The Figures of Some of Mr. Leewenhoecks Microscopical Observations, Formerly Publish't (in Numb.94. p. 6037.6038.) together with Their Explication

The Figures of some of Mr. Leeuwenhoeck's Microscopical Observations, formerly publish'd (in Numb.94. p. 6037.6038.) together with their Explication. This Curious observer, having been desired by the Publisher, since his first Communications, already printed in these Papers, that, for further satisfaction, he would please to transmit the Figures of what he had so well observed, and he having not only very obligingly complied with that desire, but also added New Observations; we thought ourselves bound to do him right in publishing both the Figures of his former Communications, and his Additions thereunto; though for this time we must content ourselves only with the former of these, reserving the latter for another opportunity. And in the Explication of these Figures we shall here give you in English, what the observer sent us in Dutch: See TAB. I. In Fig. 1. A B is the great Sting, or rather the Sheath or Case of the Bee, out of which were taken the two Stings (for that the Bee hath two, this observer formerly acquainted us with;) E is the cavity of the sheath, in which the two Stings, by and by to be described, lye; like a quill pulled out of a fowl's wing, and of that cut off a third part in length, and by its sides bent a little inwards towards E. D is the thickness of the Case beneath: And about DA the two Stings shew themselves, each in a place by itself; which I have seen myself, when I broke this thick part of the Sheath in pieces. In Fig. 2. H I is part of the Sting taken out of the Sheath A B, which appears a little sideways; whence it is, that the crooks or forks K K do not show so big nor sharp, as indeed they are. L is the back of the sting without forks; which side or back is almost as broad as one of the sides of the sting, when the crooks appear. In Fig. 3. MN is the whole Sting, taken also out of the Sheath AB in Fig. 1, and with its back, which is without crooks (as hath been shewn in Fig. 2. by L,) turn'd to the Eye. Here the crooks shew themselves, though turn'd from the Eye through the Sting, as appears by R. The upper part of the Sting NQ is closed round about, and hollow within; and the lower part QS is open. SM is a part of the broken sinew, which is very near as long as the whole Sting; and when it can be taken whole out of the body, it contracts itself into the shape of a half Moon, and appears of the colour of a Tortoise-shell, as also doth the Sting itself. OP is the body fastned to the Sting, and placed in the thicker part of the Case DCA (in the first Figure) to wit, S about A, and T towards D. In Fig. 4. abc are both the Stings, as they lie together before, close against the sheath; yet is one of them a little higher than the other: And forasmuch as at a there is yet seen a little of the sheath, here both the stings seem to be one, furnish't on both sides with crooks. In Fig. 5. edgfh are both the Stings, in part out of their Sheath; yet doth the Sting edh stand a little higher out of the case than the Sting gfh. Thus have I found them to lie in their sheath, when they are at rest. In Fig. 6. Two stings standing also a little out of the sheath. As to the motion of these Stings, I conceive it thus to be made: First, the Bee draws her sheath, together with its stings out of the body, and endeavors to thrust it as far as she can into the body she will sting, together with one of the stings, which at that time she draws out of the case: which sting when she is drawing back again, but it not being able, by reason of the crooks, to return, she pulls the sheath and the other sting deeper into the body. Now it is that she useth her other sting, which she then thrusts also into the body as deep as she can, and then endeavors to pull that back also; by which pulling back she thrusts her sheath and first sting yet deeper into the body: And this she continues so long till she gets both the stings and the sheath, as far as to the thick part of the sheath, into the body; which done, the stings need no more motion out of the sheath, when the body body of the sting (in Fig. 3,) OTP in the thickness of the sheath CDA (in Fig.1,) can move from C to D. And so much for the Stings of the Bee. Let us now see how our Observer explains his Figures, representing the several artus or limbs, he hath taken notice of about the Head of a Bee; which were also briefly mentioned in the aforesaid Numb.94. See then the same TABLE I. Fig. 7. where LDABC is one of the two small limbs, which the Bee hath on the fore-part of her Head, and which he calls Arms, wherewith he judges she makes her Hony-combs, each furnish't with three peculiar joints, as at D,A,B. In Fig. 8. EF is one of the two small limbs, which the Bee hath likewise on the fore-part of her Head, by him called Scrapers, by the help of which, he conceives, she scrapes the wax from flowers. In Fig. 9. GH is the small limb, which is also placed before on her head, and is by him call'd the Wiper, wherewith he conjectures she wipes off the Hony from the flowers. Fig. 10. KN represents the Scraper of a wild Bee, which he exhibits here with the rest, because it is of a different make from the Scraper of a tame Bee, above in Fig. 8. The remainder of this Authors Observations, which are chiefly about the Structure of Plants, and the contrivance of Nature to make them shoot and grow upwards, we must refer to another Month; being obliged to employ the rest of this Tract in publishing some Letters that have been exchanged between two Eminent Mathematicians about a considerable Optic Problem of Alhazen; as also in giving an account, according to our custom, of some new Philosophical Books, lately come out of the Press.