* * * * *
Observ. LII. _Of the small Silver-colour'd _Book-worm_._
As among greater Animals there are many that are scaled, both for ornament
and defence, so are there not wanting such also among the lesser bodies of
Insects, whereof this little creature gives us an Instance. It is a small
white Silver-shining Worm or Moth, which I found much conversant among
Books and Papers, and is suppos'd to be that which corrodes and eats holes
through the leaves and covers; it appears to the naked eye, a small
glittering Pearl-colour'd Moth, which upon the removing of Books and Papers
in the Summer, is often observ'd very nimbly to scud, and pack away to some
lurking cranney, where it may the better protect itself from any appearing
dangers. Its head appears bigg and blunt, and its body tapers from it
towads the tail, smaller and smaller, being shap'd almost like a Carret.
This the _Microscopical_ appearance will more plainly manifest, which
exhibits, in the third _Figure_ of the 33. _Scheme_, a conical body,
divided into fourteen several partitions, being the appearance of so many
several shels, or shields that cover the whole body, every of these shells
are again cover'd or tiled over with a multitude of thin transparent
scales, which, from the multiplicity of their reflecting surfaces, make the
whole Animal appear of a perfect Pearl-colour.
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