104 CORRESPONDENCE OF RAY. 



its belly, just as the eggs of a cray-fish are under her tail. 

 I have taken the animals before the fixing of themselves ; 

 but shall tell more of this ere long. 



For other discoveries and experiments I refer you to a 

 late letter I wrote to Mr. Oldenburgh, which he threat- 

 ened to print in the next Transactions. When you see 

 it, give me your opinion freely of the particulars. 



York, June 20, ?3. 



Mr. RAY to Dr. LISTER. 



DEAR SIR, I received your last letter of November 1 1 , 

 with your accurate observations about St. Cuthbert's 

 Beads. A strange thing it seems to me, that the broken 

 pieces of those bodies which you find (I mean of the main 

 stems) should be of equal bigness from top to bottom, 

 and not at all tapering, if they be indeed the bodies of 

 rock-plants. There are found in Malta certain stones 

 called St. Paul's Bastoons, which I suppose were origi- 

 nally a sort of rock plants, like small snagged sticks, but 

 without any joints, the trunks whereof diminish, according 

 to the proportion of other plants, after the putting forth 

 of their branches. Those roots that you have observed 

 are a good argument that these stones were originally 

 pieces of vegetables. Wonderful it is that they should be 

 all broken, and not one plant found remaining entire ; 

 and no less wonderful that there should not at this day 

 be found the like vegetables growing upon the submarine 

 rocks, unless we will suppose them to grow at a great 

 depth under water. And who knows but there may be 

 such bodies growing on the rocks at this day, and that 

 the fishers for coral may find of them, though, being of 

 no use, they neglect and cast them away. Certain it is, 

 that there is a sort of coral jointed. The small collec- 

 tion of local words I mentioned to you is abroad. I had 

 sent you one of them, but that I knew not how to get it 



