76 September 1748. 



fnake has made fuch a good meal, it lies down 

 to reft without any concern. 



THE quadruped, which Dr. Linn&us, in the 

 memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences, has 

 defcribed by the name of Urfus cauda elongata, 

 and which he calls Urfus Lotor, in his Syftema 

 Naturae, is here called Raccoon. It is found very 

 frequently, and deftroys many chickens. It is 

 hunted by dogs ; and when it runs upon a tree to 

 lave itfelf, a man climbs upon the tree after it 

 and {hakes it down to the ground, where the 

 dogs kill it. The flem is eaten, and is reputed 

 to ta'fte well. The bone of its male parts is 

 made'ufe of for a tobacco-ftopper. The hatters 

 purchafe their {kins, and make hats out of the 

 hair, which are next in goodnefs to beavers. The 

 tail is worn round the neck in winter, and there- 

 fore is likewife valuable. The Racoon is fre- 

 quently the food of fnakes. 



SOME Englijhmen afTerted that near the river 

 Pctomack in Virginia, a great quantity of oyfter- 

 fhells were to be met with, and that they them- 

 felves had feen whole mountains of them. The 

 place where they are found is faid to be about 

 two E'nglifh miles diftant from the fea-fhore. The 

 proprietor of that ground burns lime out of them. 

 This ftfatum of oyfter-fhells is two fathom and 

 more deep. Such quantities of {hells have like- 

 wife been found in other places, efpecially in New 

 Tork, on digging in the ground -, and in one 

 place, at the diftance of fome EngKjJo miles from 

 the fea, a vaft quantity of oyfter-mells, and of 

 other /hells was found. Some people conjectu- 

 red that the natives had formerly lived in that 



place, 



