HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Ill 



instead of Elesh, and the larger cavities seem a sort 

 of Bowels or Intestines to them." 



12. A piece of Charcoal. 



13. A piece of Petrified Wood. 



14. The Pores in Cork. 



15. The Sensible Plant. 



16. The form of Blue or White Mould. 



17. Small Wall Moss. 



18. The configuration of a beautiful Sea Moss. 

 This is a very accurate representation of a portion 



of Flustra foliacea, but which the doctor, on the 

 authority of Mr. Bay, calls a Fucus or Sea-wrack. 



19. A piece of Bosemary Leaf. 



20. Pine Lawn. 



21. A piece of Stinging Nettle. 



The doctor performs the following experiment, in 

 order to detect how nettles sting : — " Having pro- 

 vided a single Glass whosePocus was at the Distance 

 of above half an Inch fastened in a little Pramethat 

 it might be managed easily, he perceived by the 

 Help thereof, that on thrusting his Pinger gently 

 against the Ends of a Nettle's Prickles, they did not 

 bend in the least, but he could discern a Liquor 

 rising towards the Points thereof, or sinking in 

 them according to the Degree of Pressure, and on 

 taking away his Hand, he could see it subside en- 

 tirely into the little Bladder at the Bottom, and that 

 as plainly as he had ever seen Water ascend and 

 descend in a Tube of Glass." 



22. The Beard of Wild Oat. 



23. Transverse section of do. 



24. Seeds of Venus's Looking-glass. 



25. Seeds of Thyme. 

 2G. Seeds of Poppy. 



27. Seeds of Purslane. These are said to re- 

 semble a Nautilus or Sailor-shell. 

 23. Scale of a Sole. 



29. Piece of the Skin of do. 



30. Couhage. 



31. The Sting of a Bee. 



32. A minute part of a Goose's Peather. 



33. Two parts of a Goose's Quill. 



34. Parts of a Peacock's Peather. 



35. The Foot of a Fly. " The foot of a fly," he tells 

 us, "consists of three joints, two Talcns, and as many 

 Pattens, Soles or Spunges, as they are called by 

 some. By the wonderful contrivance of which 

 Instrument this Creature is able to walk perpendi- 

 cularly upwards, even against the sides of Glass, 

 nay, to suspend itself and walk with its Body down- 

 ward on the Ceilings of Booms, &c. 



36. Part of a Fly's Eye. 



37. Part of a Ply's Wing. 



38. The Eye and Head of a Drone Fly. This figure 

 is more than 9 inches in diameter. 



39. A Blue Bottle or Flesh Fly. 



The writer falls into the same error as Leeuwen- 

 hoek, in supposing the trachea to be veins : he says, 

 " Upon opening a Ply, numberless veins may be dis- 



covered dispersed over the Surface of its Intestines, 

 for the Veins being blackish, and the Intestines 

 white, they are plainly visible by the Microscope, 

 though two hundred thousand times slenderer than 

 the Hairs of a Man's Beard." 



"Was it not from a prepost erous Humour in Man- 

 kind, that constantly inclines us to despise and 

 overlook] whatever is continually before us, we 

 should often divert ourselves with observing the 

 pretty Actions of this little familar Animal, which 

 are very well vtorth our notice. To see it like 

 a little Bird taking its Flight about us, and when 

 it thinks fit to settle, using its Fore-feet to clear its 

 Body, Head, and Wings, and afterwards rubbing them 

 backwards and forwards one against the other, to 

 clear away any Dirt that may be contracted iu 

 making the other parts clean. To see its manner of 

 feeding, the Motions of its little Members, and the 

 delicate structure and Contrivance of them .... 

 must till the Mind with Delight and Admiration." 



40. A Fly Wing. 



41. The Jaw Bone and Teeth of a Snail. 



" The Teeth are all joined together like the Teeth 

 of a Rhinoceros, which perhaps is the only known 

 Animal besides that has them in that manner." 



This is the chitonous mandible present in many of 

 the mollusca. 



42. A Silk Worm's Egg. 



In the text, directions are given how to breed silk- 

 worms in England, and how to wind off the silk. A 

 description of the silkworm's manner of making 

 silk, and also a description of the spermatozoa. 



43. Eels in Vinegar. 



44. The Nymph Worm of a Gnat, 



45. The Nympha or Aurelia of do. 



46. The Tufted or Brush-horned do. 



47. The great-bellyed or Female Gnat. 



48. The white Feather-winged Moth. 



49. The Back of the long-legged Spider. 



50. The Eyes of do. 



51. The Belly of do. 



52. The Ant, Emmet, or Pismire. 



53. The Wandering Mile. 



54. The Crab-like Insect, 



55. Cloth Worm or Moth. 



Dr. Hooke's figure, which is a very good one, does 

 not represent the larval form of the clothes moth, 

 but a perfect apterous insect, viz. Lepisma 

 saccharina. The compiler of the "Micrographia 

 restaurata," however, is responsible for the error, 

 as Dr. Hooke called it the Boole-worm, from having 

 often seen it running amongst books and papers. He 

 describes it as of a white shining silver or pearl 

 colour, and as commonly found lurking in holes 

 or crannies, and whenever it is disturbed scuds 

 away very nimbly to seek some other hiding-place. 



56. The Cheese-mite, upper and under surfaces. 



57. A small creature hatched on a vine (appa- 

 rently a Coccus). 



