42 The BOOK of 
appearance.* Its body is divided into feveral 
rings, which fometimes appear much rounder 
than at others. The colour is of a sky gray, 
approaching a little to brown. It is a miftake 
to think, this Worm proceeds from putrefac- 
tion, as Goedaert, or rather his commentators 
have advanced. It is produced from an egg 
depotited in bog-houfes by a Fly like that, to 
which it is itfelf one day to be changed. I 
have fometimes alfo found thefe Worms crawl- 
ing in vaft numbers, and in a ftrange manner 
amoneft one another, in meadows, in barns, 
and among very moift cow-dung. ‘Thefe in- 
fects are of a very flow growth; fo that they do 
not change till the month of Auguft. I have 
hitherto taken but a very curfory furvey of their 
internal parts; their pulmonary vefiels appear- 
ed to me to be thofe that beft deferved further 
obfervation. 
B. 
When thefe Worms are about to affume 
the appearance of Vermiform Nymphs, as is 
reprefented in the ninth figure, under the let- 
ter B, they remove themfelves out of the excre- 
ments wherein they have hitherto lived, to 
fome dry place, where they draw all their parts 
together. I have even fometimes obferved 
thefe Worms fixed to the walls of country 
cottages, where they had climbed up to twice 
a man’s height, in order quietly to go through 
their mutations. ‘This important bufinefs is 
executed in the following manner. Firft, the 
Worm’s tail is wrinkled up, and contracted by 
drying, and fometimes it curls itfelf up, fome- 
times not; fometimes even it grows quite flat 
by drying, as it hardens to a greater or lefs de- 
gree, or as it has taken up more or lefs time in 
hardening ; then the reft of the body becomes 
wrinkled up, and fo contracted, that its rings 
are in a manner forced together into one. But 
as the skin of this Worm is fomewhat foft, it 
conforms to all the fhapes that the hidden 
Nymph affumes in its progrefs towards the 
Fly-ftate ; and this is the true reafon whythisVer- 
miform-nymph deviatesa little from the appear- 
ance of the former Worm. 1 fay a little, be- 
caufe we may {till perceive in it, the skin of 
the Worm, its tail and legs: but above all, the 
antenne, or horns differ; which in this Vermi- 
form-nymph project more from the head, than 
they did in the Worm itfelf; befides this, 
from being foft and pliable, they become hard 
and {tiff at this time. By dexteroufly opening 
the external {kin at this period, we may ob- 
tain the true Nymph it conceals in fuch great 
forwardnefs towards the Fly-ftate, that it ex- 
hibits diftinG@ly the parts peculiar to that crea- 
ture, the horns or antenne efpecially, which 
are difpofed, as in a cafe, within thofe of the 
former Worm. 
Chg tt, 
When the Nymph we are treating of, has 
thus lain hid for about fixteen or feventeen days 
N A.8 UO RES on 
in the unaltered fkin of its Worm ; it is fuff- 
ciently grown and changed to appear abroad, and 
fo at once forces its way in the form of a per- 
fect and very handfome Fly thro’ the faid {kin, 
and the internal membrane immediately in- 
vefting it; as is common to the infects of this 
fourth order. This Fly is beautifully divided into 
the head, thorax, and abdomen; it has ‘two 
eyes, two little antenne or horns, fix legs, a 
pair of wings, and its body is covered with 
hair. Its back and tail are yellow and red, 
delicately interfperfed with black fpots: it is 
reprefented in the ninth figure, umder the let- 
tenes 
Some authors have fancied, that this infeé& 
dught to. be ranked amoneft Bees, as appears 
in Clutius’s treatife on Bees, where he cautions 
the unexperienced againit fo grofsa mittake. 
However, Dr. J. de Mey, regardlefs of fuch 
notice, falls into this error in his notes upon 
Goedaert, where he prodigioufly magnifies the 
hiftory of this infect as a real Bee. In this he 
gives evident proof of his little acquaintance 
with either the Bee or the Fly-kind. Thus 
the vain temerity of our corrupt nature makes 
us attempt to pafs our judgment upon things 
of which we know nothing ; with a view of 
pafling for perfons of knowledge and wifdom 
upon others as ignorant. 
Pes xe . 
I here reprefent a Worm, that has pierced 
the fkin of a Chryfalis, like that exhibited in 
Tab. XX XVII. N°. V. and has deferted it af- 
terwards in fearch of a more proper place in 
which to perform its changes. 
This Worm is divided by a great many annu- 
lar fe€tions. Its colour is white ; its skin is foft 
and tender. It moves itfelf by the annular con- 
traction and extenfion of its rings, and it conti- 
nues this motion in its prefent ftate, till being 
quite {pent, it quietly lies down to give way to 
the fecret operations of nature, in the change of 
its condition. 
E. 
While this is preparing, we may obferve, that 
the head and tail of the Worm are drawn up, 
as it were, into its body, though as yet no change 
happens in the old fkin, except its afluming the 
{hape of an egg, in which, {oon after, there ap- 
pears a variety of colours; firft, the body then 
fhrivelled up grows white, then yellow, next 
red, after this of a purple colour, which then 
acquires a fiery brightnefs, like that, as it were, 
of a fparkling red, fhining like amber; and, 
laftly, it turns toa deep brown, which it retains 
for fome days without any further alteration. 
On laying open and removing the {kin of the 
Wormat this period, we find in it a trué perfect 
Nymph, which exhibits moft diftinétly all the 
limbs of the future Fly: fo that this is a real Ver- 
mi-form Nymph, only that it yet reprefents the 
parts of the former Worm, though in a fome- — 
* We have in England three diftin&t {pecies of thefe Worms; the French alfo have them as common, they call them Vers a que 
de Rat. ‘They are the offspring of three diftin® fpecies of Flies, all refembling Bees, but with only two wings. ‘The fpecies here 
defcribed, is the largeft; and it changes into a large Fly, which our obfervers of Infects call the Drone Fly, fromits great. refemblance. 
of the male Bee, which is alfo called the Drone. 
What 
