Martial. l. 13. Epigr. 94.
[e] The Hedgehog being an helpless, slow, patient Animal, is accordingly guarded with Prickles, and a Power of rolling it self up in them. Clavis terebrari sibi pedes, & discindi viscera patientissimè ferebat, omnes cultri ictus sine gemitu plusquam Spartanâ nobilitate concoquens. Borrichius in Blas. de Echino. Panniculum carnosum amplexabatur Musculus panè circularis, admirandæ fabricæ, lacinius suas ad pedes, caudam, caput, variè exporrigens, cujus minsterio Echinus se ad arbitrium in orbem contrahit. Act. Dan. in Blasio.
Iste licèt digitos restudine pungat acutâ,
Cortice deposito mollis Echinus erit.
Mart. l. 13. Epig. 86.
[f] The Sting of a Wasp, or Bee, &c. is so pretty a Piece of Work, that it is worth taking Notice of, so far as I have not found others to have spoken of it. Others have observ’d the Sting to be an hollow Tube, with a Bag of sharp penetrating Juices, (its Poison,) joined to the End of it, within the Body of the Wasp, which is, in Stinging, injected into the Flesh through the Tube. But there are besides this, two small, sharp, bearded Spears, lying within this Tube or Sting, as in a Sheath. In a Wasp’s Sting, I counted eight Beards on the Side of each Spear, somewhat like the Beards of Fish-hooks. These Spears in the Sting, or Sheath, lie one with its Point a little before that of the other; as is represented in [Fig. 21.] to be ready, (I conceive,) to be first darted into the Flesh; which being once fix’d, by Means of its foremost Beard, the other then strikes in too, and so they alternately pierce deeper and deeper, their Beards taking more and more hold in the Flesh; after which the Sheath or Sting follows, to convey the Poison into the Wound. Which, that it may pierce the Better, it is drawn into a Point, with a small Slit a little below that Point, for the two Spears to come out at. By Means of this pretty Mechanism in the Sting, it is, that the Sting when out of the Body, and parted from it, is able to pierce and sting us: And by Means of the Beards being lodged deep in the Flesh, it comes to pass that Bees leave their Stings behind them, when they are disturbed before they have Time to withdraw their Spears into their Scabbard. In [Fig. 21.] is represented the two Spears as they lie in the Sting. In [Fig. 22.] the two Spears are represented when squeez’d out of the Sting, or the Scabbard; in which Latter, [Fig. A c b], is the Sting, [c d], and [b e], the two bearded Spears thrust out.
[g] The Camelion is sufficiently fam’d on this Account. Besides which, Pliny tells us of a Beast as big as an Ox, called the Tarandus, that when he pleaseth, assumes the Colour of an Ass, and Colorem omnium fruticum, arborum, florum, locorumgue reddit, in quibus latet metuens, ideoque rarò capitur. Plin. l. 8. c. 34.
How true this is, there may be some Reason to doubt; but if any Truth be in the Story, it may be from the Animal’s chusing such Company, or Places, as are agreeable to its Colour: As I have seen in divers Caterpillars, and other Insects, who I believe were not able to change their Colour, from one Colour to another; yet I have constantly observ’d, do fix themselves to such Things as are of the same Colour; by which Means they dodge the Spectator’s Eye. Thus the Caterpillar that feeds on Elder, I have more than once seen, so cunningly adhering to the small Branches of the same Colour, that it might be easily mistaken for a small Stick, even by a careful View. So a large green Caterpillar, that feeds on Buckthorn, and divers others. To which I may add the prodigious Sagacity of the Ichneumon Flies, that make the Kermes, (for of that Tribe all the Kermes I ever saw was;) how artificially they not only inclose their Eggs within that gummy Skin, or Shell; but also so well humour the Colour of the Wood they adhere to, by various Streaks and Colours, that it is not easie to distinguish them from the Wood it self.
[h] Contra metum & vim, suis se armis quæque defendit. Cornibus Tauri, Apri dentibus, morsu Leones, aliæ fugâ se, aliæ occultatione tutantur: atramenti effusione Sepia, torpore Topedines. Multa etiam insectantes odoris intolerabili, fœditate depellunt. Cic. de Nat. Deor. l. 2. c. 50.
[] A Knight call’d Corvini at Rome, cast a Salamander into the Fire, which presently swell’d, and then vomited Store of thick slimy Matter, which put out the Coals; to which the Salamander presently retir’d, putting them out again in the same Manner, as soon as they re-kindled, and by this Means sav’d it self from the Force of the Fire for the Space of two Hours: After which it liv’d nine Months. Vid. Philos. Transact. Nᵒ. 21. in Lowth. Abridg. Vol. 2. p. 816.