2 j 8 Of the Scales g/*Fi£hes. 
which were as broad as a Dollar. Thefe he 
macerated in warm Water to make them 
cut the eafier : and then cutting obliquely 
through one of them, beginning with the 
firfl-formed and very little Scale in the Cen¬ 
ter, he, by his Microfcope , plainly diflin- 
guifhed forty Lamella or Scales , glewed as it 
were over one another ; whence he conclud¬ 
ed, that the Fifh was forty Years of Age 
It has generally been imagined, that an 
Lei has got no Scales ; but if its Slime be 
wiped clean away, and the Skin be examined 
by a Microfcope , it will be found covered 
with exceeding fmall Scales , ranged in a 
very orderly and pretty Manner; and I be¬ 
lieve few Fillies, unlefs fuch as have Shells, 
are to be found without Scales. 
The Way of preparing Scales is to take 
them off carefully with a Pair of Nippers, 
wafh them very clean, and place them in a 
fmooth Paper, between the Leaves of a 
Book, to make them dry flat, and prevent 
their fhrivelling up. Then place them be¬ 
tween your Talcs in Sliders, and keep them 
for Examination. 
The Snake , the Viper , the Slow -worm, 
the Lizard, the Eft , &c. afford a farther 
Variety of Scales. 
# Arc. Nat . Tom. III. pag. 214. 
CHAP. 
