The strength and beauty of this small creature, had it no other relation at all to man, would deserve a description.
For its strength, the Microscope is able to make no greater discoveries of it then the naked eye, but onely the curious contrivance of its leggs and joints, for the exerting that strength, is very plainly manifested, such as no other creature, I have yet observ’d, has any thing like it; for the joints of it are so adapted, that he can, as ’twere, fold them short one within another, and suddenly stretch, or spring them Schem. 34. out to their whole length, that is, of the fore-leggs, the part A, of the 34. Scheme, lies within B, and B within C, parallel to, or side by side each other; but the parts of the two next, lie quite contrary, that is, D without E, and E without F, but parallel also; but the parts of the hinder leggs, G, H and I, bend one within another, like the parts of a double jointed Ruler, or like the foot, legg and thigh of a man; these six leggs he clitches up altogether, and when he leaps, springs them all out, and thereby exerts his whole strength at once.
But, as for the beauty of it, the Microscope manifests it to be
all over adorn’d with a curiously polish’d suit of sable Armour,
neatly jointed, and beset with multitudes of sharp pinns, shap’d almost
like Porcupine’s Quills, or bright conical Steel-bodkins; the head is on
either side beautify’d with a quick and round black eye K, behind each of
which also appears a small cavity, L, in which he seems to move to and
fro a certain thin film beset with many small transparent hairs, which
probably may be his ears; in the forepart of his head, between the two
fore-leggs, he has two small long jointed feelers, or rather smellers,
MM, which have four joints, and are hairy, like those of several other
creatures; between these, it has a small proboscis, or
probe, NNO, that seems to consist of a tube NN,
and a tongue or sucker O, which I have perceiv’d him to slip in and out.
Besides these, it has also two chaps or biters PP, which are somewhat
like those of an Ant, but I could not perceive them tooth’d; these were
shap’d very like the blades of a pair of round top’d Scizers, and were
opened and shut just after the same manner; with these Instruments does
this little busie Creature bite and pierce the skin, and suck out the
blood of an Animal, leaving the skin inflamed with a small round red
spot. These parts are very difficult to be discovered, because, for the
most part, they lye covered between the fore-legs. There are many other
particulars, which, being more obvious, and affording no great matter of
information, I shall pass by, and refer the Reader to the Figure.