passage. The former swims upon the grassy sea; and the latter among the estuaries of Carnarvon and Merioneth, and not unfrequently in Milford Haven. Some plants may, also, be propagated by being engrafted or inoculated. Thus by inoculating one tree with the buds of others, several fruits may be made to grow upon one tree. Engrafting is performed either by insinuating a bud or scion into the stock, into the rind, into the bark, between the rind and the bark, or into the root itself. In general economy, the internal structure of viviparous and oviparous animals are different; but in serpents the conformation of both is the same. In the leech there seems to be no passage, by which it can eject the blood it has taken into its body. It will remain clotted, but not putrified, for months; and little altered either in texture or consistence. It probably exudes by medium of the pores. Insects have no bones-their blood is not red :-their mouths open lengthwise :-they have no eyelids :-and their lungs open at their sides. They seem to have the capacity of hearing, but they have no ears. Lizards exhibit remarkable phenomena. They are neither beast, fish, bird, serpent, nor insect; and yet, in some measure, they share the natures of them all. Some are viviparous, like beasts, as the Lophius piscatorius; others oviparous, like birds: some shed spawn like fishes; some have teeth like serpents; and others none, like many insects. Some plants bear fruit on the backs of their leaves: as spleenwort, maiden hair, fern, brake, pepper grass, and many species of moss. After the same manner, the Lapland marmot, the spider, and the American scorpion, carry their young upon their backs, wherever they go, in case of alarm. The monoculus insect carries its young on its back even in the water; but the Surinam toad exhibits a still more wonderful phenomenon :-its eggs are buried in the skin of its back. When the animals, enclosed in those eggs, burst from their shells, the mother is seen crawling, with her family riding on her person; some still in the egg; others just emerging out of it; and some clinging to various parts of her body. v. Affinities of electricity may be traced in marine substances, in insects, vegetable oils, and mineral essences. In 42° 30′ south of the Line' are seen a multitude of minute sea animals, emitting colours equal to those of the most brilliant sapphires and rubies. When observed by candle-light, they appear of a pale green. In the Gulf of Guinea, ships seem frequently to sail, at night, in a sea of milk2; a whiteness, which is occasioned by pellucid salpæ, and crustaceous animals of the scyllarus genus, attached to them. Other oceans contain a particular species of sea anemones, so brilliant, that the terms white, carmine, and ultra-marine, are3 insufficient to ex 3 Abbé Dieguemarre, Phil. Trans. for 1773, art. 37. press their beauty. In the River St. Lawrence', lu minous appearances are caused by a vast number of porpoises darting and crossing each other with great velocity. Star fishes, also, float on the surface of the sea in summer, and emit light like phosphorus. By land these luminous appearances are far from being unknown; though in instances more detached. When Misson2 was in Italy, he observed the hedges, bushes, fields, and trees, covered with innumerable flies (lucicole), which gave great splendour to the evening air. The fulgoria candelaria, and the diadema, give equal brilliancy to many parts of China and India. In the Torrid Zone, also, countless multitudes of phosphorescent insects3 fly in all directions, and give light to groves of palms and mimosas. The elata noctilucus of South America emits a light so brilliant, that ten of them are equal to the effulgence of a candle while the Peruvian fulgoria, having a head nearly as large as its entire body, is so luminous, that four, tied to the branch of a tree, are carried, near Surinam, to guide travellers by night. Light is emitted, also, by dead plants, and rotten carcasses: while sulphuric acid, if mixed with water, emits a heat more violent than even boiling water. Under the influence of fire, coal elicits a red flame; jet a green, and amber a white one. The Siberian topaz becomes white; the Brazilian topaz red; the 1 Auberey's Travels in Amer. vol. i. p. 26. Lampyris Italica, 1. noctiluca. chrysolite fades of its green; and Oriental sapphire, from a deep blue, becomes so brilliant, that they are frequently taken for diamonds. At Ancliff, in Lancashire, there is a well, the vapour of which is so impregnated with sulphur, that, by applying a light to it, it burns like the flame of spirits. In the Grotto del Cane, on the road from Naples to Puzzuoli, carbonic acid gas exists in a state of purity, unmixed with the atmosphere. It rises, however, only three feet from the bottom of the grotto; so that a man may enter the cave without danger. But if an animal is held to the floor, for a short space of time, it loses all appearance of life; a state, however, from which it soon recovers if it be thrown into the adjoining lake. A torch, taken into this cave, blazes with brilliancy; but if held within three fleet of the floor, it becomes immediately extinguished. In Germany there is an odoriferous plant, belonging to the Decandria monogynia class and order, which blossoms in June and July; and which, when approached of a calm night, with a candle, becomes luminous: this arises from the finer parts of its essential oil dissolving in the atmospherical air; and impregnating it. Kircher relates, that, near the village of Pietra Mala, in Tuscany, he observed the air frequently to sparkle in the night time. This fire was called Fuogo del legno: and probably proceeded, like the ignis fatuus, from phosphorated hydrogen gas: since that combination fires spontaneously at any temperature of the atmosphere. Salt produced from a solution of copper in nitric acid, if sprinkled with water over tin foil, and wrapt up suddenly, will elicit sparks of fire from the tin foil and filings of zinc, mixed with gunpowder, produce those stars and spangles, in artificial fireworks, which it is impossible not to admire. VI. If some vegetables exist without roots, there are animated beings, in return, which are propagated after the manner of plants. The earthworm may be divided into two parts; upon which each part becomes a perfect worm. The head portion acquires a tail; and the tail portion acquires a head. The starfish may be divided into many parts with similar effects: but the polypus may be divided and subdivided into 500; and thus by compulsion become the parent of 500 others. Indeed polypi exhibit the most wonderful phenomena, in respect to propagation, of any objects in nature; for they propagate like quadrupeds; like insects; like fishes; and like plants. Some are viviparous; and some issue from an egg; some are multiplied by cuttings, and others grow out of the bodies of their parent like buds out of trees : and from which they fall, much after the manner of the testuca ovina of northern latitudes. It may here be remarked, that, though in general plants are extremely regular in producing their relative and respective number of males and females, they do not do so always. In the flower called the Turk's cap |