of to carry a letter from one place to another; and, fuch is the fagacity of this bird, that though you carry them hood-winked twenty or thirty miles, nay, I have known them to be carried threescore or an hundred, and there turned loofe, they will immediately haften to the place where they were bred. The Dutch call this pigeon bagadat, probably from a corruption of the name of the city Bagdat, which was formerly old Babylon, which Nimrod built; because they judge this pigeon in its way from Bazora to be brought through that city. In Turkey they call them bagatins, or couriers; and the Turks and Perfians make a common prac fo that, by this means, difpatches are fent in a more fafe and speedy method than could poffibly be otherwife contrived. If thefe pigeons, however, are not practifed when young, the beft of them will fly but very indifferently, and may very poffibly be loft. The ancients likewife made ufe of pigeons for conveying intelligence. Ovid, in his Metamorphofes, tells us, that Taurofthenes, by a pigeon ftained with purple, gave notice of his victory at the Olympic games, the very fame day on which he gained it, to his father at Ægina. ence with each other. We fhall now proceed to the defcription of this bird. The carrier is larger in fize than most of the common forts of pigeons; and fome of them meafure, from the point of the beak to the extremity of the tail, fifteen inches, and weigh near twenty ounces. Their eh is naturally firm, and their feathers clofe when they stand erect upon their legs; their necks being generally long, there appears great fymmetry of fhape beyond most other pigeons, which are generally crowded on heaps. The upper chap of the bill is half covered from Thus Hirtius and Brutus, at the fiege of Modena, by means of pi tice of breeding this fort of pigeons, held a mutual correfpondgeons in their feraglios, where there is one whofe bufinefs it is to feed and train thefe birds for the ufe afterwards defigned; which is done in this manner: when a young one flies very hard at home, and is come to its full ftrength, they carry it in a basket, or otherwise, about half a mile from home, and there they turn it out; after this, they carry it a mile, then two, four, eight, ten, twenty, &c. till at length they will return from the furtheft parts of the kingdom. This practice is of admirable ufe; for every bafhaw has generally a basket full of thefe pigeons fent him from the grand feraglio; and in cafe of any infurrection, or other emergent occafion, he braces a letter under the wings of a pigeon, whereby its fight is not in the leaft incommoded, and immediately turns it loofe; but, for fear of their being fhot, or truck by a hawk, they generally difpatch five or fix; the head with a naked white, tuberous, furfuraceous flesh, which projects or hangs over both its fides, on the upper part nearest the head, and ends in a point about the middle of the bill; this is called the wattle, and is fometimes joined by two fmall excrefcences of the fame The eyes, whofe iris, or circle round the black pupil, is generally of the colour of a reddish gravel, but should be of a fiery red, are equally furrounded with the fame fort of furfuraceous matter for about the breadth of a fhilling; this is generally thin when it fpreads wide, and is moft valued; yet, when the fleth round the eye is thick and broad, it fhews the carrier to be of a good blood, that will breed very ftout ones. This bird was formerly esteemed by the gentlemen of the fancy, as the king of pigeons, on account of its great fagacity. There are likewife two other fpecies of pigeons of the carrier kind; which are chiefly made ufe of in England for the carriage of letters, efpecially in the cafe of wagers; few perfons poffeffed of the original carriers caring to rifque them on trifling occafions.-Thofe are the horfeman and the dragoon. The following fact, relating to a dragoon pigeon, may be depended upon, notwithstanding the appear. ance of incredibility, as feveral gentlemen now living can affirm the fame, if requifite. A gentleman of my acquaintance, having a fmall wager depending, fent a dragoon by the itage-coach to his friend at St. Edmund's-bury, together with a note, defiring the pigeon, two days after his arrival there, might be thrown up precifely when the town clock ftruck nine in the morning; which was accordingly executed, and the pigeon arrived in London, and flew to the fign of the Bull Inn in Bishopfgate. freet, into the loft, and was there Thewn at half an hour paft eleven o'clock the fame morning, on which he had been thrown up at St. Edmund's-bury, having flown feventy-two miles in two hours and a half; the wager was confirmed by a letter fent by the next poft from the perfon at St. Edmund's-bury. I could relate feveral more exploits of this nature performed by dragoons; particularly of their being thrown up and returning home by moon-light, &c. but the above may be thought fufficient. An account of a fish from Batavia, called Faculator: in a letter to Mr. Peter Collinfon, F. R. S. from John Albert Schloffer, M.D. F.R.S. Amfterdam, 22d Feb. 1763. Dear Sir, HA [AVING lately received from Mr. Hommel, governor of the hofpital at Batavia, many un. common fishes, well preferved; among them is one as curious for its fhape, as for its extraor dinary manner of obtaining its food. It is new to me, and, I believe, hath never been obferv ed by any writer on natural hif tory. I request the favour that you will prefent this rare fifh to the royal fociety, as a fmall, but fins cere, proof of the gratitude and esteem which I really have for that refpectable learned body,. Governor Governor Hommel gives the following account of the jaculator, or fhooting fish, a name alluding to its nature. It frequents the fhores and fides of the fea and rivers, in fearch of food. When it fpies a fly fitting on the plants that grow in fhallow water, it fwims on to fix feet, and then, with a furprizing dexterity, it ejects out of its tubular mouth a fingle drop of water, which never fails ftriking the fly into the fea, where it foon becomes its prey. the diftance of four, five, or x The relation of this uncommon action of this cunning fish raised the governor's curiofity; though it came well attested, yet he was determined, if poffible, to be convinced of the truth, by ocular demonftration. For that purpose, he ordered a large wide tun to be filled with fea-water; then had fome of thefe fifh caught, and put into it, which was changed every other day. In a while, they feemed reconciled to their confinement; then he determined to try the experi ment. A flender flick, with a fly pinned on at its end, was placed in fuch a direction, on the fide of the veffel, as the fish could trike it. It was with inexpreffible delight, that he daily faw these fifh exercifing their kill in fhooting at the fly, with an amazing velocity, and never miffed the mark. In looking over that noble work of the Mufeam of the king of Sweden, printed anno 1754, I met with this jaculator, well engraven, and defcribed by the learned baron Linnæus, under the title of Chaetodon. Some account of an infect, the female of which is vivaparous and oviparous at different feafons, and is at once impregnated by the male for feveral generations. Nothing is more common, in the beginning of fummer, than to fee the leaves of peaches, nectarines, and cherries, curled up and blighted; which leaves, on examination, are found covered with little infects, called Pucerons, or Fleas, fome blackifh, others green; fome winged, and others without wings. It has been found, that thefe blights are not owing to the infect, but rather the great number of the infects to the blights, which, by obftructing the evaporation of the vegetable juices, occafion the young leaves to be covered with a ge latinous and honey-like moisture, fit food for those destructive infects; fo that the best way to get rid of them is to fprinkle the tree with fair water, or lay under it pans of water, whofe vapours may have in time the fame effect. But it remains a doubt whence, and by what means, these infects are conveyed upon the young fprouting leaves. Trees, in this condition, are vifited by multitudes of ants, which hurt not the trees, as fome erroneously conjecture, but do them fervice, by devouring this vermin that infefts them. Thefe are the general obfervations that heretofore have been made on pucerons: we fhall now examine what occurs on this fubject, in fome late accurate naturalifts. Thofe infects, fo remarkable for their fecundity and numerous fpecies, fpecies, were, for a long time, in the rank of the animals, which had been claffed with the true androgynes, fpoken of by Mr. Breynius; and this precipitate conclufion proved nothing more, than that good obfervers were fometimes deficient in logic; for, having never catched pucerons copulating, they haftily concluded, that pucerons multiplied without copulation. This, however, was but a doubt, or, at best, a mere furmise ;-but this furmife was believed and adopted by Mr. de Reaumur, and, though he fupported it by fome obfervations peculiar to himfelf, the quellion remained ftill undecided, till Mr. Bonnet feemed to have cleared it up, by taking and hutting up a puceron, at the infiant of its birth, in the most perfect folitude, which yet brought forth, in his fight, ninety-five young ones. Repeated experiments, in this refpect, were communicated to the royal academy of sciences, when an unforeseen and very ftrange fufpicion, imparted by Mr. Trembley to Mr. Bonnet, engaged him anew in a series of ftill more painful inquiries than the foregoing. In a letter, which that celebrated obferver wrote to him from the Hague, the 27th January, 1741, he thus expreffes himself: I formed, fince the month of November, the defign of rearing feveral generations of folitary pucerons, in order to fee if they would all equally bring forth young. In cafes fo remote from ufual circumstances, it is allowed to try all forts of means; and I argued with myfelf, Who knows, but that one copulation might ferve for feveral generations?' It must be confeffed, that this Who knows' was next to avouching nothing; but, as it came from Mr. Trembley, it was fufficient to perfuade Mr. Bonnet that he had not gone far enough in his inveftigation. If the fecundity of pucerons was owing to the fecret copulation Mr. Trembley spoke of, this copulation ferved, at least, five or more fucceffive generations. Mr. Bonnet therefore reared to the amount of the tenth generation of folitary pucerons, and had the patience to keep an account of the days and hours of the births of each generation. It is not till the approach of win. ter, that the females of pucerons lay eggs, and it is nearly towards that time that the males begin to appear. There is, therefore, a fecret relation between the apparition of the males and the laying of eggs; and it is this relation we feek after, and which should account for the copulation. In whatever feafon the belly of a female is opened, eggs are found therein; and, if in fummer, eggs are found in it, and young ones too on the point of receiving birth. The young of the infect, as viviparous, admit of growth in the belly of their mother; the young of the infect, as oviparous, after going out of it. The pucerons that are born alive, grow, therefore, to a certain degree before their appearance in light: thofe that are born fhut up in eggs are not calculated for receiving fo quick a developement, being deftined for preferving the fpecies during winter, and confequently are not to be hatched till the return of the proper feafon for affording them nourishment. Some Some account of a tree, that speedily grows to a great fixe, and yields flowers, pulfe, fodder for cattle, and a fine blue dye, without any manure, and in the coldest climates; by M. de Graffenreid, of Switzer land: to which is added, Mr. Miller's characters of the fame curious and useful vegetable; with obfervations by the tranflator of M. Graffenreid's account. TH HIS tree is known by the following names: Robinia pedimentis fimpliciffimis, foliis abruptis pinnatis. Lin. Sp. et Gen. Plantar. Afphalatus. Amen. Ruthen. 210. n. 285. Caragana Siberica. Ray. Hort. Lugd. Bat. 537: The leaves of this fpecies of Robinia are conjugated, and compofed of a number of fmall fingle folioles, of an oval figure, and ranged by pairs on one common ftock. The flowers are leguminous, and are clustered on a filament. Every flower confifts of a fmall bell-shaped petal, cut into four fegments at the edge, the upper part being rather the wideft. The keel is fmall, open, and rounded. The wings are large, oval, and a little raifed. Within are ten ftamina united at the bafe, curved towards the top, and rounded at the fummit. In the midst of a fheath, formed by the filaments of the ftamina, the piftil is perceivable, confifting of an oval germen, terminated by a kind of button. This germen becomes afterwards an oblong flattifh curved pod, containing four or five feeds, of a fize and hape irregular and unequal; yet, VOL, VIH. in both refpects, fomewhat refembling a lentil. fevere climates of Northern Afia, This tree grows naturally in the in a fandy foil mixed with black light earth. banks of great rivers, as the Oby, It is particularly found on the Jenifia, &c. inhabited parts of the country, beIt is very rarely met with in the cause cattle are very fond of its leaves, and hogs of its roots; and it is fo hardy, that the feverest winter does not affect it. The celebrated Botanift Gmelin found it in the neighbourhood of Tobolfk, buried under fifteen feet of fnow and ice, yet had it not fuffered the leaft damage. Its culture confifts in being plant. ed or fowed in a lightish sandy soil, which must on no account have been lately manured. It thrives beft near a river, or on the edge of a brook or spring; but prefently dies, if planted in a marshy fpot, where the water ftagnates. If it is planted in a rich foil, well tilled, it will grow to the height of twenty feet, and in a very few years will be as big as a common birch tree. In a very bad foil this tree degenerates, and becomes a mere fhrub: the leaves grow hard, and their fine bright green colour is changed to a dull deep green. The Tongufian Tartars, and the inhabitants of the northern parts of Siberia, are very fond of the fruit of this tree, it being almoft the only fort of pulfe they eat. M. Strahlemberg, author of a well-esteemed defcription of Siberia, affures us that this fruit is tolerably pleafant food, and very nourishing. These peas are firft infufed in boiling water, to take off H a certain |