CHIM/ERA MONSTROSA. 



ance almoft inflantly on a neighboring fpot .' Without reminding one of the quef<»- 

 tion put by the wifeft of men on a like embarrafllnent : 



Why fhould one earth, one clime, one ftream, one breath. 

 Raise this to flrength, and ficken that to death * ? 



Almoft every one of thefe plants is again found in a climate very oppofite to 

 the mild provinces which border on the Mediterranean fea ; for there is fcarcely 

 one which I have enumerated which is not met with in Sweden^ or in Lapiand^ 

 and fome even in the diflant Iceland f. 



The chimcsra monjlrofa oi Linneeiis has been taken ofFthe Schetland\^^.n^% about xxix, 



two years ago. It is a moft fmgular fifli ; and is common to thefe and the Nor- 

 wegian feas, where the Danes call it Sohehaen, and Hav-kat. It is found from 

 the Sound to Drontheim, perhaps Iceland, for the Icelanders have a name for it, 

 Geirnyt. It grows to the length of two feet and a half. The reader will find it well 

 figured in Mr. Jfcanius's Icones, tab. xv. in the aBa nidroftana, 1 1 tab. 5, 6 ; 

 and in Clujius's Exotics, 137. A drawing of that taken on our coafts, by my friend 

 Mr. George Paton, oi Edinburgh, was with his ufual kindnefs communicated to me. 



A fine fpecimen of the ^«-w caput medufa, Br. TjooI. iv. N° 73, was taken 

 05i. 1785 oS Lunna, one of the Schetland ifles, and when frefli was of a mod 

 vivid orange color. Mr. Paton. 



The Aflerias Equejlris of Linnjeus, figured in Linckius, tab. xii. fig. 21, 

 was lately difcovered by the Reverend Mr. Cordiner, in the fea near Banff. It 

 confifted of five fhort thick rays. Thofe, and the upper part of the center, cover- 

 ed with large obtufe papillae, longeft on the fides of the rays. The color deep 

 brown. Its diameter, from the tip of one ray to that of another, nine inches. 



Feroe has many fubftances in common with Iceland, which evince its having XLI. 



been vulcanic. The Honourable Charles Grevil, a gentleman not lefs diftin- 

 ^uiftied by his knowlege than his urbanity, ihewed me fome very fine tuberofe 

 calcedonies from thence, mixed with lava and tufa, and other calcedonies ftrati- 

 fied. Likewife fome very beautiful zeolites, both cryftallized and flieafy. 



I here introduce a very curious account of the eruption of fire in Iceland, men- XLYI, 



tioned in this page, tranflated from the Danijh account of Mr. Magnus Stephen/en, 

 and communicated by the friendfhipof the ingenious Mr. John Whitehurjl. 



■ * A queftion put by Trior In the mouth oi Solomon, in his firft book. 



t See the catalogue cf Iceland plants in vol, ii. of Ohiffen\ and Po'velfeiii journey in 

 Iceland, 



An 



