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 Eruca. cap. 47.

ERuca, the Malshrag is a worme with many féet,* 1.1 & bréedeth in cole leaues and in vine leaues, and fretteth and gnaw∣eth twigges, branches, fruit, and flow∣ers, and hath that name Eruca of E∣rodendo, gnawing, for hée gnaweth

leaues of trées and of hearbes,* 1.2 as Isidore sayth, libro. 12. Thereof Plautus maketh mention and sayeth, that this euill beast and wicked is enimye to the vine leafe, and wrappeth himselfe in the vine leafe and cleaueth thereto, and flieth not away hether and thether, and as a flie doth that is halfe fedde, and leaueth the leaues, but this Malshragge abideth vppon twigges and leaues, and wasteth them all with gnawing and biting, and is slow in crée∣ping. Huc vsque Isidorus li. 12. Libro. 8. Plinius sayeth, that the Malshragge is rough, as it were hairie. For in crops of trées, when hée hath gnawen the branch, and destroyed the greines therof, he wea∣ueth certeine webs of his owne guts, as the Spinner doth, & wrappeth himselfe in those webbes, and kéepeth his shrewd Semen all the winter long. And hée lay∣eth certeine egges, of the which commeth other broode of that kinde in springing time when trées bourgen, & by multitude of them, trees be grieued & lose their fruit, & so doth Iuie & tender hearbes. And the Malshrag is a soft worme & full of mat∣ter, distinguished with diuerse coulours, shining as a Starre by night. And hath many coulours and foule shaped by day. And is not without some pestilentiall venime, for when he creepeth vppon an hotte member of a man, hee scaldeth the skinne, and maketh whelkes arise, and chaungeth his shape,* 1.3 as Bombax doeth that maketh silke, and this Eruca loueth the shape of a flyeng Worme, for hée ta∣keth thin wings and broade, and flyeth vp hether and thether fréely in the aire, & as many coulours as he had first in the body, so many diuersities he sheweth in priuie winges, and such a flieng worme is called Papilio. And Isidore sayth, libro 12.* 1.4 Papiliones bée called small Fowles, and bée most in fruit, as apples, and brée∣deth therein Wormes that come of their stinking filth, as Isidore sayeth. For of Malshrags commeth and bréedeth But∣terflyes, and of the durt of Butterflyes left vppon leaues bréedeth & commeth a∣gaine Malshrgges, & doth lesse harme in gnawing & fretting when he flyeth, then when he créepeth. And Papias sayth, that Butterflyes bée small flyeng Flyes, that come by night when lyght is kindeled in Candles,* 1.5 and labour to quench the lyght of the Candles, and so they be burnt in the fire of the candles, & sometime when they labor to destroy light of other beasts, they are punished and hurt in their own bodyes.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Caterpil¦ler some∣time takē for the canker vvorme, which hath also many feete.
• * 1.2

  Called also a Palmer.
• * 1.3

  The silke vvorme.
• * 1.4

  Butter∣flyes.
• * 1.5

  The Flie called a millers thombe, & gnats, whereof are di∣uers sorts