places of the earth to giue vnto them moyst food and to Minister store of fat Iuyces or fattish Ielly wherewith they are altogether delighted Some there be found that will fashion and frame Iron after such a manner as that they will bring it to the hardnesse of any steele after this order following They take of Earth-VVormes two parts of Raddish-roots one part after they are bruized together the water is put into a Limbecke to be distïlled or else take of the distilled water of VVormes l. iij.