I44 Tie 7B OrORK Rofl 
the Gad Fly and its Worm, I fhall hereafter 
treat of it by itfelf, under the fourth order or 
clafs to which it belongs; but I cannot help 
remarking in this place, that the Worm from 
which it comes breathes by itsanus, and carries 
its legs in its mouth near the jaws ; thus ferving 
to prove that the Almighty can form veflels of 
Ciao! «Rates. am 
Na aUoOR Es “or, 
every kind like the potter, fome for more, and 
others for lefs honourable purpofes, but all to 
his own glory; fo that there is nota creature, 
however contemptible in appearance, which 
does not clearly point out the exiftence, and 
loudly fing forth and extol the adorable per- 
fections of a fupreme Being. 
V. 
in what manner the Nymph is filled with a fuperfluous moiflure, which after- 
wards evaporates. 
The anatomy of the Nymph. How, on cafting off its fain, 
it becomes a Beetle, with fome wonderful difcoveries in natural bhiffory. 
AVING {hewn in the foregoing chap- 
ter what the Nymph is, and by what 
means the Worm puts on this elegant form, 
to prepare itfelf as a bride for its enfuing nup- 
tials, and for the act of generation; I fhall 
now treat of thofe changes, by means of which 
the Nymph attains this prefent ftate, and at 
the fame time give a diffection of fome of its 
internal parts; for thus the reader will more 
eafily underftand how this Nymph grows at 
jaft to a Beetle, and being arrived, as fuch, to 
a ftate of maturity and perfection, propagates 
its {pecies. 
The firft thing to be confidered on this oc- 
cafion, is that peculiar motion of the blood and 
humours, which expand the parts of the 
Nymph, and make it weigh at firft, a little 
after its change, a great deal more than it does 
even afterwards in the Beetle ftate. This fin- 
gularity is likewife remarkable in the Nymphs 
of Bees and Hornets. The Nymph of the 
Hornet in particular weighs ten times as much 
as the Hornet itfelf. ‘This makes me confider 
the Nymph under thefe circumftances as a 
dropfical perfon, who, by having his limbs 
- {welled with fuperabundant humours, lofes the 
power of thofe mufcles by which they were 
to be put in motion, and thus remains inactive 
till the fuperfluous moifture is fome way or 
another diffipated. Nor is it the limbs alone 
that are thus fwelled in the Nymph; all the 
mufcles themfelves partake of the change, and 
even the very bone into which they are inferted. 
This, which was before of a horny fubftance, 
lofes its folidity, and by becoming membrana- 
ceous and foft, and in a manner fluid like wa- 
ter, isno longer capable of being acted upon 
by them, and continues in this condition, till 
the fuperfluous humours are evaporated in a 
certain {pace of time, which is abfolutely ne- 
ceflary for that purpofe. We may perceive by 
a continued obfervation, that the external skin 
cf the Nymph is at firft extremely delicate, 
that it hardens, as it dries, by degrees, and that 
its colour grows more and more yellow, till it 
‘changes at length to a deep red, after that to a 
deep brown, and at laft toa light red. But 
all thefe appearances are owing to the growth 
a 
of the internal parts, in order to form the fu+ 
ture Beetles, as they fhew themfelves through 
a tranfparent skin that covers them. 
When this Nymph has paffed fome days in 
fweating off the fuperfluous moifture, with 
which it is loaded, a little articulated whitifh 
line appears like a flender thread through the 
tranfparent skin, with which the legs are co- 
vered, which is no other than the firft rudi- 
ment of that horny or bony fubftance, which 
begins to harden, and is in time to conftitute 
the legs of the creature. On {tripping off this 
skin, and attentively examining the folid or 
horny part it contains, the latter appears to 
float in a limpid fluid, which furrounds it on 
every fide, and is at this time fo very tender 
that it is eafily injured, and will fall off on the 
flighteft motion. But what feems chiefly to - 
claim our wonder is, that the Worm which 
grows from the nofe of the male Beetle of this 
{pecies, fhould be fo very hard at its perfect 
growth, as, according to Mouffet, page 153, to 
bear being fharpened on a grinding-ftone ; 
whereas the fame organ, while the infect is in a 
Nymph ftate, is altogether foft, and more like 
a fluid than a folid fubftance. 
On diffeGting fome of thefe Nymphs after 
they had been in that ftatea little time, I found 
the horn of the nofe filled with a kind of jelly, 
and this matter broke out at the wound made 
to examine it, every time the creature breathed, 
in the fame manner as the blood of a man’s 
body does when the fide of the thorax is 
wounded. The eyes were now fomewhat 
firmer, but neverthelefs they were {till loaded 
with fuperfluous humours. I found between 
the folds of the wings and the cafes that cover~- 
ed them, fome infects of the Loufe kind, 
which I have likewife often obférved fticking 
to the body of the Coflus and to the Beetle 
itfelf ; for there is perhaps no fpecies of ani~- 
mals which is not troubled with this kind of 
vermin, though thofe of one animal differ in 
fhape from thofe of another. Such part of the 
wings as had no cafe to cover them, had, to 
make up for that deficiency, a much thicker 
skin to defend them, than the parts which 
were thus fheathed. On pulling the legs from 
the 
