( ^73 ) 



kind of fprlng, whereupon I thought that thefe hairs might be de- 

 figned to protect the eyes. 



The Mite here pictured was not one of thofe taken out of the 

 meal or cheefe, but a piece of fmoke-dried meat, which abounded 

 with them ; thefe Mites were of the fame fliape with others, but 

 fomewhat larger, which I prefumed might be owing to the abun- 

 dance of moid nourilhment they got from the meat, which thole 

 in the meal had not ; and when I put feveral of thofe Mites from 

 the dried meat into a glafs, they could not move about readily, but 

 remained almotl fixed in the place, or moved very llowly, becaufe 

 they could not fix their claws in the glafs, and the hairs on their 

 bodies, by the fatty particles they had contra6led, lluck to the 

 glafs. 



I have obferved thefe animals remain many weeks without food, 

 and alfo to endure the cold, and even lay eggs in cold weather, 

 which in about a month's time produced young Mites. 



And now, if we contemplate the wonderful regularity, as well 

 in the formation, as in the propagation of this animal (the minutefl 

 as I have before obferved, that is found about our lioufes, and by 

 reafon of its minutenefs, unknown to or unobferved by many), mufl 

 not the moft judicious philofophers agree with me in opinion, that 

 as it is impolTible for an elephant to be brought forth from duft or 

 dirt, it is equally impoffible for a Mite to be bred out of meal or 

 any corrupted fubflance, or in any other manner than the regular 

 way of generation I have defcribed. 



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