It
seem'd to have nine teeth, or prominent parts IK, IK, IF, &c. which were
join'd together by the thinner interpos'd parts of the bone. The Animal to
which these teeth belong, is a very _anomalous_ creature, and seems of a
kind quite distinct from any other terrestrial Animal or Insect, the
Anatomy whereof exceedingly differing from what has been hitherto given of
it I should have inserted, but that it will be more proper in another
place. I have never met with any kind of Animal whose teeth are all join'd
in one, save onely that I lately observ'd, that all the teeth of a
Rhinocerot, which grow on either side of its mouth, are join'd into one
large bone, the weight of one of which I found to be neer eleven pound
_Haverdupois_. So that it seems one of the biggest sort of terrestrial
Animals, as well as one of the smallest, has his teeth thus shap'd.
* * * * *
Observ. XLI. _Of the Eggs of _Silk-worms_, and other Insects._
The Eggs of Silk-worms (one of which I have describ'd in the second
_Figure_ of 25. _Scheme_) afford a pretty Object for a _Microscope_ that
magnifies very much, especially if it be bright weather, and the light of a
window be cast or collected on it by a deep _Convex-glass_, or Water-ball.
For then the whole surface of the Shell may be perceiv'd all cover'd over
with exceeding small pits or cavities with interposed edges, almost in the
manner of the surface of a Poppy-seed, but that these holes are not an
hundredth part scarce of their bigness; the Shell, when the young ones were
hatch'd (which I found an easie thing to do, if the Eggs were kept in a
warm place) appear'd no thicker in proportion to its bulk, then that of an
Hen's or Goos's Egg is to its bulk, and all the Shell appear'd very white
(which seem'd to proceed from its transparency) whence all those pittings
did almost vanish, so that they could not, without much difficulty, be
discern'd, the inside of the Shell seem'd to be lin'd also with a kind of
thin film, not unlike (keeping the proportion to its Shell) that with which
the shell of an Hen-egg is lin'd; and the shell it self seem'd like common
Egg-shells; very brittle, and crack'd.
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