ADVERTISEMENT, 



THE Public have a claim on the Editor of the following meets, 

 to account for the imperfect ftate in which they now make 

 their appearance ; and, at the fame time, it is hoped that a fhort 

 account of the endeavours of the Author to promote fo curious and 

 laudable a ftudy, will not be deemed an impertinent intrufion on the 

 patience of the reader. 



Mr. Ellis, having difcovered that feveral fubje&s, which had been 

 arranged by Natural Hiftorians under the title of Marine Vegetables, 

 were in reality Animal Productions, publifhed, in the year 1755, the 

 refult of the refearches he had made in the inveftigation of that 

 branch of knowledge, in a quarto work intitled, " An Effay towards 

 " a Natural Hiftory of Britifh and Irifh Corallines." The approba- 

 tion with which this work was received, gained the Author the ac- 

 quaintance and patronage of many of the raoft refpedtable characters 

 of the age : and an innate defire to dive deeper into the hidden 

 treafures of nature, induced him to make thofe inquiries which pro- 

 duced feveral Memoirs, which were read at different times before the 

 Royal Society, and publifhed in the Philofophical Tranfadtions ; par- ^ed Lift!"" 

 ticularly thofe " on the animal nature of Zoophytes, called Corallina" 

 and " the AElinia Sociata, or Clujlered Animal Flower" in the 57th 

 volume, which gained him the honour of Sir Godfrey Copleys, medal 

 from that learned body, delivered to him by the Prefident, Sir John 

 Pringle, on the 30th of November, 1768, together with a moil flat- 

 tering compliment in a fpeech from the chair, on the nature and s^ech 

 utility of the difcoveries of the Author. annexed. 



Thus encouraged, Mr. Ellis became more anxious in the purfuit of 

 liis favourite ftudy ; and being then the king's agent for the pro- 



B vince 



