Batman vppon Bartholome his booke De proprietatibus rerum, newly corrected, enlarged and amended: with such additions as are requisite, vnto euery seuerall booke: taken foorth of the most approued authors, the like heretofore not translated in English. Profitable for all estates, as well for the benefite of the mind as the bodie. 1582.

Of Aranea. chap. 11.

THe venimous spinner is called Ara∣nea, and is a worme that hath that name of feeding & nourishing of the aire, as Isidore sayth, li. 12. and spinneth long thrids in short time, and is alway busie about weauing, and ceaseth neuer of tra∣uaile. For he hath oft harme in his worke for oft his web and his worke is broken with blasts of wind, or els with dropping of tame: and then he looseth all his tra∣uaile.

And Auicen sayth, that the Spinner is a little créeping beast with many feet, and hath sixe feete or eight, and hath al∣waye feete euen, and not odde. And that is verye needfull, that his going and pos∣sing be alway euen, as the charge is and burthen. And this is generall in all that haue two féete or moe, and haue some féete longer, and some shorter, for diuerse workes that they make. For with some féete they make the thridde small, and drawe it a long, and with some they knit thrids together, and right and amende the thrids with some, and hooue on the web when they will. And among beasts of rounde bodyes, the Spinner hath best féeling of touch. For hoouing in the middle of the webbe, hee feeleth sodeyn∣ly a Flye that is in the farthest parte thereof. And réeseth sodeinly on the flie, as it were on an enimye: and if hée haue the mastrye of the Flye, hée win,

beth and wrappeth him flily, among the threds of the web, for he should not es∣cape, and falleth first on the head, and sucketh the moysture thereof, and ly∣ueth by such hunting of Flies: for such humour of Flyes is most lyking to his taste, as honnie is most lyking to the taste of Baes, as he sayth, and Aristotle also.

Also in kinde of spinners is diuersity of male and female, as Aristotle saieth, lib. 5. And the female is more of bodye than the male, and hath longer feete, and more plyant, and more able so mouing and weauing. In time of gendring and of loue, the female draweth to hir the male by threds of the web, and thereaf∣ter the male draweth the female, and such drawing ceaseth not vntill they bee ioyned togethers, and then the male is set vpon the wombe of the female: & this manner is néedefull to them for round∣nesse of the wombe: and this ioyning togethers is most in the ende of spring∣ing time and in the beginning of sum∣mer, and sometime in haruest, and in the beginning of winter, and spinners are then most grieuous, and theyr biting most venemous.

Also libro. 8. Aristotle saith, That of Spinners be many kindes, for some be small and of diuers colours, and be sharp and swifte of moaing: and some are more, and blacke in coulour, and theyr hinder legs be most long, and are slowe of mouing, but onely when they goe to worke of generation. And ofte blacke spinners inhabite by the ground among holes and dennes, and they abide in the web vntill some little beast fall therein, as a flye, that he taketh, and sucketh the moysture thereof if he be an hungred, & putteth then the flye in a certaine place and kéepeth it vntill he be an hungred againe: and when he hath sucked all the moysture, he throweth awaye the other deale, and surneth againe to hunting, and hunteth not ere he haue amended the breath of the webbe: and if one breake the webbe, he beginneth for to to amend it about the going downe of the Sunne, or in the rising of the Sun, and then he trauaileth most, for then ma∣ny lyttle wormes fall into the web.

And the female bringeth forth hir brood, and the male hunteth and helpeth hir, and she hideth hir selfe vnder the web, that she be not séene of small wormes, and namely when she is great, for be∣cause of hir greatnesse she worketh not easely: and the female layeth first egs, and thereof afterward are shapen small spinners, & the mother setteth them to weane anone as they be hatcht, and they moue anon, and dispese themselues ther∣to weaue as they haue learned for to weaue, and hunt in their mothers wombe, and so the young spinner aray∣eth anon nets, that are according to his pray. And a manner kinde of spinners hunteth a little Ewte, and when they^• finde him, they begin to weane vppon him, and all about for to binde strongly his mouth, and leap then vpon him, and sting him till he dyeth.

Item in eodem he saith, that some Spinners are founde i. Bée hiues, and those spinners corrupt the honie, & sucke the lycour, and they make webbes a∣bout the honnie combes, and corrupte them. And Auicen sayth & Plinius also, De generatione Araneae. libro. 11. capit. 25. That the kinde of Spinners is wor∣thye of chiefe wondering, and of them there are manye manner of kindes, a∣mong whom a certaine manner of kind is called Spalangio. The bodye thereof is little, speckeled, and of diuers colours, with a sting, and is swifte in leaping, and most grieuous in biting.

Another Spinner there is, that is more of body, blacke of coulour, with long legges, that weaueth in dennes by the ground.

The thirde kinde there is, which by cunning working weaueth full subtyll webbes. A greate wonder it is howe the matter of thriddes that come of the wombe of the Spinner, may indure so greate a worke, and weauing of so greate a webbe. And that is drawen, as men thinke, some and some out of the Spinners wombe, and yet vnneth it is founde voyde. And it séemeth not to bée true, that Democritus sayd, that so much corruption is in the Wombe of the

Spinner, that of his dirte so much mat∣ter of thred might be had. Therefore Arist. reproueth Democritus lib. 8. and saith, that he said not true in this poynt, and his reason is as it séemeth, for spin∣ners and other such round beasts be lit∣tle of meates for default of bloud and of beate, and so he saith, that a spinner ta∣keth not so much meate: but more with∣out comparison cōmeth of him to weaue the web, and then should the superfluity and dirte, be more than the meate and foode that he taketh, and the superfluitie of dirte, is more than néedfull digestion, to due kéeping and sauing of the beast, as Aristotle saith.

Also Plinius saith the same, & sayth, that they spin threds rounde and long, with moderate feete and clawes, & they stretch the warpe with wonderfull craft from the neather side to the ouer, and drawe and bring out againe the thred thwart ouer from point to poynt, and all the straight draughtes with small space betwéen y^e threds, they couple & knit the threds in the middle lyke farre from the middle poynt, when the worke is draw∣en and layd, and then he beginneth from the middle poynt, and goeth round about with the Ofe, and maketh knottes and holes, as it were like farre asunder, and the holes and spaces that be betwéen, be by a wonderfull crafte between y^e knots made now foure cornerd, now euenlong, and now round: and the néerer they bée to the middle, the more narrow they bée and straight, and the farther from the middle they be, the more large and wide they be. The sight séeth not, and vnneth the iudgement of reson perceiueth, wher∣by the spinner reyneth thred to thred, & knitteth so fast knot to knot, and reareth himselfe with a wonderfull lyghtnes by his owne threds that be so small, and vnneth séene with mans eyen, and yet he passeth in the web swiftlye, as though he flew hether and thether, and from place to place.

Also he saith, that as long as the vt∣ter threds of the web dure, if it hap that the web be broken in any maner wise, the spinner beginneth at the middle to amend that which is broken, as though he would holde nothing whole & sound in the webbe, while the middle is not sure.

Also he saith, in spinners be tokens of diuination, and of knowing what we∣ther shall fall, for ofte by weathers that shal fal, some spin & weue higher or low∣er. Also he saith, y^e multitude of spinners is token of much raine. Also li. 14. cap. 3. de lesione ficuum, he saith that somtime spinners weaue and make webs aboute burgening and buds of vines, and also a∣bout flowers and blossomes of Trées, and by such compassing of such Cob∣webs, both trées and vines he lost, when they burgen and bloome. The biting of the spinner that is called Spalangio, is venemous and slaieth, except there be remedie and succour the sooner: but the vertue of Plantaine slayeth the venyme thereof, if it be laid thereto in due man∣ner, and therefore other wormes, as Eutes and Frogs, that dread the sting∣ing of Spinners, defende themselues with iuyce of Plantaine, as Plinius sai∣eth. Dioscorides and Auicen in capi∣tulo De venenis, &c. And Macer saith the same.

Aristotle and Plinius meane, that webs of spinners come of their guts, by a manner cratte of kinde: and the web is wouen by most subtill working, and is wonderfully knit in a net wise, and made with most smallest threds, and that for it should not be séene of flyes and of other wormes, for the which it is lai∣ed, and it should be séene of them, if the threds were great: and cob-webs are made with trauayle and businesse: but it is wonderfully soone destroyed & vn∣done, for it may not sustaine fire: and spinners dread winde, for by a blaste of winde the cob-web is soone broken and vnknit.

And though the spinner be venemous, yet the web that commeth out of y^e guts thereof, is not venemous, but is accoun∣ted full good and profitable to the vse of medicine. And as Dioscorides saith, the cob-web that is white and cleane, and is not defiled with filth nor with pow∣der, hath vertue to constraine, ioyne, and to restrayne, and therefore it stauncheth

bloud that runneth out of a wound, and keepeth it from matter and rotting: and healeth a new wound, if it he layd ther∣to, and withstandeth swelling y^e tarieth the heting of a wound: & a maner spin∣ner is called Spalana, as Pli. saith li. 29. cap. 4. and of this spinner is lyke to an Ant, but he is much more of bodye, and hath a red head, & the other deale of the body is black sprong with white specks: and his smiting is more bitter & more sore, than the biting of the serpent Vi∣pera, and this spinner liueth most nigh furnaces, ouens and milles: and the re∣medie against his biting or smiting, is to shewe to him that is bitten or smit∣ten another spinner of the same kinde, and are therefore kept, when they are found dead. The skinne thereof stamped and dronke, is medicine against biting of the Wesell.

Also another spinner is rough with a great head, and the sorenesse and ache of his stinging, is as it were the ache & sorenesse of a Scorpion: and by his bi∣ting the knées shake and fayleth, and al∣so of the biting, commeth blyndnes and spewing. And another manner spinner is called Mirmicaleon, or Mirmiceon, which is called by another name, For∣micaleon, and is like to an Ante, with a white head, aud hath a blacke bodye, with white speckes. His biting paineth and aketh as stinging of Waspes, and is called Formicaleon, for he hunteth Ants, and sucketh the moysture of them, but sparrowes and other foules deuoure him, as they do ants. Against all biting of spinners, the remedie is the braine of a Capon dronke in swéete wine with a little pepper: and the congealing of a Lambe with Wine, healeth biting of spinners: and the same doth ashes of a Rams cloe with honie: also flyes stam∣ped, and laid to the biting, draweth out the venimme, and abateth the ache and sore: and ther be other remedyes which he reckoneth, but these are sufficient for this time.

And libro eodem. capitulo. 6. he say∣eth: That a long Spinner and white, with small féete, beeing stamped in olde ••ple, doeth awaye the white pearle of the eye, as it is there sayd.

(Besides this large discourse of spi∣ders, it hath bene reported, that in Ire∣land be many spiders, and some verye great, and that being eaten of the Irish∣men, haue not performed any shewe of venime: it may be that the greater poy∣son subduath the losse.)

Notes

• Arane.
• Phalan∣gium.
• Atocius.
• Spiders doe care of their ovvne kinde, for I haue seene one Spider fight, and kill ano∣ther.
• Note.
• Additiō.