j66 : ANIMALCULA OF INFUSIONCi I^' 



animalcula three are to be feen, but them I : 

 judged of a difFerent fpecies, becaufe the leaves 

 were wanting, and the interior feemed fomewhat 

 different, Fig. lo. S. Thefe two kinds of ani~ 

 malcula are commonly among the tremella of 

 ditches. 



Is copulation required for the propagation of 

 their race by oviparous and viviparous animal- 

 cula ? If I faid that I had once beheld a real 

 copulation, ever fmce 1 fludied infufions, it would, 

 be advancing v/hat is diredly oppofite to truth. 

 But, adhering to the principles of ftricl: logic, 

 from which the naturalift fhould never deviate, 

 r.o legitimate confequence can thence be deduced 

 that they do not copulate. Like that of other 

 anim.als, copulation might be inflantaneous, and 

 therefore efcape obfervation. It was poffible that 

 the eggs of oviparous animalcula might be fecun- 

 dated after exclufiou from the body of the mo- • 

 ther, the fame aa thofe of frogs and toads : there- 

 fore I had to attain the truth, by obviating every 

 poffibility of the contrary, which was accom- 

 plifiied in the following manner. Having put. 

 the egg of an animalcule in a watch-glafs, I con- 

 cluded, if the animalcule from this ifolated egg^ 

 produced a fertile egg, there would be no need 

 for copulation : if a (terile one, that more tha/i- 

 one individual was requifite for propagating the 

 fpecies, that is, copulation was ellential. But the 

 truth, is, as many animalcula were produced as 



eggs, 



