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Show [ 122 ] With ores and gems adorn her coral cell, And drop a pearl in every gaping !hell. 3. '' YouR myriad trains o'er fl:agnant oceans tow, Harnefs'd with goffamer, the loitering prow; 86 Or with fine films, fufpended o'er the deep, Of oil effuG.ve lull the wav~s to fleep. You fray the flying bark, conceal' d beneath, Where living rocks of worm-built coral breathe;. 90 manner of taking their prey by inclofing it in thefe beautiful rays like a net. Phi}. Tranf. Vol. LXIII. and LXV. and LXVII. And drop a pearl. l. 84. Many are the opinions both of al'\tient and modern writers concerning :he p:oduction of pearls. Mr. Reaumur thinks they are formed like the hard concretiOns m many land animals as fi'Ones of the bladder, gall-ftones, and bezoar, and hence concludes them to be a difeafe of the fith ; but there feems to be a ftricter analogy ~etween thefe and the calcareous productions found in crab-fith, called crab's eyes, which are formed near the ftomach of the animal, and confl:itute a refervoir of calcareous matter againfl: the renovation of the thell, at which time they are re-d iffol\'ed and depofited for that purpofe. As the internal part of the fhell of the pearl oyfter or mufcle confifl:s of mother-pearl, which is a ftmilar material to the pearl, and as the animal ha~ annually ~ccafton to enlarge his fhell, there is reafon to fufpect the loofe pearls are fim1lar refen•o1rs of the pearly matter for that purpofe. Orwith finefilms. 1. 87. See additional notes, No. XXIX. Where living rocks 1 90 Th 0 rc 0 0 •• • • e tmmen e and dangerous rocks built by the fwarms of coralinfeCls whtch nfe almoft perpendicularly in the fouthern ocean like walls are de [ 1~3 ] Meet fell TEREDo, as he mines the keel With beaked head, and break his lips of fl:eel; Turn the broad helm, the fluttering canvas urge From MAELSTROME's fierce innavigable furge. -'Mid the lorn ifles of .Norway's ftormy main, As f weeps ·o'er many a league his eddying train, V:afi watery walls in rapid circles fpin, . And deep-ingulph'd the Demon dwells within; Springs o'er the fear-froze crew with harpy-claws, 95 Down his deep den the whirling veffel draws ; 1 oo .churns with his bloody mouth the dread repaft, The booming waters tnurmuring o'er the maft. 'fcribed in Cook's voyages, a point of one of thefe rocks broke off and ftuck in the hole which it had made in the bottom of one of his thips, which would othcrwife have perithed by the admiffion of water. The numerous lime-ftone rocks which confift of a congeries of the cells of thefe animals and which conftitute a great part of the folid earth !hew their prodigious multiplication in all ages of the world. Specimens of thefe rocks are to be feen in the Lime-works at Linfel near Newport in Shropfhire, in Coal-brook: Da'le, and in many parts of the Peak of Derbyfhire. The infect has been well deiCribedbyM. Peyffonnel, Ellis, andothers. Phil. Tranf. Vol. XLV!I.L.LII.andLVll. Meet f ell Teredo. I. 91. See additional notes, No. XXX. Turn the broad helm. I. 93· See additional notes, No. XXXI. R2 |