147 



suspicious ; proceed, if your patience will permit you, 

 to the nil th generation, ami they will all present you 

 with fecund virgins. 



After tiiese experiments, so decisive and reiterated, 

 you are eas-ily persuaded that theie is nq distinction of 

 sex in vine-fre;ters. What, indeed, would he the use 

 of such a difference amongst a people, where all the in- 

 dividuals are constantly sufficient for themselves 7 Na- 

 tural history is the best logic, because it best teaches us 

 to suspend our judgment. Vine-fretters are really dis- 

 tinguished by sexes; there are males .and females 

 amongst them, and their amours are the least equivocal 

 of any in the world. I do not know whether there are 

 in nature any mules more amorous than they. 



What then is the use of coupling between insects that 

 "multiply without" its assistance? Of what service can 

 an actual distinction of sex be to real androgynes ? The 

 clearing up of this point depends on another great sin- 

 gularity. During she summer season they are vivipa- 

 rous; ihey all bring forth living young: towards Hie 

 middle of autumn they become oviparous ; they all then 

 lay real eggs, which are hatched at the return of the 

 spring. The males begin to appear exactly at trie time 

 the females begin to lay ; there is, therefore, a secret 

 relation betwixt the appearance of the males, and the 

 laying of the females. There are always found in the 

 bodies of the females, eggs and young, ready to be pro* 

 duced : the young then were originally inclosed in eggs. 

 During the line season, they are hatched -in the belly of 

 their mother, and are brought inte the world alive; 

 plants, at that time, furnish them with a proper nourish- 

 ment, which they fail not instantly to imbibe, by the 

 help of a very slender trunk. At the approach of 'jcold 

 weather, the young cannot unfold themselves in the 

 dam's belly, in order to their being produced alive ; 

 they remain shut up in their eggs, where they are pre- 

 served the whole winter : were they to be hatched at 

 the beginning of that season, they would soon perish 

 for want of food: the developement depends ultimately 

 on nutrition. Vine-fretters that are produced alive, 



VOL, iv. H 



