LETTERS, 43? 
I have the honour to fend you a defcription of 
the Egyptian vulture , a fifh of che genus of Oftra- 
eion and a Moth ; the firft I have tranflated into 
Swedifh from my Latin manufcript, to give it in- 
to the Royal Academy of Sciences. If you will 
favour Couniellor Carlefon with the deicription 
of the filh, he will perhaps, as a curious gentle- 
man, read it with pleafure. 
I have lately been employed in anatomizing a 
crocodile, of which 1 lhall have the honour to give 
you an account. 
The parts of the Vifcera, which I think deferve 
the greateft attention in a crocodile, are the Veji- 
cul fellea (Gall bladder) and Pancreas. The wife 
laws of the Creator, which lie concealed in all his 
works, that man may give himfelf the trouble 
to fearch for them, appear in a particular manner 
in the parts abovementioned. 
It is well known, that the crocodile is a carnivo- 
rous voracious animal, and i believe mote fo than 
any other rapacious animal whatever ; it cannot 
chew, but muft fwallow every thing whole, for 
though it can open its jaws extremely wide, yet 
it cannot move them fideways. For fuch a diet, 
and this manner of eating, there was certainly oc- 
cafion for ftrong menftrua. to promote digeftion : 
thefe it is fupplied with, in proportion to its fize, 
more amply than any other animal. A crocodile, 
which 1 opened, three foot and a half long, had 
a gall bladder as big as a hen’s egg, which con- 
tained three ounces of gall, thick, of a fine eme- 
rald green colour, and more bitter than any thing 
I have yet had on my tongue. The Pancreas was 
five inches long and four broad, and all its plicre 
or folds were filled with a yellowilh and fomewhat 
frothy liquid. Both appeared to me larger than 
thofe 
