[h] And as Birds, so the several Sorts of Beasts have their peculiar Sorts of Lice; all distinct from the two Sorts infesting Man: Only the Ass, they say, is free, because our Saviour rode upon one, as some think; but I presume it is rather from the Passage in Pliny, L. 11. c. 33. or rather Arist. Hist. Animal. L. 3. c. 31. who saith, Quibus pilus est, non carent eodem [Pediculo] excepto Asino, qui non Pediculo tantùm, verùm etiam Redivio immunis est. And a little before, speaking of those in Men, he shews what Constitutions are most subject to them, and instanceth in Alcman the Poet, and Pherecydes Syrius that died of the Pthiriasis, or Lowly Disease. For which foul Distemper, if Medicines are desired, Moufet de Insect. p. 261. may be consulted. Who in the same Page hath this Observation, Animadverterunt nostrates——ubi Asores insulas à tergo reliquerint, Pediculos confestim omnes tabascere: atque ubi eas reviserint, iterum innumeros alios subitò oriri. Which Observation is confirmed by Dr. Stubs. Vid. Lowth. Abridg. V. 3. p. 558. And many Seamen have told me the same.
[] Fishes, one would think, should be free from Lice, by Reason they live in the Waters, and are perpetually moving in, and brushing through them; but yet have their Sorts too.
Besides which, I have frequently found great Numbers of long slender Worms in the Stomachs, and other Parts of Fish, particularly Codfish, especially such as are poor; which Worms have work’d themselves deeply into the Coats and Flesh, so that they could nor easily be gotten out: So Aristotle, saith of some Fishes, Ballero & Tilloni Lumbricus, innascitur, qui debilitat, &c. Chalcis vitio infestatur diro, ut Pediculi sub Branchiis innati quàm multi interimant. Hist. An. L. 8. c. 20.
[k] Of Insects bred in the Nose of Animals, those in the Nostrils of Sheep are remarkable. I have my self taken out not fewer at a Time than twenty or thirty rough Maggots, lying among the Laminæ of the Nostrils. But I could never hatch any of them, and so know not what Animal they proceed from: But I have no great doubt, they are of the Ichneumon-Fly Kind; and not improbably of that with a long Tail, call’d Triseta, whose three Bristles seem very commodious for conveying its Eggs into deep Places.
I have also seen a rough whitish Maggot, above two Inches within the Intestinum rectum of Horses, firmly adhering thereto, that the hard Dung did not rub off. I never could bring them to Perfection, but suspect the Side-Fly proceeds from it.
[l] In the Backs of Cows, in the Summer-Months, there are Maggots generated, which in Essex we call Wornils; which are first only a small Knot in the Skin; and I suppose no other than an Egg laid there by some Insect. By Degrees these Knots grow bigger, and contain in them a Maggot lying in a purulent Matter: They grow to be as large as the End of one’s Finger, and may be squeez’d out at a Hole they have always open: They are round and rough, and of a dirty White. With my utmost Endeavour and Vigilance, I could never discover the Animal they turn into; but as they are somewhat like, so may be the same as those in [the Note before].
In Persia there are very long slender Worms, bred in the Legs, and other Parts of Men’s Bodies, 6 or 7 Yards long. In Philos. Trans. Mr. Dent, and Mr. Lewis, relate divers Examples of Worms taken out of the Tongue, Gums, Nose, and other Parts, by a Woman at Leicester, which they were Eye-witnesses of. These, and divers others mention’d in the Transactions, may be seen together in Mr. Lowthorp’s Abridg. Vol. 3. p. 132.
Narrat mihi vir fide dignus——Casp. Wendlandt——se in Poloniâ, puero cuidam rustico duorum annorum, Vermiculum album è palbebrâ extraxisse,——magnitudinis Erucæ.——Similem fere huic casum mihi [Schulzio] & D. Segero narravit hoc. Anno 1676. chirurgus noster Ant. Statlender, qui cuidam puero, ex Aure, extraxit Vermiculum talem, qualis in nucibus avellanis perforatis latitare solet, sed paulò majorem, coloris albissimi; alteri minores 5 ejusdem generis similiter ex Aure: Omnes aliquot horas supervixerunt——Vermiculos adhuc viventes oculis nostris vidimus. Ephem. Germ. T. 2. Obs. 24. ubi Vermiculi Icon. Many other Instances may be met with in the same Tome. Obs. 147, 148, 154.
The Worms in Deer are mention’d often among ancient Writers. Aristotle saith, Σκώληκας μεν τοι πάντες ἔχουσιν, ἐν τῇ κεφαλῇ ζῶντας, &c. They [Deer] all have Live Worms in their Heads; bred under the Tongue, in a Cavity near the Vertebra, on which the Head is plac’d; their Size not less than of the largest Maggots; they are bred all together, in number about twenty. Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 2. c. 15.
To these Examples may be added the Generation of the Ichneumon-Fly in the Bodies of Caterpillars, and other Nymphæ of Insects. In many of which, that I have laid up to be hatch’d in Boxes, instead of Papilios, &c. as I expected, I have found a great Number of small Ichneumon-Flies, whose Parent-Animal had wounded those Nymphæ, and darted its Eggs into them, and so made them the Foster-Mother of its Young. More Particulars of this Way of Generation may be seen in the great Mr. Willughby’s Observations in Philos. Trans. Nᵒ. 76. But concerning the farther Generation of this Insect, I have taken Notice of other Particulars in other places of these Notes.