The egg o f the rhinoceros * beetle is o f an oblong round figure,
o f a white colour; the fhell thin, tender, and flexible; the teeth
o f the worm that is within the fhell come to perfeftion before the
other- parts; fo that as foon as it is hatched, it is capable o f devouring,
and nourifhing itfelf with the wood among which it is
placed. The larva, or worm, is curioufly folded in the egg, the
tail refling between the teeth, which are difpofed on each fide
the b e lly ; the worm, in proper time, breaks the fhell, in the
fame manner as a chicken, and crawls from thence to the next
fuitable fubflance.
The worm, when it is hatched, is very white, has fix legs, a
wrinkled naked body, but the other parts all covered with hair:
the head is then alfo bigger than the whole bodv, a circumftance
which may be obferved in larger animals, and which is founded
on wife reafons.f I f the egg is obferved from time to time while
the infefl is within it, the beating of the heart may be perceived.
The eggs o f the earth-worm, the fnail, and the beetle, will
afford many fubjefts for the microfcope, and will be found to
deferve a very attentive examination. Swammerdam was ac-
cuftomed to hatch them in a difh, covered with white paper,
which he always kept in a moifl flate. T o preferve thefe and
fuch like eggs, they mod be pierced with a fine needle; the contained
liquors mull be preffed out, after which they fhould be
blown up by means of a fmall glafs tube, and then filled with a
little rofin diffolved in oil of fpike.
The
j| /'!;
* Scarabxus A c tion , Lin. Syft. Nat. p. 541-3.
. t Swammerdam’s Book of Nature, pt. 1, p. 33.
The worm o f the rhinoceros beetle, like other infeSs in the
larva flate, changes it’s fkin; in order to effect which, it dif-
charges all it’s excrement, and forms a convenient hole in the
earth, in which it may perform the wonderful operation; for it
does not, like the ferpent, caft off merely an external covering,
but the throat, a part of the flomach, and the inward furface of
the great gut, change at the fame time their fkin : as if it were to
increafe the wonder, and to call forth our attention to thefe
reprefentative changes, fome hundreds of pulmonary pipes cafl
alfo each it’s delicate fkin, a tranfparent membrane is taken from
the eyes, and the fkull remains fixed to the exuvia.
After the operation, the head and teeth are white and tender,
though at other times as hard as a bone ; fo that the larva, when
provoked, will attempt to gnaw iron; For an accurate anatomical
defcription of this worm, I mud refer the reader to M.
Swammerdam ; he will find it, like the reft of this author’s
works; well worthy of his attentive perufal. T o diffcct it, he
firft killed it in fpirits of wine, or luffocated it in rain water rather
more than lukewarm, not taking it out from thence for fome
hours. This preparation prevents an improper contraQion of
the mufcular-fibres.
When the tihre approaches for the Worm to take upon it the
pupa form, it generally penetrates deeper into the ground,* or
thofe places where it inhabits, to find a fituation that it can more
eafdy fuit to it’s fubfequent prbcefs. Having found a proper
D d place,
* The larva of thofe beetles which live under ground are in general heavy, idle,
and voracious ; on the contrary, the larva which inhabit the waters are exceedingly
a&ive.