The HIS TORY Gf DIN SPEC T's. 63 
A Letter written by the author to Mr. Thevenot, on the nature and anatomy of the 
Worm bred in rotten cheefe, or the Acarus, and called by us the Mite, and of 
the Ely produced from it.* 
SIR, 
Doubt not, but at the time when you held 
weekly conferences at your houfe in Paris, 
and thereby made it a general place of meet- 
ing for the learned, fome of your inquiries 
turned on the nature of Mites, their fingular 
difpofition, and furprifing manner of their 
{pringing up into the air. I therefore take 
the liberty of fubmitting this little treatife to 
your judgment, which I refpect and value in- 
finitely more, than the opiniens of many of 
the profeffed litterati of the prefent age, whofe 
inquiries into natural things, feldom go deeper 
than the furface. 
I am not ignorant, that the illuftrious Redi 
has wrote with great knowledge and accuracy 
concerning Worms, which are bred in cheefe ; 
but I know alfo, that he could not poflibly be 
thoroughly acquainted with all the circum- 
ftances remarkable in thofe infects ; and that 
the great number of uncommon experiments 
which he propofes, could not but hinder him 
from applying himfelf thoroughly to all parts 
of the fubject, efpecially as he, at the fame 
time, paid his attendance at the court of the 
great duke of Tufcany. 
I have therefore taken upon me to lay be- 
fore you, moft illuftrious philofopher, a full 
account of this Jittle Worm, and its Fly, their 
external appearance, their difpofitions, and their 
internal ftru€ture ; for I can take upon me to 
affirm, that the limbs, and other parts of this 
Worm are fo uncommon and elegant, and con- 
trived with fo much art and defign, that it is 
impoflible not to acknowledge them the work 
of infinite power and wifdom, to which no- 
thing is hid, nothing impoffible. You will 
fee thefe minute creatures have, as well as the 
greateft, a brain, nerves, mufcles, lungs, falival 
ducts, a {tomach, fmall and large inteftines, ceca, 
or blind guts, pinguiferous or fat membranes, 
and the feveral other vifcera. 
The external parts of the Maite. 
oe this Worm is very common, I 
have thought it not amifs to give a figure 
of it at its full growth, and of its natural fize, 
Tab. XLITI. Fig. 1. as names are equivocal, 
and there are many who know but little of it. 
Thefe fmall creatures being generally held in 
deteftation, though fome eat them voluptuoufly 
with the reft of the cheefe, from a vulgar no- 
tion, that they are formed out of the beft parts 
of it; whereas in reality, they proceed folely 
from the eggs of acommon Fly, as I thall 
prefently demonftrate. But before I under- 
take to explain the difpofition of this Worm, 
and give fome account of its internal parts, as 
they appear on diffection ; I thall defcribe its 
external parts, as well as fuch internal ones, as 
the tranfparency of the outer ones affords us 
an opportunity of examining, without being 
obliged to diffect, it. 
The Mite, when viewed with the micro- 
{cope, appears divided into twelve fections or 
Pipes Pieeiien 1, 2,12, Aan 7 Ou OurO, Tr, 12. 
The firft of thefe rings, properly {peaking, forms 
the head a, the {kin of which, as likewife that 
of every other part, is tough and firm like a 
piece of parchment ; fo that it is no eafy mat- 
ter to break or wound it, though the Worm 
leaps with a furprifing violence, on being ever 
fo gently touched. ‘The forepart of the head 
is, ina manner, divided or feparated into two 
tubercules, from which arife two very fhort 
* It has been a cuftom to call any {mall creature found in cheefe, in Latin, Acarus, 
the accuftomed liberty of fpeech, and gives, in the prefent account, 
we commonly call Mite in England, and which is moft univerfally ca 
than this Maggot, and appears like a moving particle of duft. “Th 
cayed Bees-wax, and was called the leaft object of the human fight. 
antenne, or horns. Between thefe two divi- 
fions of the head, there conftantly appears, 
through the tranfparent {kin that covers it, a 
{mall particle, which, like the head, confitts 
alfo of two divifions. This little particle really 
contains the organs conftituting the mouth, 
which are of a fubftance between bone and 
horn, and produce on their forepart two little 
black claws, which ferve the Worm not only 
as fuch, but likewife for feet, and in the place 
of teeth. We may alfo clearly perceive thro’ 
the infect’s tranfparent skin, that it can move 
thefe claws in and out, together with the al- 
ready-mentioned parts of the mouth, in the 
fame manner as the Snail thrufts out, or draws 
in,-its head and horns. 
The next ring is very remarkable on this ac- 
count, that the pulmonary tubes of the infe& 
{carcely open any where elfe, except in the 
hindermoft ring of the body, where there are 
two more: I could never difcover any other 
breathing-holes, or apertures, in this infec. 
Thofe in the front ring next to the head, are 
very large. Thefe extremities, or rather the 
beginnings of the lungs, Tab. XLIII. Fig. ir. d, 
are curioufly contrived, and elegantly conftrué- 
ed. On the forepart, where they are thruft out 
beyond the skin, they are of a membranaceous 
fubftance, fomewhat white, and very delicate ; 
a little lower they fwell, as it were, into a {mall 
belly, and grow yellowith, and in fome mea- 
‘us, and in Englifh, Mite. ‘This author takes the 
the name Mite to the Maggot of a {mall Fly ; but the creature 
Wed Acarus in Latin, is of a different kind ; it is made finaller 
is is the Acaris of the antients, which Ariftotle obferved in de- 
This Mite has fix 
aan Vs legs, an oval o ded body, with a har 
fkin, and very diftinguifhable eyes. The Maggot here treated of under the fame name, : Pecans cage sepa: pare, 
is a creature altogether diftinét, 
fure 
