Whe rte Ss iO Ry 
one female is larger than another. The egg is 
of an oblong round figure, and of a white co- 
lour, and has a thin, tender, membranaceous, 
flexible and foft coat or fhell; it contracts very 
~eafily with air, and corrugates or wrinkles up 
when the moifture evaporates; the fame thing 
happens in Hens eggs when they have not the 
hard or outer fhell. It is difficult to fay in 
what fpace of time thefe eggs ought to be 
hatched by the mere force of the fun and heat; 
but about the end of Auguft we always find 
the young Worms or Vermicles, fig. 1v. which 
have come from thefe eggs. If one of thefe 
little eggs be dexteroufly opened with a {mall 
pair of {ciffors, a tenaceous and whitith moifture 
flows from it. ‘The firft, and indeed a very 
rare, change that I obferved in thefe eggs, ex- 
hibited two perfpicuous ruddy points, which 
were tranfparent through the coat of the egg, 
and were likewife furrounded on each fide; 
with fome other fpots of the fame kind. I 
obferved indeed afterwards, that the two for- 
mer were the teeth of the Worm yet enclofed 
in the egg; and that the lateral points were the 
apertures of the pulmonary pipes. It is ex- 
tremely worthy of regard how hard the teeth 
-of this Worm are, even in the egg; fo that 
this infect, whofe teeth attain their perfection 
before all the other parts, is able as foon as it 
comes to the light to feed itfelf, and by gnaw- 
ing and devouring the wood wherein it is placed 
to nourifh itfelf. The manner in which this 
Worm is difpofed within the fhell of the egg, 
likewife deferves great confideration; it hes 
there folded up, fo that its fundament is be- 
tween its teeth, and the latter reft on the for- 
mer. The body being thus folded up, the legs 
are very curioufly difpofed on each fide at the 
verge of the belly, and one may fee that their 
claws infenfibly acquire a colour, and become 
ftronger through the coat of the egg. The 
Worm itfelf, in due time, breaks open the 
fhell of its egg in the fame manner as a chicken, 
_and creeps therefrom to the next piece of wood 
or other fubftance. The Worm*, when thus 
freth excluded, fig. 1v. is very white; it has fix 
legs, and a corrugated or wrinkled body co- 
vered on all parts with hair; but its head is 
then bigger than its whole body, which is a 
very wonderful thing, and indeed holds like- 
wife in other creatures in fome degree, not ex- 
cepting even the human fpecies. As the head 
of this Worm is horny or bony and extremely 
hard, the all wife-Creator therefore forms it 
firft, left the other fofter and more humid parts, 
which therefore increafe fafter than the bone, 
fhould precede it in growth; and thus has con- 
trived that all the parts fhould attain their de- 
terminate fize and due form at the fame time; 
and therefore the moft wife providence of God 
here again becomes obvious to our fenfes. The 
ot Ke NeS nb G vss, 133 
colour of the head becomes by degrees yellow= 
ifh, and after this fomewhat red, until it is at 
length changed into a brownifh red. This 
Vermicle or Worm has two teeth or jaws, the 
tops of which are likewife cut and divided into 
{maller teeth. Thefe teeth deferve particular 
confideration, becaufe they ate fo large and 
ftrong, that one may certainly very properly 
call them jaws. ‘They may however be much 
more diftin@ly feen in the Vermicle or Worm, 
whilft it is ftill white and lies in its ege, than 
when it has been for fome time out of the fhell 
and is grown bigger. 
If one views thefe eggs from time to time 
with great care, whilft the Worm ftill lies in 
them, the heart beating on the back prefents 
itfelf to view. If the fame eggs be then open- 
ed, they exhibit, befides the outmoft coat or 
fhell, on the inner part, fome other fibrous and 
membranaceous little parts, and two very fin- 
gular ones on each fide, fituated where the legs 
are placed, towards which are detached a great 
many white little fbres. Thefe little parts are 
dike thofe umbilici or marks at which Peafe 
and Beansare fixed to the pods. But this fimi- ~ 
larity does not hold in refpect to the office of 
nutrition, fince there is no {uch thing in eggs, 
for they carry their nourifhment enclofed within 
them. 
Among all the eggs of infeéts, of which I 
have various f{pecies in my collection, I know 
none worthy of greater attention than thofe of 
Earth-Worms, for thefe infects have a red blood 
in their vefiels, which, whilft the Worm ftill 
lies in its egg, may be obferved to move, and 
is wonderfully carried about in the heart itfelf. 
This is the reafon why I take the prefent 
occafion to mention this fingular phenomenon ; 
though the egg of the Earth-Worm is not 
larger than that of the Rhinoceros-Beetle, yet 
the former creeps out of it in form of a Ser- 
pent, and is many times as long as it appeared 
to be in the egg. I faw two fpecies of thefe 
eggs, of different fizes, and of an oblong round- 
ifh figure, uniting on each fide in a prominent 
point, and therefore one would be inclined to 
fay that this microcofm or little world had 
two poles, and that one may hope to difcover , 
a great many wonders therein. They are of 
a pale yellow colour, and have a tinge of green. 
In the {pring thefe eggs are found difperfed here 
and there in theearth. In order to hatch them 
properly, I put them into a dith, and covered 
them with white paper which I always kept 
wet. If any perfon does this carefully in his 
chamber every day, he may veryeatily difcover 
thefe wonders. In the fame manner I have 
alfo hatched the eggs of Snails. I have like- 
wile two eggs as big as thofe of the nofe-horned 
Beetle, but covered with a perfectly hard fhell- 
like a Hen’s egg, which is indeed very rare. 
* To the Beetle kind we are to look for that deftruétive infeét mentioned in the {cripture by the name of Kankerworm, and 
coupled with the Locuft for its devouring nature. The common mealy Beetle which flies in the evenings about hedges, and 
which children play with, calling it the Miller Cockchaffer or Dor, is common to the Eaft as well as Europe, and is probably in 
its Worm ftate the creature meant in thofe paflages, The Worm hatched from the egg of this Beetle lives under the furface 
of the earth, and feeds upon the roots of corn. A few years fince it almoft created-a famine in fome parts of England. 
M m Whoever 
