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food. The general belief is, that the mufcle is conftantly 
flationary in a ftate of repofe, and cannot transfer itfclf 
from place to place. This is a vulgar prejudice, and one 
of thofe fails that are mi Hake a for want of fufticient 
pains or opportunity to make more critical oblervations. 
Others, finding the firft opinion a falfe one, and that they 
are endowed with power of changing place like other 
animals, have, upon the fame foundation, gone into the 
contrary extreme, fo far as to attribute fwiftnel’s to them, 
a property l'urely inconfiftent with their being fixed to 
rocks. Pliny and Solinus fay that the mufcles have lead¬ 
ers,and go in flocks; and that their leader is endowed 
with great cunning to proteil himfelf and his flock from 
the fllhers; and that, when he is taken, the others fall an 
eafy prey. This, however, we may juflly look upon to 
beatable; fome of the moll accurate obfervers having 
difcovered the motion of the mufcle, which indeed is 
■wonderful, and that they lie in beds, which is not at all 
To, have added the reft, to make, their hillory complete.” 
Our author informs us, that the mufcles found in the 
Talt-fprings of Nubia like wife travel far from home, and 
are fometimes furpriled, by the cealing of the rains, at a 
greater diftance from their beds than they have lirength 
and moifture to carry them. He allures us, that none of 
the pearl-filh are eatable ; and that they are the only fifn 
he faw in the Red Sea that cannot be eaten. 
Pearls have been reckoned of fome ufe in medicine; 
but they were only the fmalleft fort, called feeds of pearls, 
:that were ufed. The quality required was, that they 
fliould be white, clear, and tranfparent; and truly oriental. 
They ferved to make cordial potions, formerly much 
valued, but now fallen from their ancient reputation ; 
and fcarcely ordered by any but charlatans. The ladies 
alfo ufe certain preparations of pearls, as they are made to 
believe, for their complexions: fuch as the whites of 
pearls; flowers, eflences, Tpirits, timflures, &c. of pearl; 
but they are all apparently deceits. 
5. My til us unguis : fhell longitudinally ftriate, pellucid, 
and flightly eared. This fpecies inhabits the Mediterra¬ 
nean ; the Ihell is thin and hyaline, with very fine per¬ 
pendicular ftriae, about the fix.e of a man’s nail : fome per¬ 
sons imagine that this is a fpecies of Ostrea. 
III. Ventricofe or convex. 
6. Mytilus lithophagus: fhell cylindrical, rounded at 
both ends. It inhabits European, American, and Indian, 
Teas: penetrating and eating away corals, rocks, and 
even the hardeft marbles. It is about an inch broad, 
and three inches long, marked with arched tranlverfe 
ftrirc; the Ihell is dark bay, with a greenifli tint, but 
within it is opal-blue, lilvery-white, or perlaceous. The 
European fpecimens have a thin brittle fhell; the Indian 
ones are fofter, and nearly coriaceous. 
'7. Mytilus rugofus : fhell rhombic, brittle, rugged, and 
rounded at the ends. It inhabits the northern feas and 
lakes; and is ufually found lodged in great numbers in 
lime-ftone, each in a feparate apartment, with apertures 
too fmall for the fhell to pafs through without breaking 
the Hone. The fhell is about the fixe of the lall joint 
of a man’s little finger; its colour is of a dirty grey, and 
within it is half blue and half white, marked with very 
fmall longitudinal ftriae crofting the tranfverfe wrinkles. 
8. Mytilus bilocularis: fhell blue-ftriate, with vaulted 
knobs and a white diflepiment or partition. It inhabits 
the Nicobar-iflands, and is covered with a green fkin. 
9. Mytilus exuflus: fhell convex, one of the margins 
angular; the frontal extremity crenate. This fpecies is 
found in the American Ocean, and in the Red Sea; it is 
. about an inch and a half long, and has a hinge with four 
or five lateral teeth. 
10. Mytilus barbatus: fhell fmoothifh, ferruginous on 
the outfide, and bearded at the tip. It inhabits the Me¬ 
diterranean Sea; is about three quarters of an inch long, 
and under the fkin it is reddifh-ferruginous, blue, or 
whitifh. 
Vol. XVI. No. 1119. 
I L U S. 
n. Mytilus .edulis, the common edible mufcle: fliell 
fmoothifh, violet, the valves flightly recurved on the ob- 
tufe fide, and fomewhat angular on the acute fide; the 
beaks are pointed: It inhabits the European and Indian 
leas; is two or three inches long, but larger within the 
tropics, and finaller as we proceed northward. Found in 
large-beds, and generally adhering to other bodies, by 
means of a long filky beard. See Concho logy, vol. v. p. 33. 
That accurate and minute obferver, Von Leeuwenhoek, 
made fome curious enquiries into the interior conforma¬ 
tion of both the fea and river mufcle, with their mode of 
generation; and has particularly deferibed the prefent 
fpecies. With the permiflion of Samuel Hoole, elq. _we 
avail ourfelves of his tranflation, and of the figures which 
accompany it. 
“ Upon examining that part of the mufcle which is 
called the beard, I not only found it of a wonderful make, 
but the motion I faw in the fmall component parts of it 
was fo incredibly great, that I could not be fatisfied with 
the fpe£lacle; and it is not in the mind of man to con¬ 
ceive all the motions which I beheld within the compafs 
of a grain of fluid. When I obferved the large and ftrong 
tendons or finews in the mufcle, which are fixed to the 
fliell, and thofe which lie in the fame order and pofition 
as the ribs in a terreftial animal, I thought that we can¬ 
not fufliciently admire the wonderful make of this fifli; 
and that, if we could obtain an infight into all thofe parts 
which we fee in one of them, and could we affign their 
feveral ufes, and give them names, and alfo make draw¬ 
ings of them, I doubt not that we fhould admire fo elabo¬ 
rate and curious a work, beyond many others of nature’s 
produflions; and that thole perfons who now aflert that 
flieil-fifiies (among which the mufcle is in lead eflimation) 
are produced fpontaneoufly, or of themfelves, would 
renounce their opinions, and embrace the truth, namely, 
that fo perfect a creature cannot be produced from cor¬ 
ruption, congealed water, or mud, but can only be gene¬ 
rated by parents of its own fpecies. 
“ I obferved that every mufcle was provided with a 
kind of firing or ligament, which, at a little diflance from 
the fifli, was divided into eight, ten, twelve, fifteen, and 
even twenty, other ligaments of different lengths; and 
with thef'e ligaments, I obferved, that the mufcles fattened 
themfelves to other mufcles, and alfo to pieces of fhells, 
and to fhell-fifli of other fpecies. I was defirous to know 
how this faftening was effected, and which I immediately 
difeovered; for I law, to my great furprife, that the ex¬ 
tremity of every ligament was provided with a thin flat 
membrane or fkin, of a roundifli fliape, which was as 
firmly fixed to the fhell on which it was placed (the liga¬ 
ment being in the middle of it,) as if it were glued to 
the fhell; and, when I endeavoured to pull oft' the liga¬ 
ment, I found, by feveral trials, that (though it was very 
ftrong and tough, in proportion to its ffze) it would 
break before the flat thin membrane could be loofened. 
Hereupon I recollected, that when a boy, I had often 
amufed myfelf with a play-thing which we called ecu 
treek-leertje; [that is, in Englifh, “ a pulling, or drawing- 
leather;” it is a common play-thing among boys m 
England, and is called by them aJ'acker .] This is a fmall 
round piece of leather, about two inches in diameter, 
having a fmall hole in the middle, through which was 
drawn a packthread, with a knot at the end. This leather, 
being firft foaked in water, was placed flat on a ftone; 
and with this we could not only lift up .the ftone, but 
carry it to fome diftance. Now, upon the fame principle 
as the ftone adheres to the leather, partly by the prellurc 
of the atmofphere, and partly becaufe no air or water can 
gain admittance between the ftone and the leather, the 
like effeCl is produced in the cohefion or flicking of the 
membrane I have been deferibing. 
“ I have thought it proper to give a drawing of the 
ligament before-mentioned, and its leveral branches; and 
on the annexed Plate, at fig. 1, is fhown apiece of it, 
which is cut oft' at A in the part which comes but of 
6 K- the 
