Like your Scotch barnacle, now a block,
Instantly a worm, and presently a great goose.
Marston, The Malecontent (1604).
Basilisk. The basilisk can kill at a distance by the “poison” of its glance.
There’s not a glance of thine
But, like a basilisk, comes winged with death.
Lee, Alexander the Great, v. 1 (1678).
Bear. The cub of a bear is licked into shape and life by its dam.
So watchful Bruin forms with plastic care
Each growing lump and brings it to a bear.