A Further Accompt of the Stellar Fifth; Formerly Described in Numb. 57. p. 1153; With the Addition of Some Other Curiosities

Another Extract of a Letter written from Midleton in Warwickshire to the Publisher July 1st by Francis Willughby Esquire; about the Hatching of a kind of Bee, lodged in Old Willows. The Cartrages that I got at A*bro* near a Twelfmonth ago, do now almost every day afford me a Bee; and I can hear them gnawing out their way before I see them: So that there is nothing irregular in the way of breeding of these Bees; But the contrivance of God and Nature in it is very admirable. Having shut their young ones in those Cells with sufficient provision, they all, as well the uppermost as lowermost, before Winter come to their full growth, or are turn'd into Nymphas; in which condition they are designed to lie all Winter, as the most of Insects do. The next Summer those must necessarily be first excited out of their torpor, and changed into Flyers by the external heat and air, that lie next it. If any be laid so late, that they have not time enough to come to the state of Nymphas before Winter, they will most certainly die; and then it is no loss nor inconvenience, though their Cells be perforated. The Scolopendra, spoken of by the German Philosophers in Numb. 8. p. 2082. §. 31. of the Transactions, is that which is our Brachus, described by Muffet, in the latter part of his Chapter de Julis, p. 202. I saw it in the Cloisters of Trinity College in Cambridge, 12 or 13 years ago. It shall go hard, but I will send you some shortly. I am, &c. A further Accompt of the Stellar Fish; formerly described in Numb. 57. p. 1153; with the Addition of some other Curiosities. This Accompt was communicated by the same Gentleman, that imparted the former, in a Letter written from Boston in New England Oct. 26. 1670. as followeth: Since Since my former, I found out the Fisher man, who brought that Stellar Fish from Sea. I asked all the questions I could think needful concerning it. I understood from him, that he never saw nor heard of any but those few, that were taken by himself, which were not above six or seven in all, and those at several times, not far from the Shoals of Nantucket (which is an Island upon the Coast of New England,) when he was fishing for Cod, and such like Marchantable fish. This Stellar Fish, when it was alive, and first pull'd out of the water, was like a basket, and had gathered itself round like a Wicker-basket, having taken fast hold upon that bait on the hook, which he had sunk down to the bottom to catch other Fish, and having held that within the surrounding brachia, would not let it go, though drawn up into the Vessel; until by lying a while on the Deck, it felt the want of its natural Element, and then voluntarily it extended itself into the flat round form, in which it appear'd when presented to your view. What motion these fishes had in the water, could not be known to him, for the water was deep, & they could not be seen in any other form than so gather'd up together to hold fast the bait. The only use that could be discern'd of all that curious composure wherewith Nature had adorned it, seems to be, to make it as a pursenet to catch some other fish or any other thing fit for its food, and as a basket of store to keep some of it for future supply, or as a receptacle to preserve and defend the young ones of the same kind from fish of prey; if not to feed on them also (which appears probable the one or the other;) for that sometimes there were found pieces of Mackerel within that concave: And he told me, that once he caught one, which had within the hollow of its embracements a very small fish of the same kind, together with some piece or pieces of an other fish, which was judged to be of a Mackerel. And that small one ('tis like) was kept either for its preservation or for food to the greater; but being alive, it seems most likely it was there lodged for safety, except it were accidentally drawn within the net, together ther with that piece of fish, upon which it might be then feeding. He told me further, that every one of those smallest parts* had motion when it was alive, and a tenacious strength; but after it was dead and extended to a flat round, it was so brittle that it could not be handled without breaking some parts of it; but by careful laying of it to dry, it was thereby somewhat hardened. He added, that he had taken one of this kind of fish the latter end of this Summer, but had left it with a friend at another port where he had been. Mean time he promised to procure it for me when he should sail thither again, if it were not then broken or defaced. I hope I shall engage him for the future to take better notice of what may be remarkable about it. Upon occasion I have required of divers other Fishermen and Mariners, but can meet with none other that ever have taken any of these fishes. This Fisherman could not tell me of any name it hath, and 'tis in all likelihood yet nameless, being not commonly known as other Fish are. But, until a fitter English name be found for it, why may it not be called (in regard of what hath been before mentioned of it) a Basket-Fish, or a Net Fish, or a Purs-net-Fish? I send you withal a little Box, with a Curiosity in it, which perhaps will be counted a trifle, yet 'tis rarely to be met with even here. It is the curiously contrived Nest of a Humming-Bird*, so called from the humming noise it maketh while it flies. 'Tis an exceeding little Bird, and only seen in Summer, and mostly in Gardens, flying from flower to flower, sucking Hony out of the flowers as a Bee doth; as it flieith not lighting on the flower, but hovering over it, sucking with its long Bill a sweet substance. There are in the same Nest two of that Birds Eggs*? Whether they use to have more at once, I know not. I never saw but one of those Nests before; and that * Of which see a notable Description in the History of the Antilles t.l.c.15.art.17., where it hath the name of Colibry. * These Eggs were so small, that being weighed by the Publisher, the one weighed but about 5 grains, the other 3½: And the whole Nest weighed no more than 24 grains. was sent over formerly, with some other Rarities, but the Vessel miscarrying you received them not. An Extract out of the 3d and 7th Venetian Giornale de Letterati, concerning the Formation of Fætus's. The Author of these Journals, proposeth in the third of them this Inquiry, viz. Wherein consists the causa formatrix of the Fætus; whether in the native Heat, as the Ancients taught; or in Motion, as the Moderns are inclined to believe; And if the latter, whence that motion proceeds, and hence it is diversified for the conservation of various species's? The Journalist having been informed, that Signor Gieronimo Barbato, publick Professor of Practical Physick at Padua, and Physician in Venice, had written a Book upon that subject, and illustrated it with new Anatomical Diagrams, all ready for the Press; did, it seems, obtain the perusal of the Original Manuscript, and permission withal, to make an Extract thereof, which in this Journal he presents the Curious with, to stay their desire whilst the whole Dissertation is printing. This Breviate we thought fit to English here out of the Italian, as followeth; The Author, Signor Gieron. Barbato, first delivers the chief Sentiments of the Ancients and Moderns concerning the Formative Soul; shewing that from variety of those Opinions there results nothing but darkness. He also mentions some others touching the use of the Testicles, whom he modestly refutes, animadverting upon some Errors both of old and new Anatomists. Then he discourses of some principal parts constituting the same, which he thinks have not been rightly observed hitherto: And beginning with the vasa pampiniformia, he affirms, that they are made up of a great many Arteries, and of one only Vein, and that this vein, being considerably big, is circularly situated, that so it may the more conveniently unite itself, by a curiously contrived anastomosis, to those many Arteries. Then he describeth the Use of these Pampiniform vessels, informing us, That the said Arteries are not directly inser-