[] I might here name divers Flies, and other Insects, who, besides their sharp hook’d Nails, have alto skinny Palms to their Feet, to enable them to stick on Glass, and other smooth Bodies, by Means of the Pressure of the Atmosphere. But because the Example will illustrate another Work of Nature, as well as this, I shall chuse a singular Piece of Mechanism, in one of the largest Sorts of Hydrocanthari. Of these large ones there are two Sorts, one largest, all black, with Antennæ handsomely emboss’d at the Ends. The other somewhat lesser, hardly so black, with capillary Antennæ; the Forehead, Edges of the Vaginæ, and two Rings on the Thorax, of a tawney Colour. The Female hath Vaginæ prettily furrow’d, the Male smooth. But that which is most to our Purpose in this Male, is a Flap, or hollowish Cap near the middle Joynt of the Fore-legs; which when clap’d on the Shoulders of the Female in Coitu, sticks firmly thereon: After the Manner as I have seen Boys carry heavy Stones, with only a wet Piece of Leather clap’d on the Top of the Stone.
[c] Thus, Grasshoppers and Crickets have brawny strong Thighs, with long, slender, but strong Legs, which enable them to leap with great Agility and Strength.
[d] I have wonder’d to see with what great Quickness, Art and Strength, many Vespæ-Ichneumons, Wild-Bees, and Beetles, perforate the Earth; yea, even Wood it self: But the most remarkable Animal to this Way, is the Mole-Cricket in [Book IV. Chap. 13. Note (s).]
[e] I have with Pleasure often seen Spiders dart out their Webs, and sail away by the Help thereof. For the Manner of which, see Mr. Lowth, Abridg. Vol. 2. p. 794. from Dr. Lister and Dr. Hulse, who both claim’d the Discovery thereof. And do both seem to have hit thereupon, without any Foreknowledge of what each other hath discover’d, as is said in the last cited Place, and as I more particularly find by Mr. Ray’s Philos. Letters, Printed Ann. 1718. p. 95, &c. By which also I find the two ingenious Doctors were very modest in their Claims, and very amicable in the Matter. In one of Dr. Lister’s to Mr. Ray, he thinks there is a fair Hint of the Darting of Spiders in Arist. Hist. An. L. 9. c. 39. And in Pliny, L. 11. c. 24. But for their Sailing, that the Ancients are silent of, and he thinks it was seen first by him. And in another Letter, Jan. 20, 1670, speaking of the Height Spiders are able to fly, he saith, The last October, &c. I took Notice, that the Air was very full of Webs, I forthwith mounted to the Top of the highest Steeple on the Minster, [in York,] and could thence discern them yet exceeding high above me. Some that fell, and were intangled upon the Pinacles, I took and found them to be Lupi: which Kind seldom or never enter Houses, and cannot be suppos’d to have taken their Flight from the Steeple.
[f] There are, (I imagine,) divers Animals, as well as Spiders, that have some Way of Conveyance, as little known to us, as that of Spiders formerly was. Thus the Squillulæ, pulices Arborescentes, and microscopical Animalcules of the stagnating Waters, so numerous in them, as to discolour sometimes the Water, and make them look as if they were tinged Red, Yellow or Green, or cover’d with a thick green Scum; all which is nothing but Animalcules of that Colour. That these Creatures have some Way of Conveyance, I conclude: because most stagnating Waters are stock’d with them; new Pits and Ponds, yea, Holes and Gutters on the Tops of Houses and Steeples. That they are not bred there by æquivocal Generation, every ingenious, considering Philosopher will grant; that they have not Legs for travelling so far, is manifest from Inspection: And therefore I am apt to think, that they have some Faculty of inflating their Bodies, or darting out Webs, and making their Bodies buoyant, and lighter than Air; or their Bodies, when dry, may be lighter than Air, and so they can swim from Place to Place; or the Eggs of such as are oviparous, may be light enough to float in the Air. But then the Viviparous, (as my late ingenious Friend, Mr. Charles King, shew’d me the Pulices aquat. arbores. are; these I say,) can’t be this Way accounted for. The Cause of these latter Suspicions was, that in the Summer Months, I have seen the Pulices arbores. and the green Scum on the Waters, (nothing but Animalcules, as I said,) lie in a Manner dry on the Surface of the Waters; at which Time, (as I have shewn in [Book IV. Chap. 11. Note (n)],) those Animalcules copulate; and perhaps, they may at the same Time change their Quarters, and seek out new Habitations for their numerous Offspring, as well as themselves.
[g] It is well known to all Persons any Way conversant in microscopical Observations, that these elegant Colours of Moths, and Butterflies, are owing to neat and well-made Feathers, set with great Curiosity and Exactness in Rows, and good Order.
[h] All that have Elytra, Scarabs (who have whole Elytra, or reaching to the Podex,) or the Ἡμικουλεόπτεροι, such as Earwigs, and Staphylini of all Sorts, do, by a very curious Mechanism, extend and withdraw their membranaceous Wings, (wherewith they chiefly fly;) and it is very pretty to see them prepare themselves for Flight, by thrusting out, and unfolding their Wings; and again withdraw those Joynts, and neatly fold in the Membranes, to be laid up safely in their Elytra or Cases. For which Service the Bones are well plac’d, and the Joynts ministring thereunto are accurately contriv’d, for the most compendious, and commodious folding up the Wings.
[] For the keeping the Body steady and upright in Flight, it generally holds true, (if I mistake not,) that all bipennated Insects have Poises joyn’d to the Body, under the hinder Part of their Wings; but such as have four Wings, or Wings with Elytra, none. If one of the Poises, or one of the lesser auxiliary Wings be cut off, the Insect will fly as if one Side overbalanc’d the other, until it falleth on the Ground; so if both be cut of, they will fly aukwardly, and unsteadily, manifesting the Defect of some very necessary Part. These Poises, or Pointells are, for the most Part, little Balls, set at the Top of a slender Stalk, which they can move every Way at Pleasure. In some they stand alone, in others, (as in the whole Flesh-Fly Tribe,) they have little Covers or Shields, under which they lie and move. The Use, no doubt, of these Poises, and secondary lesser Wings, is to poise the Body, and to obviate all the Vacillations thereof in flight; serving to the Insect, as the long Pole, laden at the Ends with Lead, doth the Ropedancer.
[k] As all the Parts of Animals are mov’d by the Help of these; so there is, no doubt, but the minutest Animals have such like Parts: But the Muscles and Tendons of some of the larger Insects, and some of the lesser too, may be seen with a Microscope.
[l] The minute Curiosities, and inimitable Fineries, observable in those lesser Animals, in which our best Microscopes discover no Botch, no rude ill-made Work, (contrary to what is in all artificial Works of Man,) Do they not far more deserve our Admiration, than those celebrated Pieces of humane Art? Such as the Cup made of a Pepper-Corn, by Oswald Nerlinger, that held 1200 ivory Cups, all gilt on the Edges, and having each of them a Foot, and yet affording Room for 400 more, in the Ephem. Germ. T. 1. Addend. ad Obs. 13. Such also was Phaëton in a Ring, which Galen thus reflects upon, when he speaks of the Art and Wisdom of the Maker of Animals, particularly such as are small, Quanto, saith he, ipsum minus fuerit, tanto majorem admirationem tibi excitabit; quod declarant Opifices cùm in corporibus parvis aliquid insculpant: cujus generis est quòd nuper quidam in Annulo Phaëtonta quatuor equis invectum sculpsit. Omnes enim æqui frænum, os, & dentes anteriores habebant, &c. And then having taken Notice, that the Legs were no bigger than those of a Gnat, he shews that their Make did not come up to those of the Gnat; as also, saith he, Major adhuc alia quædam esse videtur artis ejus, qui Pulicem condidit, Vis atque Sapientia, quod, &c. Cùm igitur Ars tanta in tam abjectis animalibus appareat,——quantam ejus Vim ac Sapientiam in præstantioribus inesse putabimus? Galen. de Us. Part. L. 17. c. 1. fin.