( 50 ) 



fcrewed box, which in the day time I carried in my pocket, and at 

 night placed befide me in bed, tliat they might continually be kept 

 warm ; and in another box of the fame kind, I put fome more eggs, 

 three weeks old, and thefe my wife (who was always very warmly 

 clad) conftantly carried in her bofom. This we did, to try the ex- 

 periment, whether it were poflible to promote the growth of Silk- 

 worms in the autumn. 



In the month of Oftober I opened fome of the eggs which I had 

 thus kept by me for about a month, and in one of them, I obferved 

 aininute Silk-worm, about the thicknefs of an hair, and proportion- 

 able in length, but I was not able to diftinguifli any particular parts 

 in its body. In the fpace of ten days more, I found larger worms 

 in the eggs, whereupon, I opened fome of thofe which my wife had 

 carried about her, and in thole, I law Silk-worms, MJiich by the 

 microfcopc, appeared as large as one's finger, and thefe 1 propofed 

 to have given drawings of, but the animals foon drying, and all the 

 moillure in the eggs evaporating, they entirely loft their figure, fo 

 that neither the head nor tail, nor any other parts of their bodies 

 could be difiinguiflied, although I had very plainly feen them when 

 the eggs were firft opened. 



After this, I from time to time opened others of thefe eggs, but 

 I could not perceive any farther growth in the aniiiials, and at length 

 all the moifture in the eggs fo dried away, that they loft their Ihape 

 and became flattened. 



In the beginning of May, in the following year, I opened feveral 

 of the eggs which had remained all the winter in my ftudv, and 

 then I obferved minute Silk-worms within them, and a kind of glo- 

 bular particles lying clofe to them, which I judged would afterwards 

 be formed into the limbs of the animals. 



Towards the end of this month, the Silk-worms increafed in 

 growth very rapidly, fo that on the sicth of May, upon opening fe- 

 veral of the eggs, I could perceive, not only feveral parts of each 



