One Thing is their singular Providence for their Young, in making or finding out such proper Receptacles and Places for their Eggs and Seed, as that they may receive the Advantage of a sufficient Incubation, and that the Young, when produced, may have the Benefit of proper and sufficient Food for their Nurture and Education, till they are able to shift for themselves. It is admirable to see with what Diligence and Care the several Species of Insects lay up their Eggs or Sperm in their several proper Places; not all in the Waters, in Wood, or on Vegetables; but those whose Subsistence is in the Waters[], in the Water; those to whom Flesh is a proper Food; in Flesh[c]; those to whom the Fruits[d] or Leaves of Vegetables are Food, are accordingly reposited, some in this Fruit, some on this Tree[e], some on that Plant[f], some on another, and another; but constantly the same Family on the same Tree or Plant, the most agreeable to that Family. And as for others that require a constant and greater Degree of Warmth, they are accordingly provided by the Parent-Animal with some Place in or about the Body of other Animals; some in the Feathers of Birds[g]; some in the Hair of Beasts[h]; some in the very Scales of Fishes[]; some in the Nose[k]; some in the Flesh[l]; yea, some in the very Bowels[m]; and inmost Recesses of the Bodies of Man and other Creatures[n]: And as for others to whom none of these Methods are proper, but make themselves Nests by Perforations in the Earth, in Wood, or Combs they build, or such like Ways; ’tis admirable to see with what Labour and Care they carry in, and seal up Provisions, that serve both for the Production of their Young, as also for their Food and Nurture when produc’d[o].
The other Piece of remarkable Art and Care about the Production of their Young, is their Curiosity and Neatness in repositing their Eggs, and in their Nidification.
As to the first of which, we may observe that great Curiosity, and nice Order is generally observ’d by them in this Matter. You shall always see their Eggs laid carefully and commodiously up[p]. When upon the Leaves of Vegetables, or other Material on Land, always glu’d thereon with Care, with one certain End lowermost, and with handsom juxta-Positions[q]. Or if in the Waters, in neat and beautiful Rows oftentimes, in that spermatick, gelatine Matter, in which they are reposited, and that Matter carefully ty’d and fastned in the Waters, to prevent its Dissipation[r], or if made to float, so carefully spread and poised, as to swim about with all possible Artifice.
And as to their other Faculty, that of Nidification, whether it be exerted by boring the Earth or Wood, or building themselves Cells[], or spinning and weaving themselves Cases and Webs, it is all a wonderful Faculty of those poor little Animals, whether we consider their Parts wherewith they work, or their Work it self. Thus those who perforate the Earth, Wood, or such like, they have their Legs, Feet, Mouth, yea, and whole Body accommodated to that Service; their Mouth exactly formed to gnaw those handsome round Holes, their Feet as well made to scratch and bore[t], and their Body handsomely turned and fitted to follow. But for such as build or spin themselves Nests, their Art justly bids Defiance to the most ingenious Artist among Men, so much as tolerably to copy the nice Geometrical Combs of some[], the Earthen Cells of others, or the Webs, Nets and Cases[w] woven by others. And here that natural Glue[x] which their Bodies afford some of them to consolidate their Work, and combine its Materials together, and which in others can be darted out at Pleasure, and spun and woven by them into silken Balls[y] or Webs. I say, this so peculiar, so serviceable a Material, together with the curious Structure of all Parts ministring to this textrine Power, as mean a Business as it may seem, is such as may justly be accounted among the noble Designs and Works of the infinite Creator and Conservator of the World.
In the last Place, there is another prodigious Faculty, Art, Cunning, or what shall I call it? that others of those little Animals have, to make even Nature it self serviceable to their Purpose; and that is the making the Vegetation and Growth of Trees and Plants, the very Means of the building of their little Nests and Cells[z]; such, as are the Galls and Balls found on the Leaves and Branches of divers Vegetables, such as the Oak, the Willow[aa], the Briar, and some others.
Now this is so peculiar an Artifice, and so far out of the Reach of any mortal Understanding, Wit, or Power, that if we consider the Matter, with some of its Circumstances, we must needs perceive manifest Design, and that there is the Concurrence of some great and wise Being, that hath, from the Beginning, taken Care of, and provided for the Animal’s Good: For which Reason, as mean as the Instance may seem, I might be excused, if I should enlarge upon its Particulars. But two or three Hints shall suffice.
In the first Place, ’tis certain that the Formation of those Cases and Balls quite exceeds the Cunning of the Animal it self; but it is the Act partly of the Vegetable, and partly of some Virulency (or what shall I call it?) in the Juyce, or Egg, or both, reposited on the Vegetable by the Parent Animal[bb]. And as this Virulency is various, according to the Difference of its Animal, so is the Form and Texture of the Cases and Balls excited thereby; some being hard Shells[cc], some tender Balls[dd], some scaly[ee], some smooth[ff], some Hairy[gg], some Long, some Round, some Conical, &c.[hh]. And in the last Place, let us add, That those Species of Insects are all endowed with peculiar and exactly made Parts for this Service, to bore and pierce the Vegetable, and to reach and inject their Eggs and Juice into the tender Parts thereof.
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).]