46 The BOOK of 
fnout, and are fomewhat protuberant. It has 
likewife two little horns, 77, on the fore-part 
of its head. The fnout itfelf is fomewhat 
crooked, and ends in a very fharp point, f; but 
what is altogether fingular and furprifing, and 
no doubt, if I may fay fo, is moft wifely con- 
trived by the Great and Almighty Architect, is, 
that this infect’s legs are placed near the fnout, 
between the finufes in which the eyes gg are 
fixed: fo that, at firft fight, I imagined this 
Worm made ufe of its fnout, as Parrots do of 
of their bill, to faften upon whatever it pleafed, 
and move itfelf from one place to another ; 
but Ihave fince learned by experience, that 
thofe parts are real legs, which is altogether as 
furprifing as if a {mall pair of hands, one on 
each fide, fhould be feen growing in a man 
from the infide of his jaw-bones *. 
Each of thofe legs confifts of three joints ; 
the outermoft of which is covered with hard 
and {tiff hairs, like briftles. From the next 
joint there fprings a little horny bone, 44, 
which ferves the infect for a kind of thumb: 
the joint itfelf is likewife of a black fubftance, 
between bone and horn in hardnefs; and fo is’ 
the third joint. But thefe particulars cannot 
be fo well diftinguifhed on the outfide; for 
which reafon the parts that form the upper 
fides of the mouth, and the eyes, mutt firft be 
difplaced with a very fine fmall knife. This 
done, we may plainly perceive, by the heip of 
a microfcope, that the leg is articulated by 
means of fore fingular ligaments, with that 
portion of the infects mouth, which anfwers 
to the lower jaw in the human ftructure. We 
may alfo, by this method, difcover the mufcles 
which ferve to move the legs, and draw them 
quite up into the cavity that lies between the 
{nout and thofe parts of the mouth, near which 
the horns, zz, are fituated. 
I have taken the pains to draw five of thofe 
mufcles adminiftering to the infect’s leg, which 
are very diftinét. Three of them, Fig. v. a, 
are continued by their tendons, in form of a 
black fubftance between bone and horn; and 
after this, growing fofter, are inferted b into the 
infide of the greateft joint of the leg, which is 
of the fame kind of fubftance with the tendon. 
The other two mutfcles, c, had their infertions 
on the oppofite fide of the fame joint. The 
miufcles which move the other joint, d, are in- 
ferted into that large horny joint already men- 
tioned ; and in this joint alfo are to be feen the 
latent mufcles, which move the extreme joint 
of the leg, e, with its briftles, and its thumb, 
which I here likewife reprefent, { This figure 
fhews, at the fame time, in what manner the 
foot is furrounded with hair. ‘This infect not 
only walks with the legs I have been defcribing, 
at the bottom of the water, but even ‘moves 
itfelf on land by means of them. It likewife 
makes ufe of them to fwim with, while it 
keeps its tail on the furface contiguous to the 
NACE UGRY ES gar 
air, and hangs downwards, with the reft of its 
body in the water. In this fituation, no mo- 
tion can be perceived in it, but what arifes 
from its legs. “At this time alfo it plies them 
fo elegantly, that, to the naked eye, they ap- 
pear like the vibrating tongues of Serpents. 
Hence we may conclude, that the ereateft 
ftrength of this Worm lies in thefe parts; and 
we may be likewife convinced, that it exhibits 
in a fingular manner, and more fully than 
many other animals, the wonderful contrivance 
and exeeution of the Divine Power and Wit 
dom. 
The f{nout itfelf, Tab. XXXIX. Fig. v1. a, 
is very black, and of a fubftance between bone 
and horn. ‘This may beft be feen by turning 
the infect on its back: in this fituation alfo we 
can difcover the crooked point of the fnout, 4, 
near which the jaws open themfelves, c, and 
offer to our fight the gullet or throat, and all 
the other parts of the mouth. Here likewife 
we may obferve three membranaceous divi- 
fions in the {nout, two of them running tranf- 
verfely, one at each fide, dd; and the third 
ftretched lengthwife between both: by means 
of thefe divifions, aflifted by the mutcles con- 
tained in the fnout, the Worm can at pleafure 
expand or contract that part. But the back- 
part of the fnout, e, is quite folid, and made 
up of a black fubftance between bone and 
horn, and of a rounded and fomewhat globular 
form; whereas the fharp part that lies forward, 
which I have before reprefented on the fore- 
part of the head, Fig. 111. f, is hollow. 
The tail is moft artfully imagined and con- 
ftructed. Its extreme verge, or border, is fur- 
rounded by thirty hairs, and the fides of them 
are adorned with others that are {maller. Here 
and there alfo, fome of the bigger hairs branch 
out into others, each of which I reckon as a 
finole hair. Thefe hairs are all rooted in the 
extreme fkin of the tail, which, in this place, 
is alfo covered with rough grains; as may be 
feen by cutting it off, and holding it up, when 
dry, againit the light, upon a thin plate of 
glafs. It appears likewife, by the fame means, 
that the hairs of this part have, at their very 
extremities, grains alfo, like thofe upon the 
fkin; though I could never yet get a diftinct 
fight of them through the beft microfcopes. 
In the middle of the tail is a little opening, 
within which there are two fmall holes; by 
which the infect takes in and lets out the air it 
breathes. It feldom happens, that the hairs 
of the tail are fo regularly difpofed on the fur- 
face of the water, as 1] have here reprefented 
them, unlefs when the Worm but juft floats: 
with its body in the water, and the tail with 
the hairs belonging to it are a little lower than 
the furface ; for then thefe hairs difplay their 
extremities, in the diftinét manner that I have 
here reprefented them: and the leaft motion 
downwards of the tail, at this time, occafions 
* Thefe fingular and amazing Worms are very common with us in fhallow ftanding waters. I found millions of them this year in 
a pond, 1 
water, an 
na field acrofs the road on the right hand of Lifflon-Green, near Paddington. They will live many weeks in a glafs of 
d fhew all their amazing qualities; confirming, in every inftance, the accuracy and truth of this author’s accounts, A mi-~ 
crofcope fhews very beautifully the motion of their inteftines; and few infects afford a more beautiful object. 
4. 
a, COs 
