60 
The BOOK? of N ALYU R Ei or, 
Con A> Pio Mabt: 
Treating very particularly of the Afilus, or Gadfly, and its external and ee 
arts, as well male as female. 
>) 
OW that we have feen the order in 
which the Worm grows or increafes into 
a Nymph; and how this latter is at length 
changed into a Fly, and confequently appears 
under three different forms, though it always 
remains one and the fame infect; it is necef- 
fary, for my purpofe, to exhibit particularly 
the parts of the Fly. This I fhall now at- 
tempt to do, and I {hall begin with the male; 
and afterwards defcribe thofe parts in the fe- 
male, which cannot be feen in that fex. 
The male Gadfly, confidered externally, 
fhews itfelf divided into the head, the thorax 
or breaft, and the abdomen or body. ‘Thefe 
three parts are joined together, as it were, by 
a {mall filament; and this makes a moft beau- 
tiful figure in Wafps. This is the reafon why 
thefe creatures are called infects. © 
In the head the eyes, horns, and probofcis 
or trunk; are very confpicuous. ‘The eyes are 
fmooth, of a dark brownifh-green colour; and 
they feem fpotted, upon a tranfparent gold- 
coloured ground. Their ftructure is like that 
of the Bee’s eyes; for each confifts of a col- 
leGtion of many lefler eyes, between the hexa- 
gonal divifions of which fome hairs are fcat- 
tered up and down. A fmall, black, horny 
margin divides thefe eyes one from the other. 
The hinder part of this margin, which lies 
upwards towards the thorax, is likewife adorned 
with three larger eyes; the two hindmoft of 
which are fomewhat fmaller, and the two fore 
ones as large again. In the neck, or where 
the beginning of the medullary fubftance 1s 
joined to the cerebellum in us, there are ob- 
ferved two yellow {pots. 
. In the foremoft region of the head, where 
the margin juft mentioned reaches towards the 
mouth, two very beautiful horns, of an ob- 
fcure blackith colour, are placed in the middle. 
Thefe are divided each into eight joints, where- 
of the lower are longeft, and are fet with fine 
hairs. About the mouth are likewife feen a 
confiderable number of hairs, of a glittering 
deep gold colour, The mouth has. no open- 
ing, as in other infects ; for the probofcis or 
trunk, like an hollow little tongue, is here 
placed in the mouth; and through it, as 
through an hollow tube, the Fly, when eating, 
conveys its food into the ftomach. 
By prefling the thorax with the fingers, this 
probofcis will come in fight out of the mouth: 
_ In its fore part appear two oval bubbles, ‘Tab. 
XL. Fig. v. 2; the middle parts of which 
are applied to each other lengthwife, and be- 
tween thefe the food paffes to the ftomach. 
Their upper part is beautifully divided with 
various pulmonary tubes, which, like fo many 
femi-circles, run from one fide to the other. 
The probofcis alfo has briftly hairs 44 on each 
5 
fide of it, which, arifing out of the outer kin 
of the mouth or lips, hide the trunk itfelf, 
when drawn back by the Fly. The inferior 
or lower part of the probofcis has two {mall 
cc appendages; out of the ends of which, 
confifting of a black horny bone, likewife arife 
fome hairs. They are jointed into a fingular 
kind of black d horny triangular bone, which 
gives confiderable ftrength to the membranous 
parts of the tube, which fupports the probof- 
cis. Beneath this is afterwards feen another 
horny bone, which is of a different figure, e, 
I have not yet been able to difcover the acu- 
leus or fting in this Fly, though it fhews itfelf 
very vifibly in the Horfefly, which carries it 
enclofed in a {mall fheath. Whether the great 
tendernefs and finenefs of the fting prevented 
my finding it, or whether I miffed difcovering 
it, I cannot fay. Neither can I explain in 
what manner this little infect fucks the blood, 
fince I have never learned this from obferva- 
tion. Ihave faid, indeed, in my general hif- 
tory of infects, that thefe little creatures hada 
fting or point in their mouth ; which, I believe, 
to this time is the general conftruction, tho’ I 
cannot at prefent demontftrate it. 
The fhape of the thorax on the upper fide, or 
in the back, is oblong, and it is moderately hard 
like a horny bone. It is in fome of thefe Flies, 
covered very thick with fine hairs, Its upper 
part is bent a little inwardly at each fide: and 
hence it happens, that two holes, as it were, 
are there formed; befides, each fide of it is fet 
with thin hairs. In the loweft region of the 
thorax are feen fix legs; they are articulated to 
the thorax. Each of thefe legs confifts of five 
joints; the laft of which is again {nbdivided into 
five fingle joints, and is armed with two redifh 
claws, having their extremities as black as pitch, 
All thefe joints have alfo briftly hairs, and are 
conftruéted or formed of a horny or bony mat- 
ter, fomewhat hard like lobfter-fhells: within 
this the mufcles, veffels and nerves are placed. 
On the upper and hinder part of the thorax are 
two wings, of an even and generally {mooth 
furface; though they have fome few hairs dif— 
perfed over them. A confiderable number of 
pulmonary pipes is alfo diftributed through thefe 
wings, and thefe divide them as fo many {mall 
nerves. The membranous parts of the wings 
are fomewhat wrinkled, or plaited with {mall 
folds, and they are of a colour approaching to a 
palered, The wings are, by the help of their 
joints, connected with the back; where the 
mufcles, which move them, are inferted therein. 
Four {mall folds of the wings are likewife feen 
there; whereof the lower are beautifully fur- 
rounded with hairs ; and where the contracied 
wing refts, they are received by a kind of hole 
or pit, confpicuous in each fide of the thorax ; 
and 
