124 Rt-marh on Mr. SheldrahcS 



tiiately. Thefe iufe6ls, together with the grains of barley 

 which drop from the ears, muft indemnify ihefe birds, which 

 ftop in manv places on their paflage in great numbers, for 

 the lofs of the fummer infects. 



After what has been faid, I do not think that the white- 

 nefs of the threads, which arifes from nothing elfc than the 

 dews that fall at that period, or their clamminefs when rub- 

 bed between the fingers, not obferved in the threads of other 

 fpiders, and which is occafioned by the finenefs of tlie 

 threads, that fo eafily infmuate themfelves into the eavites of 

 the fkin, can be brought as any objeftion againft this mode 

 of explanation. Thefe phenomena can have no weight un- 

 Icfs we afcribe thefe threads to the common fpider. It is 

 likewifc very improbable that the goflTamer is produced, as 

 M. Pereboom affcrts, by his beetle; which however mull 

 excite our admiration, becaufe, like the fpider, it weaves for 

 itfelf a net, either to ferve it as a habitation, or as the means 

 of catching its prey. 



III. Remarks on Mr. Sheldrake's DiJJlrladon on Paint- 

 ing in Oil in the Ma?iner of the Venetiinns. By Mr. Ed- 

 ward Da YES. Covmiunicaled hj the Author, 



P. 



ERSFADED that Mr. Sheldrake labours under a mif- 

 take, which may lead others into a practice difScjlt in itfelf 

 and dangerous to the durability of their works, I Ihall offer 

 no apology for the following remarks on his DiU'ertation*. 



That the Venetians primed with diftemper, is true; but 

 the colour ufed was not a broivn, as ftated by Mr. Sheldrake, 

 but a red, known at prefent by the name of Vcnelimi red. 

 Some artifls at this time employ the fame colour, previoui]y 

 calcined, in a new Venetian method : I fay a new one, for 

 there are two or three. One of the fecrets confills in prim- 



♦ S^e riiil. Mag. Vol. II. p, sqz. 



