[] See [Book VIII. Chap. 6. Note (q).]
[k] Many, if not most Flies, especially those of the Flesh-Fly-kind, have a Faculty of extending their Uropygia, and thereby are enabled to thrust their Eggs into convenient Holes, and Receptacles for their Young, in Flesh, and whatever else they Fly-blow. But none more remarkable than the Horse-Fly, called by Pennius, in Mouffet, (p. 62.) Σκολιοῦρος, i.e. Curvicauda, and the Whame or Burrel-Fly, which is vexatious to Horses in Summer, not by stinging them, but only by their bombylious Noise, or tickling them in sticking their Nits, or Eggs on the Hair; which they do in a very dexterous Manner, by thrusting out their Uropygia, bending them up, and by gentle, slight Touches, sticking the Eggs to the Hair of the Legs, Shoulders, and Necks, commonly of Horses; so that Horses which go abroad, and are seldom dressed, are somewhat discoloured by the numerous Nits adhering to their Hair.
Having mentioned so much of the Generation of this Insect, although it be a little out of the Way, I hope I shall be excused for taking Notice of the long-tailed Maggot, which is the Product of these Nits or Eggs, called by Dr. Plot, Eruca glabra, [or rather Eula Scabra, it should be] caudata aquatico-arborea, it being found by him in the Water of an hollow Tree, but I have found it in Ditches, Saw-Pits, Holes of Water in the High-way, and such-like Places where the Waters are most still and foul. This Maggot I mention, as being a singular and remarkable Work of God, not so much for its being so utterly unlike as it is to its Parent Bee-like-Fly, as for the wise Provision made for it by its long Tail; which is so joynted at certain Distances from the Body, as that it can be withdrawn, or sheathed, one Part within another, to what Length the Maggot pleaseth, so as to enable it to reach the Bottom of very shallow, or deeper Waters, as it hath Occasion, for the gathering of Food. At the end of this tapering is a Ramification of Fibrillæ, or small Hairs representing, when spread, a Star; with the help of which, spread out on the top of the Waters, it is enabled to hang making by that means a small Depression or Concavity on the Surface of the Water. In the midst of this Star, I imagine the Maggot takes in Air, there being a Perforation, which with a Microscope I could perceive to be open, and by the Star to be guarded against the Incursion of the Water.
[l] The Excrescences on the Root of Cabbages, Turneps, and divers other Plants, have always a Maggot in them; but what the Animal is that thus makes its way to the Root under Ground, whether Ichneumon, Phalæna, Scarab, or Scolopendra, I could never discover, being not able to bring them to any thing in Boxes.
[m] I presume they are only of the Ichneumon-Fly-kind, that have their Generation in the Trunks of Vegetables. In Malpighi de Gallis, Fig. 61. is a good Cut of the gouty Excrescences, or rather Tumours of the Briar-stalk: From which proceeds a small black Ichneumon-Fly, with red Legs; black, smooth jointed Antennæ; pretty large Thorax; and short, round Belly, of the Shape of an Heart. It leapeth as a Flea. The Male, (as in other Insects,) is lesser than the Female, and very venereous, in spite of Danger, getting upon the Female, whom they beat and tickle with their Breeches and Horns, to excite them to a Coït.
Another Example of the Generation in the Trunks of Vegetables, shall be from the Papers of my often-commended Friend Mr. Ray, which are in my Hands, and that is an Observation of the ingenious Dr. Nath. Wood: I have (said he) lately observed many Eggs in the common Rush. One sort are little transparent Eggs, in Shape somewhat like a Pear, or Retort, lying within the Skin, upon, or in the Medulla, just against a brownish Spot on the out-side of the Rush; which is apparently the Creatrix of the Wound made by the Fly, when she puts her Eggs there. Another Kind is much longer, and not so transparent, of a long oval, or rather cylindrical Form; six, eight, or more, lie commonly together, across the Rush, parallel to each other, like the Teeth of a Comb, and are as long as the Breadth of the Rush. Letter from Kilkenny in Ireland, Apr. 28. 1697.
[n] See [Book VIII. Chap. 6. Note (d).]
[o] I have in [Chap. 13. Note (u)], and [Book VIII. Chap. 6. Note (c), (f)], taken Notice of the Nidification and Generation of some Insects on the Leaves of Vegetables, and shall therefore, for the Illustration of this Place, chuse an uncommon Example out of the Scarab-kind (the Generation of which Tribe hath not been as yet mentioned) and that is of a small Scarab bred in the very Tips of Elm-Leaves. These Leaves, in Summer, may be observed to be, many of them, dry and dead, as also turgid; in which lieth a dirty, whitish, rough Maggot. From which proceeds a Beetle of the smallest kind, of a light, Weesle Colour, that leapeth like a Grashopper, although its Legs are but short. Its Eyes are blackish, Elytra thin, and prettily furrowed, with many Concavities in them; small club-headed Antennæ, and a long Rostrum like a Proboscis.
The same, or much like this, I have met with on Tips of Oaken and Holly-Leaves. How the Scarab lays its Eggs in the Leaf, whether by terebrating the Leaf, or whether the Maggot, when hatched, doth it, I could never see. But with great Dexterity, it makes its Way between the upper and under Membranes of the Leaf feeding upon the parenchymous Part thereof. Its Head is slenderer and sharper than most of Maggots, as if made on purpose for this Work; but yet I have often wondered at their Artifice in so nicely separating the Membranes of the Elm-Leaf, without breaking them, and endangering their own tumbling out of ’em, considering how thin and very tender the Skins of that Leaf (particularly) are.