Mr. Cole'* Letter to Mr. Ray. 197 



mion of all Philofophers as well as learned Divines 

 but it doth evidently appear by the Figures of 

 fome of thofe I have found this Winter, that they 

 were never capable of being living Creatures. As a- 

 mong others, to inftance in one of thofe which can 

 be reduced to none but the Ophiomorphites^ which 

 I found growing between the thin Plates of a kind of 

 brittle-blue Slate in large Rocks, fome a Furlong 

 within full Sea-Mark, and fome where the Water 

 comes not at the higheft Tides, only in great Storms 

 where the Waves break, and fometimes dafh when 

 forced up by the Wind. Thefe being broken with 

 a convenient Tool, will fhiver all into very thin 

 Plates, between which I found an abundance of thofe 

 iStones, as brittle as the Slate in which they grow, 

 and of the fame Confidence j yet fo thin, that the 

 broadeft, being about 4. Inches, are not fo thick as a 

 Half-crown Piece. Some not half an Inch, and |s 

 thin as a Groat, and fo proportionably up to the lar- 

 geft, cover'd with a Superficies as thin, and exactly 

 of the Colour of Silver Foil : And where the Sea Wa- 

 ter wafheth them, and they are expofed to the Sun and 

 Wind, when the Tide is gone, are tarnifhed, and appear 

 of a Gold, Purple, blue and red 5 a*s any thing on which 

 Silver Foil is laid, when expofed to the Sun, Wind 

 and Weather, will do in a confiderable time. Thefe 

 have the fame fpiral Figures, and as regular as the o- 

 ther Serpent Stones ; and with a Knife being taken 

 off, leave the Impreffions on both Sides of the Slate* 

 In fuch Rocks of Slate, but much harder, I found 

 (and employed Men with Tools to dig them out) 

 fome of thofe Stones of another kind, thick in Pro- 

 portion to their Breadth, from an Inch to 28 Inches 

 broad > and the laft broadeft one was at the great End 

 (on which fome Authors have fabuloufly reported 

 the Head to grow) 6 Inches thick, all of them co- 

 vered over with a white Scale, which may be taken 

 ||F| one Coat under another, as Pearls, or the Shells 



of 



