poifed, as to fwim about with all poffible Artifice. And as to their other Faculty, that of Nidification, whether it be exerted by boring the Earth or Wood, or building themselves Cells, (18) or fpinning and weaving themselves Cafes and Webs, it is all a wonderful Faculty of those poor little Animals, whether we confider their Parts wherewith they work, or their Work it felf. Thus thofe who perforate the Earth, Wood, or fuch like, they have their Legs, Feet, Mouth, yea, and whole Body accommodated to that Service; their Mouth exactly formed to gnaw thofe handfome round Holes, their Feet as well made to. fcratch and bore (19), and their Body handfomely turned and fitted to follow. But for fuch as build or fpin themselves Nefts, their Art juftly bids Defiance to the moft ingenious Artift among Men, fo much as tolerably to copy the nice Geometrical Combs of fome (20), the earthen Cells of others, or the Webs, Nets and Cafes (21) wọ

།

!

(18) See Book 4- Chap. 13. Notes 12, 13. and s

(19) Thus the Mouths and other Parts of the Ichneumon. Wafps in Book 4. Cha13 Note 2. So the Feet of the Gryl loralpi, ibid. Note 17. alusia I

(20) See the laft cited Places, Note 13. s

(21) Of the textrine Art of the Spider, and its Parts ferving to that Purpose, see the last cited Place, Note 21.

A

Befides thefe, Caterpillers, and divers other Infects, can emit Threds, or Webs for their ufe. In this their Nympha fate, they fecure themfelves from falling, and let themfelves down from the Boughs of Trees, and other high Places, with one of thefe Threads. And in the Cafes they weave, they fecure themselves in their Aurelia-ftate.

And not only the Offspring of the Phalana-Tribe, but there are fome of the Ichneumon-Fly kind alfo, endowed with this textrine Art. Of thefe I have met with two forts: one that fpun a Milk white, long, round filken Web, as big as the top of ones Finger, woven round Bents, Stalks of Ribwort, c. in

Mea

ven by others. And here that natural Glue (22) which their Bodies afford fome of them to confolidate their Work, and combine its Materials together, and which in others can be darted out at pleasure, and fpun and woven by them into filka en Balls (23) or Webs, I fay, this fo peculiar, fo ferviceable a Material, together with the curious Structure of all Parts miniftring to this textrine Power, as mean a Business as it may feem, is such

as

Meadows. The other is a lump of many yellow, filken Cafes, fticking confufedly together on Pofts, under Cole worts, &c. These Webs contain in them, fmall whitish Maggots; which turn to a fmall black Ichneumon-Fly, with long Capillary Antenna; Tan-coloured Legs; long Wings reaching beyond their Body, with a black Spot near the middle; the Alvus, like an Heart; and in fome, a fmall fetaceous Tail. Some of thefe Flies were of a fhining beautiful green Colour. I could not perceive any difference, at leaft, not specifical, between the Flies coming from thefe two Productions.

(22) I have often admired how Wafps, Hornets, Ichneumon-Wafps, and other Infects that gather dry Materials for building their Nefts, have found a proper matter to cement, and glue their Combs, and line their Cells; which we find always fufficiently context and firm. But in all pro

bability, this ufeful Material is in their own Bodies; as 'tis in the Tinea veftivora, Cadew Worm, and divers others. Goedart obferves of his Erucca, Num. zo. 6. that fed upon Sallow leaves, that hae pulveris aut arena inftar commi nuit, ac pituitofo. quodam fui corporis fucco ita maceravit, ut inde accomodatum fubeunda mutationi inftanti locum fibi ex ftruxerit. Domuncula hæc a communi Salicum ligno nihil differre videbatur, nifi quod longe effet durior, adeo ut cultrò viz difrumpi polet.

(23) An ingenious Gentlewoman of my Acquaintance, Wife to a learned Physician, taking much Pleafure to keep Silk-Worms, bad once the Curiofity to draw out one of the oval Cafes, which the Silk-Worm fpins. into all the Silken Wire it was made up of, which, to the great Wonder as well of her Husband, as her felf, appeared to be, by measure, a great deal above ,300 Tards, and yet weighed but two Grains, and an half. Boyi Subtil. of Effluv. ch. 2.

(24)

4

as may juftly be accounted among the noble De figns and Works of the infinite Creator and Confervator of the World.

In the laft Place, there is another prodigious Faculty, Art, Cunning, or what fhall I call it? that others of thofe little Animals have, to make even Nature it felf ferviceable to their Purpofe, and that is the making the Vegetation and Growth of Trees and Plants, the very Means of the building of their little Nefts and Cells (24); fuch

as

49

(24) Since my penning this, I have met with the moft fagacious Malpighi's Account of Galls, &c. and find his De fcriptions to be exceedingly accurate and true, having traced my felf many of the Productions he hath mentioned. But I find Italy and Sicily (his Book de Gallis being published long after he was made Profeffor of Melfina) more luxuriant in fuch Productions than England, at leaft, than the Parts about Upminster (where I live) are. For many, if not most of those about us, are taken Notice of by him, and several others besides that I never met with; although I have for many Years as critically obferved all the Excrefcences, and other morbid Tumors of Vegetables, as is almoft poffible, and do believe that few of them have efcaped me.

As to the Method how thofe Galls and Balls are produced, the moft fimple, and confequently the moft ealy to be accounted for, is that in the Gems of Oak, which may be called SquamousOak-Cones Capitula fquamata, in Malpighi. Whofe Defcription not exactly answering our English-Cones in divers Refpects, Ifhall therefore país his by, and fhew only what I have ob ferved my felf concerning them.

Thefe Cones are, in outward Appearance, perfectly like the Gems, only vaftly bigger; and indeed they are no other than the Gems, encreafed in Bignefs, which naturally ought to be pushed out in Length: The Caufe of which ObftruЯtion of the Vegetation is this: into the very Heart of the young tender Gem or Bud (which begins to be turgid in June, and to fhoot towards the latter end of that Month, or beginning of the next; into this I fay) the Parent-Infect thrufts one or more Eggs, and not perhaps without fome venemous Ichors therewith. This Egg foon becomes a Maggot, which eats it felf a little Cell in the very Heart

or

as are the Galls and Balls found on the Leaves and Branches of divers Vegetables, fuch as the Oak, the Willow (25), the Briar, and fome others.

Now

or Pith of the Gem, which is the Rudiment of the Branch, together with its Leaves and Fruit, as fhall be hereafter fhewn. The Branch being thus wholly deftroyed, or at least its Vegetation being obftructed, the Sap that was to nourish it, is diverted to the remaining Parts of the Bud, which are only the fcaly Teguments; which by thefe Means grow large and flourishing, and become a covering to the InfectCafe, as before they were to the tender Branch and its Appendage.

The Cafe lying within this Cone is at firft but fmall, as the Maggot included in it is, but by degrees, as the Maggot in creafeth, fo it grows bigger, to about the Size of a large White Peafe, long and round, refembling the Shape of a small

Acorn.

The Infect it felf, is (according to the modern Infectologers) of the Ichneumon-Fly kind; with four Membranaceous Wings, reaching a little beyond the Body, articulated Horns, a large Thorax, bigger than the Belly; the Belly fhort and conical; much like the Heart of Animals: The Legs partly whitish, partly black. The Length of the Body from Head to Tail, about of an Inch; its Colour, a very beautiful fhining Green, in fome tending to a dark copper Colour, Figures both of the Cones, Cafes, and Infects, may be seen among Malpighi's Cuts of Galls, Tab. 13. and Tab. 20. Fig. 72; which Fig. 72. exhibics well enough fome others of the Gall-Infects, but its Thorax is fomewhat too fhort for

ours.

(25) Not only the Willow, and fome other Trees, but Plants alfo, as Nettles, Ground-Ivy, &c. have Cafes produ ced on their Leaves, by the Injection of the Eggs of an Ichneumon-Fly, I have obferved thofe Cafes always to grow in, or adjoyning to fome Rib of the Leaf, and their Pro duction I conceive to be thus, viz. The Parent-Infect, with its ftiff fetaceous Tail, terebrates the Rib of the Leaf, when tender, and makes Way for its Egg into the very Pith or Heart thereof, and probably lays in therewith, fome pros per Juice of its Body, to pervert the regular Vegetation of it. From this Wound arifes a. fmall Excrefcence, which (when the Egg is hatched into a Maggot) grows bigger and bigger, as the Maggot increases, fwelling on each Side the

Cc3

Leaf

Now this is fo peculiar an Artifice, and fo far out of the Reach of any mortal Understanding, Wit, ar Power, that if we confider the Matter, with fome of its Circumftances, we muft needs perceive manifeft Defign, and that there is the Concurrence of fome great and wife Being, that hath, from the Beginning, taken Care of, and provided for the Animal's good: For which Reafon, as mean as the Inftance may feem, I might be excufed, if I fhould enlarge upon its Particulars. But two or three Hints fhall fuffice.

In the firft Place 'tis certain that the Formation of thofe Cafes and Balls quite exceeds the cunning of the Animal it felf; but it is the Act partly of the Vegetable, and partly of fome Virulency, or what fhall I call it, in the Juyce, or Egg? or both, repofited on the Vegetable by the ParentAnimal (26). And as this Virulency is various

Leaf between the two Membranes, and extending it self into the parenchymous Part thereof, until it is grown as big as two Grains of Wheat. In this Cafe lies a small white rough Maggot, which turns to an Aurelia, and afterwards to a very beautiful gréen fmall Ichueumon-Fly,

(26) What I fufpefted my felf, I find confirmed by Malpighi, who in his exact and true Description of the Fly bred in the Oaken Galls, faith, Non fat fuit naturæ tam miro artificio Terebram, feu Limam condidiffe; fed inflicto vulnere, vel exci tato foramine infundendum exinde liquorem intra Terebram condidit: quare fracka per tranfverfam mifcarum terebra frequentiffime, vivente animali, gutter aliquot diaphani humoris effluunt. And a little after, he confirms by ocular Obfervation, what he imagin'd before, viz. Semel prope Junii finem vidi Mufcam, qualem fuperius delineavi, infidentem quercina gemma, adhuc germinanti; bærebat etenim foliolo ftabili ab apice biantis gemmæ erumpenti; convulfo in arcum corpore, terebram evaginabat, ipfamque tenfam immittebat; & tumefacto ventre circa terebra radicem tumorem exitabat, quem interpolatis vicibus remittebat. In folio igitur, avulfa Mufca, minima & diaphana reperii ejecta ova, fimillima iis, que adbuc in tabis fupererant. Non licuit iterum idem admiqari fpe&taculum, &c.

W

Some