Isatis herba

leveled the furrows of the sown
crops, and because the tender herb
is still easily subject to the injuries
of the cold, all of that which has
sprouted in the field disappears
and perishes. Nor is something
unlike this to be feared from certain
kinds of worms or insects, of the
number of which are what they call
earth fleas, which eat it with little
bites, and by gnawing, corrupt the
newly sprouted crops, just as
Columella says:
Or the little flea creeping in attacks
with its tooth.

And a certain kind of spider, which is
accustomed to infest the newly
sprouted herb with punctures, indeed
to reduce it to nothing. Just as two
years ago, when the herb had already
matured, I saw such a mass of cater-
pillars suddenly creep upon the
fields that they soon devoured the
entire crop, and left behind nothing
in the field but a kind of empty
twig.