ThenH 1S TOUR Y*66 7 TIN}SIERC aS. 
fore, from a Worm to a Fly, obfervable in this 
infect, prefents us with a real miracle, arid may 
juftly be confidered as a laying down of old 
worn-out parts, and an acquifition of new per- 
fect ones inftead of them: in fine, as a total 
change of an old to a new, and of an imper- 
fect toa perfect body, infinitely furpaffing the 
utmoft ftretch of human underftanding, as on 
reading and attentively confidering the hiftory 
now before us plainly appears. .As for my 
part, I dare boldly affirm, that the incompre- 
henfible greatnefs of the Deity manifefts itfelf 
in thefe myfterious operations in a particular 
manner, .and affords us an opportunity of ex- 
amining, as it were, with our fenfes, the Divine 
nature. 
If thofe authors, who invented a metamor- 
phofis, in order to folve the difficulties that 
occur in the hiftory of infects, had feen the 
wonders I have been juift relating, it is proba- 
ble, that they would have made arguments of 
them to fupport their erroneous opinions; tho’ 
the infect itfelf, notwithftanding all its changes, 
~ conftantly continues one and the fame, and like 
a chicken, attains to a greater perfection, by a 
mere gradual increafe of its parts, and no other- 
wife ; for even the parts themfelves always re- 
main the fame, whatever alterations we may 
obferve in their igure. What I here affirm of 
the parts, holds true even at the time when 
they fall off or difappear, in order to make 
room for others which fprout out to fupply 
their places. 
Job, in like manner, fpeaking of the refur- 
rection of his body, fays, ‘‘ with thefe eyes I 
<¥ fhalktee God...‘ 4 
Neverthelefs, I fhould be forry, that any one 
were weak enough to imagine, that thefe our 
mortal eyes, which are but duft and afhes, and 
as fach are condemned to putrefaction and de- 
cay, ate ever to appear in the fight of God. 
By no means ; the body we now carry, is but 
the feed or egg, as it were, in which another 
CAH A, PB: 
Sam 
more noble body lies concealed; and of this 
myftery the Worm we are treating of affords 
a moft fatisfactory example; as it might very 
juttly {peak of its eyes, as it were, in the follow- . 
ing manner: With thefe, my eyes, I thall raife 
myfelf on high, foar up to the fkies, look down 
upon the fields, and dart with rapidity through 
the air, in praife of my maker. Thus, I fay, 
this Worm might boaft of its eyes in words, 
which however are far from being true, except 
in refpect of that perfection which the eyes 
are afterwards to attain, on the infect’s chang- 
ing toa Fly; for then they are to be increafed 
in number, otherwife ennobled, and fhall en- 
joy a fight more perfect than the former, as I 
have already fufficiently demonftrated in the » 
eyes of bees. 
The moft confiderable mufcles of the Worm 
here treated of, are in general placed in the 
head: of them I have defcribed and delineated 
only thofe which ferve to move the feet. More- 
over, in the thorax alfo, the belly and tail, are 
feen a great number of mufcles, which being 
extended from one of the annular incifions to 
another, move the body various ways, by means 
of fibres formed and difpofed in a variety of 
manners. But as thefe mufcles do not re- 
markably differ from thofe which Ihave def{crib- 
‘ed in other infects, and which have been repre- 
fented in the preceding figures, I need fay no- 
thing of them farther, until I come to the Fly 
itfelf. I fhall therefore clofe here the prefent 
chapter ; adding only, that the limbs are fome- 
times diftorted in this Worm; fothat its body 
is found really crooked and bent: and hence 
we are taught, that thefe infects are liable to 
the fame calamities that other animals are fab- 
ject to by the law of nature. It is, however, 
worthy of notice, that when I viewed a dif 
torted or deformed Worm, - of this {pecies, 
when changed into a Fly, it was no way de- 
formed ; its body being then perfect after its 
change, or rather its refurrection. 
id Va 
The wonderful manner wherein this Worm paffes into a Nymph ; and of the parts 
that are feen in the Worm, when it is fiript of its fin; and the fame parts 
afterwards clearly fhewn in the Nymph, 
HE Worms here defcribed, are at 
length changed into Nymphs of the 
fourth order, when their limbs and other parts 
- are fufficiently grown under the fkin. Whenthey 
are about to change, they betake themfelves to 
the herbs that float on the furface of the water, 
and creep gently thereon ; until at length they 
lie at reft, partly on the dry furface, and part- 
ly on the water: if they are about that time 
driven off into the water by force of the wind, 
or if they be kept in a little veffel filled with 
water only, yet their change is not on that ac- 
count impeded. But when they afterwards, 
under the form of a Fly, iffue out of the habit 
of a Nymph, then indeed they are very eafily 
fuffocated in the water; as long as thefe little 
infects are Worms, they can conveniently live 
in water, but by no means when they are 
changed into Flies. Indeed, man alfo, whilft 
in the uterus, lives in the water of the am- 
nion ; but he can by no means do this after- 
wards, when, by breaking open the mem- 
branes, he is brought into the world. There- 
fore thefe Worms, lying in their natural fitua- 
tion, always feek after the floating herbs, where- 
in at length they lie at reft ; and then they, by 
degrees, contract themfelves, and in a manner 
{carce perceivable, lofe all power of moving. 
. Then 
