214 MicROGRAPHIA. 
nifh’d with eight well fhap'd and proportion'd legs, which are each of 
them joynted or bendable in eight feveral places, or joynts, each of 
whichis covered, for the moft part, with a very tranfparent fhell, and 
the lower end of the fhell of each joynt is fringed with feveral {mall 
hairs ; the contrivance of the joynts feems the very fame with that of 
Crabsand Lobfters legs, and like thofe alfo, they are each of them ter- 
minated witha very fharp claw or point ; four of thefe legs are fo pla- 
ced, that they feem to draw forwards, the other four are placed ina 
soe contrary pofition, thereby to keep the body backwards when 
t 
ere Is occafion. 
Fig. 1. The body, as in other == Infects , confifts of three regions or 
_ Sthem. 36. partss the hinder or belly A, feems covered with one intire fhell 5 the 
middle, or cheit, feems divided intotwo fhells B C. which running one - 
within the other, the Mite is able to fhrink in and thruft out asit finds 
occafion, as it canalfo the fnout D. The whole body is pretty tranfpa- 
rent, fo that being look’d on againft the light, divers motions within its 
body may be perceived 5 as alfo all the parts are much more plainly de- 
lineable, then in other poftures, tothe light. The thell, efpecially that 
which covers the back, is curioufly polifht, fo that ’tis eafie to fee, asina 
convex’ Looking-glafs, or foliated Glafs-ball, the picture of all the ob- 
jets round about ; up and down, in feveral parts of itsbody, it has fe- 
veral {mall long white hairs growing out of its fhell, which are often 
longer then the whole body; and are reprefented too fhort inthe firft 
and fecond Figures; they feem all] pretty ftraight and plyable, fave only 
two upon the fore-part of its body, which feem tobe the horns, as may 
be feenin the Figures; the firft whereof isa profpeét of a fmaller fort of 
Mites ( which are ufually more plump ) as it was paffant to and fro ; the 
_ fecond is the profpedt of one fixt onits tail ( by means of alittle mouth- 
| glew rub’d on the objec plate) exhibiting the manner of the growing of 
the legs, together with their feveral joynts. - 
This Creature is very much diverfify’d in fhape, colour, and divers 
other properties, according to the nature of the fubftance out of which 
it {eems to be ingendred and nourifhed,being in one fubftance more long, 
in another more round, in fome more hairy, in others more ‘{mooth, in 
this nimble, in that flow, here pale and whiter, there browner, blacker, 
more tranfparent, ce. I have obferved it to be refident almoft on all 
kinds of fubftances that are mouldy, or putrifying, and have f€en it very 
_ nimbly mefhing through the thickets of mould, and fometimes to lye 
* dormant underneath them; and ’tis not unlikely, but'thatit may feed on 
that vegetating fubftance , fpontaneous Vegetables feeming a food proper 
enough for /pontaneous Animals, FOE CUBE Bia 
_' But whether indeed this Creature, or any other, be fuch or not, Ican- 
not pofitively, from any Experiment, or Obfervation, Thave yet made, 
_ determine. But,asI formerly hinted, it {eems probable, that fomie kind 
_ of wandring Mite may fow, as *twere, the firft feeds, or lay the firfteggs, 
Inthofe places, which Naturehas inftruéed them to know convenient 
for the hatching and nourifhing their young ; and though perhaps the 
