The ERIS (TO RW EN OMcors 
pands itfelf like glue, and at length it be- 
comes clearer by the addition of the imbibed 
water. ij Saas 
When I placed this little Snail under the mi- 
crofcope d, I faw its eyes very black like pitch, 
fig. x11. aa, but the reft of its body was colour- 
lefs, or for the moft part white ; the horns 4 
are fomewhat blunt, the mouth c is open, all 
the reft of the body d is ftretched out of the 
fhell ; I found the operculum or cover ¢ an- 
nexed to the hinder, part of its tail, but the 
fhell # was adorned with the like elegant ap- 
paratus and hair as] have reprefented in the 
tenth Tugs. a}! ee 
From hence, therefore, it is very evident 
in what manner this Snail, together with its 
fhell or ftony cover, is likewife by degrees in- 
creafed, augmented, and become larger in the 
uterus. This obfervation is indeed of {uch im-+ 
portance, that no body can defire any more 
worthy of notice. Whoever reads thefe things 
mutt be obliged to confefs, that the power of 
the Almighty cannot be known, by clearer and 
more convincing proofs, in any part of his 
works, than in thofe minute animalcules, 
wherein that great Architect has inclofed and 
hidden fo many wonderful parts, and fhewn 
fuch exquifite art, that exceeds all human in- 
duftry ; fo that one may employ his whole life 
in the diffection of the {malleft of all animals. 
For this reafon I look upon the whole of my 
defcription to be like a delineation of the fun, 
defaced with coarfe materials; and therefore 
it is no wonder that the wife men of the 
heathens, when they had feen fome miracles 
concerning the nature of women, cried out, 
«« O! Being of beings, have mercy on me.” 
I have not accurately inveftigated. the re- 
maining parts of the Snail, becaufe I only 
diflected two pretty large ones, and a fmaller 
one of this fpecies, and becaufe it happened 
only by chance, that I began this wonderful 
difletion, which deferves more than any other 
to be completely perfected; great numbers of 
thefe Snails may be found at any time. I 
fhall for the prefent briefly relate what more 
I faw of them. — , 
_ Ihave obferved that this Snail has no teeth, 
but inftead thereof it has a probofcis, trunk, 
or little tongue, by the help of which it feems 
to take its food in as by fuction, as is the cafe 
in butterflies, and fome kind of beetles, This 
little tongue is fo elegantly formed, that it can 
{carce be exactly deferibed, and as difficultly 
be reprefented in a figure ; in the forepart it 
is of a bright or pellucid red colour, furround- 
ed on each fide with many {mall parts, like 
the branchiz or gills of fifh, or like a comb 
with a double row of teeth. Thefe little parts 
grow paler towards the hinder fide, and are of 
a horny fubftance, fuch as the little tongue 
-has in its divifions. 
The gullet is like a {mall filament. I have 
not diftinctly feen the ftomach, becaufe I had 
broken fome of the parts, but the part I took 
75 
for the flomach was likea membranous little 
inteftine. 
_ The ovaty is in every refpect like that of 
hens; only that its eggs are not fo large: I 
took thefe eggs in the beginning for a con- 
geries ot heap..of chryftalline globules; but 
when I had dried them upon glafs they con- 
tracted; which is not a property of the chryf 
talline granules of this little animal; I found 
them alfo foft in handling and biting them. 
Ihave nothing to fay with certainty of the 
penis, though I faw fomething like one. 
The liver confitts of diftiné vifible glandules, 
fomewhat like pears, and I confefs thatthe glan- 
dules of the liver never appeared plainer to me 
in any animal. As to the other parts of the ab- 
domen, I have not yet either feen or examined 
them. The brain and nerves are conftruéted in 
a very different manner froin thofe of all other 
Snails that I have hitherto fearched into : 
neither have I inveftigated the eyes, fince, 
with refpect to thefe, this little animal agrees 
in fome meafure with cruftaceous animals, as 
Crabs and Lobfters: hence I thought I fhould 
_have found fomething in it, like the eyes of 
the Hermit Crab, which I obferved to be like 
thofe of Bees. The cornea tunica of the eye 
was in this alfo divided into little {quares. 
I have not been able yet to difcover how 
this ege comes out of the ovary into the ute- 
rus, for the bottom of the latter feems to be 
fhut up; but whether there be a tube in it 
there; as in Frogs and Tortoifes, I am hitherto 
ignorant ; I am atas great a lofs to know what 
time the ege afterwards remains in the uterus, 
before the little creature is difclofed from thence 
as a perfect Snail. If we confider the remark~ 
able fize of the fhell, we may reafonably con= 
clude that the egg lies there a long time. 
Hence I fhould think that fuch fmall Snails 
and eggs may be found in the uterus at any 
time of the year. As to the Snails themfelves, 
Inow know how to get a great number of 
them, nor will it be difficult to exhibit their 
foetus. 
Who can explain after what manner this 
ege is fecundated? or how life and motion 
are communicated to all its parts? fo that, 
like a clock, having beén produced with all 
its wheels or limbs by its parent only, and 
having life and motion from the male {perm, 
it continues ftrong and vigorous, until its little 
chain be unwound: fo we may term the death 
of all thofe who have life and breath. ‘Thefe 
things are known only to that moft fagacious 
Being, who has numbered and meafured the 
chryftalline globules, the hairs of the thell, 
and all the parts of this little creature’s body, 
nay of all animals, and who has given life and 
motion to every thing. | 
On the twelfth of March, in the next year 
after I began thefe obfervations on the vivipa- 
rous Snail, I collected a great number of this 
kind, which I put into a large bafon full of 
rain water, and fed for a long time by the 
help 
