[3172] In c. [2] of this Book.
[3173] “Vermiculatio.” Fée understands this to apply to the attacks of insects in general, the Dermestes typographus more particularly.
[3174] Or, in other words, the evil influences of the heavenly bodies: this, of course, is not believed in at the present day.
[3175] Necrosis, in particular portions of the plant.
[3176] See B. xvi. c. [19]. He alludes to an exuberant secretion of resin, in which case the tree becomes charged with it like a torch.
[3177] He alludes to the epidemic and contagious maladies by which trees are attacked. The causes of these attacks are often unknown, but they may probably proceed, in many instances, from springs of hot water, or gaseous emanations secreted in the earth.
[3178] The woodpecker more particularly. See B. x. c. 20.
[3179] It is not known, with certainty, what these worms or caterpillars were. The larva of the capricorn beetle, or of the stag-beetle, has been suggested. Geoffroi thinks that it may have been the larva of the palm-weevil. This taste for caterpillars, probably, no longer prevails in any part of Europe.
[3180] This passage, which is quite conformable to truth, is from Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. iv. c. 16, and B. iii. c. 12.