VOL. LVII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 441 



perhaps was ever observed in England ; and the quick, transitions were no less 

 remarkable. On Sunday the 18th of Jan. 1767, at 9 in the evening, the ther- 

 mometer stood at 20. At half after 9, nearly one degree below 0. At 7 the 

 next morning, 30, external air. 



XXIX. An Attempt to Interpret the Legend and Inscription of a very Curious 

 Phoenician Medal, never hitherto explained. By the Rev. John Swinton, B.D.f 

 F. R. S. p. 266. 



On one side, this medal presents Jupiter sitting in a chair, with his eagle be- 

 fore him, a bunch of grapes in his right hand, and a sort of lance or rather staff 

 in his left. Behind him the legend, baal tarz, or baal tars, formed of 

 Phoenician letters, may be discerned ; and the element B, inverted, is visible un- 

 der the chair. On the other side is a lion seizing on, or rather tearing, a stag ; 

 over and under which the two Phoenician words, mizrerag moth, or muth, in 

 their proper characters, seem clearly to appear. The workmanship of all the 

 figures, but particularly of the lion and the stag, is finished in a high manner, 

 and exquisitely fine. Several similar medals have been published by lord Pem- 

 broke, M. Morell, and M. Pellerin. From the two Phoenician proper names 

 BAAL tarz, or baal tars, it seems highly probable, that the medal was struck 

 at Tarsus, the capital of Cilicia, seated in a country abounding with wild beasts, 

 particularly lions and stags, and famous for the birth of the great apostle 

 St. Paul. For baal tarz, or baal tars, is equivalent to Jupiter Tarsensis, 

 Jupiter op Tarsus, or the lord op Tarsus. Mr. S. endeavours to show that 

 this Phoenician coin was struck at Tarsus, the capital of Cilicia, when the Par- 

 thians were masters of that country, about 40 years before Christ. 



XXX. Remarks on the very Different Accounts that have been given of the Fe- 

 cundity of Fishes, with fresh Observations on that Subject. By Mr. T. 

 Harmer, p. 280. 



The ascertaining the fecundity of the several species of fish, as far at least as 

 we are able to do it, is one point necessary to the making our natural histories 

 perfect ; and at the same time opens a view wonderfully affecting to the imagi- 

 nation. The carp, in which Petit is said to have found 342,144 eggs ; and the 

 cod, in one of which of middling size Leuwenhoeck, it seems, affirmed there 

 were 9,384,000, have been mentioned as very surprizing instances of this fecun- 

 dity ; and by their being selected by writers, apparently well versed in this part of 

 learning, they seem to be the most memorable we have of this kind. 



The accounts however that have been given of the fruitfulness of these two 

 species of fish differ from each other very considerably. For Bradley, the Botanic 

 Professor at Cambridge some years ago, tells us in his philosophical account of 

 the works of nature, a book professedly written on a very celebrated, though un- 

 executed plan proposed by Mr. Addison in one of the Spectators, that the in- 



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