E

Weymouth Crab, Spunge, &c.

VERY day brings under obfervation new fpecimens of little animals, and their workmanship, drenched up from our feas. The chambers of the deep teem with myriads of living creatures whofe wonderful economy is ftill unexplored. To perfons who have taste and leifure, it is certainly a pleasant talk to examine and arrange them and the pleasure is greatly augmented by putting them in a way to contribute to the entertainment of Society.

The little crab, marked F, belongs to the fpecies called, in the BRITISH ZOOLOGY, Weymouth. Mr. Pennant defcribes it in the following words.

Dorfettenfis. Cr. with a cordated body, rugged and bent, with a few fpines; very thick, and long claws; and very flender legs, the first pair much longer than the reft.

THE fpecimen which he had feen was in the Portland Cabinet; but no attention had been paid to it in the drying, and it feemed to have died in convulfive agonies, as the legs and claws were all twifted, and turned towards its body.

WHEN thefe animals are procured alive, great care is requifite to preferve their Ihapes true and elegant. While yet moift and flexible, they fhould be ftretched at full length upon a piece of board, until they become hard and dry. Then no chance remains that their forms will alter; and the specimens have the advantage of being fhewn in their native elegance.

THE crab from which the fketch in the plate was taken, had been kept for a confiderable time alive in falt water. The greatest curiofity about it seemed to be the fingular quantity of little corallines with which it was overgrown. During the time in which the animal was kept alive, it employed itself almost wholly in picking off thefe branches. They feemed to be a heavy incumbrance to it, and its anxiety to get rid of them was very ftrikingly difplayed. The corallines which take up their habitations on the bodies and legs of thefe animals, are of every different fpecies; and great variety are found on the fame crab, fome of exceeding fine workmanship, and very beautiful forms. The animal was fo wholly overgrown with them, that the fhape of its body and limbs could fcarcely be difcerned.

THERE is a very delicate entertainment in pursuing the little infect through its various actions and employments in life. The mind cannot dwell long on fuch tender fubjects without being elevated and refined. He who contemplates them, admires the deep myfteries of Almighty Wifdom; and every new beam of that divine knowledge awakens pleasure in the foul.

THE fmall drawing at e, is a reprefentation of the manner in which Spunge begins to fhoot. At E the fame is confiderably magnified: the fpines are adhering to a fhell from which they feem to fhoot forth, and are interwoven with curvatures of very beautiful red and white corals.

A, B, C,

A, B, C, D, are different views of a very curious muskle, dragged up about three leagues from this coaft. It is a bivalve, in form very fimilar to our common muskle; but is remarkable for the rows of prickles down its fides. These spines are placed in very regular order, and three rows are commonly on each fhell. This fpecies feems not as yet to have fallen under the obfervation of our Naturalifts. Mr. Pennant certainly had not been acquainted with it, as he takes no notice of fuch an one in the BRITISH ZOOLOGY.

THE ocean continues to us an inexhauftible fource whence to improve our knowledge, and to enrich our cabinets. It affords wonderful difplays of His incomprehenfible fkill, who, with the fame all-pervading eye, beholds the movements of the infect and the rolling of the spheres.

THE Contemplation of these wonderful orders of life, while they kindle in the foul the most delicate fenfations, cannot fail to raise our thoughts in admiration of that Univerfal Operator who formed all things. His diffufive energy animates the whole creation. The certainty of His omnipotence, and the fenfe of his continual prefence, are, to a pious mind, the moft cheering reflections in life. One who feels these impreffions, fees HIM in every thing, and cannot admire the smallest of his works without thinking of Him.

THE bleffed idea of the Supreme Perfection, which is their high origin, devolves on them thofe divine embellishments which enchant our fouls, and render our ad. miration a mysterious homage paid to the fplendour and benignity of a Providence whofe energies are infinite and eternal.

PUBLIC LIBRARY

MONUMENT of the MAUSOLEUM of the EARL of FIFE

Biblish'd as the Act, diegoto Febo11705 by Peter Mazell Engraver N132. Bridges Sen. Covent Garden.