ot 
never void any excrements at the anus, till 
they are dropped from their mothers *, 
I think it probable that the fubftance of the 
tubercles does not begin to dry up, till the en- 
clofed Worm, having attained the full term of 
its growth, becomes mature and ready for the 
Nymph-ftate ; and even at this time, the lower 
part of the fubftance ftill continues moift, fo that 
the enclofed infect may, at this period, alfo draw 
nourifhment through it, from the afcending 
juices of the tree, in cafe it fhould happen to re- 
quire any. Thus we have another inftance 
of God’s all-feeing providence, which, with fo 
much goodnefs, watches inceflantly over his crea- 
tures; and this inftance is the more ftriking, as 
the lower part of the bean-like fubftance grows 
loofer and drier by degrees, on the Worm’s ac- 
tually entering into the Nymph-ftate; fo that 
the moifture I have been fpeaking of, begins 
little by little to dry away, when the time ap- 
proaches for this Nymph to appear abroad in the 
Fly-form. Sometimes indeed the detached fub- 
ftances, atthis period, are found quite loofe in 
the cavities of their tubercles. 
One of thefe Worms, whichI had extrated 
from its bean-like fubftance, lived, notwith- 
flanding, from the fifth of June to the fifth of 
July. When the Worm has received fufficient 
nourifhment, it draws the rings of its body clofer 
to each other, ‘Tab. XLV. Fig. xv. It after this 
cafts a delicate fkin, and at length affumes the 
form of a Nymph, which is at firft white all 
_over, but grows blacker and blacker by degrees, 
in the fame proportion as the enclofed limbs of 
the future Fly acquire {ufficient ftrength to ex- 
pand and produce themfelves. At this time, 
there very plainly appear on the Nymph’s head, 
two reticulated or net-like eyes, Tab. XLV. 
Fig. xvit, @ a, and underneath in the thorax, the 
two teeth, which were before difcernible in the 
Worm. Along the body lie the antenne, 44, 
and between them the fix legs, and the wings 
neatly folded up. The rings of the body fhow 
themfelves very diftin@ly in the lower part, c. 
I refer this Nymph to the firft mode of the third 
order of natural mutations, as it clearly reprefents 
the limbs of the future Fly, in the fame manner 
with the Nymph of the Ant. 
‘The two figures I give of this Nymph repre- 
fent it, one of its natural fize, Fig. xvii. the 
other as it appeared through the microfcope, Fig. 
xix, It is divided into the head, breaft and body, 
The eyes are feated in the head, and before 
them are placed two moderately long antenna, 
aa. The breaft bears four wings, 46; the upper 
pair, which are the largeft, are ftretched over 
the body ; to the under part of the breaft, are ar- 
ticulated fix, red legs, each armed at its extremi- 
ty with two claws, cc. ‘The belly of the fe- 
“males ig thick, fwollen, or diftended; but it ter- 
dt on 
The’ BOOK oO NAG URE: Get 
minates ina harp point, d, which perhaps the 
creature makes ufe of as a weapon, to bore the 
Oak leaf, and afterwards as a channel to convey 
the eggs into the hole made in that manner. 
The furface of the body is fmooth all over, as if 
polithed, and is of a thining deep black, which 
gives the Worm a pretty appearance, ‘Thefe Flies 
broke from their confinement the 28th of June; 
but I diffe@ted none of them, fo that I can fay 
nothing of their eggs, or of their genital parts. 
We are now to confider another wonder, equal 
to any of thofe I have yet related; and this is 
the fingular and uncommon manner in which 
the all-wife, and all-powerful Architect has pro- 
vided for the delivery of thefe Flies, without 
their meeting with any oppofition, At the time 
the Worm has attained the Nymph-form, the 
enclofing tubercle begins to grow thinner and 
thinner by degrees, at a certain determinate and 
felect {pot. This circumftance I have endea- 
voured to reprefent in a tubercle, where I found 
two detached fubftances, Fig. xx, 77; nor is Na- 
_ture content with only reducing the thickne of 
the tubercle in this manner; but the likewife or- 
dains things, fo that it dries up and hardens in 
the fame place, in order to make the perforation 
of it, by the teeth of the Fly, eafier than it other- 
wile would be, The little prifoner, on its be- 
coming a Fly, firft gnaws through the inner 
fubftance, and then through the tubercle itfelf, 
a round hole, Tab. XLV. F ig. xu. 2, jutt 
large enough to afford it a free paffage to its new 
element. . 
We may know of a certainty, when thefé in- 
fects are about to turn to Flies; for the dry {pots 
at which the Flies are to make their way, ap- 
pear very obvioufly on the furface of the tu- 
bercles, //, On infpeGting thefe tubercles again, 
a few days after the 28th of June, I found many 
of them perforated, and that the Flies bred in 
them had made their efcape, fo that nothing re- 
mained in them but the detached fubftances, which 
were likewife perforated. The tubercles wrinkle 
and wither away, for the moft part, on their inha- 
bitants quitting them. Thefe wonders all return 
with the fucceeding year, and thus call upon us 
without ceafing, to publifh the praifes of their 
Author, who has openly manifefted Himfelf in 
all his creatures, and has given to man alone, 
amongft all fublunary beings, the faculty of 
knowing Him, In what a bad light therefore 
muft thofe appear, who, unaccountably blinded 
by their ignorance, dare to oppofe the exiftence 
of that all-watchful and adorable Providence, by 
foolifh arguments! Behaving in this manner, and 
working their own deftrution, they debafe them- 
{elves below the rank even of beafts, and deferve 
to be confidered as monfters in the nature of 
things, 
* Befide thofe Worms which proceed from eggs let into the fubftance of the leaf by the parent Fly, there are fome, both of the 
Fly and Butterfly kind, which only drop their eggs upon the furface of the leaf, and faften it on by a glutinous matter. The 
Woums and Caterpillars hatched from thefe, the moment they burft from the egg, make their way through the’ outer coat of the 
leaf, and get into the fubftance, ‘They thus live under cover till they change. 
of 
