VOL. LII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. Q^o 



made, but slender in comparison of the females, which are much larger and more 

 shapeless, and seemingly lazy, torpid and inactive. They appear generally so 

 overgrown, that their eyes and mouth are quite sunk in their rugae or wrinkles, 

 nay their antennae and legs are almost covered by them, and are so impeded in their 

 motions from these swellings about the insertions of their legs, that they scarcely 

 can move them, much less move themselves. The male's head is very distinct 

 from the neck, the neck being much smaller than the head, and much more so 

 than the body. The thorax is elliptical, and something longer than the head and 

 neck together, and flattish underneath : from the front there arise two long an- 

 tennae (much longer than the antennae of the females) which the insect moves 

 every way very briskly. These antennae are all jointed, and from every joint there 

 come out 4 short setae placed 2 on each side. It has 3 jointed legs on each side, 

 and moves very briskly and with great speed. From the extremity of the tail, there 

 arise 2 long setae or hairs, 4 or 5 times the length of the insect. They diverge as 

 they lengthen, are very slender, and of a pure snow white colour. It has 2 

 wings, which take their rise from the back part of the shoulders or thorax, and lie 

 down horizontally like the wings of the common fly, when the insect is walking : 

 they are oblong, rounded at the extremity, and become suddenly small near the 

 point of insertion : they are much longer than the body, and have 2 long nerves, 

 one running from the basis of the wing along the external margin, and arches to 

 meet a slender one that runs along the under and inner edge ; they are quite 

 thin, slender, transparent, and of a snowy whiteness. The body of the male is 

 of a lighter red than the body of the female, and not near so large." 



To this description of Dr. Garden's, which agrees very nearly with the micro- 

 scopical drawings of both sexes of this insect, a and c, pi. J 6, it may be added 

 that the female has a remarkable proboscis or awl-shaped papilla, that arises in 

 the midst of the breast. This Linnaeus calls the rostrum, and thinks it the 

 mouth : if so, besides the office of supplying it with nourishment during the 

 time of its moving about, it is the tube through which the fine double filament 

 proceeds, with which it forms its delicate white web, in order to accommodate 

 itself in its torpid state, during its pregnancy ; till the young ones creep out of 

 its body to shift for themselves, and form a new generation. In this torpid state 

 the legs and antennae grow no more, but the animal swells up to an enormous 

 size in proportion to its first minute creeping state. The legs, antennae, and pro- 

 boscis, are so small with respect to the rest of the body, that they cannot be 

 easily discovered without very good eyes or magnifying glasses ; so that to an in- 

 different eye, it looks full as like a berry as an animal. 



This was the occasion of that contest mentioned bv Pomet and other authors, 

 which subsisted so many years, whether it was an animal or a vegetable produc- 

 tion. But if persons of curiosity will give themselves the trouble to soak a 



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