Of the (generation of Animals . zr

as Ifiodore ifatmeih i and the Drone is called Fuctts quasi Fagos , because be eatsthat which he nevec laboured for. But others hold that Locusts,and not Drones,aregenerated of Mules flesh. So also, of the basest beast cometh the basest fowl:

The Beetle is generated of the e^s/r,

as Pliny write?. I si odor e faith, they come of swift dog-: sÆUanus faith, they haveno female, but lay their feed in a dot of earth for 28 day es, and then bring forthyoung out of it.

Chap. III.

Of certain Birds, which are generated of the Tutrefathmn of Plants .

r\laus Magnus, in the description of the North-countries of Europe, reports, that'"'about Scotland, there be certain birds generated of thefruitofaTree. MunsteTfaith, there be certain Trees which bring forth a fruit covered over with leaves;which, if it fall into the water under it, at the right season, it lives, and become*a quick bird, which is called Avis arborea. Neither is this any new tale* for theancient Col'mographers, especially Saxo fjrammaucm mentions the fame Tree. LateWriters report, That not onely in Scotland, but in the River of Thames also byLondon, there is a kind of Shel-fishinatwo-leaved shell, that hath a foot full ofplaits and wrinkles : these fi£h are little, round, and outwardly white, smooth andbrittle shelled, like an Almond shell; inwardly they are great bellied, bred as icwere of moss and mud: they, commonly stick on the keel of some old Ship, wherethey hang together like Mushrome-stalks, as if they were thereby nourished. Somesay, they come of worms, some of the boughs and branches of Trees which fall in-to the Sea ; if any of these be cast upon shore, they die j but they which are swal-lowed still into the Sea, live,and get out of their shell,and grow to be ducks or suchlike birds. Cjefner faith, that in the Islands Hebrides, the fame

Birds are generated «f putrifed wood.

If you cast wood into the Sea,first after a while there will certain worms breed in if,Which by little and little become like ducks,in the head, feet, wings and feathers;and at length erow to be as big as Geese: and when they are come to their fullgrowth, they flie about in the Air, a; other birds do. As soon as the wood beginsfirst) to be putrified, there appears a great many wormes,scmeunshapeo, others be-ing in some parts perfect, some having feathers, and some none. Paracelsus faith; Asthe yelk and white of an egge, becomes a chick by the heat of an Hen: so a birdburnt to ashes, and shut up in a vessel of glass, and so laid under the mixen, willbecome a slimy humour; and then, if ic be laid under a Hen, is enlived by herheat, and restored to her self like a Phœnix. Ficinus reporteth, and he had it out ofjilbertus,Th&t there is a certain bird, much like a Black-bird, which is generated ofthe putrefaction of Sage; which receives her life and quickning from the generallife of the whole world.

Chap. IV.

Of Certain fijhes which are generated of putrefdlitn .

H Aving first spoken of earthly Creatures, and then of Fowlcsj now we willspeak of Fishes so generated. And first how

Seles are generated.

Amongst them there is neither male or female, not egges, nor any copulation j nei-ther