Note l — BOOK VIII.
Reading edition
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.