ing them out, come to an end of them. If then, within the fmall compafs of a Mile or two, there are so many Species to be found, furely the most modeft Conjecture cannot eftimate the number of all the Kinds of Papilio's native of this Ifland to fall fhort of 300, which is twice fo many as I laft Summer guefs'd them to be. Wherefore using the fame Argumentations, the number of all the British Infects will amount to 2000, and the total fum of thofe of the whole Earth will be 20000. The number of Plants contain'd in C. Baubin's Pinax, is about 6000, which are all that had been describ'd by the Authors that wrote before him, or obferv'd by himfelf; in which Work, befides Miftakes and Repetitions incident to the moft wary and knowing Men in fuch a Work as that, there are a great many, I might fay fome Hundreds, put down for different Species, which in my Opini on are but accidental Varieties: Which I do not fay to detract from the excellent Pains and Performance of that Learned, Judicious and Laborious Herbarist, or to defraud him of his deferv'd Honour, but only to fhew, that he was too much fway'd by the Opinions then generally current among Herbarifts, that different colour or multiplicity of Leaves in the Flower, and the like Accidents were fufficient to conftitute a fpecifick Difference. But fuppofing there had been 6000 then known and defcrib'd, I cannot think but that there are in the World more than triple that number; there being in the vast Continent of America as great a variety

of

of Species as with us, and yet but few common to Europe, or perhaps Africk and Afia. And if, on the other fide the Equator, there be much Land ftill remaining undifcover'd, as probably there may, we muft fuppofe the number of Plants to be far greater.

What can we infer from all this? If the num→ ber of Creatures be fo exceeding great, how great, nay, immense, muft needs be the Power and Wifdom of him who form'd them all! For (that I may borrow the words of a Noble and Excellent Author) as it argues and manifefts more Skill by far in an Artificer, to be able to frame both Clocks and Watches, and Fumps, and Mills, and Granadoes, and Rockets, than he could difplay in making but one of thofe forts of Engines; fo the Almighty difcovers more of his Wifdom in forming fuch, a vaft multitude of. different forts of Creatures, and all with adinirable and irreprovable Art, than if he had created but a few; for this declares the greatness and unbounded capacity of his Understanding. Again, The fame Superiority of Knowledge would be difplay'd, by contriving Engines of the fame kind, or for the fame purposes, after different fafhions, as the moving of Clocks or other Engines by Springs inftead of Weights: So the infinitely wife Creator hath fhewn in many Inftances, that he is not confin'd to one only Inftrument for the working one Effect, but can perform the fame thing by divers means. So, tho' Feathers feem neceffary for flying, yet hath he enabled feveral Creatures to fly without them,

them, as two fort of Fishes, one fort of Lizard, and the Batt, not to mention the numerous Tribes of flying Infects. In like manner, tho' the Airbladder in Fishes feems neceffary for fwimming, yet fome are fo form'd as to fwim without it, viz. First, the Cartilagineous Kind, which by what Artifice they poize themselves, afcend and defcend at pleasure, and continue in what depth of Water they lift, is as yet unknown to us. Secondly, The Cetaceous Kind, or Sea-beafts, differing in nothing almoft from Quadrupeds but the want of Feet. The Air which in respiration these receive into their Lungs, may serve to render their Bodies equiponderant to the Water; and the conftriction or dilatation of it, by the help of the Diaphragm and Muscles of refpiration, may probably affift them to afcend of defcend in the Water, by a light impulse thereof with their Fins.

OF

Again; Tho' the Water, being a cold Eleinent, the most wife God hath fo attemper'd the Blood and Bodies of Fishes in general, that a finall degree of heat is fufficient to preserve their due confiftency and motion, and to maintain Life; yet to fhew that he can preferve a Creature in the Sea, and in the coldeft part of the Sea too, that may have as great a degree of heat as Quadrupeds themselves, he hath created variety of these Cetaceous Fishes, which converse chiefly in the Northern Seas, whofe whole Body being incompafs'd round with a copious Fat or Blubber, (which, by reflecting and redoubling the internal heat, and keeping off the exter

nal

nal cold, doth the fame thing to them that Clothes do to us) is enabled to abide the greatest cold of the Sea-water. The reason why thefe Fishes delight to frequent chiefly the Northern Seas, is, conceive, not only for the quiet which they enjoy there, but because the Northern Air, which they breath in, being more fully charg❜d with those Particles fuppos'd nitrous, which are the Aliment of Fire, is fitteft to maintain the vital heat in that activity which is fufficient to move fuch an unweildly bulk as their Bodies are with due celerity, and to bear up against and repel the ambient cold; and may likewise enable them to continue longer under Water than a warmer and thinner Air could.

Another Inftance to prove that God can and doth by different means produce the fame Effect, is the various ways of extracting the Nutritious Juice out of the Aliment, in feveral kinds of Creatures.

1. In Man and viviparous Quadrupeds the Food moiftned with the Spittle [faliva] is firft chew'd and prepar'd in the Mouth, then fwallow'd into the Stomach, where being mingled with fome diffolvent Juices, it is by the heat hereof concocted, macerated, and reduc'd into. a Chyle or Cremor, and fo evacuated into the Inteftines, where being mix'd with the Choler and Pancreatick Juice, it is further fubtiliz'd and render'd fo fluid and penetrant, that the thin-. ner and finer part of it eafily finds its way in at the ftreight Orifices of the lacteous Veins.

2. In Birds there is no Maftication or Commi

nution of the Meat in the Mouth; but in fuch as are not Carnivorous, it is immediately fwallow'd into the Crop or Craw, or at least into a kind of Anteftomach (which I have obferv'd in many, efpecially Pifcivorous Birds) where it is moiftned and mollified by fome proper Juice from the Glandules diftilling in there, and thence transferr❜d into the Gizzard or Mufculous Stomach, where by the working of the Muscles compounding the fides of that Ventricle, and by the affiftance of fmall Pebbles (which the Creature fwallows for that purpose) it is, as it were, by Mill-ftones ground fmall, and fo tranf mitted to the Guts, to be further attenuated and fubtiliz'd by the foremention'd Choler and Pancreatick Juice.

3. In oviparous Quadrupeds, as Chamalions, Lizards, Frogs, as alfo in all forts of Serpents, there is no Maftication or Comminution of the Meat, either in Mouth or Stomach; but as they fwallow Infects or other Animals whole, fo they avoid their Skins unbroken, having a heat, or fpirits, powerful enough to extract the Juice they have need of, without breaking that which contains it; as the Parifian Academifts tell us, I my felf cannot warrant the Truth of the Obfervation in all. Here, by the by, we take notice of the wonderful dilatability or extenfivenefs of the Throats and Gullets of Serpents: I my felf have taken two entire adult Mice out of the Stomach of an Adder, whose Neck was not bigger than my little Finger. Thefe Creatures, I fay, draw out the Juice of what they swallow

without