Swammerdam, and after him M. de Reaumur have admired this mechanism; they have thought, indeed, that the return should be occasioned by the effect of the air inflating the parts, and they supposed that the male organs proceeded from the body, and returned during copulation, the same as when forced out by pressure. Following their example, we have pressed them from the body of many males; we have a thousand times witnessed this wonderful return, which they detail with the greatest precision; but our males never survived the operation. We have seen, as M. de Reaumur, a few males protrude them spontaneously, even some of the parts inverted, but at that moment they died, and were unable to retract the parts which a pressure, most likely accidental, had forced out. Thus it is improbable that the male organs protrude by turning out of themselves in copulation; and the details which follow prove incontestibly, that it is otherwise. Had not Swammerdam been prejudiced with this opinion, he would have seen that the lenticular body can proceed from the body in erection without reversing itself; he could have proportioned the tortuous canal, which he calls the root of the penis; he would have seen that, at certain times, it can be sufficiently extended to allows the lenticular substance to protrude; he would have discovered the real use of the scaly plates; he would have explained that of the canal k, of the plaited pallet q, and the movements of all these parts, more admirable perhaps than the inversion which he was the first to observe. Our observations incontestibly prove copulation. The portion of the males found engaged in the body of our queens, hitherto called the lenticular substance, may be denominated a penis both from its position and use. The same surface is presented by it in the queen as in the body of the male, which is proved by the position of the laminae, e. e. attached to the interior of the penis, when found in the queen. It is evident, if the supposed inversion took place, the laminae would be found within the posterior part of the penis; and we should see them through its membrane, by their concave side, instead of which the convex surface is presented when in the vulva of females, the same as in the body of the males. But what is the use of these laminae? From their figure, hardness, relative position with respect to each other, and their situation at the extremity of the penis, we cannot doubt they are real pincers. However, to ascertain the fact, we found it necessary to see their position, and that of the penis itself in the females. For this purpose, we prevented some of the queens from extracting the parts left by the impregnating males, and by dissection we discovered that the laminae were pincers as we had conjectured.