Note Note (bb) — BOOK VIII.

[bb] What I suspected my self, I find confirmed by Malpighi, who in his exact and true Description of the Fly bred in the Oaken Galls, saith, Non sat fuit naturæ tam miro artificio Terebram seu Limam condidisse; sed inflicto vulnere, vel excitato foramine infundendum exinde liquorem intra Terebram condidit: quare fractâ per transversam muscarum terebrâ frequentissimè, vivente animali, guttæ aliquot diaphani humoris effluunt. And a little after, he confirms, by ocular Observation, what he imagin’d before, viz. Semel prope Junii finem vidi Muscam, qualem superiùs delineavi, insidentum quercinæ gemmæ, adhuc germinanti; hærebat etenim foliola stabili ab apice hiantis gemmæ erumpenti; & convulso in arcum corpore, terebram evaginabat, ipsamque sensam immittebat; & tumefacto ventre circa terebræ radicem tumorem excitabat, quem interpolatis vicibus remittebat. In folio igitur, avulsà Muscâ, minima & diaphana reperii ejecta ova, simillima iis, quæ adhuc in tubis supererant. Non licuit iterum idem admirari spectaculum, &c.

Somewhat like this, which Malpighi saw, I had the good Fortune to see my self once some Years ago: And that was, the beautiful, shining Oak-Ball Ichneumon strike its Terebræ into an Oak-Apple divers Times, no doubt to lay its Eggs therein. And hence I apprehend we see many Vermicules towards the Outside of many of the Oak-Apples, which I guess were not what the Primitive Insects laid up in the Gem, from which the Oak-Apple had its Rise, but some other supervenient, additional Insects, laid in after the Apple was grown, and whilst it was tender and soft.