the fame mould, a& i f certain conformations were more, eaiy to hear
than others ; he might have.added,, perhaps,,, with great propriety,,,
becaufe fuch conformations are moft ufeful and neeeffary in the:
whole fyftem o f organic bodies. Hence we have found that certain'
clafifes o f plants are remarkably copious,, likewife; that the moil
extenfive-, genera o f birds, have Rill received a greater number o f new
ipecies j and that in the fifties alfo, the rich genera o f gadxs blen~-
nius, fparus' and, perca, are moft enlarged in the falsie; manner;
we may at the fame time,. I think, with the greatefl probability
fuppofe, that, the unknown treaiures in this- laft1 clafe are Rill im-
menfe; firft, from the great additions» which it. has been in our:
power to make,, though we laboured under the difficulties afore-
mentioned; and feeondly, from the more imperfedl Rate o f the-
definitions, which, according to the heR method extant, muR Rills
depend upon the very precarious number o f rays in the fins.
I N S E C T S.
N o countries in the world produce fewer fpecies o f infedts than-
thofe o f the South-Sea: it is furpriz-ing how very few we met with,
and thofe o f the moR common and well-known, forts- Th e only
place where we few them rather, more abundant, was in N ew -C ale -
donia, and this I fufpedl is- owing to its proximity to N ew -H o l-
land; but our ihort Ray there (lid not allow us to make the leaR
acquiacquifition
in this branch, Th e moft numerous forts are undouht- a n i m a l
. . . . KINGDOR
edly the cruftaceous; but, among, them, we few none that were
not well marked in the Linmean fyftem. Here I muR alfo remark,-
that there is a fmall fpecies o f fcorpion in the tropical files of the
South-Sea, but more common, to the WeflernmoR than the Society
tfl.es, where I.never few.one. T h e native, who was with,us eight
months, told us they were harmlefs j. however, they were armed
exadtly as their cogeneric fpecies; I t is therefore referved for future
enquiry, to determine by what accidental cireiimftances the
virus o-f the fcorpion’s Ring becomes more or lefs deleterious; efpe-
cially as the experiments made by Mr. de Mau-pertuis feem to intimate,
that even the individuals of the fame fpecies: are not all equally
noifonous ; and that one and the fame, individual is, at different
times,, more or lefs dangerous. Academic lies- Sciences, 17.
S \H E. L. L S,. AND o t h e r V ' E E M E ST
he Riells of the South-Sea are fir lefs various than might at
firft be expedted’,;. and. the reefs o f the tropical ifles- generally yielded
the moft common Linmean. fheMs, fuch as cowries, epi-feopal.
mitres, murices tritonis,. the moft common- buccina, turbines, and.
neritie. A few fpecies at New-Zeelimd, are new; though the-
greateft part of them are minute- In regard to the molhifca, what
little