itS On a new specie's of Siren. 



The abbot of Cremfimmfter, Ercmbcrtus, died in liis y.bbcy 

 on tl>c.29tli of March. The fervicc he did to aftronomy v^e 

 have mentioned In anotlicr place. It was to him that Fixl- 

 niullcr dedicated in 1776 his work entitled Dccenniuvi Ajiro- 

 nomicum. ProfeflTor AV'olfgang I;.evithner, his iucceflbr, iliows 

 the fame define to fupport aftronomy in that abbey which 

 Fixlmnller rendered celebrated. 



We have loft at Pctcrfburgh M. Soimonof, fenator and 

 prcfident of the council of commerce, who had an obferva- 

 tory and a great many inllrumcnts, and who was going to 

 eitabliih another at his country-feat near Mofcow. He pof^ 

 fcflcd knowledge and zeal, ftill very rare in Ruflia. 



Such have been the iofles fuftained by allronomy ; but it 

 niav be feen in this account that we have the pleafure of 

 reckoning among our fellow-labourers fome men of great 

 merit, and of having juft reafon to hope for further fuccefs. In 

 a word, aftronomy, as we may fay, is now complete, (ince, if 

 we except coniets, all the celeftial bodies have been fubie6led 

 to calculation ; and it appears at prefent that we have little 

 niore to deli re. But, as Seneca fays, there will always be 

 fomething to do : Et pojl 7nille facula nan dcerit oqcojiq al'i^ 

 quid adbuc adjmendi. 



XIII. Tranjiation of a Memoir on a new Species of Sir en » 

 By M. Dk Beauvois *. 



A; 



.MPHIBIOUS animals properly fo called, fo dreadful 

 and hideous to tlie vulgar, but fo different to the eyes of the 

 naluralirt, to whom all the productions of nature are equally 

 interefting, offer us an infinite fcope for difcovcry. Natu- 

 rajifts, therefore, not ftopped by the thoughtlefs repugnance of 

 the vulgar to animals infinitely lefs dangerous than they fup- 

 pofc, and confiderably more ufeful than ignorance (which is 

 continually alking, to what purpofe are all thefe things?) can 

 imagine; naturalifts, I fay, have left us data refpe<Sling thefe 



• Frojn the Jrufifail'i-ons of the American ^ilojophkal Society joi 1-99- 



beings. 



