CORRESPONDENCE OF RAY. 97 



the liquameri itself, which I took to be provision of bee- 

 meat, is nothing else but an infinite number of small eggs, 

 out of which a certain sort of mites (as I take them to be) 

 are hatched. 3. That these kermes seem to be of dif- 

 ferent sorts; some having red, or carnation-coloured 

 mites in them, wrapped up in a pure white silk ; others 

 are of white colour, &c. 4. That not only the bee mag- 

 gots I described the last year have been found in these 

 kermes, but as Dr. Johnson of Pomfret assures me, he 

 found in one kermes one large maggot filling all the 

 husk. 



I desire to know what you and Mr. Willughby have 

 farther observed on this subject. 



Mr. OLDENBURGH'S* Letter. 



SIR, After my long silence, I must now put you in 

 mind of some particulars which were recommended to 

 you and Mr. Ray when you were with us here. One 

 was to communicate what you had observed concerning 

 the Vermis setaceus, or Hairworm, of which Mr. Lister 

 had made so rational a narrative already. Another, to 

 experiment to what degree of magnitude a maggot may 

 be advanced, by continuing to give it new flesh every 

 two or three days, upon the occasion of Sir Sam. Tuke's 

 relation of a maggot, which, within two months, by that 

 way increased to the bigness of a man's thigh. A third, 

 to try whether insects will be bred in a beef's bladder so 

 close that no passage be left for any flyblows. And 

 because flies may be said to have blown on the outside of 

 the bladder, and the flyblows to have eaten through the 

 bladder, it will be proper to include such a bladder in a 

 case, to defend it from flyblows outwardly as well as in- 



* [Memorials, p. 30.] 



