Class VI. WORMS. 59 



Thefe animals inhabit all our feas •, are grega- 

 rious •, often feen floating with the tide in vaft 

 numbers •, feed on infects, fmall fifh, &c. which 

 they catch with their clafpers or arms. Many fpe- 

 cies, on being handled, affect with a nettle-like 

 burning, and excite a rednefs. The antients, and 

 fome of the moderns, add fomething more *. They 

 were known to the Greeks and Romans f , by the 

 names of nvEvpa, $a,h\a<r<nos, and Pulmo marinus, 

 Sea-Lungs. They attributed medicinal virtues 

 to them. Diofcorides J informs us, that if rubbed 

 frefh on the difeafed part, they cured the gout in 

 the feet, and kibed heels. Mian || fays, that they 

 were depilatory, and if macerated in vinegar, 

 would take away the beard. Their phofphorous 

 quality is well known ; nor was it overlooked by 

 the antients. Pliny notes, that if rubbed with a 

 flick it will appear to burn, and the wood to 

 fhine all over §. The fame elegant naturalift re- 

 marks, that when they fink to the bottom of the 

 lea, they portend a continuance of bad weather. 

 I muft not omit, that Ariftolle, and Athenatus after 



* Pruritamin pudendis, et uredinem in manibus et oculis 

 movent, atque acrimonia fua, venerem fopitam, vel extinctam 

 excitant. Rondel. 532. In feveral languages they are called 

 by an obfcene name. 



f Arijl. Hiji. An, lib, v. c. 1 5. Diofcorides notis Matihiol. 

 341. Plinii, lib. ix. c, 47. 



\ P. 341. (} De Animal lib. xiii. c. 27. 



§ Lib, xviii. c. 3$. 



him, 



