"The 
Fic. VI. 
‘The fame Vermicle or Worm is here again 
exhibited, and all its members are diftinguifhed 
by letters annexed: hence it is indeed very evi- 
dent that the Nymphis the real infect, but ftill 
deftitute of motion in its limbs. ‘This it en- 
joys, when it acquires the perfect form of the 
infect which it now reprefents. . 
aa, The two eyes in the head. 
"eb, (bite tectne os 
cc, The horns, which are folded near the 
legs upon the breait. : 
dd, The firft pair of legs folded under the 
horns. 
eé, The fecond pair, confpicuous under the 
firft. 
Sf, The third pair, which are laid on the 
belly. , 
It is likewife feen in what manner, all the 
ftrong joints of thefe fix legs are laid on the 
breaft between the horns. 
g, The annuli or rings of the abdomen, to- 
gether with the margin or border on each fide. 
But this is more manifeft in the fourth figure, 
wherein that margin or verge, as well as the 
little {wellings of the loins, are more diftinétly 
exhibited, and at the fame time it is feen how 
the body ‘is all folded up and bent. ‘ 
‘ 
The creature in this form is, as I have ob- 
ferved before, the real Nymph of the third or- 
der, according to the firft {pecies or method of 
transformation, which clearly and diftin@lly ex- 
hibits all its parts and limbs without exception, 
fo that all thofe parts may be feen in it, which 
are afterwards found in the common labouring 
Ant, whofe Nymph it now properly is. This 
Nymph is ‘therefore the Ant, and the Ant is a 
Nymph, but the Ant hitherto lies as it were 
hid under a peculiar difpofition of its limbs; 
and this is the principal difference. 
When this Vermicle or little creature catt its 
skin for the laft time, then all its limbs and 
parts are very white like curdled milk, and are 
fluid as water; fo that under this form, it ought 
to be confidered as if it lay yet in its egg, 
fince it is there difpofed in the very fame man- 
ner, and is as properly a Nymph. ‘The only 
difference is, that in the egg its limbs, though 
certainly exiftent, are not vifible ; though. on 
the contrary they manifeftly appear, when it is 
a fecond time reduced to this condition, {0 like 
that of an egg. Hence this little creature is 
twice, as it were, a foetus, twice in its egg-ftate, 
and twice hatched or born. But the life it leads 
is not in all its circumftances the fame; it differs 
indeed very much, for it appears in the firft 
ftate like a poor and miferable Worm ; but 
the fecond time, which is in fome meafure its 
renewal and regeneration, it is formed into a 
perfect creature. This procefs is formed in fo 
remarkable a manner in Butterflies, that we 
fee therein the refurreCtion painted before 
oureyes, and exemplified fo as to be examin- 
Feat SP Or REY, 
yet caft off, For in reality the egg, 
Of DENS Sh Ee Cay S. 127 
ed by our hands ; hence the Italian poet faid 
moft truly, 
Non v’accorgete voi, che noi fiam vermi, 
Nati a formar l’angelica Farfalla. 
That is; 
Doft thou not know we Worms are born, 
Angelic Butterflies to form ? 
We muft further obferve, that the writers 
of natural hiftory ancient and modern, Ariftotle,. 
Mouffet, Harvey and others, who have called 
this change in the Aurelia an egg, have not 
wandered entirely out of the path ofreafon, pro= 
vided their words be taken in the fenfe now 
mentioned. I would however have it obferved, 
that they mutt be faid to have really deviated 
» from the truth, in that they have not annexed 
the fignification mentioned in this place to their 
Aurelian egg, but have propofed it as a real 
and fimple egg, without any refpect to the 
effential parts. This cannot totally be over- 
looked by thofe, who labour cautioufly to in« 
veftigate the natural changes in the infect tribe. 
The head, the breaft, the belly, and the reft 
of the parts of this infect are invefted with a 
thin kind of membrane, and are fo very clofely 
furrounded by it on every fide, that even the 
extremity of the eyes, horns, teeth, and legs, 
are enclofed in it, together with the reft. How- 
ever thefe lie in a loofe manner over each other, 
nor are they united or connected to one another 
by an uniform cutaneous cruft, as is the cafe 
in a particular manner in Butterflies. The 
membrane, which enclofes the parts of the 
Nymph of the Ant is not every where of equal 
ithicknefs, indeed leaft of all where the limbs 
are clofe or applied to the body near the breaft; 
but where they are not fo clofely laid together, 
as in the extremities of the legsand horns, there 
the invefting membrane is equally thick in all 
its parts. This is very feldom obferved in the 
Aurelia, nor have I ever feen more than one 
example thereof in the Chryfalis of the fwift 
Butterfly, the trunk of which is in part diftant 
from the body ; for there the invefting mem- 
brane is obferved to be every where equally thick, 
as may be feen among the figures of the Rhi- 
noceros Beetles, in Tab. XXIX. But this is un- 
common in Chryfallides, though it is conftantly 
the cafein Nymphs. 
Paffing thefe confiderations over, it is ma- 
nifeftly evident from hence, that between 
the limbs, which are feen and reprefented in 
the Ant’s Nymph, and thofe which appear 
in the Ant itfelf, there is no other difference, 
than that the appearance of the parts is fome- 
what more evident and plain in the Ant, but 
in the Nymph fomewhat obfcure. We mutt 
obferve that the fame thing holds equally in 
the Ant’s Vermicle or Worm, which hides 
the limbs and parts under the skin that is not 
Worm, 
Nymph 
