The Ey Br SUT Os RY 
which they fuck the honey of the flower; and 
this being exhaufted, they fo quickly draw 
back this furprifing organ, and fo artfully coil 
it up between the little forked parts which are 
placed under their eyes, that it entirely difap- 
pears, fo that to find it out, one muft be well 
accuftomed to the ftudy of thefe creatures. 
This infect being fcarce, I have given the fi- 
gures of it, as it appears in the ref{peCtive ftages 
of its exiftence as Worm, Tab. XXIX. fig. 1. 
Chryfalis, fig, 1. and Butterfly, fig. ru. 
As the manner of feeding of this Butterfly 
is very fingular, I fhall add another obfervation 
of the’fame kind, in regard to the manner of 
feeding of a certain aquatic infect that always 
lives under water. This infect is, properly 
{peaking, no other than a peculiar kind of wa- 
ter Worm, confifting of thirteen rings, the head 
and tail included. The head is very large in 
_ proportion to the creature’s fize. It has fix 
hairy legs, fig. 1v. aa, befides two {pots or 
{mall parts covered with hair likewife 4, which 
terminate the tail, and are ufed by the creature 
when it fwims as a rudder to govern its mo- 
tions. ‘The infect by means of this tail, can 
alfo at pleafure fufpend itfelf on or near the fur- 
face of the water; when it erects its tail above 
the furface, the water flows from it on every 
fide, and thus is this fufpenfion formed. This 
infect has befides in its head two very remark- 
able teeth, or more properly jawscc, which 
are large, fharp, crooked, and very ftrong, 
and it is perhaps able to contain the mufcles 
fach teeth or jaws require, that nature has made 
the head fo large. This Worm has fix eyes dd 
on each fide of the head. I have here repre- 
fented eight of them. There are befides fix arti- 
culated briftles belonging toit, of whichfour ee ee 
lie underneath and between the teeth, and the 
two others under the head ff; but fome may 
imagine that thefe laft fhould be called horns. 
This is a cruftaceous creature like a Shrimp. 
On each fide of the body are fix holes for ref- 
piration g in the rings of the abdomen, with two 
more for the fame purpofe under the body near 
the fore legs. This Worm is reprefented in 
the moft curious figures of Hoefnagel, that 
were engraved after his minute and moft accu- 
rate defigns, part firft, page 1. Mouffet alfo 
defcribes it in the 37th chapter of his theatre 
of infects, and gives in fome fort a drawing 
of it. This infect lives entirely on other little 
creatures that inhabit the fame element, in par- 
ticular on the Scrophula and {mall freth water 
fhell fifh. When about to eat, he f{eizes with 
the two teeth we have mentioned the little 
creatures that come in his way, and pierces their 
body, with its fharp and crooked points, which 
_ being perforated from the point to the root, he 
in a furprifing manner fucks through them into 
his mouth the blood of the unfortunate captive. 
This may be eafily feen, efpecially when the 
blood of his prey is of a red colour, as the 
teeth are tranfparent. I threw to this Worm 
a bit of a Coffus, at the fame time carefully 
obferving with a microfcope how he devoured 
of (INS EG s. 143 
it: together with the blood, there afcended 
fome air in fmall bubbles through the cavities 
in his teeth. The fight of this creature in the 
water is very acute, for which purpofe nature 
has fupplied it, as I already mentioned, with 
twelve black eyes, which are placed at fome 
diftance from one another, but thefe eyes, like 
the eyes of other infects, have no motion, and 
therefore are placed in a different manner from 
thofe of Crabs, Crawfifh and Shrimps, which 
are moveable. When therefore this. Worm 
perceives any thing that it likes, it immediately 
darts at the object through the water, feizes it, 
and pierces it with its {harp pointed teeth. In this 
manner we may procure ourfelves a very enter- 
taining and furprifing fight, by throwing to it 
a {mall Earthworm; for let this laft move, 
twine, and otherwife beftir itfelf ever fo much, 
the other keeps his hold, and very calmly fucks 
the blood of his prifoner. ‘The inteftines of 
this Worm differ extremely from thofe of land 
infects ; its windpipe has fewer ramifications, 
though thefe at the fame are more large and 
{pacious, ‘They are likewife more membrana- 
ceous, of a lefS firm texture, and not of quite 
fo deep a colour. The heart is fituated near 
the back, and the fpinal marrow in the lower 
part of the body. This laft confifts of glo- 
bules as in the Silkworm, but thefe lie fo clofe 
to each other that they form a conne¢ted body 
of marrow, more like that of the Coffus than 
a Silkworm. In the part where the nerves 
unite with thefe globules, the fpinal marrow 
itfelf looks like a bracelet compofed of coral 
beads {trung upon two threads. The remain- 
ing parts are the ftomach and the inteftines, 
which are partly of a white and partly of a 
bluifh gray colour, the fame with their con- 
tents, from which indeed they receive it. The 
Vafa Crocea, or yellow veffels, as they are ufu- 
ally called from their colour, are in this infe@ 
purple, or otherwife, they are thick fet with 
purple fpots, but they look whitith at bottom, 
which affords a very agreeable fight. 
On examining with a microfcope the 
teeth of this Worm, they appear very fharp 
pointed, Tab. XXIX. fig. v. a, and a little 
bent towards the point. ‘There was likewife a 
kind of future 4 in that part where I cut out 
one of them, formed by a fharp protuberance 
in the middle of the upper fegment, with a 
fuitable cavity in the middle of the lower to 
receive it, the edges about both being fmooth 
and even¢. ‘The aperture by which this infect 
fucks the blood of its prey, lies on the furface 
of the tooth near the point d, and refembles an 
oblong flit, with black edges covered with very 
fine hairs. It is extremely probable that fome 
peculiar fpecies of the Water Beetle proceeds 
from this Worm, when having remain- 
ed in the water a fufficient time, it be- 
takes itfelf to the land to undergo its mutation; 
but this is mere conjeture. The horfe Fly 
has another method of feeding itfelf, being 
furnifhed, as I have elfewhere remarked, with 
a fting as well as a trunk or probofcis, As to 
the 
