I believe no discovery of this bird has been made till now: and it is very probable there are many more species of birds in this island, that have hitherto escaped the notice of curious inquirers. Mr. Ray, in a book by him published, London, 1674. called, A Collection of English Words, _&c._ with a Catalogue of English Birds and Fishes, _&c._ after naming the coot in his catalogue of birds, p. 92. says, “Mr. Johnson of Brigna, near Grota-bridge in Yorkshire, shewed me a bird of the coot kind, scallop-toed, not much bigger than a black-bird.” As so little is said by Mr. Ray, one can hardly determine any thing concerning the bird he mentions: and ’tis plain he thought this note scarce worth notice, as he hath not preserved it in the Ornithology since by him published. Nor can I believe it was the bird now before us; for he says it was not much bigger than a black-bird; which implies, that it was something bigger. And, on reading his description of the black-bird, I find he makes it to weigh four ounces; consequently it is four times the weight of the bird above described by me: for my obliging friend, Mr. Florist, who sent me this bird, says in his letter, that, when newly killed, it weighed one ounce. Therefore I am inclined to think, that the bird Mr. Ray has so slightly mentioned, is a bird not as yet fully discovered. I am, Reverend Sir, Your most humble Servant, Geo. Edwards. College of Physicians, Lond. May the 3d, 1757. XXXII. _Observationes de Corallinis, iisque insidentibus Polypis, aliisque Animalculis Marinis: Quas Regiæ Societati Londinensi offert_ Job Baster, _Med. Doct. Acad. Cæsar. Reg. Societ. Lond. & Scient. Holland. Socius._ [Read May 19, 1757.] DOMICILIUM meum mari propinquum[141] occasionem præbet, in nondum satis cognitam quorundam animalium, in mare degentium, generationem et œconomiam inquirendi. Quæ observavi Regiæ Societati temporis successu offerre animus est; sed in hac prima dissertatione tantum observationes quasdam de corallinis, iisque insidentibus polypis, et aliis animalculis marinis, exhibere in animum induxi. Paucis abhinc annis, inter doctos viros dissensio fuit, utrum corallia, corallinæ, et kerato-phyta veræ essent plantæ, quæ crescunt, et vegetant, in quibus insecta marina nidificant; an vero horum ipsorum essent opus et fabrica. Multi et sagacissimi historiæ naturalis scrutatores ultimam complexi sunt sententiam; sed nemini contradicere studens, simpliciter tantum et fideliter illa referam, quæ variis temporibus in corallinis observavi, et quæ lectorem benevolum, ut spero, convincent, corallinas non magis a polypis fabrefieri, quam diversa fungorum genera ab illis fabricantur animalculis, quibus, æstivo tempore, quasi repleta inveniuntur. Dura corallia, quæ recenter ex mari extracta, et in rotundum animalculis obsita reperiebantur, primam ansam dedere suspicandi, hæc ab illis esse fabrefacta.