Royal Society. 269 
or hooka on the infide, by means of which it can better han^ 
by its tailj cc -x hollow, or Foramen in the middle of thefe 
fpines, thro' which blood-veflels pafs. 
Obfervations in New England; by Mr, Benj. BuUivant. Phil. 
Tranf. N° 240. p. 1^5. 
THE plague of the back is very different from an Era- 
pyema-j it feems to be more of a cholic, yet it is doubt- 
Icfs a nervous diforder 3 the country people have learned of the 
Indians to fteep Caftorcum in rum, and lb cure it : The fire- 
flies ieeni to be a kind of flying glow* worm 5 the luftre is 
placed as in that animal 5 if you kill the fly, you will find 
what fparkles to be a fmall gelly-like fubftance, which fepa- 
rated into atoms, emits ftill in the dark a lullre proportiona- 
ble to the magnitude of each atom : The eggs of butterflies are 
teftaceous, and nearly as big as a wren's, beautifully ftudded 
with gold and filver; Tortoifes are amphibious 3 their eggs 
are found in great quantities by the fides of ponds 3 they are 
without fhells, like thofe in a hen's belly : Grafhoppers, in 
dry years, are very mifchievous to the husbandmen 3 they arc 
very numerous, of a grey colour, and about 5 inches long 5 in 
jfuly they become flying animals, and have a kind of regi- 
mental difcipline, and officers, which fliew larger, and more 
Iplendid wings than the commoners, and are the firft to take 
wing: ]sh. Sullivant had /hot the humming-bird withfand^ 
he had one for lome weeks in his cuftody 3 he put a flraw for 
a perch into a Venice glafs tumbler, tied over the mouth with 
a paper, in which he cut holes for the bird's bill, which was 
about as long and as flnall as a taylor's needle, and laying the 
glafs on one fide, he fet a drachm of honey by it, which it foon 
fcentcd, and with its long tongue fed daily; it muted the 
honey pure : There is a fpecies of frogs pretty large, and its 
cry perfedlly refembles that of a bull : The Clam is oblerved 
to have a plain pipe or TrobofciSy from which he ejed:s water, 
if comprefled. 
*To enlarge the Divifions of the Barometer; by Mr. Steph. 
Gray. Phil. Tranf. N° 240. p. 116. 
A Fig. 5. Plate VII. is a long fquare table; towards one 
5 end a fquare column BB is ere61:ed, on which a fquare 
focket C Aides, from one fide of which proceeds a crooked arm 
DE; at D is a fcrew-hole to receive the fcrew, and at E a 
ring to fupport the tube of the microfcope F; from the other 
fide 
