January, V t O un cylindi'e »del coroc qUi & forme, &? qui fe termine auffi par un autre focturPelfit ainfidefuite, ¡car tantque l’ani- mai vlt ieí córneaicrqififenV’; ; : . t h e fake o f fuch per- fons a s . . Ifeve nbt had an opportunity o f being better .acquainted w ith Mí ;©E BuEFO^qund his work®, I will juft take; occáfion fo; obferve, ftthMbthis is tbf - celebrated man, who,-; after; I a a intimate; inv^ftigation of every concomitant eircumftaifce. fin fconfequence of which he has likewife favoured uis with a particular defcription o f the whole pro- cefs) thought himfelf. authorifed to advance, that a. comet, having ftruck againft the fun. in its courfe, ;beat feveral pieces 1 out o f it, j -of which the planets were formed, and has bolides calculated the precife time which each of thefe celeftial bodies refpecftively took to, cool. But quite enough has been feid o f ;a blunder; which the^moft illiterate cottager is able to rectify,’ - in xlafe. ,it ihouM happen to miflcad any raw ' fchaol-bcty, totally unacquainted With natural hiftory. But as we are upon the íubjeébof horns at prefent, I cannot help requefting M» de> Bdíf.eon to iriform me, hoWi.the fmalleft elk’s horns, Tom. XU. Tab. XLVJ. could grow from the fe e which, at .page '3 26, ¡under the. article ma~ ¡sames, they are faid to be Of, (viz. not. quite fix inches long*,) how thefe, I fay,could grow fo quickly, at page 357, 358, in the articlerdudaU-, to theilength Of two feet ?¡ifj indeed, the nice admeafurements o f M. Daubenton, page 3 7 7 ; 3'7®j MCXCIX. M. C. C. are in every refpeft to be depended upon. Neither can I better comprehend, why Meiirs. df. Buffon and Daubenton make ufc of the fame horns for two quite different animáis; by doing winch, they •have induced two other zoologifts, certainly in other re ¿ fpedts fpefls; the ; greateft ; and ; imoft 1 aeduràte. in Europe, in like manner to. refer to :.horri$of;one and the fame fpecies,' for two different animals.; though this;'indeed, is notfo much to. be wondered at, thefe gentlemen being too complaifent to harbour fuch adbgree<of miftruftwith refpeft to thè Rijloire Naturelk, .;as; • likbf&fty was in this ¡cafe neceiffary ; neither could they eafily.fufpeétjifo palpable a miftake in this great work of Meffrs. db> Buffon and Daub enton, concerning which, however, T fear, that, manyv people will pafs the fame, judgment,'.;as M.: de Buffon has done on Seba’s thefaurus. ButT muft write a treatife confifting o f many volumes,' were I to' continue-tò diffeff M. de Buffon’s work ; I ihall therefore content myfelf at prefent with making; as briefly as poffible,. a few remarks on Camelopardalis" and ; then viverra ichneumon; I ’(thè giraffe and mangoujl o f Buf fon,) on account of the defcriptions of which M. IlAssEi.QUtsT has been fo ill ufed. M. de Buffon has not been able to point• out, much Jefs to demonftrate, any ; blunder fcOftimitted by TfAssEti- quist ; hut why does he tlien blame this fe&i'Ued alftl highly r deferring acadethician f I t is, ; indeed, aftoniihing, that he fhouìd cónfider Hasselquist’s defcriptions as prolix; when, in fail, the* feme ahimals are treated o f in one fend the fame Tome of M. de Bui Foti’Si oWWi writings ; «ne Of them ini at leift twice, and the ofhér twpiveftiftìeS a® diffufe a manner; nòtwithftandìng which’, this-feme volume is itili farther fwelled out with admeafurements o f the vagina and urethra of the rat, Is it poffible here to refraifo from enquiring, what is the ufe of all this ? fince the animal alluded to has nothing extraordinary in the proportion o f this part, I i a and
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