Page 153 sur 788

In Lithuania there are swarms of flies. Among them there is a

special variety, called "gentry flies"; in colour and form they

are quite like others, but they have a broader breast, a larger

belly than the common sort; as they fly they hum loudly and buzz

beyond all endurance, and they are so strong that they will break

right through a spider's web; or if one is caught, it will buzz

there for three days, for it can contend with the spider in

single combat. All this the Seneschal had carefully observed, and

he argued further that these gentry flies produce the smaller

folk, corresponding among flies to the queen bee in a swarm, and

that with their destruction the remnant of those insects would

perish.