i 256 ] 



fliips ; and then proceeds to inform ns, that it was 

 not till the year 1749, that this phr^nomenon was 

 certainly difcovered to be owing, at leafl: in many 

 parts of the ocean, to an inconceivable number of 

 minute infe6ls. One of thefe is the fubje6t of this 

 paper, and is completely defcribed, and a figure 

 given, as augmented by the microfcope. It is of 

 the Vermes clafs, and the Mollufca order, and Hands 

 in the Syjiem under the name of Nereis No5liluca^ 

 p. 1085, being the firft of eleven fpecies there de"- 

 fcribed. Its real length does not exceed the 6th 

 part of an inch. 



Later writers have thrown more light on this 

 difcovcry, by exhibiting a great variety of thefe 

 living Phofphori. 



40. Rhab ARB ARUM. S, Ziervogel, 1752. 



A botanical and medical hiftory of the Rheum 

 Undulatum^ Sp. PI. 531. defcribed here under the 

 idea of its being the true Rhuharh^ having been 

 fent from Rujfia as fuch by ProfelTor Gerber to 

 Conful Sprekelfen at Hamburgh^ and by him intro- 

 duced into many gardens. The medical hiftory 

 therefore of this plant muft be transferred to the 

 Rheum Palmatum^ which is now generally believed 

 to be the true Rhubarb^ of which a defcription 

 and figure may be feen in the Phil. Tranf. vol. Iv. 

 p. 290. communicated by Dr. Hope, profefTor of 

 botany at Edinburgh^ who raifed it from feeds fent 

 him by Dr. Mounfey^ in 1763, and under whofe 

 culture the plant has greatly thriven, and yielded 

 large quantities of good Rhubarb. Mr. Pennant 



has^ 



