76 On the Petromyzon Marinus* 



mouth*. This singular copulation was the reason "why the 

 jRomans, who were immoderately fond of lampreys, did not 

 wish to eat them, when impregnated by the supposed serpent. 

 Horace, therefore, makes Nasidienus, among the blunders of 

 his supper, serve it in that state -j-. 



. Lampreys w^ere a favourite dish with our own early monarchs. 

 Henry II. died by eating them to excess. The celebrated Pope 

 also owed his death to a surfeit of them. Doctor Johnson re- 

 marks in his life of the poet, that he was in the habit of cook- 

 ing them himself in a silver saucepan. The Corporation of 

 Oxford still make up a periodical pye of this fish for the king, 

 in compliance with ancient usage. But lampreys have lost 

 their rank at corporation feasts, in consequence of the more de- 

 licious and wholesome turtle being introduced into modern 

 cookery. 



I have never noticed lampreys in the Dublin fish-market ; 

 and though they are frequently used in the South of Ireland, I 

 do not know if they have ever been made an article of food in 

 Dublin, or the north, where they are rarely met with. 



C. 



Observations upon the Motion of the Leaves of the Mimosa 



Pudica. 

 [To the Editor of the Quarterly Journal of Science J 

 Dear Sir, 



Towards the latter part of this summer, Mr. Gilbert Burnett 

 and myself made several experiments with a view to ascertain 

 the nature of the movements exhibited by the sensitive plant. 

 We aftenvards found that the greater part of the facts which 

 we had observed, had been previously described by Mr. Lind- 



"Clg fiiv ya.[jt.u n xcci i^ oikos ip;\^iTixi aurn 



Tlpo(p^uv Ifcitovcra •xa.f tfjiUfovTi ya.fJi.oio 



Hrei fiiv (pXoyvA rshufiivo; ivloSt Xvffff^ 



Ma7vtTa/ 'iti (piXorriToc kcci 'iyyv^i ffVfUTcr.t ccxrn; 



Uixpo; o(pis. x.r.x. — OrPiAN, Halieut. lib. i. V. 554. 



t Adfertur squillas inter mvirsena natantes. 

 In patina porrecta : *' haec gravida," inquit, 

 *' Capta est;'— Hon. lib. ii. Sat. 8. lin. 46. 



