THE 



MUSHROOM MADREPORE* 



Generic Character. 



The Animal refembling a Medufa. 

 The Coral marked by lamellated ftar-maped ca- 

 vities. 



Specific Character. 



MADREPORE with rifing or convex laminae 

 above, generally concave and papillofe be- 

 neath, and foraetimes footftalked. 



Before that fpirit of inquiry which characterizes the 

 modern cultivators of natural hiftory began to diffufe 

 itfelf in Europe^ innumerable errors were committed in 

 the hiftories both of animals and vegetables, while the 

 general negleft with which the major part of mankind 

 regarded fubjedts of this nature, ftill increafed the dif- 

 ficulty of obtaining proper fpecimens and defcriptions 

 of feveral of the moft curious and interefting produc- 

 tions of nature. The root of a fpecies of fern, not un- 

 common in the northern parts of Afia, was fuppofed to 

 partake of the nature of a quadruped, and was digni- 

 fied by the title of the vegetable lamb. Some of the 

 locuft tribe with large green veiny wings were believed 



to 



