304 EVENINGS AT THE MICEOSCOPE. 



"The feet are divided into two very distinct 

 branclies, the lower of which is largo, conical, of a 

 yellowish-brown hue, and much shagreened on the sur- 

 face. The upper branch is much less salient than the 

 lower. We observe at the foot of the dorsal shields 

 two bundles of rigid bristles : the one, expanded like a 

 fan and applied upon the shields, is fixed immediately 

 outside the insertion of those organs ; the bristles which 

 compose it are awl-shaped, without teeth, slightly 

 curved, and directed inwards and backwards ; their 

 colour is a clear brown, with golden reflections. The 

 second bundle is inserted more externally, on a tuber- 

 culous footstalk, and points horizontally backwards 

 and outwards. The bristles which enter into its com- 

 position are very long, very strong, and terminated by 

 a lance-shaped point, of which the edges are garnished 

 with teeth curved backwards towards the base. These 

 are veritable barbed arrows, having the extremities 

 sometimes exposed, but often concealed in a sheath 

 which is formed of two horny pieces, capable of open- 

 ing and of closing again upon them. 



" The use of these two valves it is not difficult to 

 detect. They protect the points of the arrow, and per- 

 mit the Aphrodite to receive them again into its body 

 unharmed ; whereas, without this precaution, the tis- 

 sues which they traverse would be cut and mangled. 

 But when these weapons are deeply plunged into a 

 foreign body, as into the soft flesh of those animals 

 which annoy the Worm, since the sheath does not pene- 

 trate with them but folds back, it follows that their 

 teeth are inserted without any protection, and that on 

 account of their backward direction they can be with- 

 drawn only with great difficulty ; thus, in most cases. 



