622 



SUPFLEMLNT 



friend Mr John Adams, of Edmonton. He 

 was at the new Inn, Waltham Abbey, 

 where it was spied by some labouring men 

 who were drinking their porter. The man 

 who first perceived it, thought it was of an 

 uncommon form; on a more minute inspection 

 it was supposed to be a pediculus with un- 

 usually long horns ; others thought it was a 

 mite. This produced a debate, which attracted 

 the attention of my friend, who obtained the 

 insect from them for further observation. 

 Mr Martin has given some account of it, in 

 the third volume of the " Young Gentlemen 

 and Lady's Philosophy." Mr Adams favoured 

 me with the insect, that an accurate drawing 

 might be taken from it, which I thought 

 would be highly pleasing not only to the 

 lovers of microscopic observations, but also to 

 the entomologist. It appears to be quite a 

 distinct species from the phalangium cancroides, 

 of which a good drawing has been given by 

 Hooke, Rosel, Scbaeffer, &c. It has also 

 been described by Scopoli, Geoflfroy, and 

 other naturalists ; not one, however, of these 

 descriptions agrees with the animal under 

 consideration. The abdomen of this is more 

 extended, the claws are larger and much more 

 obtuse ; the body of the other being nearly 

 orbicular, the claws slender, and finishing 

 Imost in a point, more transparent and of a 

 paler colour. It is very probable that there 

 are several species nearly similar. Mr 

 Marsham has two in his possession, one like 

 the drawings of Reaumur, the other not to be 

 distinguished from that which is represented 

 in the annexed figure, except that it wants 

 the break or dent in the claws, so conspicuous 

 in this. The latter he caught on a flower in 

 Essex, the first week in August, firmly 

 affixed by its claws to the thigh of a large fly, 

 and could not disengage it from thence with- 

 out considerable difficulty ; to accomplish 

 which he was obliged to tear off the fly's leg, 

 and was much surprised to see the bold little 

 creature spring forward full a quarter of an 

 inch, and once more seize its prey, from which 

 it was again with much difficulty disengaged." 

 The insect is shown in the cut considerably 

 magnified ; an indication is also given of the 

 natural size. 



" According to Aldrovandus, this insect 

 was not unknown to Aristotle, who mentions 

 it as being found in books and papers. 

 Wolphius, on the authority of Gesner, says 

 that a few are to be met with in some parts 

 of Switzerland. Scaliger also notices it, 

 having found two of them in his books. It 

 has been by various systematic writers referred 

 to different genera : De Geer has instituted 

 a^new genus for it under the name of chelifer ; 

 Frabricius has remanded it to that of scorpio, 

 to which perhaps it is more nearly allied than 



any other. Amongst the number of naturalists 

 who have observed and described the insect, 

 it appears rather extraordinary that none have 

 met with one similar to that in the cut, in 

 respect to the break in the claws. In a 

 cabinet of curious microscopic objects which 

 I purchased several years since, and which 

 originally came from Holland, there were four 

 of them in the most perfect, condition. A botan- 

 ical friend, Mr Young, also favoured me with 

 a living one which he found among some 

 plants collected by him in one of his excur- 

 sions ; but as his box contained a variety of 

 plants, and he did not discover the insect till 

 his return, it was imposible to ascertain the 

 particular one on which it was taken. All 

 these resembled the one exhibited, excepting 

 the claws being longer and more slender, and 

 being deficient in the distinguishing charac- 

 teristic. I have lately seen another, in which 

 the two fangs that are shown highly magni- 

 fied in plate 85 of the Naturalist's Miscellany, 

 are very apparent, being so large, as to exceed 

 in diameter the thickest parts of the claws. 

 Rosel says, this insect dwells among paper, 

 in old books and their bindings, in chests of 

 drawers, and in the crevices of old buildings. 

 In order to discover whether the insect pos- 

 sessed a sting, he often, by various means, en- 

 deavoured to irritate it ; but it never showed 

 the smallest inclination to defend itself ; on 

 the contrary, it always endeavoured to avoid 

 a contest ; if so, it evidently appears that 

 those few met with in this country are of a 

 more bold and warlike disposition. Seba 

 asserts that these insects resemble the large 

 scorpions, the tail excepted, which is small, 

 and usually concealed by being drawn close 

 to the under part of the abdomen ; but in this 

 respect he must probably have been mistaken, 

 as it does not appear that this circumstance 

 has been noticed by any other person." 



We have now extended this chapter much 

 beyond what was originally intended, yet 

 have found our space insufficient for so par- 

 ticular a detail of the microscopic formations 

 and phenomena of the natural world as we 

 could have wished to give. It will be obvious, 

 that a separate volume alone could embrace a 

 complete survey of the minute in nature : 

 what we have done, however, will present 

 under a systematic form a general outline of 

 the discoveries that have been made by means 

 of the microscope, and may lead the student 

 in natural history to give deep regard to the 

 atomic elements of material bodies ; it may 

 also increase his admiration and reverence for 

 the Great Creative Power from whom all 

 things proceed, when he perceives that Deity, 

 unconfined by the relative terms of large and 

 small, can display an equal share of plastic 

 energy in the atom, whose existence the un. 



