( 341 ) 



that only a few of the eggs fhould be reprefented, for if all thofe 

 eggs whicli lay about that part of the body marked ABC, had been 

 inferted in the figure, the number would have been ten times as 

 many as here fliewn: moreover, it is to be obferved, that all thefe eggs 

 were held together by a kind of membrane, and in fuch exact and 

 regular order, that it was a pleafure to behold them. On farther 

 examination, I perceived in each egg a round corpufcle like a yolk, 

 and each egg was compofed of a great number of larger and fmaller 

 globules, as I have always obferved all eggs, or at leaft the yolks 

 of them, to be formed. 



I have given a drawing of this minute animal, for no other rea- 

 fon, than to convince thofe perfons of their error, who abfurdly 

 maintain, that a living creature can be generated from corruption, 

 by fbewing the wonderful formation of fo minute and contemptible 

 an animal, and which not one man in a thoufand knows any thing 

 of, not to mention that many veffels, nerves, and organs, worthy 

 of admiration, may be feen in this fmall creature, when firft taken 

 out of the fliell, and while the parts of its body remain moiil. 



I have often made repeated difledlions of the eyes of various 

 kinds of Hying infects, merely on account of the pleafure the con- 

 templating them afforded me. 



In particular, in the fummer feafon, I examined the eyes of that 

 large flying infe<5t called the * Dragon Fly. Thefe being placed on 

 a Iheet of clean paper, with a fmall hair pencil and fair rain water, 

 I cleared away the many veflels which fill the infide of the tunica 

 cornea, or horny coat of the eye, leaving only the tunica cornea 

 remaining. This I contrived to place in fuch a manner, that it 

 mioht not, as it dried, contrati in wrinkles, and placed it before 

 the microfcope, and I often contemplated it with great admiration, 

 for I not only faw the many parts or optical organs of which it was 

 compofed, each of which was a perfedl portion of a fphere ; but 

 each of thefe fpherical parts was inclofed in a partition feparating 



* See page 47, of this Tolume. 



