INTRODUCTION. xlix 
" emits no cry, nor fliews any fymptom of 
" pain. Children of a cruel difpofition amufe 
" themfelves with thruiling long ftraws into 
" the anus of thefe infeds ; and, thus im- 
" paied, they fly into the air, or walk and per- 
form their ufual movements, without feem- 
ing to be in the lead affeded by it. Reau- 
mur, one day, cut off the flefhy and muf- 
" cular horn of a large caterpillar, which con- 
tinned to feed as if nothing had happened 
" to it." 
I have fometimes attempted to drown in 
L 
fpirit of wine certain kinds of infefts. The 
mod robuft carnivorous kind would have 
been ftifled by it in lefs than two minutes ; 
whereas thefe infeds were often alive after aa 
immerfion of twenty-four hours. It is well 
known that Dr. Franklin recovered flies w^hich 
he found in fome bottles of v/ine that had been 
fent to him from Madeira, and which lie had 
kept in his cellar for upwards of fix months. 
Thefe 
