170 
_ Sponges fill'd with an imaginary gluten, as many have, for want ¢ 
_.» Now, that the Fly is ableto walk on G] 
MicrROGRAP Hi? As 
containthemfelves in that pofture as long as they pleafesnay,to walk and 
fufpend themfelves againft the under furface of many bodies,as the ceilin 
ofaroom, or the like, and this with as great a feeming facility and firm- 
nefs, as if they were akind of A#tipodes, and had.a tendency upwards, as 
we are fure they have the contrary, which they alfo evidently difcover, 
in that they cannot make them(felves fo light, as to {tick or fufpend them- 
felves on the under furface of a Glafs well polith’d and cleans’d 5 their 
fufpenfion therefore is wholly to be afcrib’d to fome Mechanical contri- 
vance in their feet; which, what it is, we fhall in brief explain, by thew- 
ing, that its Mechanifm confifts ie ae in two parts, that is, firftits 
two Claws, or Tallons, and fecondly, two Palms, Pattens, or Soles. 
.. The two Tallons are very large, in proportion to the foot, and hand- 
fomly fhap'd in the manner defcrib’'d in the Figures, by AB, ahd AC, 
the bigger part of them from A todd, is allhairy, or brifled, but to- 
ward the top, at Cand B fmooth, the tops or points, which feem very 
fharp turning downwards and inwards, are each ofthem mov'd ona joint 
at A, by which the Fly is able to open or fhut them at pleafure, fothat 
the points B and C being entered in any pores, and the Fly endeavouring 
to fhut them,the Claws not onely draw one againft another,and fo faften 
eachother, but they draw the whole foot, GGA DD forward, fothat 
ona foft footing, the tenters or points G G G G, (whereof a Fly has about 
‘tenineach foot, to wit,twoin every joint)run into the pores,if they find 
any, or at leaftmake their way; and this is fenfibleto the naked eye, in 
the feet ofa Chafer, which, if he be fuffer'd to creep over the hand, or 
sany other part of the {kin of ones body, does make his ftepsas fenfible to 
'thetouchasthefight. — - ! sec 
But this contrivance,as it often fails the Chafer, when he walks onhard 
and clofe bodies, fo would italfo our Fly, though he be a much lefler, 
and nimbler creature, and therefore Nature has furnifh’d his foot with 
another additament much more curiousand admirable, and that is, with 
a couple of Palms, Pattens or Solés D D, the ftru¢ture of which isthis: 
From the bottom or under part of the laft joint of his foot, Kyarile 
two {mall thin plated horny fubftances, each confifting of two flat pieces, 
D D, which feem to be flexible, like the covers of a Book, about F F, by 
which means,the plains of the two fides E Edo not always lie in the fame 
plain, but may be fometimes fhut clofer, and fo each of them may take 
thefe Soles are all befet with {mall brifles, or renters, like the Wire tet 
“ofa Card ufed for working Wool, the points of all -which-tend for- 
‘wards, hence the two Tallons drawing the feet forwards, asf before 
hinted, and thefe being applied tothe furface of the body with all the 
ints looki the contrary way, thatis, forwards and outwards, ifthete 
| any Irre y or yielding in the furface of the body, the F ly fa- 
ipen it felf very firmly and eafily,without the accefs or need of any fu 
Le 
proceeds partly from fome 
- 
Glafles, perhaps, or a troublefome and op gona : 
a 
- little hold themfelves on a body; but that isnot all,for the under fidesof — 
4 
