L I O 



L I O 



mon way, and feizes its prey, without having recourfe to 

 fuch ilratagems. 



The body of the lion-puceron is longer than that of the 

 formica leo, and is flat ; the breaft is the thickeft and 

 broadeft part of it, and from this it gradually tapers off to a 

 point at the tail ; it has two legs fixed to the breaft, the 

 other four to the anterior rings of the body ; and when it 

 moves, the pofterior end of the body ferves it in the place 

 of a feventh leg, for it always bends ic downward, and draws 

 it along the furface it walks upon. The back of this crea- 

 ture is not fmooth or gloffy, bat is every where rough, and 

 full, of wrinkles, -and feems as if every ring of it was com- 

 pofed of feveral other fmaller rings. 



This is the general defcription of the creature, treating 

 of h in the general way, thefe characters fiiiting all the kinds 

 of it. There are others, however, by which the u holt clafa 

 may be divided into three principal kinds. 



Thefe are much more voracious dtvourers of the pucerons, 

 than the worms which feed on them. A (mail puceroii, 

 feized by one of them, is eaten in an inftant, and the very 

 largeft is not the work of half a minute for them. 



Thefe creatures are very fmali when tirft produced from 

 the egg, and yet they immediately begin to feed. They are 

 fo ravenous of food alio, that whenever they can they catch 

 and eat one another. But as the pucerons, among which 

 they hve, are eafier to be caught, they ufually efcape one 

 another's fury pretty well ; unlefs where there is a fcarcity 

 of the pucerons, or when they offend one another. 



It is eafy to conceive that a creature, which feeds fo v:ry 

 faft, mull foon arrive at its full growth ; and this is the cafe 

 wth thefe animals, for within five or fix days of their being 

 hatched from tlie egg, they are ready for their final tranl- 

 formation, or the putting on the form of the animals to 

 whofe eggs they owed their origui. In order to this, the 

 creature leaves the place where he has hitherto fed, and feeks 

 the folds of a leaf, or fome other fuch convenient receptacle, 

 where it fpins a web of very fine filk, every way furrounding 

 its body wiih it, and under this cover pafTes the ftale of a. 

 nymph or chryfalis. The filk of this web is not only very 

 ftrong, but the threads are very clofely laid together, fa 

 that it is much firmer than the webs of any of the caterpillar 

 kind. It is of a roundifh figure, and is fomewhat fmaller 

 than a pea. 



This round figure is owing to the form into which they 

 roll up their body, which ferves as a mould for it ; and the 

 orifice, out of which the filky matter is produced, is at the 

 extremity of the polterior part of the boc'y. The creature 

 continues in this (late about three weeks, if it be in the be- 

 ginning of fummer that it goes into it ; but if toward autumn, 

 it remains in it all the following winter ; and is afterwards, 

 in fpring, feen to come out in the form of a very beautiful 

 fly, of a remarkable large fize, in proportion to the creature 

 it is produced from, and the web out of which it comes. It 

 is a very long-bodied one, and much refembles the libella or 

 dragon-fly, only that its wings are larger in proportion to 

 Its body : thefe wings are of a moll delicately fine ilruClurc, 

 the fined gawfe being coarfe and thick in comparifon to 

 them, Tiicfe, when the creature is at reft, are placed in an 

 angle over the body, and form a fort of canopy or tent for 

 it ; but they are fo perfectly tranfparent, that the body is 

 eafily feen through tliem. The body and breaft are all 

 green, and that of a very beautiful tinge ; but the moft re- 

 ni^rkable beauty of this creature is its eyes : thefe are large 

 and prominent, and are of a fine gold colour, and of greater 

 luftre than the moft highly polilhed metal. 



The eggs of this fly are a very Angular objeft, and cannot 

 . have efcaped the eye oi any perfon who is converfant among 



the infeSs which live on trees ; though oF the many who 

 have feen them, perhaps few or none ever found what they 

 really were. It is common to fee oh the leaves and pedicles 

 of the leaves of the plum-tree, and feveral other trees, as 

 alfo on their young branches, a number of long and {lender 

 filaments, running out to about an inch in length, and being 

 of the thicknefs of a hair : ten or twelve of thefe are ufually 

 feen placed near one another, and a vaft number of thefe 

 cli'fters are often found on the fame tree. The end of each, 

 of thefe filaments is terminated by a fort of fwelling or tu- 

 bercle of the ftiape of an egg. People who have obferved 

 thefe, have generally fuppoled them to be of vegetable ori- 

 gin, and that they were a fort of paralitica! plants, growing 

 out of others, as the midetoe, mofles, &.c. from the oak 

 and other trees. They very much refemble in figure thoie 

 fwecies of mouldinefs, which Malpighi and others have 

 figured under the fhape of little muflirooms, only they are 

 much larger than thofe little plants, and bear the heat of 

 the fun and other accident.: uninjured, which would deftroy 

 the tender plants of that kind. There is a time, when thefe^ 

 egg -like balls, which terminate every one of thefe filaments 

 are found open at their ends, and m this ftate they very muc!a. 

 refemble flowers, and they are in this ftate figui-ed by fonit 

 authoi"s under the name of flowers of a finffular kind, founii 

 on the leaves of the willow. All this, however, is wliolly er- 

 roneous, and the purfuing the hiftory of our lion-pucerone 

 fliews their true origin to be from the fly of that creature. 

 What thele authors took for flowers of the willow were only 

 the eggs of this fly, out of which the young animals hai 

 been hatched, and had made their efcape. The leaves a: J 

 branched, on which thefe eggs are found, are ufually feen 

 covered over with the pucerons ; and the creature providifij' 

 a place where her young ihall find nourilhment as foon a» 

 hatched, places her eggs in the niidll of thefe harmlefs and 

 defencelels animals, fixing each on a llender pedicle, yet fuf- 

 ficiently ftrong to bear its weight. If thefe eggs be nicely 

 examined, a worm may be difcovered in them while jet 

 whole ; but the moft certain way of judging of the -a is, to 

 put feveral of them into a box, in which cafe every one of 

 them is found at a proper time to hatch, and to give an in- 

 fect ; which, when viewed by the niicrolcope, appears 

 plainly to be a hon-puceron in all its parts, and requiring 

 only increafe in fize, without any change of (hape, to be 

 one of thofe we have already dcfcribed, as feeding fo vo- 

 racioufly on the pucerons. Reaumur's Hift. Inf. yd), vi. 

 p. I4i. 



Lio.v, yfni, in Zoology. See Formicv. Leo. 



Liox's Foat, Candiii, in Botany. See CatanANCHE. 



Lion's Leaf. See Leontice. 



Lion's Tail. See Leonurus. 



Lion's Cove, in Geography, a fmall bay in the ftraits of 

 Magellan, furrounded by rocks. The water is deep, the 

 ground is good, and water may be obtained, but no wood. 

 The only refreftiments which this bay afiords are limpets, 

 mufcles, rock fiih, and celery. S. lat. jj- 26. W. long. 



74 -5'- 



Lion Mountain, a mountain of Africa, near the Cape of 

 Good Hope, deriving its name trom a fuppoled rcleinblance 

 to the lion. It confilts of the Lion's head, which is a bare 

 rock 2160 feet high ; and the Lion's tail or rump, which is 

 alfo rocky, but covered with a flight ftratum uf earth, 1143 

 feet high. This earth yields an inferior kind of grafs, 10 

 which every one's cattle has accefs. Upon both thefe i.im- 

 mits are erected enfign ftafl^s, upoa which fignal flags are 

 hoilled as foon as any (hips are perceived at fca. Thefe 

 fignals, whilft the Cape remained in poiTeiTion of the Dutch, 

 were changed every mouth ; and advices were fer.t two years 

 R 2 bcfcre 



