172 History of Nature. [BoOK IX. 



the Murex and Purpura, from a viscous Mucillage : so also 

 Gnats proceed from a Sourness of the Water; as the Apuae 1 

 from the Froth of the Sea, when it grows warm, and is 

 mixed with a Shower. They that are covered with a stony 

 Shell, as Oysters, are bred from the putrified Mud, or out of 

 the Froth that hath stood long about Ships, or Posts fixed in 

 the Water, and especially if they are formed of Holly- wood. 

 It hath been lately discovered in Oyster Banks, that there 

 passeth from them a fertile Liquid resembling Milk. Eels 2 

 rub themselves against Stones, and those Scrapings come to 

 Life ; and they have no other Generation. Fishes of different 

 Kinds do not mix their Breed with another, except the 

 Squatina and the Raia ; from them there is produced a Fish 

 which in the Forepart resembleth a Raia, and in Greek hath 

 a Name compounded of both. 3 Some Fishes breed both on 

 Land and in the Sea, according to the Warmth of the 

 Year. In the Spring, Pectens, Limaces (Slugs), Hirundines 

 (Leeches), are produced ; but in the corresponding Time of 

 Autumn they turn to nothing. Among Fishes the Lupus and 

 Trichias breed twice a Year, and also all that keep among 

 Rocks. The Mulius thrice, as also the Chalcis ; the Cypri- 

 nus six Times; the Scorpense 4 and Sargi twice, namely, in 

 Spring and Autumn. Of flat Fishes, the Squatina only 

 twice ; in the Autumn, and at the Setting of the Stars Ver- 

 giliae. The greatest Number of Fishes spawn in the three 



1 Minute fishes seen swimming at the surface of the sea, and therefore 

 sapiently supposed to have sprung, by spontaneous generation, from the 

 froth. If any particular species is intended, it is probably Motella glauca. 

 YARRELL'S "British Fishes" Wern. Club. 



2 The manner in which this fish is propagated was long a matter of 

 doubt, from the very obscure developement of the ova in the ovaries ; but 

 it has been rendered certain that in their mode of increase they do not 

 differ from other fishes. The author makes several references to the 

 opinion, which was prevalent in his day, that creatures might spring into 

 existence by the spontaneous influences of heat and moisture ; but from 

 the days of the illustrious Harvey, every claim of this sort for particular 

 instances has been successfully controverted. Wern. Club. 



3 Bhinobatis. Wern. Club. 



4 Scorpena scropha and Sc. porcus, Cuv. Wern. Club. 



