A iA a ene 
NATURAL HISTORY 
ENGLISH CORALLINES, &. 
CGA Ba ad. 
N order to be the better underftood, in treating of 
2) the feveral marine Productions, which are the Sub- 
B= ACS ject of the following Eflay, I find myfelf under a 
HX kind of Neceflity to {peak in the common Lan- 
guage of thofe, who, confidering them merely as Plants or 
marine Vegetables, have, as Botanifts, reduced them to certain 
Claffes; and, with the celebrated Ray, fhall-divide them into 
Corals, Corallines, Keratophyta, Efchara, Sponges, and Al- 
-cyonia.” But in difpofing of the feveral Subjedts, I fhall ra~- : ae a 
ther have Regard to the fimilar Texture of the Subftances, “°° * 
and the Figure of the Animals that inhabit them, than to the 
mere external Form and Appearance, which were the fole 
Objects of the botanical Writers. | 
7 3 Hit ee 
According 
