LEEUWENHOEK 209 



"prickle-pear," but of insects "engendered of the same."^ 

 Lister^ conjectured that it might be a sort of kermes, 

 which was a near approach to the truth. Swam- 

 merdam* satisfied himself, both by the examination 

 of soaked cochineal and by the reports of unnamed 

 persons, that cochineal is composed of the dried bodies 

 of insects, but his report was not published till 1738, 

 when the question had been finally settled. Tyson* 

 gave a figure of the " cochineel-fly," which exhibits 

 decisive characters. Robert Boyle in 1685 invoked the 

 judgment of Leeuwenhoek, who replied that cochineal 

 was a fruit containing a multitude of small seeds. Boyle 

 sent back the opinion of a governor of Jamaica, to the 

 efi'ect that the so-called seeds were really the eggs of 

 an insect. Upon this, Leeuwenhoek re-examined the 

 cochineal, and found distinct proofs of its insect-nature, 

 which were published in 1687. Still the dispute went 

 on. At last a lawsuit was instituted in Amsterdam 

 to decide a wager on the point ; depositions were taken 

 in Mexico ; the result was to convince everybody that 

 cochineal is really an insect.* 



Spiders ^ 



Leeuwenhoek is at his best when occupied with a 

 small animal" of complex structure. To work out the 

 whole anatomy and trace the whole life-history was too 

 much for his patience, but he may be counted upon for 

 good or fair figures (not drawn by his own hand), 

 ingenious experiments, and bold interpretations, which 



iPM. Trans., No. 40 (1671). "^ Phil. Trans., No. 87 (1672). 



^Bihlia Natwm, p. 420. *i'M. Trans., No. 176 (1685). 



6 Hist. Nat. de la OochineUe, juatijiie par des docwmens authentiques. Amst. 

 1729. 



^Epist. 138, 143, i?p. Soc. R. (1701-2). Vol. Ill, pp. 312-345, 375-9. 



o 



