( 330 ) 



111 the profecution of my oblervations on this fubje<5t, I was 

 aftoniilied to fee that the wood, on the furface of which there was 

 no appearance of biting or perforauon, was yet fo gnawed through, 

 that it would eafily break. Now when people in general fee fuch 

 pieces of wood, which on the outfide appear quite uninjured, and 

 yet fo brittle, and contain fo much dull or powder, they think that 

 the wood has a natural tendency to decay, or that it is confumed 

 by maggots bred in the wood by fpontaneous generation, becaufe, 

 as I faid before, they fee no holes in the furface. 



But if we confider how fmall thofe eggs mull of neceffity be, from 

 which fo minute an animal is produced, as proceeds from thefe IMag- 

 gots by tranlmutation, and that a Maggot newly hatched from fuch 

 an egg may creep into the chinks or cracks, or even the large vef- 

 fels of the wood, and pierce holes in it fo fmall, as at firtl to efcape 

 the notice of our eyes, we may in fome meafure folve the diffi- 

 culty. 



I was well fatisfied in my mind, that the flying animals to be pro- 

 duced from thefe Maggots would be of the fpecies whole wings are 

 covered with fliells or cafes, and to fatisfy myfelf in this refped:,! took 

 about a third part of the fame piece of wood (from which part I had 

 not taken any maggots nor could I difcern any holes perforated by 

 them in the furface), and inclofed it in a glafs tube, each end of 

 which I flopped with a cork ; this tube I put in my clofet, in a 

 place where it would be often expofed to my view, and that thus I 

 might difcover what would become of the INIaggots, if any there 

 were, in it. This piece of wood I often looked at, but could not 

 perceive any alteration, except that there appeared fome particles 

 fcraped or bitten off the wood which lay in the glafs, and alio a 

 INIaggot which had crept out of it and was dead. 



On the 2 1 11 of May, feeing no farther alteration in the wood, I took 

 three other fmall thin pieces of the fame fire-wood, which I broke 

 and took out of them about thirty Maggots, which were now 

 changed into aurelias or cryfales, and as yet of a very white colour : 



