234 REFLECTIONS ON 



' lampada allis trado.' It is, perfiaps, unnecef* 

 fary to make many remarks on what Leeuwen- 

 hoek has here advanced. He faw, in the femen 

 of the dormoufe, fpermatic animals which were 

 round and without tails ; m Jemet convoluta^ 

 fays he, becaufe he always fuppofes that they 

 ought to have tails. He was formerly certain 

 that thefe animals were propagated by genera-* 

 tion : Here he feems to be convinced of the re- 

 verfe. But, when he learned, that the vine-- 

 fretters (pitcerons) were propagated without co- 

 pulation *, he laid hold of this idea, in order to 

 explain the generation of fpermatic animals. 

 Quemadmodum,' fays he, ' animalcula haec 

 quae pediculorum antea nomine defignavimus 

 (the pucerons) dum adhuc in utero materno 

 latent, jam praedita funt materia feminali ex 

 qua ejuldem generis proditura funt animalcula, 

 pari ratione cogitare licet animalcula in femi- 

 nibus mafculinis ex animalium tefliculis non 

 migrare, feu ejici, quin poll fe relinquant mi- 

 nuta animalcula, aut faltem materiam femina- 

 lem ex qua iterum alia ejufdem generis ani-^ 

 malcula proventura funt, idque abfque coitu, 

 eadem ratione qua fupradida animalcula ge- 

 nerari obiervavimus.' This fuppofition is net 

 more fatisfactory than the preceding ; for, by 

 thus comparing the generation of fpermatic a- 

 nimalcules with that of the vine-fretter, we dif- 

 cover not the reafon why they are never feen in 



the 

 * See torn. 2. p. 499. et torn. 3. p. 271. 



