VOL. L.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 85 



naturalists, wlio have observed a great number of these marine bodies, are not 

 of opinion that all those phenomena can be explained by a universal deluge. On 

 these subjects, before w^e undertake to judge, it is proper to be v^^ell informed of 

 the nature of marine fossil bodies, which are found in divers parts, and of their 

 situation and arrangement. It is necessary also to be acquainted with the state 

 of those which are found actually under the sea, and the revolutions to which 

 they are subject, while they are covered by it. It is still further requisite to 

 attend to the revolutions which have been, and are constantly observed, with 

 respect to the sea-shores, which change their situation in several parts, some ad- 

 vancing on the land, and others retiring. If all these different facts be compared 

 together, it will not be doubted, but there are actually under the earth marine 

 bodies, which are found there only in consequence of these slow revolutions, and 

 not of a universal deluge. Perhaps this notion might be extended to the greatest 

 part of the marine fossil bodies which are known to us. 



XI L A Botanical and Medical History of the Solannm Lethale^ Bella-donna, or 

 Deadly Nightshade, by Mr. Richard Pulteney. Communicated by Mr. IVm, 

 Watson, F. R. S. p. 62. 



As accurate descriptions of the deadly nightshade, or atropa belladonna, Linn, 

 together with an account of its poisonous quality and uses in medicine, are to be 

 found in various modern systems of botany, and treatises on the Materia Medica 

 (the plant being a native of this country), it is deemed unnecessary to reprint 

 this paper. 



XIII. On some of the Antiquities discovered at Herculaneum, &c. By John 



Nixon, A.M., F.R.S. p. 88. 



Mr. N. first treats of the several tali lusorii, that were played with a set of 

 dice. Mr. N. refers to several passages in the writings of the ancients on the 

 use of these tali. He says the tali are supposed to have been known to the 

 Greeks by the name of 'Aa-Tpay«Ao» as early as the Trojan war. We can with 

 certainty determine the number of the tali used in this game to have been four ; 

 and likewise, that among the various chances resulting from them, the most 

 fortunate one was that wherein each of the sides exhibited a different aspect. 



He concludes with noting, that in order to prevent any fraud or slight of hand 

 in managing the tali, it was usual to put them into a box, and after shaking them 

 together, to throw them out upon a table. However, this caution does not 

 seem to have been so universally observed, but that sometimes, viz. when the 

 party consisted of ladies, it was (he presumes, for a reason greatly to their 

 honour) superseded. Thus, in one of the first paintings found at Herculaneum, 

 and now in the royal apartments at Portici, a young female figure is exhibfted. 



