A Paper concerning the Mola Salu. or Sun-Fish, and a Glue Made of It; Communicated by the Rev. Mr. William Barlow to the President of the Royal Society

could give any Change to the natural Form of this Creature, but the strange Apprehensions that her Sentence had put her under, from the uncommon Creatures the Country to which she was sentenced might bring in her Sight. These odd Ideas that she had formed to herself, was all and the only thing, that had occasioned so great a Change from the natural Form the Child might otherwise have had, as she often asserted. I am, SIR, Your very humble Servant, Tim. Sheldrake. XI. A Paper concerning the Mola Salu. or Sun-fish, and a Glue made of it; communicated by the Rev. Mr. William Barlow to the President of the Royal Society. Stoke-Dock near Plymouth, Devon, June 29. 1734. THERE was brought to this Place, struck the Day before in our River, a Sun-fish weighing about 500 Pound Weight. The Form of it nearly answers that given by Mr. Willoughby, except that the Tail of this was scollop'd. This Fish differed very much in one thing from that described by Mr. Willoughby, whose Flesh, he says, was very soft: On the contrary, the Flesh of this was hard and firm, rather a gristly Substance than soft Flesh. A Gentleman of my Acquaintance, Commander of a Vessel, tells me, his People took a Sun-fish, South of Newfoundland, which, by his Description, was considerably larger than that brought hither. They made no Use of the Flesh; but he remembers it was a gristly Substance, hard and firm. A Piece of the Flesh boiled, to try how it would look and taste, to our Surprize, was all turned into a Jelly. Being soft and tender, it could not be taken out of the Saucepan with a Fork, but only with a Spoon; in Colour and Consistence nearly resembling boiled Starch when cold. It had little or nothing of the Fishy, but a grateful and pleasant Taste. By the sticking together of my Lips, and from what I observed by touching it with my Fingers, I took Notice, that this boiled Flesh was clammy and glutinous; which brought to my Mind, that what the Antients made use of to serve the Purposes of Glue, was made from Fish. I then tried it upon Paper and Leather, and found it to answer the Use of Paste very well: And it was owing in part to Neglect, and partly to Accident, that it was not also tried upon Wood. From this Discovery of the glutinous Nature of the Flesh of the Sun-fish, I would recommend it to those who have Opportunity to make farther Experiments upon it; and probably something useful, or curious at least, may be a satisfactory Reward for the Trouble they shall give themselves on that Account. From the Descriptions given us of the Ichthyocolla by Dioscorides and Pliny, the Glue-fish seems not to to be the same as our Sun-fish. Whether the Fish from which our Isinglass is made, be the same as the Ichthyocolla of the forementioned Authors, as the Name usually given to it seems to import, I cannot tell: But neither the Ichthyocolla of Rondeletius or Bellonius, nor the Huso taken in the Danube, from the Bladder of which Fish-glue is made, can, by the Descriptions given of them, be the same as the Sun-fish. XII. An Account of the Discovery of the Remains of a City under-ground, near Naples; communicated to the Royal Society by William Sloane, Esq; F.R.S. At Resina, about four Miles from Naples, under the Mountain, within half a Mile of the Seaside, there is a Well in a poor Man's Yard, down which about 30 Yards there is a Hole, which some People have the Curiosity to creep into, and may afterwards creep a good way under-ground, and with Lights find Foundations of Houses and Streets, which, by some it is said, was in the Time of the Romans a City called Aretina, others say Port Hercules, where the Romans usually embarked from for Africa. I have seen the Well, which is deep, and a good Depth of Water at the Bottom, that I never cared to venture down, being heavy, and the Ropes bad. This City, it is thought, was overwhelmed by an Eruption