Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/995

 L I B

L I B

Moft of thefe fpccies are found in Auguft and September, in our fields and gardens, efpecially near places where there are waters, as they have their origin from worms living in that element. The great ones ufually live all their time about waters, but the fmaller are common among hedges, and the fmalleft of all are moft frequent in gardens. The fmaller kinds often fettle upon bufhes, or upon the ground ; but the large ones are almoft always upon the wing, fo that it is very difficult to take them. Their eyes are a beautiful object for the microfcope. Ray's Hift. Infect, p. 50. The manner of this infect's coupling with the female is a thing that has attracted the obfervation and admiration of multitudes, as they are frequently feen, in the hotter months, in that ftate, flying together about the edges of waters. Mr. Homberg, of the Academy of Paris, has taken great pains to inform the world of the whole fecret of this Arrange coitus, and of feveral other remarkable particulars in regard to the creature. The fpecies in which he obferved it is the common It Bella with a blue body, and large black fpots on the wings j and is one of the middle fize, between the largeft and leaft of thefe creatures, and very frequent in moft places in June, July, and Auguft.

He obferves, that the male and female, in this fpecies, are of the fame fize and appearance, but that the tail, or end of the body is larger in the female. The body of the male is of a bright violet colour, and the wings have each a large dufky fpot near their extremity. This fpot is really of the fame violet colour with the body, but being deep, and on a very tranfparent body, it only ferves to render it opake on a flight view. The females have bodies of a fhining green- ifh grey, and their wings have not thefe fpots. When this animal is at reft, its wings are all placed erect, and fo clofe together, that they make the appearance of only one wing ; which is a peculiarity in this fpecies, the other li- bella carrying their wings always extended, as well when in a ftate of reft, as when flying. The head, in this fpecies, is very large, in proportion to the body, and is joined to it only by a flender filament ; and the beily is divided by ten articulations, which ferve only to move it upwards and downwards, having no power of turning it fideways. The part to which the wings are fixed is called the breaft in ani- mals of this kind j but in this creature the lungs are not fi- tuated there, but in the middle of the belly, which is kea continually rifing and falling at infpiration and expiration. The laft joint of the body of the male is a ring containing the anus, and this is furnifhed with two pair of hooks ; the one pair outward and larger, the other inward and fmaller : thefe the creature is able to open and fhut as lob- fters do their claws. The extremity of the belly of the female feems to confift of two tubes, or pipes, one placed upon the other ; the upper one is the anus, out at which it voids its excrements ; the under one is the female part of generation, and the entrance to the womb of the animal. The womb is about a twelfth of an inch long, and has its origin at the lower part of the eighth ring of the body. Each of thefe tubes is furnifhed at the extremity with two fmall points, as the anus of the male is with two pair of hooks ; and thefe two pipes placed one over the other in the female, are the reafon why the end of the body is not fo large in the male as in this (ex.

When the male of this fpecies finds the female firing upon a leaf, or ftick, he feizes her as he flies, taking faft hold of her with the hooks at the anus by the neck, or that part which joins the head to the breaft, and immediately flies away with her, holding her fixed by the neck to the end of his tail. It would not be unnatural, on this occafion, to imagine that there were one fpecies of animal running away with another to devour it; but this thought muft be of fhort duration, fince the female will be foon obferved to make no attempts to get away ; but, on the contrary, to contrive, as well as fhe can, to be better carried, and that with lefs trouble to the male.

The male does not carry his bride far before he fettles himfelf upon fome plant, and raifes his tail fo, that the fe- male may be brought to fit eafily under him upon trie fame plant. As foon as the female is thus feated, fhe turns up her tail, and brings it between the legs of the male, thai places it to a certain part of the bread of the male, in which are the organs of generation in that fex. All this while the male keeps his hold of her neck with his forceps, or hooks. They ufually remain in this pofture about three minutes ; and after that the male gently railing up his breaft, they become feparated, and leaving the hold he had on her neck, at the fame time, he flies away as he pleafes; The female ufually remains on the place for half a quarter of ■ an hour, and then fhe flies away alfo. Mr. Homberg hav- ing obferved the coupling of thefe animals thus far, was determined to examine the organs ufed in it by diflection. To this purpofe he caught feveral of them, and on the whole- collected thefe obfervarions.

The upper part of the body, as well in the male as female, is rounded, or convex, and the under part is fo folded in the middle, as to make a kind of channel. The fecond ring, in the body of the males, has a furrow, the edges of

which are furrounded with hairs, and from the bottom of which, toward the breaft, there arifes a long black body, of the thicknefs of a hog's briftle ; at the end of this there is a fmall white globule, which is hard, and very bright; this enters the breaft, and feems to be the penis of the male. Its ufual pofition is horizontal, in the furrow of the body, .and its white globule at the end may be always made to fhew itfelf, by prefling the body gently with a feather. The prefling the tail of the animal, alio makes it appear in the fame manner. On cutting the breaft of the animal tranf- verfely, there appears a hollow cone, the bafe of winch lies toward the body, and its apex runs to the root of this penis ; and if a fine probe be pufhed into the hollow cone in the breaft, the penis is always extended to its utmoft length. This hollow cone feems the refervoir of the femen of the male, and is only to be feen foon after the coupling with the female, when that femen has been ejected; it is then always to be (cen hollow and empty, but at other times, when full, its parietes are fo thin, that its fhape is not to be diftinguifhed. The furrows, in which the penis is lodged, is no way different from that which runs all along the underfide of the body, and of which it 13 a con- tinuation ; only that it is deeper in this part, and is covered with hairsj which it is not elfcwhcre.

The female has the fame furrow, but it is in her no deeper in this part than elfewhere, and has no hairs. The ninth ring in the female has, on its under part, an aperture, which is furnifhed at its edge with a little greyifh fublfance, relembling a fmall wing, on each fide. Thefe two whiga ferve to fhut and open the paflage to this aperture, at the pleafure of the animal, and when fhut they make a fort of pipe before it. From the root of the eighth joint to the end of the ninth, there runs a fmall elevation, at the ex- tremity of which are placed two fmall black horns. Thefe are very hard, and are about a twelfth of an inch long, and bent ; their points are turned toward the anus : thefe confift of a number of articulations, and confequently are moveable every way. Thefe are generally hid under the little wings beforementioned, and are placed fo clofely and evenly together, that they feem only one little hook. It is eafy to fee that thefe little bodies may be of great ufe in the act of generation; they ferve to open the female part at pleafure, and to direct and fix it in the proper place for the male. When che female, in turning her body upwards, extends thefe hooks, and fixes them in the edges of the furrow, which runs along the body of the male, there is no more required than to Aide them gently upwards, to bring the parts which they belong to exactly to the deftined place. Mem. Acad. Par. 1699. Libella, among the Romans, was the tenth part of the de- narius. See Denarius, Cyd.

LIBER, in vegetables, the bark or rind, principally of trees. This is to be conceived as confifting of a number of cy- lindric and concentric furfaces, whofe texture is reticular, and in fome trees plainly cxtrufible every way, by reafon that the fibres are foft and flexible. While in this condi- tion they are either hollow regular canals, or, if not fo, they have interftitial fpaces, which ferve the office of canals. The nutritious juice, which they are continually receiving, remains in part in them, and makes them grow in length and thicknefs, and ftrengthens and brings them clofer to- gether ; and by this means the texture, which was before reticular, becomes an afTemblage of ftrait fibres, ranged vertically, and parallel to each other ; that is, as they are thus altered behind one another, they, by degrees, become a new fubftance more woody, and called blea. Boerbaave's Chym. Not. p. 138. See Bark.

LIBERATE, in law, a writ that lies for the payment of a yearly penfion, or fum of money, granted under the great feaf, and directed to the treafurer, chamberlains, and barons of the Exchequer, &c. for that purpofe. In another (enk it is a writ to the fherifF of a county, for the delivery of pofleflion of lands, and goods extended, or taken upon the forfeiture of a recognizance. Liberate is alfo ufed for a writ iffuirig out of the Chancery, directed to a gaoler for delivery of a prifoner, who hath put in bail for his appearance. F. N. B. 132. 4.1nfl. 116. Terms of the law. Blount, Cowel.

LIBERTATE /mjitftt^, in law,an antient writ that lay for fuch as being demanded for villains offered to prove themfelvcs free ; directed to the fherifF, that he mould take fecurity of them for their proving of their freedom before the juftices of aflize, and that in the mean rime they fhould be unmo- lefted. F. N. B. 77. Terms of law. Blount, Coinel

LIBERTATIBUS allocandh, in law, a writ lying for a citizen or burgefs, impleaded contrary to his liberty, to have his privilege allowed. Reg. Orig. 262. If any do claim a fpecial liberty to be impleaded within a city or borough, and not elfewhere, there may be a fpecial writ de libertatibus alkcandii, to permit the burgefTes to ufe their liberties, c^r. Thefe writs are of feveral forms, and may be fued by a corporation, or by any tingle perfon, as

> the cafe fhall happen. New Nat. Br. 509,510. Bhimt, Cowel.

LIBERTY