La Vana Speculatione Disingannata Dal Senso: Lettera Risponsiva Circa i Corpi Marini, che Petrificati Si Trovano in Varij Luoghi Terrestri

La vana speculatione disingannata dal senso: Lettera Risponsiva circa i Corpi Marini, che Petrificati si trovano in vari Luoghi Terrestri. Di Agostino Scilla Pittore Academico della Fucina, in Napoli, 1670. 4to. With short Notes, by a Fellow of the Royal Society. It will not, I suppose, be wondered at, that a Book which has been so long printed, should now be taken notice of in these Transactions, since it appears to be so little known, even by those who have written upon the self-same Argument, that some late Writers who seem to have omitted nothing that Nature and Books could help them to, to carry on their Work, seem never to have seen it. Otherwise in all probability they would have named this Author, among those who have taken pains to prove, that the Shells, or Stones in likeness of Shells which are found up and down upon the Surface, and in Hills and Quarries of the Earth, were once real coverings of inclosed Fishes, or have been formed in those Shells which were instead of Molds to the liquid matter that got in after the Fishes were consumed. This Signior Scilla has not only taken pains to prove, but has brought more Arguments in proof of it, than had been brought by those that appeared upon that Subject before him. His way of Writing shows little Art, and less Learning, which he owns himself a Stranger to, being by Profession a Painter of Messina, who delighted much in designing and painting all Rarities of Nature which were brought brought to him, or which he could collect. The great variety of Shells found either in the neighbouring Hills, or brought to him from Malta, led him into a dispute with some Virtuosi of his acquaintance, concerning their Original: Some asserting that they were formed at first by a plastical power in the Earth; he on the contrary being of Opinion, that they were real Shells thrown by an Inundation, at one time or other, upon the Earth: The proving of which Assertion is the subject matter of this Treatise. After a great deal of prefacing spent in Verbose Civilities, after the manner of Modern Italian Writers, he begins to enquire into the generation of Minerals and Metals, which he believes to be generated by a penetrating Juice or Vapour arising out of the Bowels of the Earth, which alters and turns all manner of Earths into itself. So that if in Alum works (for example) after they are exhausted, Sand, or Gravel, or Dirt be thrown into the Pits, from whence the Alum was dug, by the penetrative and alterative quality of the Aluminous Vapour, they will by degrees be changed into such a substance as had before been dug out of the self-same place. He says he has found Clods of Earth and Gravel which have been so put in, which as they have been more or less distant from the fountain of Allum, from whence these Vapours did exhale, were more or less impregnated with Alum: Nay he pretends that by breaking several of these Clods whilst they were thus digesting, he has discovered the steps by which Nature works in the whole process of this Maturation. The Fossil Salt in the Mountains of Ragalmuto in Sicily is, in his Opinion made after the same manner; for after the Peasants have wrought a Pit, if they fill it up again with the loose Earth which they find hard by, in a short time it will be so condensed and purified, that for brightness it will not be distinguishable from that which which was dug out not long before. After which manner also he supposes that the harder Minerals are produced. This Hypothesis is advanced in order to what he has to say concerning the original of those Shells and formed Stones which are found upon the Earth; thereby to invalidate the Argument of those who pretend that they are formed by a vegetative Virtue in that particular Soil, which determines them to that peculiar and regular shape: To which he now proceeds. He begins with supposing that Malta, from whence the greatest quantity of these supposed Petrifications come, was made an Island, as we now see it, some time after the Creation; and that it was once a heap of liquid Mud replenish'd with Shells, Teeth, &c. which (as he afterwards explains himself) settling promiscuously according to its Gravity, hath made that Island a heap of Earth, Stones, Shells, Teeth, and the like, as now we see it. He supposes that this Collection of Matter was occasioned by a Flood, let the Causes of that Flood have been what they will, either an irruption of the Ocean into the Mediterranean, or an inundation of the Tuscan Sea driven that way by vehement Winds, or any other Cause assigned by Authors; which (namely that the present state of the Isle of Malta, was caused by a Flood) being granted, he thinks he may be allowed to affirm, that which every Mans Reason must acknowledge to be highly probable, namely that an infinite variety of things which were born up by the violence of the Waters were carried along by them, some to one place, and some to another. But to this his Adversary objected, that formed Stones have been frequently found, such as the Bucardites of Imperati, and others like some sort of Turbans or Periwinkles, which being all of a hard stony substance, could never have been Shells. These, says he, are made of Mud condensed in Shells, which were the Molds in which these Stones were formed; and therefore we need not be at a loss to conceive how these Stones should ever contain an Animal within them, since they took the place of the Animal that was wasted away, whilst they were only liquid Paste, which hardening afterwards would retain their Form, when the Crust that covered them, and that gave them their shape, was mouldred away. And whereas it was further objected, that great quantities of Shells are found in Malta, which are foreign to those Seas: That (says he) is of no force, since it is well known that every South-East and Easterly Wind throws whole Boat-loads of beautiful Shells upon the Calabrian Coast, none of which kind of Shell-Fish are ever taken by Fishermen upon those Seas. Now he comes to particulars. He begins with the Lapidus Bufonitae, which he proves to be the true Grinders of the Sargus Dentex and Aurata, and other Fishes of that Tribe, which have round Dentes Molares, to grind the Shells that they find at the bottom of the Sea, that they may come at the Flesh upon which they live. Now to make this beyond contest, he produces the natural Jaw-bones of these Fishes, with their Teeth within them; and compares those Teeth with the Bufonitae, of which there are as many sorts, as there are species of Fishes, which have round hard Jaw-Teeth. (a). The great Numbers of Glassopetrae sent to him from Malta, some entire, some corroded at the Root which never had a Crust over it, some bruised, some whole, do as plainly shew their Original as the Bufonitae did before: For upon comparing he finds that they are not so much very like to, as the very same with the Teeth of Sharks and other Fishes of the Dog-kind. Nay he appeals to the Senses of all Mankind, whether great Numbers of Testaceous Substances, that he is ready to produce, taken out of of Mountains and Rocks, were not originally coverings of Animals of their respective kinds, since the very bruises which they received by the weight of the Ambient Matter, as it grew harder, and consequently prest more heavily upon them, are still plainly visible. Some of the Echini being robbed of their Prickles, and loosed in their Joints, which being naturally membranous, easily part, being corroded by the humid [and perhaps acid] substance in which they lay. (b). And whereas it may be objected, that these Shells may grow by little and little, and consequently some may be tenderer than others, as not being exactly formed; he says he can shew Lumps of Stone excessively hard full of Conchae, Turbens, Scallops and the like, where, within some of them, all the parts of the Animal itself may be distinctly observed; which is not so very rare neither, but that he has several times observed it. This, says he, puts the Original of these Shells out of doubt; since they hapned to be closed before the liquid Mud could get in and corrode the included Animal, and afterwards harden into the exact form which its Matrice must of necessity give it: Whereas the others being first filled with Mud, which hardened into a stony consistence after the Animal was quite wasted, gave occasion to some Persons who had not seen great varieties of Shells and formed Stones of that sort, to doubt of their Original. He reasons also from the several Lamellæ, of which these Land-shells are composed, which are coated over one another in such a manner, that they may be parted into very thin and subtile Plates, such as Sea-shells of that kind are made up of. But it was objected, that in those Beds where these Shells are found, generally speaking, most of one sort are found together, from whence it has been concluded that they are first formed in those Beds where they are found. Whereas he pretends that this proceeds only from the Motion into which the Waters were put during the Deluge; it being well known that if Egg-shells, Straws, Pebbles, Shells and several other dissimilar substances be put into a great quantity of Water, and this Water be afterwards moved violently and irregularly, those dissimilar Bodys will after a great many Shocks and impediments, upon the settling of the Water, subside according to their Figure pretty nearly together, and consequently will be thrown into great Heaps, some here, some there, according to that determination which the rolling of the Waters gave them. The Places where these several Substances are thus separately found, are as he thinks invincible Arguments in proof of his Opinion. The Soil of Malta is Marl, which is a natural Balsam for the Glosopetrae, that otherwise would have been soon wasted in loose Sand. Besides, Malta lies low if compared with the Mountains of Sicily, so that 'tis no wonder that Sharks Teeth, which are heavy Bodys, should first subside, and consequently be found there in great quantities, whereas with all his diligence, Signior Scilla could never find but five upon the Sicilian Mountains, and those extremely thin, and without any Osseous Matter within them, but filled with a light and subtile Matter; tho' he does not question but in time he may be able to find, at the foot of these Hills, some Glosopetrae which may equal those of Malta. And this, according to him, is the Reason why in Malta itself, the Echini and Echinidae are chiefly found upon the strand and above ground in view, all round the Island; for they are both lighter than the Glosoptere, and by reason of their Figure would more easily float and be buoyed up upon the Water, whereas the Glosoptere being both specifically heavier, and of a closer contexture of parts, sunk deeper into the Earth. But if there were no other Argument, the situation of the Glosoptera in their Beds from whence they are dug, puts their Original out of controversy: Midling ones here, small ones there, great ones in a third place, without any sort of order and regularity: Some with their Roots uppermost, others directly downwards, others across: vast numbers broken, every one with a different Inclination, all plainly proving how they first came thither, since had they grown there at first, their Roots would have been all downwards, unless we should frame to ourselves a different Notion to the Production of Glosoptera, from any thing else in Nature that is generated and increased from some one fixt Seminal Principle. And, besides, were there such a seminal Principle, 'tis not likely that it should be common to Glosoptera and Shells too; and yet Shells of all sorts, and in all positions are very often found in the Clay amongst these Glosoptera. It is objected however, that the Glosoptera may be easily taken out of their Beds by their Sides, or at the Point; whereas at the Base they adhere very closely, from which there often comes forth a plain Root, which is oftentimes longer than the Glosoptera itself. This, says Signior Scilla is a plain proof of my Assertion. For that Root is not made by Nature to suck out [or rather convey] any nutritive juice into the Glosoptera from the Mud, but from the Jaw of the Shark where it originally grew. It was no wonder therefore that their sides and point, which are naturally very hard and smooth, did not stick so firmly to the Mud, or Stone wherein 'twas lodged; but it would have been a wonder if the Root, which in all Sharks Teeth is very spongy and very porous, had not been filled with liquid Mud, that would easily have fixed it in its Bed; when it once began to harden. And accordingly he appeals to all that ever compared Sharks Teeth and these *Glossopetrae* together, if they be not exactly alike, some hard, some soft, some incrustated towards the point, some quite thro' ; with every one a spongy Root, where they are inserted into their proper Muscle. His Adversary had asked, *Why the Black and Ash-coloured Conchæ and Turbens, are only found in the Chalk and Clay, and not the White ones which are dug out from among the Rocks?* To which he answers, That those which are found in the Chalk and Clay, are not true Turbens or Conchæ; but Stones formed like them: Whereas those that are found in Rocks are real Shells, which are enclosed and so preserved in the Rocks. One *Turbinites* which his Adversary had sent to him, was a clear Evidence of this Matter. For it was molded within a Spiral Shell, which turned into itself, as all the turbinated Kind constantly do, the inner Twirls of which Shell were preserved entire amidst the lapideous matter; when the outward ones had been quite worn off; from whence he positively concludes that all these formed Stones, which seem to resemble Testaceous Animals of the turbinated and bivalved kinds, were actually cast in the real Shells of those Animals, and were never in another form besides that in which we now see them. But 'tis objected, *Glossopetrae are natural Crystallizations of Salt*; to which he makes this reply: That then the whole substance would be all of a piece. Salt would be Salt as well within as without; a Granate and a Topaz is a Granate and a Topaz throughout: Diamonds and Rubies are Diamonds and Rubies all over: they are aggregates of similar Particles which compose the whole Mass, be it greater, or be it less; whereas these *Glossopetrae* (c) like all other Vegetables, are made up of various and dissimilar Corpuscles, put together in such a manner, as is peculiarly subservient to the end for which they were made. Accordingly the *Cortex* is of one Sub- Substance, and the Medulla of another, and that lodged in proper Cells, with a Root distinct from them both; (d). Besides, says he, Nature sometimes produces monstrous and defective things. An Animal sometimes wants a Limb, a Tree is without some principal Branches, a Fruit may want some of its chiefest parts, Yet still we may observe that Nature supplies and covers that defect with a Skin, or Bark, or Rind, so that it never appears torn off or rent to the naked Eye, as it would, if it were torn off by a Hand, or cut off with a Knife. This is Natures constant course; which evidently shews that the Lusus Naturæ, (as these are erroneously called) were never produced in the Earth; since all the bruises and fractures, which they have met with, are apparent without any disguise to hide them, as Nature always employs to hide the Effects of her own irregular Productions. He argues likewise from the Beds in which they are found, wherein, Gravel, Clay, Teeth, Bones, Shells of all sorts lay confused in one Mass. As also from the impressions which they leave behind them in the Marl, even to the minutest Lines and Cracks in the Tooth, which appear exactly in both, like an Impression upon Wax, and the engraving on the Seal which made it. The Apophysis also, or Processes in the Glossopetrae demonstrate their Original, were there nothing else; since they exactly answer to those in Sharks Teeth, whereby every Tooth is inserted into his Neighbour in the living Animal; with those parts porous, and those spongy that are so in the Tooth of the Fish. Nay whereas Sharks Teeth are mortised into one another such a manner, that a man may easily tell which belongs to which side, which lie near the Throat, which near the Snout, which lie to the Right, and which to the Left. And whereas in a Sharks Jaw, the Teeth on the Left Side will not fit on the Right, nor those above serve below, below; so that upon seeing a Tooth, one may tell which Side, and what Jaw it belongs to: He has observed every one of these things in his *Glossopterae*, which punctually answer in every part to the several ranks of the Teeth of living Sharks. His Cuts at the end of his Book, which are very beautiful, make these Arguments of his, very convincing. He has drawn a piece of Marl, wherein a *Glossoptera*, a *Lapis Judaicus* (e), a piece of a Scallop-shell that would part into Lamellae like the Sea-shells of that kind, and a rotten piece of Bone lie all confusedly by one another. He produces the Crust of an *Echinus Spatagus* lying in its Bed of Marl, which within was filled with Marl, and incrusted with it without. This Shell meeting with an accidental pressure, was crackt; these cracks do clearly shew that it was an original Shell, and also the Reason how it came to be so crackt; since thereby it appears that the Shell yielded as far as the inclos’d Marl would give it leave. And whereas it has been objected that *Echini Spatagi* are very rarely seen, and yet that great Numbers of this Species of *Echinidae* have been found in Malta: This to Signior Scilla is no objection at all, he himself having in less than an hours time taken them up by hundreds in the Port of Messina. He produces an *Echinites* whereon appeared the five Lines from one common Centre, within which, upon breaking it, he found five correspondent Cells, and the place for the Mouth exactly agreeing to an *Echinus* taken out of the Sea. He produces likewise part of a Jaw-bone of a Dog Fish lying in a Bed of Stone, with three Teeth in it: Tis partly rotten, partly sound; porous with Channels for the Marrow in the midst, covered without with a hard osseous Crust, peculiar to the cartilaginous kind: Upon Upon the same Bed there are also little Shells, and many round Knobs proper to that sort of Dog-Fish, (f) which seem to be beginning Teeth, called by the Maltesi, Serpents Eyes. From these Observations our Author proceeds to philosophize upon the Phænomena; and taking it for granted that these Land-shells are the remains of a Deluge, he enquires into the contexture of that Soil wherein they are chiefly found. His Habitation being at Messina, gave him better opportunities to make his enquiries there: In pursuance of which he observes that the Mountains near that City consist of Strata, which lie in this Order, first Gravel, then midling Sand, then very fine Sand: That the Lines described by these Strata, are all Horizontal, with a small declivity towards the Sea; which declivity going thro' all the Strata, proceeds in his opinion from the original inclination of the Floor or Basis on which these Strata were at first laid: That after three Layers of Sand and Gravel of different finenesses, come three other Layers in the same Order with the former; first Gravel, then coarser, then finer Sand again, and so on several times one after another. This he supposes to have proceeded from repeated Tides: From whence he concludes, that the Water coming with great violence, sustained whatsoever came in its way; but upon its going off, the force abating, it let fall the terrestrial matter that subsided according to its specific Gravity; and that these repeated flowings and ebings of the Water hapned during some one very great Inundation, the Time whereof, or its Cause, he does not determin. He observes that these Shells are not found certainly in such or such particular places, but casually some here, some there, just as the rolling of the Waters hapned to carry them, and accordingly they subsided, where-ever the strength of the Waters Motion, by which they were buoyed up, abated. He says that all the Hills about Messina are not made up of such loose Sand, some consisting of a hard Rock, others of a white Tophus, or a dirty Marl; in all which one may observe either the former Order of the Strata, or horizontal Lines of different Bodies and different Colours. He observes that the Land-Shells differ in hardness and consistency according to the Matter in which they lie: An Echinus petrified in a Tophus, is not so hard as another Echinus petrified in a Rock; so that according to the disposition of the ambient Matter, they acquired a greater or a less degree of hardness; and in some they continued just as they were at first; all which he urges to shew, that these Land-shells could not be Petrifications made in Water, according to the common Notion of the Word. Having thus laid down his Hypothesis, he subjoins several of his own Observations; which (as he supposes) put this Question beyond Dispute. I. He observes, that there are no Sharks Teeth found anywhere at Land but in Malta; the Glossopetrae in other places are small, or light the Cortices of large ones. This he resolves into specifick Gravity, and the different make of Sharks Teeth, of which some are quite hard, others only cortically so; these last are filled with a mucilaginous juice; such were those three that he found upon the Hills near Messina, which were filled with fine soft Marl, instead of that Mucilage wherewith they had been naturally replenished. II. He broke great Numbers of petrified Echini, and other Bodies naturally hollow, which were filled only with such Marl as that they lay in, or else fragments of Shells, Sand, Pebbles, Spines of the Hystrix Marinus, and such like stuff. And he affirms that he nor no Body else did ever see within these Shells any thing but what might get in at the Mouths of the Echini; which shews, that that after the Membranes which closed the Mouths of the *Echini* were worn, thro' the Chalk, and other little Bodies mingled with it, got in and filled the Cavity, now void by the wearing away of the Body of the Shell-Fish itself. III. He examined the petrified Vertebres of the Spines of Fishes, which he found exactly to correspond in their several Articulations both into each other, and into the Ribs which issue from them, with real Vertebres of Fishes found at Sea. IV. He examines some *testaceous Bodys*, that he found in *Calabria*, which exactly answer to the *Dentales* of *Aldrovandus*, and according to him, are found only in hollow Stones at the bottom of the Sea, unless they are at any time thrown upon the Shore by great Waves. V. He produces the Claw of a Sea-Crab found in the Hills near *Messina*, with a piece of a Scallop-Shell clutch'd within it. VI. Also a Stone in which pieces of Coral, and all manner of Shells were disorderly petrified, as chance had laid them, and in some the Animal it self petrified within, so that one might discern the small interiour Membranes proper to each Shell. Others in the same Bed, were full of the Matter in which they lay: others half full of a pellucid *Flour* like Crystal; others again had a sediment of turbid Matter; all which Spars and Sediments, let the position of the Shell, which contained them, have been what it would, gravitated at first exactly towards the lowest part of the Shell, as it was there situated; which plainly shews that they once were fluid, and carried thither by their own weight. VII. He produces pieces of petrified Coral, which tho' they had lost their Red Colour on the outside, yet had a reddish tincture within, as all that Species of Coral has; from whence he concludes, (1.) That Time had begun to destroy them. (2.) That the... Accidents of the place rather concurred to their Destruction than Generation. VIII. As also pieces of Fistulous Coral, which tho' they were broken in the Tophus, yet might be put together just as they were naturally joined together in the Sea. IX. Together with some of the Joyned Coral of Imperati, which resembles the Shank-bones of Animals; this also joyned right, tho' the pieces were found apart in the Tophus. X. He compared some of the Echini Spinis longissimis of Aldrovandus, with the Shells of those Echini found at Messina, and in Malta; and he found them to agree exactly. He observed the same situations and dimensions of the Mammillae, and the Spines which turn upon them, as upon a Pivot; and when broken, the same Ligatures of every part of the Crust, which covers the Animal. XI. He produces one Echinus, bruised in the Tophus in which it lay, wherein after he had washed off the tophaceous particles that it was filled with, he found several of the Spines that had formerly been upon the Crust: As also a Spathagus, with the Prickles on, which he found in a Valley in Calabria. He concludes at last with taking notice, that all the Echini, or other Land-shells, that he had found bruised upon the Calabrian or Messinese Hills, or had been brought to him from Malta, were bruised by a perpendicular pressure: This he explains thus; The Crust of all Echini has two Centers, one directly opposite to the other; so that if they hapned to lie in the liquid Mud, in such a manner, as that the lowest Center was perpendicular to the Horizon, they were bruised, so as not to lose their circular Figure; only they were much compressed. If they lay on one side, they were squeezed out of that shape, and the Membranes of the Ligatures parted parted from each other variously, according to the variety of the situation of these Shells in the Mud at that time. All which plainly shews, that as the Mud dried, the super-incumbent Weight pressed perpendicularly upon the inclosed Bodies, which were then compressed together in that posture they then hapned to lie in: And were more or less compressed, according as the Mud got into their Cavities in greater or lesser quantities, and as it dried, propped them up on the inside against the pressure of the Matter in which they lay. Short Notes upon the foregoing Account; by a Fellow of the Royal Society. (a) pag. 4. Mr Willughby says the Sargus has none of these round Teeth, which he calls tubercula Ossea, and makes that one of the Characteristics to distinguish it from the Sparus, and Scarus, and other Fishes of that Tribe. However I retain the word, because Scilla's word is Sargo; and perhaps Willughby's Sargus may not be Scilla's Sargo, or, which is more probable, he might overlook that particularity in that Fish which he dissected. (b) ibid. By these testaceous Substances, which he here speaks of, he means the Crusfts of the Echini, of which he has given us so many curious Designs in the annexed Figures. He seems to think that the Echini Marini are of the testaceous Kind, as also several very great Naturalists have thought before him. Gesner, after Aristotle, in his Nomenclator Animantium Aquatilium, ranges them with the Concha, Cochleae, Scallops, Purpurae. puræ, and the rest of the testaceous tribe; and yet he owns that Rondeletius reckoned them among the Crustaceous Kind, and accordingly discoursed of them after Crabs and Lobsters, just before he treated of those Animals, which are confessedly testaceous; wherein he followed Pliny, who was of the same Opinion before him. And they certainly were in the right, tho' for want of stating the true difference between a Crust and a Shell properly so called, the due place which the Echini ought to hold in a Natural History of Shellfish, as the word may comprehend both Kinds, has never yet, that I know of, been ascertained. A Shell properly is such a hard Substance, as covers an entire Animal, or at least one whole side, without Joynts or Ligatures, as in Buccina, Purpurea, Murices, Oysters, Scallops, Cockles, and the like. A Crust is such a hard Substance as covers only one particular Joynt of the inclosed Animal, so that in the whole Crustaceous Tribe there are as many Shells upon every Animal, (if I may be allowed to use that word in a larger sense) as there are Joynts in that Animal. This is plain in Crabs, Lobsters, Cray-fish, and Shrimps; for which Reason Crustaceous Animals may truly be called Multi-testaceous, and the other simply testaceous, or bi-testaceous. And therefore as in Scaly Fishes, every Scale has a correspondent Muscle, to which, by a particular Tendon it is annexed; so all Crustaceous Animals have particular Muscles, which are inserted into every Crust; all which Crusts are also connected each to the other by common Membranes, which here are in a more especial manner necessary, because they do not lie imbricatim upon one another as Scales do. As plain as this seems to be, Aristotle's definitions of Crustaceous and Testaceous Animals, or, (as he calls them) Μαλακοστερα and Ὀστεοδειρα have been universally versally acquiesced in; and they being insufficient have caused this whole matter, (by the generality of Naturalists, even in this Age,) to be misunderstood. (1.) Crustaceous Animals, (Μαλανόσεγκα) says Aristotle, are soft within and hard without, but whose covering is not apt to be parted by contusions, tho' one part of it may easily be torn from the other: (So I understand his Ἡρεμοῦ ἀλλὰ φλασδύ). (2.) Testaceous Animals (Ὁσεγκόδεξμα) are soft within and hard without, whose covering may be bruised or broken to pieces, tho' its parts are not liable to be torn from each other) Ἡρεμοῦ ὑπὸ ἡχτακλον ἀλλ' ἐφλασδύ. The Consequences which Aristotle puts into his Definition as Characteristicks, necessarily arise from the Doctrine already delivered. For when that Shell is but one, as in the whole testaceous kind, it may be bruised, or it may be broken, according as it is more or less brittle, but torn asunder it can never be. Whereas in the whole crustaceous kind, the coverings which are over every several part, as Claws, Feet, Back, Belly, and Tail in Lobsters, are joyned each to other by Membranes, which, tho' tough, may be torn asunder, when the particular Crusts, here as well as in the testaceous kind, cannot. According to this Distinction 'tis plain, that Echini are truly Crustaceous Animals, for they move upon their Spines, which demonstrates that their Covering is (1.) Μαλανόσεγκα ἦσιν ὅσα τὸ μὲν σέρεν ἐκτὸς ἰχθύων, ἐνίος δὲ τὸ μαλανὸν ἐν σαρκώδης. ἢδὲ σέρεν αὐτῶν ἢ Ἡρεμοῦ ἀλλὰ φλασδύ, οἷον τὸ τῶν καρδίων γένος, ἢ τὸ τῶν καρδίων. (2.) Ὁσεγκόδεξμα ἦσιν ὅσα ἐνίος μὲν τὸ σαρκώδης, ἐκτὸς δὲ τὸ σέρεν Ἡρεμοῦ ὑπὸ ἡχτακλον, ἀλλ' ἐφλασδύ, τοῖς δὲ τὸ ἐξ ὀξύων, ἢ ἐξ ὀξέων γένος ἤδη. H h moved moved by parts; and indeed every Spine is rivetted into its proper Crust, which also by consequence must have its peculiar Muscle, that guides the motion of the Spine, whereby the Animal rolls about which way soever it pleases. It being peculiar to this Tribe of Animals alone, for any thing yet known to the contrary, that its progressive motion is by turning or rolling upon its Spines, and not walking as all Animals, that have Feet, properly do. Which Motion of theirs (if we (3.) may believe Monsieur Menage) has given occasion to an old French Proverb, *a la venue des Coquecigrues*, i.e. when Echini walk, by which they would intimate, that that particular thing concerning which it is made use of, shall never come to pass. Besides, it is plain by ocular Inspection, that all the Crusts of these Animals are united by Membranes, as they are in Crabs and Lobsters. Scilla's Draughts, some whereof are here annexed, put this Matter out of doubt; from which it evidently appears, that Echini are properly crustaceous Animals in the strictest acceptation of the word. (c) pag. 188. By Vegetables he means Substances, which encrease from praexistent Seed, as all Plants and Animals properly do. (d) pag. 189. This will be fully understood, if one consults Steno's Anatomy of a Sharks-Head, which is annexed to his Elementorum Myologiae Specimen. (e) pag. 190. These Lapidés Judaici, which Signior Scilla often calls Bastoncini di San Paolo, or St. Paul's Batoons, are Spines of some Species of Echini, of which he gives the Figures, which are not found upon our Shores, and are (perhaps) of the Pelagian Tribe. (3.) Dictionnaire Etymologique. v. Coquecigrue. (f) pag.191. Signior Scilla calls this Dog-Fish, Pesce Vacca (the Cow-Fish.) It being described by no Naturalist (that I know off) before him, its hereunto annexed from our Authors Draughts, some of which, for their great exactness and curiosity, it was thought fit to Copy. Vide Fig. An Explication of the said Figures in the Plate, with further Remarks thereon, By another Fellow of the Royal Society. Fig. 1. THE Head of the Pesce Vacca, drawn from the Life, with the Teeth in both Jaws. It seems to be of the long cartilaginous kind, akin to the Dogs or Hound Fishes. Fig. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. The Teeth of the same out of their Sockets. These are found petrified in Beds up and down the Island of Malta, with those of Dog-fishes, Sharks, Pesce Aquila, &c. Fig. 7. A Jaw of a Fish call'd Dentex, with the round grinders; the like Dentes Molares are observed and drawn by the Author in the Jaws of other Fishes, as the Aurata and Sargus, with several Bufonitae lying by them. These convex osseous Tubercules are found commonly petrified in Malta, and are call'd there Serpent's Eyes. They are of the same kind with our English Bufonites or Toadstones, which Dr. Merret first declared to be the round Jaw Teeth of the Lupus Marinus or Wolf Fish of Schonfeld. See Mr. Rays Travels, p. 321. These Bufonitae are properly call'd by Mr. Lkwyd, Ichthyodontes Scutellati. Philosop. Transact. N. 200. p. 751. Fig. 19. Fig. 8. The petrified Teeth of Dog-Fishes and Sharks, (call'd Glosopterae) lying in several postures and situations in their Beds of Earth. These, with all the foregoing, may be reduced to Mr. Lhwyd's Classis of Ichthyodontes. Fig. 9. A Sea Urchin, with long Prickles, Hystrix Spinis longissimis Imperati. The Fishermen of Sicily often brought it alive to the Author. The Spines break off, and are easily disjointed. Of the Echinites the Author hath drawn above 18 Species. Fig. 10. A Sea Urchin found petrify'd (Echinites) in white Stone, on the Rocks and Hills near Messina, with some stony Spines or Prickles lying by it; The Teats or Pivots (on which they have been inserted) lie naked and broken off. See Mr. Ray's three Physico Theological Discourses, Tab. 3. pag. 162, 163. Fig. 11. A mass of petrify'd Sea Urchins, one entire, another bruised, with the stony Prickles broken off, and lying by in the same Bed; there may be as many Species of this sort of figur'd Stones, or petrify'd Spines, as there are of the Echini Marini themselves; some short, thick, roundish, and cannulated (as the Lapis Judaicus) other long, slender, tuberculated, and ragged (as St. Paul's Batoons in Malta) all belonging to the several Echinitae and Ombriae. See the Riccio Marino in Pietra, Imperati Istori. Natural. Venet. edit. 1672. p. 586. and his Chapter delle Pietre Giudaiche, pag. 575, 576. These may come within the Classis of the Spondylites. Fig. 12, 13. Petrify'd Vertebres with their Articulations and Insertions, with the Ribs, See Fig. 13. These may be reduced to Mr. Lhwyd's Tribe of Ichthyospondyli; for Stones resembling Vertebres, and other Bones of Fishes, See Mr. Ray's Travels, in the Preface, and p. 116, 294. The Entrochi and Asteriae come under this division. Fig. 14. Petrify'd Dentalia and Coclites found lying in the same Bed, in the Rocky Mountains of Calabria. N. B. That Dr. Robert Hooke publish'd some Observations upon this Subject in his Micrographia, p. 109, 110, 111, 112, and afterwards discoursed of it at large in several of his publick Lectures in Gresham College (which the Publick have long expected, and still desire from him) before Steno, Scilla, and Boccone, communicated their curious Observations to the World. See Philosoph. Transact. N. 32. pag. 628. also N. 72. pag. 2186 to pag. 2190. See M. Denis his Memoirs and Conferences, (printed with the Journaux des Savans) An. 1672. Mem. I. Also the Italian Giornate di Literati Ephem. 5. of the same year. See Dr. Hook's Lecture upon Springs pag. 48, 49, 50. But above all, Justice is to be done to that Noble Natural Philosopher Fabius Columna, who hath two admirable Discourses upon the several parts of Aquatick and Terrestrial Animals, as also of Plants, which he himself observ'd to be dug up in the Mountains of Andria, Apulia, and other Places; and thereupon remarks how they were left there by the General Flood; why in some places they remain uncorrupted, in others wasted, and mouldred, in others only by their impressed Figures, and exact Forms. That they all answer in every delineation, and every part the very Bodies they resemble, and are truly the very same Species. See Columna in his Observ. Aquat. & Terrestr. Cap. 21. pag. 43 to pag. 55. Also de Purpura, Dissertat. de Glofopetris, pag. 31 to pag. 39. 4to Rome impress. 1616.