[322] It is not improbable that, under this name, some kind of large vampire bat was meant; but, as Pliny says, it is impossible to arrive at any certain knowledge on the subject. The best account given of the strix is that in Ovid’s Fasti, B. vi. The name was given opprobriously to supposed witches, the “foul and midnight hags” of Shakspeare.
[323] This assertion is borrowed from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vii. c. 14.
[324] Or biestings.
[325] See B. xxviii. c. 12. Poppæa Sabina, first the mistress, then the wife, of the Emperor Nero.
[326] “Spuma.” He calls it so, because it floats on the surface. See B. xxviii. c. 35. The “acor,” or acrid liquid, which he speaks of, is, no doubt, butter-milk.
[327] Or whey.
[328] Nismes, in France. Hardouin speaks of goats’-milk cheeses made in its neighbourhood, and known as fromages de Baux.
[329] Probably the modern Losere and Gevaudan. See B. iv. c. 19.
[330] For the Docleatæ, see B. iii. c. 26.
[331] For the Centrones, see B. iii. c. 24. He perhaps refers to the modern fromage de Passi.