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can live for Months together without any vifiblc 
Suflenance, is a Fact generally allowed to be true j 
the Caufe of it too has been attributed to an exceed- 
ing flow Digeftion, Circulation, and Diftribution of 
Nourifiimenr, in thofe Creatures ,* but as their Agility 
ieems to imply a brisk Motion of their animal Spirit Sy 
I am inclined to think the Circulation of their other 
Fluid* cannot be fo fluggifli as commonly is fuppofed : 
And, perhaps, it may not be unreafonable to believe, 
that their being able to live fo long without vifible 
Food, is rather owing to fome other Nourifliment 
they receive from the Air, which fupplies the want 
of more fubftantial Diet. 
I have met with no Inftance I could give Credit to, 
of any Creature’s living without Food for fo long 
a time as the Beetle I have been mentioning ; and yet 
I doubt not, (though it may have been kept alive by 
Air only) but that, in its natural State, it eats more 
folid Food j after fomewhat the fame manner as 
the Plants before-named thrive beft when fet in a 
little Earth, notwithftanding they may flourilh a long 
while, and fend forth Branches and Flowers, when 
they are fufpended in the Air, and receive no Nourifli- 
ment but from the Humidity or fome other Qualities 
thereof. 
We have not, indeed, as yet, many Inftances of 
this Sort in Animals 5 nor is it probable any of the 
larger Kinds can live long without Supplies of Food : 
But there may be feveral Infefts capable of fubfifting 
on minute Particles carried about every-where with 
the Air, though, for want of fufficient Experiments, 
we arc not acquainted with them. 
Its 
