other animals; and, on examination, proved to be a vegetable,--the
_Lichen esculentus_,--which had been conveyed thither by the winds.

In the Minutes of the proceedings of the Royal Society, 26th June, 1661,
we find the following curious narration:--

"Col. Tuke brought, in writing, the following _brief account of the
supposed rain of wheat_, which was registered:--

"On the 30th of May, 1661, Mr. Henry Puckering, son to Sir Henry
Puckering, of Warwick, brought some papers of seeds, resembling
wheat, to the king, with a letter written by Mr. William Halyburton,
dated the 27th May, from Warwick; out of which letter I have made
this extract:

"'Instead of news I send you some papers of wonders. On Saturday
last, it was rumoured in this town, that it rained wheat at
Tuchbrooke, a village about two miles from Warwick. Whereupon some
of the inhabitants of this town went thither; where they saw great
quantities on the way, in the fields, and on the leads of the church,
castle, and priory, and upon the hearths of the chimneys in the
chambers. And Arthur Mason, coming out of Shropshire, reports, that
it hath rained the like in many places of that county. God make us
thankful for this miraculous blessing, &.'"

"I brought some papers of these seeds, with this letter, to the
Society of Gresham College; who would not enter into any
consideration of it, till they were better informed of the matter of
fact. Hereupon, I entreated Mr. Henry Puckering to write to the
bailiff of the town of Warwick, to the ministers and physicians, to
send us an account of the matter of fact, and their opinions of it.
In the bailiff's letter, dated the 3rd of June, I find this report
verified; affirming that himself, with the inhabitants of the town,
were in a great astonishment at this wonder. But, before the next
day of our meeting, I sent for some ivy-berries, and brought them to
Gresham College with some of these seeds resembling wheat; and taking
off the outward pulp of the ivy-berries, we found in each of the
berries four seeds; which were generally concluded by the Society to
be the same with those that were supposed and believed by the common
people to have been wheat that had been rained; and, that they were
brought to those places, where they were found, by starlings; who, of
all the birds that we know,