Examination of ant eggs and larvae
Date
9 September 1687
Creator
Unknown, Artist
Object type
Archive reference number
Manuscript page number
p17
Material
Dimensions
height (page): 181mm
width (page): 140mm
width (page): 140mm
Subject
Description
Eight figures in a letter from Antoni van Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society.
Fig. 1: ant inside an ant's egg
Fig. 2: egg under the microscope
Fig. 3: egg under microscope with worm protruding
Fig. 4: egg with worm
Fig. 5: microscope view of worm that has crawled out of the egg
Fig. 6: full worm
Fig. 7: the sting of an ant
Fig. 8: for the sake of scale are here three red ants in true size
Fig. 1: ant inside an ant's egg
Fig. 2: egg under the microscope
Fig. 3: egg under microscope with worm protruding
Fig. 4: egg with worm
Fig. 5: microscope view of worm that has crawled out of the egg
Fig. 6: full worm
Fig. 7: the sting of an ant
Fig. 8: for the sake of scale are here three red ants in true size
Object history
At the meeting of the Royal Society on 6 November 1687, ‘Part of a letter of Mr. Leewenhoek, concerning the generation of ants, was read; wherein he was of the opinion, that the white things, taken for their eggs, are really worms, which, he said, he observed to be hatched into ants in a little time. The rest of the letter was referred to the next meeting' (Birch 4:552).
At the meeting of the Royal Society on 23 November 1687, ‘The latter part of Mr. Leewenhoeck’s letter of September 9, 1687, concerning the generation of ants was read, wherein he concluded three things, 1. That the real eggs of ants are exceedingly small, and not bigger than ordinary grains of sand. 2. That out of these eggs are worms produced, which being without any motion of their own and helpless are fed by the old ants; whence it comes to pass, that they are so busy carrying food to their nests in summer, and not in order to lay up any magazine of provision against winter, as was vulgarly supposed: and 3. That those which, were most commonly called ants eggs, are either those worms or aureliae of young ants, or else a sort of webs, wherein one sort of ant-worms were observed by Mr. Leewenhoeck to wrap themselves a little before their maturity. He took notice by the way of the manner of the stinging of ants, which he found not to be by biting, as some imagined, but by a real sting in the tail, which is all along on the back thereof grooved with a deep groove not unlike the scheit used by seamen to wet sails withal; by means of which groove the ant conveys to the point of her sting a small drop of venomous transparent liquor, which by its acrimony occasions the smart and swelling, that generally follows the sting of ants’ (Birch 4:553-54).
Printed images taken from a published version of the letter (the same plate is in the Dutch and Latin versions):
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, Vervolg der Brieven, geschreven aan de Wytvermaarde Koninglijke Societeit tot Londen (Leiden: C. Boutesteijn, 1687), pp. 96-114.
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, Continuatio Epistolarum (Leiden: Boutesteyn, 1689), pp. 75-90.
At the meeting of the Royal Society on 23 November 1687, ‘The latter part of Mr. Leewenhoeck’s letter of September 9, 1687, concerning the generation of ants was read, wherein he concluded three things, 1. That the real eggs of ants are exceedingly small, and not bigger than ordinary grains of sand. 2. That out of these eggs are worms produced, which being without any motion of their own and helpless are fed by the old ants; whence it comes to pass, that they are so busy carrying food to their nests in summer, and not in order to lay up any magazine of provision against winter, as was vulgarly supposed: and 3. That those which, were most commonly called ants eggs, are either those worms or aureliae of young ants, or else a sort of webs, wherein one sort of ant-worms were observed by Mr. Leewenhoeck to wrap themselves a little before their maturity. He took notice by the way of the manner of the stinging of ants, which he found not to be by biting, as some imagined, but by a real sting in the tail, which is all along on the back thereof grooved with a deep groove not unlike the scheit used by seamen to wet sails withal; by means of which groove the ant conveys to the point of her sting a small drop of venomous transparent liquor, which by its acrimony occasions the smart and swelling, that generally follows the sting of ants’ (Birch 4:553-54).
Printed images taken from a published version of the letter (the same plate is in the Dutch and Latin versions):
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, Vervolg der Brieven, geschreven aan de Wytvermaarde Koninglijke Societeit tot Londen (Leiden: C. Boutesteijn, 1687), pp. 96-114.
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, Continuatio Epistolarum (Leiden: Boutesteyn, 1689), pp. 75-90.
Related fellows
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632 - 1723, Dutch) , Naturalist
Associated place