8 ESSAYS ap OBSERVATIONS — 
ArT. IL 
A Defcription of the Matrix or Ovary of the 
Buccinum Ampullatum*; dy RoBeERT 
WuyttT, M.D. F.R.S. Fellow of the 
Royal College of Phyficia:s, and Profeffor 
of Medicine in the Umverfity of Edin- 
burgh. 
ATURALISTs inform us that the 
buccina and purpure, the former 
towards the clofe of the winter, and the 
latter in the fpring, throw out a vifcid 
glutinous humour, which, thickening and 
becoming dry, forms a congeries of cells 
or receptacles connected together, fome- 
thing refembling the ¢ods of white vetch- 
es, and containing the nafcent buccina or 
purpure. ‘This congeries of cells or pods 
is often found upon the fhore, and fome- 
_times miftaken for the hardened froth of 
the fea, 
Bur 
* The buccizum ampullatum is that in which the her- 
mit-crab is found. 
