A Supplement to the Account of a Scolopendra Marina, etc. Described No 225. of These Transactions. By Dr. Tho. Molyneux, F. R. S.

circle, whose Center was the Sun, passing betwixt it and the Zenith. This Appearance continued about half an Hour. Des Cartes in his Book of Meteor, calls such Phenomena Parhelia, or Mock Suns, and gives us the History of Five seen at Rome, in the year 1629. March the 20th, and Demonstrates, that there may sometimes, according to the Laws of Refraction and Reflection, appear Six at one time, viz. Five mock Suns, and the true one. I chanced to be at home alone, and saw no Body to whom I could impart what I saw, till after the Mock-Suns vanished, nor do I hear of any, but myself, that saw them; yet may you be certain, that I have not deceived myself or you. V. A Supplement to the Account of a Scolopendra Marina, &c. Described No 225. of these Transactions. By Dr. Tho. Molyneux, F. R. S. I find a Letter (Philosoph. Transact. Numb. 249.) of Mr. Dale's to Dr. Lister, wherein he mentions the Scolopendra Marina I gave an Account of, Numb. 225. of the Transactions, as described by Rondeletius, under the Title of Physalus, in his Book, De Piscibus; but I must crave leave to differ from him in Opinion as to this Particular: For I conceive that Author could not understand by the Name of Physalus, what I mean by Scolopendra Marina, è mare Hybernico, &c. but some other other Marine Animal: For if we'll suppose Rondeletius saw what he there describes, and expressed his words according to what he saw, I think we cannot imagine that he and I had the same object before us, or the same Idea's in our Thoughts; and this will appear evident, by comparing his words with mine, which do not only disagree, but seem in many Particulars down-right Contradictory to one another; as where he says of his Animal (Lib 15° De Piscibus, pag. 429.) Ore caret, whereas I say, the mouth of mine was a very large patulous Opening for the Bulk of the Animal. He says, In medio latior est & Extrema graciliscent, Pudendi muliebris speciem referens, whereas I say, 'twas bigger at one end, and went taper or gradually, lessening towards the other; he says, in Dorso tumores parui eminent verrucas Piscatores nostri vocant, I am sure I could observe none such, but say, the Back was covered with a short soft sort of down, in Colour, Texture and Substance like that which grows on the Leaf of Tuillago: Venenum esse experti sumus, says he, whereas I found two of the Scolopendra's I described in the Stomach of an Animal that had devoured them, and Digested one as its natural Food and Sustenance; from whence we may conclude, they are not Poisonous; and besides Rondeletius his Icon agrees exactly with his own Description, whereas it neither agrees with my Description nor my Figure. From all which I think 'tis very plain, Rondeletius his Physalus, and the Scolopendra Marina I Described, are quite different Species of Animals. But I confess Mr. Dale was thus far in the Right, tho' he seems not to have known it himself, that the Scolopendra Marina I mention, has been taken notice of by others, before I spoke of it; for upon further Enquiry, since my Writing that Account, I meet in the Acta Medica & Philosophica Hafniensia, of Thomas Bartholine, Vol. the 3d. pag. 87: the Figure of a Sea-Insect found at Katwick-up-Zee in Holland upon the Strand, and Communicated to the Publisher by Olingerus Jacobeus, who gives it the Name of Vermis Aureus vel Species Erucae Marinae rario; which I am confident is the same with the Scolopendra Marina e Mare Hibernico, &c. in the Philosophical Transactions; tho' Bartholine's Figure is Faulty, and the Description short, false, and imperfect. And I am likewise apt to think, that Ulysses Aldrovandus in his Lib. 5. De Insectis Cap. x5. pag. 636, design'd our Scolopendra by his first Figure in that Chapter, where he calls it Scolopendra Marina lato corpore subcaustaneo velut pedibus innumeris longiusculis aurei Coloris, and says no more of it; but his Icon is much worse than Bartholine's, and requires some strength of Phansy, to guess whether or no our Scolopendra is meant by it. And though it has been taken notice of before, yet it may in some sense pass for a Non-Descript, as I once thought it, the Accounts we have had hitherto of it, being so very Lame and Imperfect.