( 8i ) 



been cleaned and put into a vedel of water, and an handful of fait 



thrown upon them, many will be foon found placed in the pofition 



I have mentioned ; and while they lie in this pofition, and the eggs 



are put fortii from the part marked C D, there muft necefTarily be 



more eggs lodged near that fpot, than towards the farther end of the 



lliell. 



Several of thefe Mufcles I placed in my fludy, in two glafTes of 



water, with fome fait fprinkled on them, in order to examine them 



daily, and fee the progrels of growth in the young ones ; and upon 



this occafion, I could not fufficiently admire the exaft and regular 



order in which the eggs were in many places difpofed, jufl: as if they 



had been fo placed by men's hands ; and from hence I was convinced 



that Mufcles do not, like many other fiflies, lay their eggs promif- 



cuoufly, but that they mufi: be furnilbed with fome kind of organ, 



which they can projefl beyond the ihell, and with it difpofe them fo 



regularly. 



I have before faid, that I thought I faw a kind of finews or tendons 

 in the eggs ; and upon further examination, I perceived fixteen of 

 thefe tendons, like flreaks, in the unformed Mufcle, and among 

 them I faw fome ftill fmaller ftreaks, from whence I concluded, that 

 they were in fa61:, vefTels to form the fubftance of the future fhell, for 

 they lay all in one diredlion, that is, from the fmall end, fpreading 

 or diverging round about ; and they were thickell at that part, and 

 thinneft at the extremities, fpreading wider towards the broad and 

 thin end of the fliell : I caufed a drawing to be made of a few of the 

 eggs, in the order they lay on tlie parent lliell, and as they appeared 

 through the microfcope ; this is fliewn at fg. 9, ABCDE, reprefent- 

 ing eight of them, in lome of which it may be feen tliat one fide is 

 more curved than the other, and in which eggs may alfo be feen the 

 finews, vefiels, or flreaks I have mentioned. 



Upon confidering that tiie lobftcr and tlie fhrimp carry their eggs 



L 



