342. It now becomes a matter of enquiry whether such things spring from eggs conveyed hither by means of air, or rain or water oozing through the soil, or whether they come forth from the damp and the stenches there. That these noxious animalcules and insects mentioned above are hatched from eggs which have been carried to the spot or which have lain hidden everywhere in the ground since creation, is opposed to all observable facts. For worms come forth in minute seeds, the kernels of nuts, in wood, in stones and even out of leaves, and upon plants and in them there are lice and grubs which correspond to them. Flying insects, too, such as appear in houses, fields and woods arise in like manner in summer without having oviform matters sufficient to account for them, also there are vermin that devour meadows and lawns, and in some hot localities fill and infest the air, besides those that swim and fly unseen in filthy waters, sour wines and pestilential air. These observable facts support those who declare that the odours, effluvia, and exhalations emitted from plants, earth and ponds, are what give the initial rise to such things. That when they have come forth, they are afterwards propagated either by eggs or offshoots, does not disprove their immediate generation, since every living creature, along with its minute viscera, receives organs of generation and means of propagation, about which see below, (n. 347). In agreement with these facts is the observation hitherto unknown that there are similar things also in the hells.