140 TEREDINID.E. 



inside the mantle of the Teredo, and that the fry are 

 ejected into the water in a larval or metamorphic state. 

 He was not aware that the fry have eyes and can there- 

 fore select their own habitat ; ,or he would not have 

 attributed their position in the wood to the maternal 

 care of their parents, under the idea that they are at 

 the mercy of the winds and waves. Massuet, moreover, 

 had previously put forth a notion that the fry crept 

 about the surface of the wood, and sought out convenient 

 spots where they could burrow. Our author observed 

 that the Teredo, in its earliest stage, underwent a kind 

 of metamorphosis by the method called "epigenesis/' 

 which is now recognized by most physiologists. This 

 remark is followed by an inquiry into the mystery of 

 Creation, in which he discusses the common opinion of 

 certain neoteric writers of his time that all living beings 

 had descended from original forms or types. The soli- 

 tary nature of the Teredo was not overlooked bv him. 

 Although surrounded on every side by companions, it 

 has no means of communication with them. Each lives 

 alone in a crowd. Nevertheless Sellius gives his fa- 

 vourite credit for a generous and unselfish disposition, 

 which its fellow creature, man, might well endeavour to 

 emulate. Nor did the Dutch philosopher exhibit less in- 

 dustry in his examination of the nomenclature of Teredo. 

 He ransacked the works of manv a classical author and 

 naturalist, from Plato and Aristotle to Oppian and Reau- 

 mur, with a view to elucidate its history; but he appears 

 to have got rather bewildered by the gossip of Pliny, who 

 confounded the Teredo with the grub of an insect. Sellius 

 did not share the credulity of some of his contemporaries 

 in supposing that T. navalis was introduced into Holland 

 by vessels (or in any other way) from foreign parts ; for he 

 unquestionably knew that the European species are diffe- 



