( 197 ) 

 of thofe Animalcules, which I deemed by their fize to be females, ia 

 order to lee how loon, and to w^hat degree, they would bring forth 

 joung : and, in twenty-four hours, two of thefe produced nine 

 young ones and a third lix ; they continued to increafe, but there 

 being a vefl'el, with flowers in it, brought out of the garden, which 

 liood near that M'here the branches were, fome ants, which were 

 among the flowers, crept into the branches and killed fome of the 

 Animalcules, for I could plainly fee that their bodies had been, in 

 great part, devoured by the ants. Hereupon I killed all thofe ants, 

 and placed the veflel containing the branches in a dilh full of water, 

 to defend the accefs to it from ants. 



In thefe and others of my obfervations it appeared to me that our 

 common ants, which I had always deemed Aery pernicious infects, 

 on account of the damage they do in our gardens, by devouring the 

 fruit when ripe, do. on the contrary, in the fpring, when there is no 

 fruit, live upon other fmall creatures ; lb that I am doubtful whe^ 

 ther the damage they do is greater than the utihty they are of in the 

 fpring. 



Hereto I mull add, tliat I have been at fome times very much in* 

 felled with ants, fo that I caufed them and their eggs to be dug up 

 and thrown into the water : but afterwards my method was, where 

 an ants' nell was found, to ciuse its opening to be llrongly preifed 

 cjovvn with the foot, to deftroy the ants in their nell ; and, if ants 

 were found among the trees, to llamp the earth dole round the trees, 

 in order to keep the ants within the ground, and prevent their bring- 

 ing food to their young, whei-eby both would be dellroyed, and by 

 this means I almoll wholly freed myfelf from them, 



On the 30th of IVIay I again examined the branches I had placed 

 in my lludy, and found many young Animalcules on them, fome of 

 "which were confiderably grown ; and I alio perceived that it was in 

 the nature of thefe creatures to change their ikins, for I found fe- 

 veral call Ikins, in which I could plainly fee the feet, horns, hairs, 

 and claws on the feet j and in thefe Ikins, which were very tvanf" 



