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

[1128.] Chamb. Misc., vol. xi. No. 100. Compare this story with that of Timour and the Ant.

[1129.] Ockley’s Hist. of the Saracens, i. 36.

[1130.] Lives of the Saints, i. 177–8. Cf. Wanley’s Wonders, ii. 402.

[1131.] Bucke on Nature, ii. 103.

[1132.] Hist. de la Mus., i. 321. Hawkins’ Hist. of Music, iii. 117, note.

[1133.] Biogr. Univers., tome xxxiii. See also Arvine’s Anecdotes, p. 402.

To this account, in the Hist. of Insects printed by John Murray, 1830, i. 269, is added: “The governor of the Bastile hearing that this unfortunate prisoner had found a solace in the society of a Spider, paid Pelisson a visit, desiring to see the manœuvres of the insect. The Basque struck up his notes, the Spider instantly came to be fed by his friend; but the moment it appeared on the floor of the cell, the governor placed his foot on its body, and crushed it to death.”

[1134.] The Mirror, xxvii. 69.

[1135.] Hone’s Ev. Day Book, i. 334.

[1136.] Stray Leaves from the Book of Nature.