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ioflgc tliemfelves in the trunk or branches, of the trees, to flielteJr 

 themlelves there during the winter ; and, in order to inveftigat^ 

 that mattei*, having a goofeberry tree, which had been fo infefted 

 with thele animals, that it had grown very little during the fum~ 

 mer, and I had therefore determined to root it up, I fuffercd it to 

 ftand till the 15th of the following January, when, after a long froll 

 and rain following, I cut a branch from the tree about a fpan long> 

 in a place whei-e it was the thicknefs of my finger, and, examining 

 it by the microfcope, I faw among the cracks in the bark, and 

 among the fmall dry leaves where the new bud was about to fpring> 

 and which fall off when the bud grows larger, and alfo among 

 fome fragments of mols adhering to the branch, feveral of thefe 

 Animalcules, which all feemed full grown. They were not only 

 dead, but the hind parts of their bodies were perforated with a 

 round hole, and their entrails gone, whence I gathei-ed, that provi=- 

 dent Nature had affigned thefe creatures their enemies, to prevent 

 their fpecies increaflng too fail, and alfo for the fullenance of other 

 animals. 



In this fearch, I happened upon an Animalcule eight times 

 fmaller than the' former ones, which moved its liead, horns, and 

 feet ; and it alfo appeared to me, that it had been produced by 

 tranfmutation from a maggot or caterpillar, becaufe I could plainly 

 difcover in it, thofe rings or annular parts we obferve in tnaggots. 

 i alfo fliw adhering to this branch afubllance, which, upon more 

 accurate infpe6lion, I took to be the web of fome fmall maggot, 

 and on tliis were four eggs, the Ihape of birds' eggs, but no larger 

 than fmall grains of fand, and which I thought might, perhaps, be 

 the eggs of the before mentioned living Animalcule. 



But what to me appeared moll wonderful was, that I difco- 

 vered two Animalcules, in fliape like thofe called by children 

 lady-birds, but fo minute, that a hair taken from my hand, was 

 more than four times their thicknefs, and, upon comparing them 

 with a grain of fcowering fand, it was, in my judgment, three 



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