Wrote Letter L-481 of 1711-09-22 to the members of the Royal Society about mites, their reproduction, eggs, larvae, a calculation of the size of a mite egg, the hair of a honey-bee, and metamorphis of larvae from dried fish into a full-grown animal
Standard reference information Collected Letters number:
Collected Letters volume:
The original manuscript on fifteen quarto pages, written in another hand but signed by Leeuwenhoek, is preserved in London at the Royal Society (MS. 2091. L 4. 40).
Leeuwenhoek's summary Leeuwenhoek's self-publications are the source for the summaries of his 165 letters self-published and thus self-numbered letters. This letter was not among them.Philosophical Transactions .
Reception in London
The letter was read in the meeting of the Royal Society of 8 November I7II O .S. (Royal Society, ]ournal Book Original , vol. II, p. 24 7).
A practically complete English translation of the letter was published in no. 333 of Philosophical Transactions , dated January, February and March 1712, pp. 398-415, with 5 figures.
The manuscript of the English translation on twenty-two folio pages, is preserved in London at the Royal Society (MS 2092, L.4-41).
Specimens and methods Observations on various kinds of mites. On their reproduction, eggs, the hatching of larvae and the larvae themselves. Calculation of the size of an egg.
Hair of a honey-bee.
On larvae from dried fish, their hairs, and their metamorphosis into a full-grown animal.
Figures Figures
5 figures in red chalk on a separate sheet.
Publication history Related sources, especially Philosophical Transactions, and first editions only of Leeuwenhoek's volumes of letters. For later editions see Related events under Learn more.
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