128 
Nymph, and Ant, are all but one and the fame 
creature varioufly cloathed, and lying under 
different yet accidental forms. Therefore the 
Ant, that I may exprefs the bufinefs with fufi- 
cient accuracy, is covered or furrounded in the 
beginning, when it is an egg, with an oval or 
{pheroidal skin; and afterwards, when it ap- 
pears under the form of a Vermicle or Worm, 
is covered with an annular and hairy skin; 
and thirdly, when it isa Nymph, and is found 
wrapped up in a divided and articulated veil ; 
until, fourthly, it at length cafts this skin, and 
afterwards retains this its laft form, wherein it 
isa perfect infect, ftript of all its integuments ; 
is {till the fame Ant, in this variety of appear- 
ances: fo that having thus, at certain diftances 
and ftated times, caft off all thefe coverings, 
the creature is perfect, and is never changed 
more. This muft be in the fame manner un- 
derftood of all other Vermicles or Worms 
which have no legs; nay, of thofe alfo which 
have legs, that is, of fuch as fo long and fo often 
change their skin, until at length they no 
longer change their form, but become perfect 
infects, afterwards procreating their fpecies in 
the fame order. 
When this Nymph. cafts its laft skin, many 
remarkable changes are obferved; the eyes are 
altered in the head by a flow accretion, and 
change colour from white to black; the horns, 
the legs, and the reft of the body; are more 
and more difcoloured ; a fuperfluous moifture is 
exhaled from all the parts, the limbs, which 
were till now without ftrength and motion, 
begin to move, and at laft the invefting skin is 
difengaged from all thofe parts; and then, and 
not before, this Nymph is called an Ant. 
Bide vrr 
In this figure the Ant is reprefented under 
that form in which it fhews itfelf when it has 
caft the laft skin. All the obftacles which im- 
peded the fight in examining its parts, are now 
removed, Hence we may fee the Ant no longer 
covered or veiled but in its real form ; nor is it 
after this laft operation, during its whole life, 
further augmented or changed; as it has attained 
its full maturity and the greateft ftrength of life. 
The fame thing likewife is found in the fame 
manner in all other infects fubject to thefe 
changes, for none of them are ever increafed or 
changed, after having caft the laft skin. Hence, 
doubtlefs, the reafon may be affigned, why we 
fee thefe infects never become larger in other 
countries than in our own, unlefs they are of 
a different fngcies; or are fuch as eat fome- 
what more Prontifully, while they are in the 
form of Worms and Caterpillars ; for by this 
means their bodies may become fomething, 
though not much, larger than ufual, as we have 
fhewn elfewhere. 
By the power of infenfible perfpiration, the 
Ant’s skin after all thefe changes is grown very 
hard, and becomes as it were horny, though it 
was fome weeks before the laft transformation, 
The? MOGI 6 N AOUTR w Mor 
tender and fluid like water, fo that the crea- 
ture could not ftir one of its parts with even 
the leaft motion. In, the more conf{picuous, 
that is, in the larger Nymphs belonging to 
larger infects, this change is ftill more confide- 
rable than in the Ant’s Nymph: for their {kin 
which was in the beginning of the change 
likewife very foft and tender, becomes in a 
few days horny and as it were bony, as thall 
be hereafter explained in its proper place in 
the Nymph of the nofe-horn Beetle, which 
likewife belongs to this order. 
It will be now proper that we exhibit in 
figures the limbs and parts of the Ant, in the 
fame manner in the Ant itfelf, as we have 
before fhewed them in its Nymph. To _ this 
purpofe I have allotted this feventh figure, 
wherein I reprefent the common labouring 
Ant, fuch as is ufually found in the gardens 
‘and paftures all over Holland and elfewhere. 
I here delineate the Ant magnified in fuch a 
manner, as it very cautioufly carries the Worm 
or Vermicle in its mouth, or between its two 
teeth, without theleaftdanger of hurting it, Tab. 
XVI. fig.vii.2. Thefe teeth of whichtheAnt has 
only two, are more properly jaws, an upper and a 
lower, which hang crooked or bent onthe outfide 
of the mouth, and have feven ferrated incifions 
or divifions, ferving as fo many particular teeth. 
This may be clearly feen in Tab, XVI. fig. 
x1. at the letter 2. Moreover, the divifions of 
the head, breaft and belly may be diftinguifh- 
ed in this ftate much more accurately than in 
the Nymph. ‘The eyes are very black, Tab. 
XVI. fig. vii. 64, the antenne or horns un- 
der the eyes are of a faint red colour cc, and 
are compofed of twelve horny joints; the frft 
of which, that immediately under the eyes, is 
very long: but all thefe joints are covered or 
furrounded by briftly hairs. It is lkewife 
fhewn very diftinctly here what form and 
ftructure the head and thorax are of, and that 
they are invefted with a horny, ftriated or fur- 
rowed, crooked, and indentedikin. ‘This fkin 
refembles the fibrous joints of the wild pines, 
when they are cleaved or cut, where it is 
knotty. ‘The conftruction of this furrowed 
{kin is feen yet plainer in the Ant exhibited in 
fig. x1. ‘The incifions of the thorax, fig. vi. d, 
are divided into fix fharp-pointed prominences, 
which become more confpicuous backwards 
towards the loins. The loins themfelves con- 
fift of three knotty vertebre or joints e, and 
are every where fet thick with briftly hairs. 
Underneath at the thorax are feen ftrong hairy 
legs ff, each compofed of four joints; the 
lait of which, or that properly called the foot, 
is divided again into fmaller joints, and the 
laft of thefe is armed with two claws. 
The abdomen or belly, the colour whereof 
is fomewhat more red than the reft of the 
body ; this being of a light red, fhines like a 
looking-glafs, and is furrounded with briftly 
hairs g. I call this creature I have been de- 
{cribing the working Ant; nor do I think it is 
pro- 
