CHAP. 42. (36.)—AN ANIMAL FOUND IN FIRE—-THE PYRALLIS
OR PYRAUSTA.
That element, also, which is so destructive to matter, produces certain animals; for in the copper-smelting furnaces of
Cyprus, in the very midst of the fire, there is to be seen flying
about a four-footed animal with wings, the size of a large fly:
this creature is called the " pyrallis," and by some the " pyrausta." So long as it remains in the fire it will live, but if it
comes out and flies a little distance from it, it will instantly
die.
