FOOTNOTES:
[a] The Doctrine of Æquivocal Generation, is at this Day so sufficiently exploded by all learned Philosophers, that I shall not enter the Dispute, but take it for granted, that all Animals spring from other Parent-Animals. If the Reader hath any doubt about it, I refer him to Seigneur Redi de Gen. Insect. and M. Ray’s Wisd. of God, &c. p. 344. See also before, [Book IV. Ch. 15. Note (a).]
[] It would be endless to specify the various Species of Insects, that have their Generation in the Waters. And therefore I shall only observe of them, 1. That their Eggs are always laid up with great Care, and in good Order. And also, 2. Where proper and sufficient Food is. 3. That in their Nympha-State in the Waters, they have Parts proper for Food and Motion; and in many, or most of them, very different from what they have in their Mature-State, a manifest Argument of the Creator’s Wisdom and Providence. For an Instance, see [Note (r).]
[c] As Seigneur Redi was one of the first that made it his Business to discard Anomalous Generation, so he tried more Experiments relating to the Vermination of Serpents, Flesh, Fish, putrified Vegetables; and in short, whatever was commonly known to be the Nursery of Maggots, more I say probably, than any one hath done since. And in all his Observations, he constantly found the Maggots to turn to Aureliæ, and these into Flies. But then, saith he, Dubitare cœpi, utrùm omne hoc vermium in carne genus, ex solo Muscarum semine, an ex ipsis putrefactis carnibus oriretur, tantoque magis confirmabar in hoc meo dubio, quanto in omnibus generationibus——sapiùs videram, in carnibus, antequàm verminare inciperent, resedisse ejusdem speciei Muscas, cujus propago postea nascebatur. Upon this he tells us, he put Fish, Flesh, &c. into Pots, which he covered close from the Flies with Paper, and afterwards (for the free Air sake) with Lawn, whilst other Pots were left open, with such like Flesh, &c. in them; that the Flies were very eager to get into the covered Pots; and that they produced not one Maggot, when the open ones had many. Fr. Redi de Gener. Insect.
Among the Insects that come from the Maggots he mentions, he names Culices. Now from the most critical Observations I have made, I never observed any sort of Gnat to come from putrified Flesh, Vegetables, or any other Thing he taxeth with them. So that either he means by Culex, some Fly that we call not by the Name of Gnat; or else their Gnats in Italy, vary in their Generation from ours in England. For among above 30, near 40 distinct Species of Gnats that I have observed about the Place where I live, I never found any to lay their Eggs in Flesh, Filth, &c. but the largest Sort, called by Aldrovand, Culices maximi, by Swammerdam, Tipulæ terrestres, lay their Eggs in Meadows, &c. under the Grass; one of the larger middle Sort, in dead Beer, Yeast, &c. lying on the Tops, or in the Leaks of Beer-Barrels, &c. and all the rest (as far as ever I have observed) lay and hatch in the Waters, as in [Note (r).]
The Generation of the Second of these being akin to some of the foregoing instances, and a little out of the way, may deserve a Place here. This Gnat lays its Eggs commonly in dead Beer, &c. as I said, and probably in Vinegar, and other such Liquors. Some Time after which, the Maggots are so numerous, that the whole Liquor stirreth as if it was alive; being full of Maggots, some larger, some smaller; the larger are the off-spring of our Gnat, the smaller, of a small dark coloured Fly, tending to reddish; frequent in Cellars, and such obscure Places. All these Maggots turn to Aurelia, the larger of which, of a Tan-Colour, such as our Gnat. This Gnat is of the unarmed Kind, having no Spear in its Mouth. Its Head is larger than of the common Gnats, a longer Neck, short jointed Antennæ, spotted Wings, reaching beyond its slender Alvus; it is throughout of a brown Colour, tending to red, especially in the Female: The chief Difference between the Male and Female, is (as in other Gnats, yea, most Insects) the Male is less than the Female, and hath a slenderer Belly, and its Podex not so sharp as the Female’s is.
[d] The Insects that infest Fruits, are either of the Ichneumon-Fly Kind, or Phalænæ. Plums, Pease, Nuts, &c. produce some or other Ichneumon-Fly. That generated in the Plum is black, of a middle Size, its Body near ³⁄₁₀ Inch long, its Tail not much less, consisting of three Bristles, wherewith it conveys its Eggs into Fruits: Its Antennæ, or Horns, long, slender, recurved; its Belly longish, tapering, small towards the Thorax; Legs reddish; Wings membranaceous, thin and transparent, in Number 4, which is one Characteristic of the Ichneumon Fly.
The Pease Ichneumon-Fly, is very small, Wings large, reaching beyond the Podex; Antennæ long; Alvus short, shaped like an Heart, with the Point towards the Anus; it walketh and flieth slowly. No Tail appears as in the former; but they have one lieth hidden under the Belly, which they can at Pleasure bend back to pierce Pease when they are young and tender, and other Things also, as I have Reason to suspect, having met with this (as indeed the former two) in divers Vegetables.
Pears and Apples I could never discover any Thing to breed in, but only the lesser Phalæna, about ⁴⁄₁₀ Inch long, whitish underneath; greyish brown above (dappled with brown Spots, inclining to a dirty Red) all but about a third Part at the End of the Wings, which is not grey, but brown, elegantly striped with wavey Lines, of a Gold Colour, as if gilt; its Head is small, with a Tuft of whitish brown in the Forehead; Antennæ smooth, moderately long. The Aurelia of this Moth is small, of a yellowish brown. I know not what Time they require for their Generation out of Boxes; but those I laid up in August, did not become Moths before June following.
[e] There are many of the Phalænæ and Ichneumon-Fly Tribes, that have their Generation on the Leaves or other Parts of Trees and Shrubs, too many to be here reckoned up. The Oak hath many very beautiful Phalænæ, bred in its convolved Leaves, white, green, yellow, brown spotted prettily, and neatly dappled, and many more besides; and its Buds afford a Place for Cases, and Balls of various Sorts, as shall be shewn hereafter; its Leaves expanded, minister to the Germination of globular, and other sphæroidal Balls, and flat Thecæ, some like Hats, some like Buttons excavated in the Middle, and divers others such like Repositories, all belonging to the Ichneumon-Fly Kind. And not only the Oak, but the Maple also, the White-Thorn, the Briar, Privet, and indeed almost every Tree and Shrub.
[f] And as Trees and Shrubs, so Plants have their peculiar Insects. The White-Butterfly lays its voracious Offspring on Cabbage-Leaves; a very beautiful reddish ocellated one, its no less voracious black Off-spring of an horrid Aspect, on the Leaves of Nettles; as also doth a very beautiful, small, greenish Ichneumon-Fly, in Cases on the Leaves of the same Plant: And to name no more (because it would be endless) the beautiful Ragwort-Moth, whose upper Wings are brown, elegantly spotted with red and underwings edged with brown; these, I say, provide for their golden ring’d Eruce upon the Ragwort-Plant.
[g] Many, if not most Sort of Birds, are infested with a distinct Kind of Lice, very different from one another in Shape, Size, &c. For Figures and Descriptions of them, I shall refer to Signieur Redi of Insects. See also Moufet, L. 2. c. 23. These Lice lay their Nits among the Feathers of the respective Birds, where they are hatched and nourished; and as Aristotle saith, would destroy the Birds, particularly Pheasants, if they did not dust their Feathers. Loco infr. citat.
[h] And as Birds, so the several Sorts of Beasts have their peculiar Sorts of Lice; all distinct from the two Sorts infesting Man: Only the Ass, they say, is free, because our Saviour rode upon one, as some think; but I presume it is rather from the Passage in Pliny, L. 11. c. 33. or rather Arist. Hist. Animal. L. 3. c. 31. who saith, Quibus pilus est, non carent eodem [Pediculo] excepto Asino, qui non Pediculo tantùm, verùm etiam Redivio immunis est. And a little before, speaking of those in Men, he shews what Constitutions are most subject to them, and instanceth in Alcman the Poet, and Pherecydes Syrius that died of the Pthiriasis, or Lowly Disease. For which foul Distemper, if Medicines are desired, Moufet de Insect. p. 261. may be consulted. Who in the same Page hath this Observation, Animadverterunt nostrates——ubi Asores insulas à tergo reliquerint, Pediculos confestim omnes tabascere: atque ubi eas reviserint, iterum innumeros alios subitò oriri. Which Observation is confirmed by Dr. Stubs. Vid. Lowth. Abridg. V. 3. p. 558. And many Seamen have told me the same.
[] Fishes, one would think, should be free from Lice, by Reason they live in the Waters, and are perpetually moving in, and brushing through them; but yet have their Sorts too.
Besides which, I have frequently found great Numbers of long slender Worms in the Stomachs, and other Parts of Fish, particularly Codfish, especially such as are poor; which Worms have work’d themselves deeply into the Coats and Flesh, so that they could nor easily be gotten out: So Aristotle, saith of some Fishes, Ballero & Tilloni Lumbricus, innascitur, qui debilitat, &c. Chalcis vitio infestatur diro, ut Pediculi sub Branchiis innati quàm multi interimant. Hist. An. L. 8. c. 20.
[k] Of Insects bred in the Nose of Animals, those in the Nostrils of Sheep are remarkable. I have my self taken out not fewer at a Time than twenty or thirty rough Maggots, lying among the Laminæ of the Nostrils. But I could never hatch any of them, and so know not what Animal they proceed from: But I have no great doubt, they are of the Ichneumon-Fly Kind; and not improbably of that with a long Tail, call’d Triseta, whose three Bristles seem very commodious for conveying its Eggs into deep Places.
I have also seen a rough whitish Maggot, above two Inches within the Intestinum rectum of Horses, firmly adhering thereto, that the hard Dung did not rub off. I never could bring them to Perfection, but suspect the Side-Fly proceeds from it.
[l] 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.
[m] The Animals ordinarily bred in the Stomach and Guts, are the three Sorts of Worms call’d Lati, Teretes, and Ascarides; concerning which, it would be irksome to speak in Particular, and therefore I shall refer to Moufet, L. 2. c. 31, 32, 33. Dr. Tyson’s Anatomy of them in Mr. Lowthorp’s Abridg. V. 3. p. 121. Seignior Redi’s Obs. and others that have written of them.
And not only Worms, but other Creatures also are said to be found in the Stomach; Instances of which are so innumerable, that I shall only select a few related by Persons of the best Credit. And first of all, by some of our own Countrymen. Dr. Lister, (whose Credit and Judgment will hastily be question’d,) gives an Account of true Caterpillars, vomited up by a Boy of nine Years old; and another odd Animal by a poor Man. Mr. Jessop, (another very judicious, curious and ingenious Gentleman,) saw Hexapods vomited up by a Girl; which Hexapods liv’d and fed for five Weeks. See Lowth. ib. p. 135.
And to Foreigners, it is a very strange Story (but attested by Persons of great Repute,) of Catharina Geileria, that dy’d in Feb. 1662, in the Hospital of Altenburg, in Germany, who for twenty Years voided by Vomit and Stool, Toads and Lizzards, &c. Ephemer. Germ. T. 1. Obs. 103. See also the 109. Observation of a Kitten bred in the Stomach, and vomited up; of Whelps also, and other Animals, bred in like Manner. But I fear a Stretch of Fancy might help in some of those last Instances, in those Days when spontaneous Generation was held, when the Philosophers seem to have more slightly examined such Appearances than now they do. But for the breeding of Frogs or Toads, or Lacertæ Aquaticæ in the Stomach, when their Spawn happeneth to be drank, there is a Story in the second Tome of the Ephem. Germ. Obs. 56. that favours it, viz. In the Year 1667, a Butcher’s Man going to buy some Lambs in the Spring, being thirsty, drank greedily of some standing Water, which a while after, caus’d great Pains in his Stomach, which grew worse and worse, and ended in dangerous Symptoms. At last he thought somewhat was alive in his Stomach, and after that, vomited up three live Toads; and so recover’d his former Health.
Such another Story Dr. Sorbait tells, and avoucheth it seen with his own Eyes, of one that had a Toad came out of an Abscess, which came upon drinking foul Water. Obs. 103.
[n] Not only in the Guts, and in the Flesh; but in many other Parts of the Body, Worms have been discover’d. One was voided by Urine, by Mr. Mat. Milford, suppos’d to have come from the Kidneys. Lowth. ib. p. 135. More such Examples Moufet tells of. Ibid. So the Vermes Cucurbitini are very common in the Vessels in Sheeps Livers: And Dr. Lister tells of them, found in the Kidney of a Dog, and thinks that the Snakes and Toads, &c. said to be found in Animals Bodies, may be nothing else. Lowth. ib. p. 120. Nay, more than all this: In Dr. Bern. Verzascha’s sixth Observation, there are divers Instances of Worms bred in the Brain of Man. One, a patient of his, troubled with a violent Headach, and an itching about the Nostrils, and frequent Sneezing; who, with the Use of a Sneezing-Powder, voided a Worm, with a great deal of Snot from his Nose. A like Instance he gives from Bartholine, of a Worm voided from the Nose of O. W. which he guesseth was the famous Olaus Wormius: Another, from a Country Woman of Dietmarsh; and others in Tulpius, F. Hildanus, Schenchius, &c. These Worms he thinks are undoubtedly bred in the Brain: But what way they can come from thence, I can’t tell. Wherefore I rather think, they are such Worms as are mentioned in [Note (k)], and even that Worm that was actually found in the Brain of the Paris Girl (when opened) I guess might be laid in the Laminæ of the Nostrils, by some of the Ichneumon, or other Insect Kind, and might gnaw its way into the Brain, through the Os cribiforme. Of this he tells us from Bartholine, Tandem cùm tabida obiisset, statim aperto cranio præsentes Medici totam cerebelli substantiam, quæ ad dexterum vergit, à reliquo corpore sejunctam, nigrâque tunicâ involutam deprehenderunt: hæc tunica ruptæ, latentem Vermem vivum, & pilosum, duobus punctis splendidis loco oculorum prodidit, ejusdem fere molis cum reliquâ Cerebri portione, qui duarum horaram spacio supervixit. B. Verzas. Obs. Medicæ, p. 16.
Hildanus tells us such another Story, viz. Filius Theod. aust der Roulen, Avunculi mei, diuturno vexabatur dolore capitis.——Deinde febriculâ & sternutatione exortâ, ruptus est Abscessus circa os cribrosum——& Vermis prorepsit. By his Figure of it, the Maggot was an Inch long, and full of Bristles. Fabri Hildan. Cent. 1. Obs.
Galenus Wierus (Physician to the Princ. Jul. & Cleve) he saith, told him, that he had, at divers Times, found Worms in the Gall-bladder in Persons he had opened at Dusseldorp. Id. ib. Obs. 60.
[o] See before [Book IV. Chap. 13. Note (c).]
[p] Some Insects lay up their Eggs in Clusters, as in Holes of Flesh, and such Places, where it is necessary they should be crowded together; which, no question, prevents their being too much dried up in dry Places, and promotes their hatching. But,
[q] As for such as are not to be clustered up, great Order is used. I have seen upon the Posts and Sides of Windows, little round Eggs, resembling small Pearl, which produced small hairy Caterpillars, that were very neatly and orderly laid. And to name no more, the White Butterfly lays its neat Eggs on the Cabbage Leaves in good Order, always gluing one certain End of the Egg to the Leaf. I call them neat Eggs, because if we view them in a Microscope, we shall find them very curiously furrowed, and handsomely made and adorned.
[r] By Reason it would be endless to specify the various Generation of Insects in the Water, I shall therefore (because it is little observed) raise Pliny’s Instance of the Gnat, a mean and contemned Animal, but a notable Instance of Nature’s Work, as he saith.
The first Thing considerable in the Generation of this Insect is (for the Size of the Animal) its vast Spawn, being some of them above an Inch long, and half a quarter Diameter; made to float in the Waters, and tied to some Stick, Stone, or other fix’d Thing in the Waters, by a small Stem, or Stalk. In this gelatine, transparent Spawn, the Eggs are neatly laid; in some Spawns in a single, in some in a double spiral Line, running round from end to end, as in [Fig. 9, and 10]; and in some transversly, as [Fig. 8.]
When the Eggs are by the Heat of the Sun, and Warmth of the Season hatched into small Maggots, these Maggots descend to the bottom, and by means of some of the gelatine Matter of the Spawn (which they take along with them) they stick to Stones, and other Bodies at the bottom, and there make themselves little Cases or Cells, which they creep into, and out of at Pleasure, until they are arrived to a more mature Nympha-State, and can swim about here and there, to seek for what Food they have occasion; at which Time, they are a kind of Red-worms, above half an Inch long, as in [Fig. 11.]
Thus far this mean Insect is a good Instance of the divine Providence towards it. But if we farther consider, and compare the three States it undergoes after it is hatched, we shall find yet greater Signals of the Creator’s Management, even in these meanest of Creatures. The three States I mean, are its Nympha-Vermicular State, its Aurelia, and Mature-State, all as different as to Shape and Accoutrements, as if the Insect was three different Animals. In its Vermicular-State, it is a Red-Maggot, as I said, and hath a Mouth and other Parts accommodated to Food: In its Aurelia-State it hath no such Parts, because it then subsists without Food; but in its Mature, Gnat-State, it hath a curious well-made Spear, to wound and suck the Blood of other Animals. In its Vermicular-State, it hath a long Worm-like Body, and something analogous to Fins or Feathers, standing erect near its Tail, and running parallel with the Body, by means of which resisting the Waters, it is enabled to swim about by Curvations, or flapping its Body, side-ways, this way and that, as in [Fig. 12.]
But in its Aurelia-State, it hath a quite different Body, with a Club-Head (in which the Head, Thorax, and Wings of the Gnat are inclosed) a slender Alvus, and a neat finny Tail, standing at right Angles with the Body, quite contrary to what it was before; by which means, instead of easy flapping side-ways, it swims by rapid, brisk Jirks, the quite contrary way; as is in some measure represented in [Fig. 13.] But when it becomes a Gnat, no finny Tail, no Club-Head, but all is made in the most accurate manner for Flight and Motion in the Air, as before it was for the Waters.
[] See [Book IV. Chap. 13. Notes (n), (o).]
[t] Thus the Mouths and other Parts of the Ichneumon-Wasps in [Book IV. Chap. 13. Note (t).] So the Feet of the Gryllotalpa, ibid. [Note (s).]
[] See the last cited Places, [Note (o).]
[w] Of the textrine Art of the Spider, and its Parts serving to that Purpose, see the last cited Place, [Note (x).]
Besides these, Caterpillars, and divers other Insects, can emit Threads, or Webs for their Use. In this their Nympha-State, they secure themselves from falling, and let themselves down from the Boughs of Trees, and other high Places, with one of these Threads. And in the Cases they weave, they secure themselves in their Aurelia-State.
And not only the Off-spring of the Phalæna-Tribe, but there are some of the Ichneumon-Fly Kind also, endowed with this textrine Art. Of these I have met with two Sorts; one that spun a Milk-white, long, round, silken Web, as big as the top of ones Fingers, not hollow within, as many are, but filled throughout with Silk. These are woven round Bents, Stalks of Ribwort, &c. in Meadows. The other is a lump of many yellow, silken Cases, sticking confusedly together on Posts, under Cole-worts, &c. These Webs contain in them, small, whitish Maggots; which turn to a small, black, Ichneumon-Fly, with long, capillary Antennæ; Tan-coloured Legs; long Wings reaching beyond their Body, with a black Spot near the middle; the Alvus, like an Heart; and in some, a small setaceous Tail. Some of these Flies were of a shining, beautiful green Colour. I could not perceive any Difference, at least, not specifical, between the Flies coming from those two Productions.
[x] I have often admired how Wasps, Hornets, Ichneumon-Wasps, and other Insects that gather dry Materials for building their Nests, have found a proper matter to cement and glue their Combs, and line their Cells; which we find always sufficiently context and firm. But in all Probability, this useful Material is in their own Bodies; as ’tis in the Tinea vestivora, the Cadew Worm, and divers others. Goedart observes of his Eruca, Num. xx. 6. that fed upon Sallow-Leaves, that it made its Cell of the comminuted Leaves, glued together with its own Spittle, hæc pulveris aut arenæ instar comminuit, ac pituitoso quodam sui corporis succo ita maceravit, ut inde accommodatum subeundæ mutationi instanti locum sibi extruxerit. Domuncula hæc à communi Salicum ligno nihil differre videbatur, nisi quòd longè esset durior, adeò ut cultro vix disrumpi posset.
[y] An ingenious Gentlewoman of my Acquaintance, Wife to a learned Physician, taking much Pleasure to keep Silk-Worms, had once the Curiosity to draw out one of the oval Cases, which the Silk-Worm spins——into all the Silken Wire it was made up of, which, to the great Wonder as well of her Husband, as her self,——appeared to be, by measure, a great deal above 300 Yards, and yet weighed but two Grains and an half. Boyl Subtil. of Effluv. ch. 2.
[z] Since my penning this, I have met with the most sagacious Malpighi’s Account of Galls, &c. and find his Descriptions to be exceedingly accurate and true, having traced my self many of the Productions he hath mentioned. But I find Italy and Sicily (his Book de Gallis being published long after he was made Professor of Messina) more luxuriant in such Productions than England, at least, than the Parts about Upminster (where I live) are. For many, if not most of those about us, are taken Notice of by him, and several others besides that I never met with; although I have for many Years as critically observed all the Excrescences, and other morbid Tumors of Vegetables, as is almost possible, and do believe that few of them have escaped me.
As to the Method how those Galls and Balls are produced, the most simple, and consequently the most easy to be accounted for, is that in the Gems of Oak, which may be called Squamous-Oak-Cones, Capitula squamata, in Malpighi: Whose Description not exactly answering our English-Cones in divers Respects, I shall therefore pass his by, and shew only what I have observed my self concerning them.
These Cones are, in outward Appearance, perfectly like the Gems, only vastly bigger; and indeed they are no other than the Gems, encreased in Bigness, which naturally ought to be pushed out in Length: The Cause of which Obstruction of the Vegetation is this: Into the very Heart of the young tender Gem or Bud (which begins to be turgid in June, and to shoot towards the latter end of that Month, or beginning of the next; into this, I say) the Parent-Insect thrusts one or more Eggs, and not perhaps without some venomous Ichor therewith. This Egg soon becomes a Maggot, which eats it self a little Cell in the very Heart or Pith of the Gem, which is the Rudiment of the Branch, together with its Leaves and Fruit, as shall be hereafter shewn. The Branch being thus wholly destroyed, or at least its Vegetation being obstructed, the Sap that was to nourish it, is diverted to the remaining Parts of the Bud, which are only the scaly Teguments; which by these Means grow large and flourishing, and become a Covering to the Insect-Case, as before they were to the tender Branch and its Appendage.
The Case lying within this Cone, is at first but small, as the Maggot included in it is, but by degrees, as the Maggot increaseth, so it grows bigger, to about the Size of a large white Pease, long and round, resembling the Shape of a small Acorn.
The Insect it self, is (according to the modern Insectologers) of the Ichneumon-Fly Kind; with four Membranaceous Wings, reaching a little beyond the Body, articulated Horns, a large Thorax, bigger than the Belly; the Belly short and conical; much like the Heart of Animals: The Legs partly whitish, partly black. The Length of the Body from Head to Tail, about ²⁄₁₀ of an Inch; its Colour, a very beautiful shining Green, in some tending to a dark Copper-Colour. Figures both of the Cones, Cases, and Insects, may be seen among Malpighi’s Cuts of Galls, Tab. 13. and Tab. 20. Fig. 72. which Fig. 72. exhibits well enough some others of the Gall-Insects, but its Thorax is somewhat too short for ours.
[aa] Not only the Willow, and some other Trees, but Plants also, as Nettles, Ground-Ivy, &c. have Cases produced on their Leaves, by the Injection of the Eggs of an Ichneumon-Fly. I have observed those Cases always to grow in, or adjoining to some Rib of the Leaf, and their Production I conceive to be thus, viz. The Parent-Insect, with its stiff setaceous Tail, terebrates the Rib of the Leaf, when tender, and makes Way for its Egg into the very Pith or Heart thereof, and probably lays in therewith, some proper Juice of its Body, to pervert the regular Vegetation of it. From this Wound arises a small Excrescence, which (when the Egg is hatched into a Maggot) grows bigger and bigger, as the Maggot increases, swelling on each Side the Leaf between the two Membranes, and extending it self into the parenchymous Part thereof, until it is grown as big as two Grains of Wheat. In this Case lies a small, white, rough Maggot, which turns to an Aurelia, and afterwards to a very beautiful green, small Ichneumon-Fly.
[bb] What I suspected my self, I find confirmed by Malpighi, who in his exact and true Description of the Fly bred in the Oaken Galls, saith, Non sat fuit naturæ tam miro artificio Terebram seu Limam condidisse; sed inflicto vulnere, vel excitato foramine infundendum exinde liquorem intra Terebram condidit: quare fractâ per transversam muscarum terebrâ frequentissimè, vivente animali, guttæ aliquot diaphani humoris effluunt. And a little after, he confirms, by ocular Observation, what he imagin’d before, viz. Semel prope Junii finem vidi Muscam, qualem superiùs delineavi, insidentum quercinæ gemmæ, adhuc germinanti; hærebat etenim foliola stabili ab apice hiantis gemmæ erumpenti; & convulso in arcum corpore, terebram evaginabat, ipsamque sensam immittebat; & tumefacto ventre circa terebræ radicem tumorem excitabat, quem interpolatis vicibus remittebat. In folio igitur, avulsà Muscâ, minima & diaphana reperii ejecta ova, simillima iis, quæ adhuc in tubis supererant. Non licuit iterum idem admirari spectaculum, &c.
Somewhat like this, which Malpighi saw, I had the good Fortune to see my self once some Years ago: And that was, the beautiful, shining Oak-Ball Ichneumon strike its Terebræ into an Oak-Apple divers Times, no doubt to lay its Eggs therein. And hence I apprehend we see many Vermicules towards the Outside of many of the Oak-Apples, which I guess were not what the Primitive Insects laid up in the Gem, from which the Oak-Apple had its Rise, but some other supervenient, additional Insects, laid in after the Apple was grown, and whilst it was tender and soft.
[cc] The Aleppo-Galls, wherewith we make Ink, may be reckoned of this Number, being hard, and no other than Cases of Insects which are bred in them; who when come to Maturity, gnaw their Way out of them; which is the Cause of those little Holes observable in them. Of the Insects bred in them, see Philos. Transact. Nᵒ. 245. Of this Number also are those little smooth Cases, as big as large Pepper-Corns, growing close to the Ribs under Oaken-Leaves, globous, but flattish; at first touched with a blushing red, afterwards growing brown; hollow within, and an hard thin Shell without. In this lieth commonly a rough, white Maggot, which becomes a little long winged, black Ichneumon-Fly, that eats a little Hole in the Side of the Gall, and so gets out.
[dd] For a Sample of the tender Balls, I shall choose the globous Ball, as round, and some as big as small Musket-Bullets, growing close to the Ribs, under Oaken-Leaves, of a greenish yellowish Colour, with a blush of red; their Skin smooth, with frequent Risings therein. Inwardly they are very soft and spongy; and in the very Center is a Case with a white Maggot therein, which becomes an Ichneumon-Fly, not much unlike the last. As to this Gall, there is one Thing I have observed somewhat peculiar, and I may say providential, and that is, that the Fly lies all the Winter in these Balls in its Infantile-State, and comes not to its Maturity till the following Spring. In the Autumn, and Winter, these Balls fall down with their Leaves to the Ground, and the Insect inclosed in them is there fenced against the Winter Frosts, partly by other Leaves falling pretty thick upon them, and especially by the thick, parenchymous, spongy Walls, afforded by the Galls themselves.
Another Sample shall be the large Oak-Balls, called Oak-Apples, growing in the Place of the Buds, whose Generation, Vegetation and Figure, may be seen in Malpig. de Gallis, p. 24. and Tab. 10. Fig. 33, &c. Out of these Galls, he saith various Species of Flies come, but he names only two, and they are the only two I ever saw come out of them: Frequenter (saith he) subnigræ sunt muscæ brevi munitæ terebrâ. Inter has aliquæ observantur aureæ, levi viridis tincturâ suffusæ, oblongâ pollentes terebrâ. These two differently coloured Flies, I take to be no other than Male and Female of the same Species. I have not observed Tails (which are their Terebræ) in all, as Malpighi seems to intimate: Perhaps they were hid in their Thecæ, and I could not discover them: But I rather think there were none, and that those were the Males: But in others, I have observed long, recurvous Tails, longer than their whole Bodies. And these I take to be the Females. And in the Oak-Apples themselves, I have seen the Aureliæ, some with, some without Tails. And I must confess, ’twas not without Admiration as well as Pleasure, that I have seen with what exact Neatness and Artifice, the Tail hath been wrapt about the Aurelia, whereby it is secured from either annoying the Insect, or being hurt it self.
[ee] See before [Note (z).]
[ff] As in [the preceding Note].
[gg] Of the rough or hairy Excrescences, those on the Briar, or Dog-Rose, are a good Instance. These Spongiolæ villosæ, as Mr. Ray, Gallæ rumosæ, as Dr. Malpighi calls them, are thus accounted for by the latter; Ex copiosis relictis ovis ita turbatur affluens [Rubi] succus, ut strumosa fiant complura tubercula simul confusè congesta, quæ utriculorum seriebus, & fibrarum implicatione contexta, ramosas propagines germinant, ita ut minima quasi sylva appareat. Qualibet propago ramos, hinc inde villosos edit. Hinc inde pili pariter crumpunt, &c.
These Balls are a safe Repository to the Insect all the Winter in its Vermicular-State. For the Eggs laid up, and hatched the Summer before, do not come to mature Insects until the Spring following, as Mr. Ray rightly observes in Cat. Cantab.
As to the Insects themselves, they are manifestly Ichneumon-Flies, having four Wings, their Alvus thick and large towards the Tail; and tapering up till it is small and slender at its setting on to the Thorax. But the Alvi or Bellies are not alike in all, though coloured alike. In some they are as is now described, and longer, without Terebræ, or Tails; in some shorter with Tails: And in some yet shorter, and thick, like the Belly of the Ant, or the Heart of Animals, as in those before, [Note (z).] But for a farther Description of them, I shall refer to Mr. Ray, Cat. Plant. circa Cantab. under Rosa Sylvest.
[hh] It being an Instance somewhat out of the Way, I shall pitch upon it for an Example here, viz. The gouty Swellings in the Body, and the Branches of the Blackberry-Bush; of which Malpighi hath given us two good Cuts in Tab. 17. Fig. 62. The Cause of these is manifestly from the Eggs of Insects laid in (whilst the Shoot is young and tender) as far as the Pith, and in some Places not so deep; Which for the Reasons before-mentioned, makes the young Shoots tumify, and grow knotty and gouty.
The Insect that comes from hence is of the former Tribe, a small, shining black Ichneumon-Fly, about a tenth of an Inch long; with jointed, red, capillary Horns, four long Wings, reaching beyond the Body, a large Thorax, red Legs, and a short, heart-like Belly. They hop like Fleas. The Males are less than the Females; are very venereous, endeavouring a Coït in the very Box in which they are hatch’d; getting up on the Females, and tickling and thumping them with their Breeches and Horns, to excite them to Venery.
The Conclusion.
And now these Things being seriously considered, what less can be concluded, than that there is manifest Design and Forecast in this Case, and that there must needs be some wise Artist, some careful, prudent Conservator, that from the very Beginning of the Existence of this Species of Animals, hath with great Dexterity and Forecast, provided for its Preservation and Good? For what else could contrive and make such a Set of curious Parts, exactly fitted up for that special Purpose: And withal implant in the Body such peculiar Impregnations, as should have such a strange uncouth Power on a quite different Rank of Creatures? And lastly, what should make the Insect aware of this its strange Faculty and Power, and teach it so cunningly and dextrously to employ it for its own Service and Good?
