Curious Facts in the History of Insects; Including Spiders and Scorpions. / A Complete Collection of the Legends, Superstitions, Beliefs, and Ominous Signs Connected with Insects; Together with Their Uses in Medicine, Art, and as Food; and a Summary of Their Remarkable Injuries and Appearances.

by Frank Cowan

Or swallows twitter on the chimney tops.

The tainted blood, in this close prison pent,

Begins to boil, and thro’ the bones ferment.

Then wond’rous to behold, new creatures rise,

A moving mass at first, and short of thighs;

Till shooting out with legs, and imp’d with wings,

The grubs proceed to Bees with pointed stings:

And more and more affecting air, they try

Their tender pinions and begin to fly.[626]

This absurd notion was also promulgated by the great English chronicler, Hollingshed; for, says this author, “Hornets, waspes, Bees, and such like, whereof we have