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THE

MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY,

AND

JOURNAL

ZOOIiOGY, BOTANY, MINERALOGY, GEOLOGY,
AND METEOROLOGY.

"V^:S§^

CONDUCTED

By J. C. LOUDON, F.L. G. & Z.S.

MEMBER OF VARIOUS NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETIES

CONTINENT.

LONDON

PRINTED FOR

LONGMAN, REES, ORME, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMAN,
PATET»NOSTER-ROW.

1834.

LONDOT* ;

Printed by A. Spottisvvoode,
New-Street-Square.

PREFACE

In the course of the pubUcation of the present Volume, we have
complied with the general request of our correspondents, and
brought out the Magazine of Natural History monthly, at a re-
duced price. This will enable us to give a more ready insertion to
the articles of our contributors, and, we trust, will prompt them to
continue and to increase their communications.

In taking a general survey of the progress of Natural History
during the past year, it is gratifying to observe the establishment
of Natural History Societies, one after another, in many parts of
the country. The British Association has given a grand stimulus
to natural history pursuits ; and the personal intercourse, among
naturalists, to which it has led, cannot fail to be highly favourable
to science, and to good feeling among scientific men. By this
means, also, the great object of science, viz., that of reducing it to
practice, and rendering it available for the purposes of domestic
and general improvement, is likely to be more immediately effected,
than by the single influence of the press. The Natural History
Societies of York, Newcastle upon Tyne, Worcester, Bristol, Bel-
fast, and various other places, and the Entomological Society of
London, are in a flourishing condition, and some of them have
begun to publish volumes of their Transactions. Not only are new
periodicals, devoted wholly or partly to natural history, being
established in the metropolis, but also in the provinces. Among
these deserve more especially to be mentioned, the EntomologiQal
Magazine of London, and the Analyst of Worcester,

The Continent of Europe, and more especially France and Ger-
many, may be considered as having been long in advance of Britain
in natural history pursuits. In the United States of America
Natural History Societies are on the increase, and, what redounds
much to the honour of a new country, The American Journal of
Science (Silliman's) has been some years established, and continues
to be respectably supported. There are societies in India which

A 2

IV

PREFACE.

embrace natural history, in common with agriculture and garden-
ing ; and a magazine has been commenced in Australia, in which
natural history forms a prominent feature.

So congenial are natural history pursuits to the human mind,
and so much do they tend to the progress of civilisation, to in-
creased domestic comfort, to peace between nations, and to human
happiness, that to us it appears that it would be treason to nature
to assert that this state of things will not be progressive, and will
not go on increasing, till the condition of mankind every-where is
improved to an extent of which we can at present form no idea.

The more frequent appearance of this Magazine, as well as the
considerable addition to the quantity of matter which will be given
in the course of the year, demands corresponding exertions on the
part of its Editor and Conductor ; but our readers and con-
tributors may safely rely on these being made. In conclusion,
we cordially thank our contributors for their past assistance, and
earnestly invite them to continue to add to the common stock of
knowledge through the medium of our pages.

J. C. L.

BayswateVy Nov. 10. 1834.

CORRECTIONS.

In p. 78. line 4. from the bottom, for " Apo-

crinites " read " Apiocrinltes."
In p. 137. line 29. for " Witton " read " Wilton."
In p. 158. line 20. for " him " read " it."
In p. 161. line 10. from the bottom, for " they

were " read " it was."
In p. lei.'.line 11. for " octanfracti" read " oct-

anfr&cta.";
In p. 176. lines 3. and 14. from the bottom, for

" Lindegret " read " Lindegren."
In p. 180. affix the b to figure 36.
In p. 191. line 11. place inverted commas after

the word " plants " : in line 17. for " Rel-

ham's " read " Relhan's."
In p. 228. last line but one, for " His loss " read

" The loss of him " : in the last line, for

*• allowed " read " had allowed."
In p. 232. line 19. from the bottom, for " p. 233 "

read " p. 231."
In p. 246. line 6. from the bottom, for " speaks "

In p. 251. line 6. from the bottom, for " 1833 "

read "1832."
In p. 260. line 10. from the bottom, for " Va-

nissB., Antiopa. " read " Vanessa. Ant)opa."
In p. 262. line 20. for "1133 " read " 1833."
In p. 269. line 28. the treatise on ants referred to

as in the Spectator, is in the Guardian. Nos.

156, 157.

In p. 347. note +, line 7. from the bottom, for
" field flycatcher " read " pied flycatcher."

In p. 369. line 5. from the bottom, for " para-
sites " read " epiphytes."

In p. 378, the antenna in fig. 49. a should have
been shown broader at the tip than in any
other part.

In p. 382. lines 3. and 4. obliterate " subsequently
raised to Is. 6d. each."

In p. 383. line 10. to " appertain " add " to
plants."

In p. 429. line 22. for " grub" read " grubs."

In p. 448. line 6. from the bottom, for " reaches
to A " read " reaches to b."

In p. 454. line 30. for " Nov. 18." read " Nov.
16.; " in line 35. for "^could be" read " could
not be."

In p. 492. lines 12. and 13. from the bottom, for
" Halichondra" read " HaHch6ndria : " the
word is from chalis, flint, and chondros, car-
tilage ; the cartilaginous skeleton of the crea-
ture is strengthened by siliceous spicula.

In p. 506. the first word, for " rabbits " read
" rabbit."

In p. 539. line 7. from the bottom, for " 570."
read "510." Z1-'

In p. 567. and p. 636.S for " W. H. Y." read
" W. H. H."

CONTENTS.

ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.

GENERAL SUBJECT. I A Description of the Habits of the Ringdove.

Remarks on the Natural Productions of Lexden ck?t^,hil^!jf,,^Mftn'!.'^'i Sl^nrv nf"n,v T^lstl^
and its Npmhhoiirhnorf Tiv T O 17 '''^^tcnes of the Natural History of my Neigh-

On dt^nStJfg Sn1;randlL^gen^^^^ an'd on ^^"^"c^onw'lv ^^f 'T^Ponln/w'iTi wtrE"
the Principfes of Classificatio^n which they ! SonmoXhl^e ^^ ^^^'^^^^''^ ^"'gj
involve. By the Rev. Leonard Jenyns. A.^ , Nofe^sTnfh'e Arrival of the British- SummS

On certain recenl Meteoric Phenom"ena, Vicis- i f'l't iTf^lJle^^^' <.:^"!i«'" «*? "m.^
situdes in the Seasons, prevalent Disorders, i £" rd Rlvth ^ ^ ^^8

Rev. W. B. Clarke, A.M. F.G.S. &c. 193^ 289 ^Sct,, ScStilT S^bi^ ghaSteri^tf^!

Shalc<!nparp a -NTatiiralut . -^riQ . ^"'^ Synonymes of a rare British Species of

SnlKlteoSleen'S Amer'ica on the Nigh? ObfeSfons'^L'^^hp'^^o^'^V'T"^ ^"s\^f
«f >j.^,r n ie-1'? P8,, fi,»K^„ w H riort„ Observations on the Work of Maria Sibilla

Merian on the Insects, &c. of Surinam. By

of Nov. 13. 1833. By the Rev. W. B. Clarke.
A.M. F.G.S. (A Supplement to Mr. Clarke's
Essay, No. 3., in p. 289—308., On certain
recent Meteoric Phenomena, Vicissitudes in
the Seasons, prevalent Disorders, &c., con-
temporaneous, and in supposed connection

with Volcanic Emanations)
Notices of certain Omens and Superstitions con

nected with Natural Objects. By the Rev. W.

T. Bree, M. A. - - . 545

A short Sketch of the most remarkable of the

Vulgar Prejudices connected with Objects of

Natural History. By W. G. Barker, Esq, 559

ZOOLOGY.

Facts suggesting to Man his fittest Mode of
defending himself from Attacks jof Animals I
of the Feline and Canine Tribes. By Charles \
Waterton, Esq. - - - 1

On the Green-winged Teals of America and
Britain. By James Drummond Marshall,
M.D. 7

An Illustration of the Structure of somr of
the Organs of a Spider, deemed the Type of
a new Genus, and proposed to be called Tri-
chopus libratus. By C. M. - - - 10

Illustrations in British Zoology. By George

Johnston, M.D., Fellow of the Royal College

of Surgeons of Edinburgh - 13. 126. 230. 348

490. 584. 638

Observations on the Habits of the Rook. By
Charles V^aterton, Esq. - - - 100

An Introduction to the Natural History of
Molluscous Animals. In a Series of Letters.
By G. J. - - - 106. 218. 408

On the Structure of the Annulate Animals, and

its Relation to their Economy. By Omega

121. 235

Illustrations of some Species of British Animals
which are not generally known, or have not
hitherto been described. By C. M. - 129

Facts and Considerations on the Natural His-
tory and Political Impropriation of the Salmon
Fish. By^T. G., of Clitheroe, Lancashire 202

A Notification of the Occurrence, in the Island
of Guernsey, of a Species of Testac^llus, and
of some of its Characteristics and Habits, as
observed there. By Frederick C. Lukis, Esq.
To which arc added Notes on other Species
of Testact^llus - - - - - 224

Origines Zoologicae, or Zoological Recollections.
By William Turton, M.D. &c. - 315. 390

the Rev. Lansdown Guilding, B.A. F.L.S.

&c. - . . - - 355

Observations on some British Serpulas. By the

Rev. M. J. Berkeley - - - 420

"""AV I On the Injury produced to Plantations of Sal-

lows and Osiers (Salices), and Loss of Gain
to the Proprietor, by the Ravages, on the
Foliage of these Plants, of the Caterpillars of
the Insect N^matus c&preje F. : with a Notice,
in Sequel, of the very great -Importance of a
Scientific Knowledge of Natural Objects to
those engaged in the Practices of Rural Eco-
nomy. By C. D. - - - 422

On the most advisable Methods for discovering
Remedies against the Ravages of Insects;
and a Notice of the Habits of the Onion Fly.
By J. O. West wood, Esq. F.L.S. &c. Read
before the Entomological Society, May 5.

1834 . - 425

Thoughts on the'Question, Why cannot Ani-
mals speak the Language of Man ? By J. J.

481
Facts and Arguments in relation to the Two
Questions, Are all Birds in the Habit of allur-
ing Intruders from their Nest? and. Why do
Birds sing ? By C. Conway, Esq. - - 483
A Notice of the Imitative Powers of the British
Mocking-Bird, or Sedge Bird (Sylvia [Cur-
riica] salic^ria), additional to that in V. 653,
654. By T. G., of Clitheroe, Lancashire 486
A Notice of the Songs of the Bramble Finch,
the Mountain Linnet, and the Tree Sparrow ;
with Remarks on each Species. By Mr. Ed-
ward Blyth .. - - 487
Fl^sus Turtbni Bean, and LimnJ;a line^ta Bean,
Two rare and hitherto undescribed Species of
Shells, described and illustrated. By W^illiam
Bean, Esq. - - - - 493
A List of some Land and Freshwater Species of
Shells which have been found in the Neigh,
bourhood of Henley on Thames. By H. E.
Strickland Esq. . . . 494
Information on the Cane Fly of Grenada (Del-
phax saccharivora), additional to that given
in VI. 407—413. By J. O. Westwood, Esq.
F.L.S. &c. - - -496-
A List of the more rare of the Species of In-
sect* found on Parley Heath, on the Borders
of Hampshire and Dorsetshire, and Neigh-
bourhood not exceeding Five Miles. By J.
C. Dale, Esq. A.M. F.L.S. &c. - - 497

VI

CONTENTS.

Thoughts in relation to the Questions on the
Mode of Origin of Song in Birds (111. 14-».
447. ; IV. 4m j VII. 24y. 484.). By W. H. H.

567

Facts on Humming. Birds, their Food, the Man-
ner in which they take it, and on their Habits ;
with Directions for preserving the Eggs of
Humming Birds, and the Forms of the Bodies
of Spiders, and Pupje and Larvae of Insects.
By the late Kev. Lansdown Guilding, B. A.
F.L.S. &c. - - - 569

The Accumulation of all possible Information
respecting the Habits of the Rock Birds of
Britain, by the Cooperative Agency of Natu-
ralists residing near Headlands on the Coasts,
suggested. By J. D. Salmon, Esq. - 573

On the Habits and Note of the Grey "Wagtail,
and on the Note of the Spring Wagtail. By
T. G., of Clitheroe, Lancashire - - 577

Notes on Luminous Insects, chiefly of the West
Indies ; on Luminous Meteois ; on Ignes
Fatui ; on the Luminousness of the Sea; and

i on the Powers possessed by the Races of
Lizards, of voluntarily changing their Colour :
with other Information on the Habits of
Lizards. By the late Rev. Lansdown Guild-
ing, B.A. F.L.S. &c. - - -579

Observations on some of the Diseases in Poultry.
By J. M. Coby, Esq., Member of the Royal

. College of Surgeons in London, of the Provin-
cial Medical and Surgical Association, of the

' Medical and Philosophical Society of London,
&c. - - - - 630

Information on the Habits of a Species of Capri-
mulgus (or of some closely allied Genus) which

i inhabits the Neighbourhood of Lima. By
Mr. Andrew Mathews, A.L.S., Travelling
Collector of Natural Productions in South
America - » - - 633

Reasons in support of an Opinion advanced that
the Mackerel is not a Migratory Species of
Fish. By O. - - - 637

BOTANY.

On the Altitude of the Habitats of Plants in
Cumberland, with Localities of the rarer
Mountain Species. By Mr. Hewett Watson 20

A brief Notice of several Species of Epiphyl-
lous Fungi which have been observed in the
Neighbourhood of Oxford, and have not been
hitherto generally known to occur in Britain.
By Mr. William Baxter, A.L.S., Curator of
the Botanic Garden at Oxford - - 24

A Description of a Mode, practised by M.
Klotzscn, of drying Specimens of Fungi for
preservation in Herbariums. By William
Christy, jun. Esq. F.LS. &c. &c. - 131

On the supposed generic Distinction of .Ra-
nunculus Fic^ria of Linn6. By Charles C
Babington, M.A. F.L.S. &c. - - 375

In'brmation on the Habitat of C^rex heleonas-
tes Ehrhart in Switzerland, and on the Cir-
cumstances connected with the Discovery and
Identification of this Species ; with like In-
formation on the Carex Gaudin/dna Hoppe.
By J. P. Brown, Esq., Thun, Canton of Berne,
Switzerland - - - 499

GEOLOGY.

A Description of a Fossil Vegetable of the
Family Fuc6Wes in the Transition Rocks of
North America, and some Considerations in
Geology connected with it. By R. C. Taylor,
Esq. 27

Remarks and Illustrations on the Decay of the
Stems of succulent Plants. By Frederick
C. Lukis, Esq. 32

A Notice of some important Geological Dis-
coveries at Billesdon Coplow, Leicestershire ;
with Observations on the Nature of their
Relation to the modern System of Geology.
By Joseph Holdsworth, Esq. - - 38

Volcanoes. By W. M. Higgins, Esq. F.G.S.,
Lecturer on Natural Philosophy to Guy's
Hospital 431

A Notice of some of the Contents of the Fresh,
water Formation at Copford, near Colchester,
Essex. By J. Brown, Esq. - - 43(3

Enquiries on the Causes of the Colour of the
Water of the Rhine ; by J. R. : with Re-
marks, in Contribution to an Answer ; by
the Rev. W. B. Clarke, A.M. F.G.S. - 438

On the Cause of Volcanic Action ; a Reply to
Professor Higgins's Review, in p. 434, 435., of
Dr. Daubeny's Theory. By Dr. Daubeny,
King's Professor of Botany and Chemistry in
the University of Oxford - - 588

Some Account of the Salt of the Mountain of
Gem, at Cardona, in Catalonia, Spain ; with
some Facts indicative of the little Esteem
entertained by Spaniards for Naturalists. By
W. Perceval Hunter, Esq. - - 640

Facts and Considerations on the Strata of Mont
Blanc; and on some Instances of Twisted
Strata observable in Switzerland ; by J. R. :
with Remarks thereon, by the Rev. W. B.
Clarke, A.M, F.G.S. &c. - - 644

METEOROLOGY.

Some Observations on a very interesting Aurora
Boreaiis, witnessed at Hull on the Evening
and Night of October 12. 1833. By George
H. Fielding, Esq. M.R.C.S.L., Member of
the British Association for the Advancement
of Science, Treasurer and Hon. Curator of
Comparative Anatomy to the Hull Literary
and Philosophical Society, &c. &c. - - 50

A Statement of the Quantity of Rain which
has fallen at High Wycombe, Bucks, during
the last Ten Winters, with Remarks. By
James G. Tatem, Esq. - - - 239

Data towards determining the Decrease of
Temperature in Connection with Elevation
above the Sea Level in Britain. By H. C.
Watson, Esq. F.L.S. - - - - 443

Facts and Arguments in relation to the Causes
of a singular Appearance of a Rainbow, of
an unusual Appearance of the Sky, of Mirage,
of Dew, and of Hoar- Frost. By a Subscriber

448

Short Communications - 52. 134. 240. 378. 455
501. 589. 654

MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE.

Retrospective Criticism - - 62. 164. 276 | Queries and Answers

80. 181. 540

REVIEWS.

Catalogue of Works on Natural History, lately ! Literary Notices
published, with some Notice of those con- 1
sidered the most interesting to British Natur. I
alists - 83. 185.i284. 381. 476. 543. 603. 655 |

INDEX to Books reviewed and noticed
GENERAL INDEX

96. 192. 288. 384. 479. .'544.
608. 656

657
658

vu

LIST OF ENGRAVINGS.

No. --- Page

BIRDS.

1. The common teal of Britain . - 8

2. The green-winged teal of North Ame-

rica - - . - 9

3 Tlie great bustard {OWs t4rda L.), male 458
Diagrams of the notes of the grey and

spring wagtails - - - 578

Marks of disease on the peritoneal coat

of a fowl - - - 632

MOLLUSCOUS ANIMALS.

4. ApUdium fallax Johnston - - 15

5. Aplidium nutans Johnston - - 16

24. Ascfdia? g^mina - . - 129

25. Ascidia? /folothuria? dnceps - 130

37. Digestive organs of the freshwater

muscle (A'nodon c^gneus) - 221

38. Digestive organs of the TerMo navalis 223

39. Three figures of the Testact^llus scCitu-

lura Sowerby - . . 224

40. c, Testac^llus Maugfei F^r. ; d, shell of it 225

40. a, Zimax agr^stis ; b, eggs of it - 225

41. a, 6, c, Testac^Uus haliotideus Faune

Biguet, rar. a. Fer. - - 228

41. d, e. Magnified views of the shell of T.

septulum Sotv. - - - 228

41. /, e. Views of the shell of T. Maugf;?

F^r. - - - -228

41. h, i. Views of the shell of T. ambiguus

Fer. - . - - 228

46. Pleurobr4nchus plumula Flem., four

views of, and two views of the shell of 348
50. Proboscis of JSiiccinum undktum - 410

51 — b^. The structure of the proboscis of
^ccinum undktum, and views of the
organs by which the proboscis is ope-
rated - - - - 411
54. a. View of a portion of the enlarged

part of the foot of iollgo sagitt^ta - 417

54. b. The jaws of /.oligo sagittata - 417

55, 56. Two views of the stomach of LoUgo

vulgiiris ... 418

59. Tergipes p61cher Johnston - - 490

SHELLS.
32. Two views of a truncated variety of the

shell of jBuccinum palfistre Miiller - 161.
380
39—41. Views of the shells of species of

Testacellus - - 224, 225. 228

40. a. The shell of Hfelix nemoralis - 225

47. Crenatula Travisw Turton . . 350

48. Views of the configuration of the shell,

mature and in a young state, of Mf-
tilus subsaxatilis Williamson - 354

61. Fusus Turtbni Bean - . 493

62. a, Limnfea linekta £ean ; b, a reversed

variety of it - - - 493

WORMS.

23. Serpula tubularia Montagu - 126. 421

26. Nais serpentina Gmelin - - 130

27. Zumbrlcus? Clit^llio Savigny ? pellii.

cida . - - 131

42. I>ycbris margarit^cea Lamarck - 231

66. Miillferia papillbsa Johnston, and details

of the structure of it - - 584

A CLASS BETWEEN THE ANNELIDES
AND THE WORMS.

67. Phylline gr6ssa Johnston, a front and

back view of ... 587

CRUSTACEOUS ANIMALS.

43. JE'ga monophthiilma Johnston - 233

SPIDERS.
3. Trfchopus libratus, and magnified views

of several of its organs - - 11

No.

INSECTS.

Page

33. S&sia stomoxyformis Hiib. - . 177

44. iampyris noctiluca; a, female; 6, male 250
49. a, Sc61ytus as'neus Panzer - - 378

49. b, c, Malkchius bipunctktus Babington j

b, male ; c, female - . 378
49. d, Mal&,chius rufic611is Panzer - 378

63. Sc61ytus destructor Olivier.; a, of the
natural size ; d, as magnified ; b,
track of the female parent ; c c, tracks
of the larvEB of . - - 525

64. Track of the Sc61ytus destructor Oli-
vier, and tracks of its larvae . 527

65. The hornet (Fespa Crkbro) . - 529
a a, Membrkcis ensata ; b, M. fusckta ;

c, M. spinbsa - - -602

SPONGES.
60. 5p6ngia sub^ria Montagu - [ - 491

CORALLINES.

69. Ret^pora cellulbsa Lamarck - - 639

PLANTS.

28 — 31. Diagrams exhibitiveofthe sections of
ii'ungi fittest to be made in preparing
specimens of these plants for drying 132,
133
7 — 19. Conditions of the stem of Semper,
vivum arbbreum Z,. in the progres-
sive stages of decay . . 34 — 36

METEOROLOGY.

22. A diagram of an aurora borealis wit-
nessed at Hull, on Oct. 12-13. 1833 - 51

57. Diagram of the relations of varied con-
ditions of rainbow seen at one time 418

GEOLOGY.

70. A view of the Aiguille de Servoz, and

of the position of the strata of which
it is constituted - - 644

71. A view of the Aiguille de Dru and its

strata .... 645

72. A diagram of the position of the strata

in the Mont Blanc and the Mont
Breven _ . - 645

73. A view of the position of the strata of

the rocks at Cluse - - 649

74. A view of the position of the strata of

the rocks at the Nant d'Orli - 650

75. 76. Sketches of the position of the strata

of the rocks at the Nant d'Arpenaz 651,
652
77. A sketch of the position of the strata of

the rocks near the Nant d'Arpenaz - 653

FOSSILS.

6. FucOldes alleghani^nsis Harlan . 29

7—19. Conditions of the stem of Semper^
vivum arbbreum L. in the progres-
sive stages of decay, to the end of
accounting for the various aspects of
fossil stems of plants - - 34 — 36

20. Two states of Phytolithus verrucosus - 37

21. Three states of the Phytolithus cancel.

Iktus . - - - 37

34, 35. Diagrams exhibitive of the disposi.

tion of the column, pelvis, costals,

and scapula of specimens of Cyatho.

ctinites - - - 179, 180

36. Diagram of the position of the column,

and plates of the pelvis, of a Platy-

crinites - - - 180

45. a, b, V^iews of states of Cyrfena trig6nula

Wood - - - - 275

45. c, A view of Cyrena dep^rdita Sowerby 275

Vlll

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS.

A Bachelor - - - -540

AD - - - "1*^

a' Subscriber - - 74. 265. 448. 519. 539

Babington, C. C, M.A. F.L.S. - 66." 95. 375". 378
Bachman, Rev. John - - „ - i75

Bakewell, R., F.G.S. - .„,- 82. 246

Barker, W. G. - - 137. 502. 559

Baxter, Wm., A.L.S., Curator of the Botanic

Garden, Oxford - - - 24

Bean, Wm. - - - - 493

Berkeley, Rev. M. J. - " „ . " 1^9

Berry, Henry - - 591. 598, 599. 601

Biggs, Arthur, F.H.S., Curator of the Botanic

Garden, Cambridge - - - 516

Bloxam, Rev. Andrew - - 146. 160. 519

Blyth, Edward - 58. 75. 244. 338. 462. 475. 487
Booker, J., LL.D. - - - 151

Bree, Rev. W. T., M. A. - 75. 77, 78. 82. 149.
179. 258. 262, 263. 272. 274. 462. 465. 524. 546.

593
Bromfield, W. A., M.D. - - 184. 273

Brown, J. - - - - 436

Brownl P. J. - - 249. 499. 532

Campanella - - - - 502

Cautrell, W. - - - - 274

CD. - - - - 422

Chalmers, M., M.D. - - - 152

Christy, Wm.,jun., F.L.S. - -131

Clarke, Rev. W. B., A.M. F.G.S. &c. - 88. 139.
141. 151. 156. 193. 289. 385. 438. 609. 645.
648. 655
Clifford, A. - - - 246. 592*. 594

CM.- - - - 10. 129

Coby, J. M., M.R.C.S.L. &c. - - 630

Conway, C. - 80. 267. 333. 483. 515, 516, 537. 543
Corroborator - - - 78

Couch, Jonathan, F.L.S. - 458. 467. 504, 505,

506. 508
Dale, J. C, M.A. F.L.S. - 60, 61. 178. 264. 497.

525
Daubeny, Charles, Dr., King's Professor of

Botany and Chemistry in the University of

Oxford - . . - 588

Deere, Henry Vietz - - - 77

Discipulus - - - - 78

K . - . - 185, 186

Edmonds, R.,jun. - - -469

E. N. D. - - 135. 157. 176. 183. 263

E. S., F.L.S. . - - 241. 456. 458

-p rp Q ^ - 530

Feniieli, James - 61. 75. 82. 142." 255. 265. 283.
505. 532. 591
Fielding, G. H., M.R.C.S.L. - - 50

Fowler, William - - - 149. 159. 518

Gardiner, Wm., jun. - - 260. 543

G. B. - - - - - 183

Gilbertson, Wm. - - - 181

G. J. - - - 106. 218. 408

Glossop, F. H. N. - - - 263

Greenough, E. H. - - -155

Guilding, Rev. Lansdown, B A. F.L.S. - 355.
569. 573. 590. 597. 601, 602. 633
Hart, Stephen, Subcurator of the Philosophical

and Literary Institution of Chatham - 549
H. B. - - - - 250. 268

Henslow, Rev. J. S., King's Professor of Botany

in the University of Cambridge - 153

Higgins, W. M., F.G.S., Lecturer on Natural

Philosophy to Guy's Hospital - - 431

Holdsworth, Joseph - - - 38

Howden, J. - . - 271. 274

Hoy, J. D. - • - - 52

Hunter, W. Perceval - - 640

J. C. - - ■ 503. 511. 517. 535

J. D., sen. - - - 159

Jennmgs, James ... 250

Jenyns. Rev. Leonard, A. M. F.L.S. - 97

J. G. .!e>u Q>-iv<Kr - - 17. 273. 514. 518

J. H. F. ^ - - - 184. 266. 532

J. J. - . - . 381. 481. 503

J. M. - - - - 135

J. M. B. - - . . 245

J. O. - - - - 57

Johnston, George, M.D. M.R.C.S.E. - 13. 126.
230. 348. 490. 584. 638
Jones, J. - - -378.504.514

J. R. - . . 438. 592. 644, 648

J. S. T. . . - - 253

Kenyon, Joseph ... 380

Lacon - . - - 77

Lukis, Frederick C - - 32. 163. 224

Mackenzie, Peter - - - 535

Main, J., A.L.S. - - - 251

Marshall, J. D.,M.D. - - - 7

Mathews, Andrew, A.L.S. - - 633

Milford, John - - - - 272

Morris, Beverley R. - - - 513

Morris, Francis Orpen - - 61

N. . - ... 190

O. . . 244. 259. 511. 533. 600. 637

Penny, George, A.L.S. - - - 260

Perry, John, jun. ... 143

Querist - - - - 82

R. B. . - - - 183

Reed, L. E. - - - - 467

Reynolds, John - - - 600

Rowe, John Reynolds - - 142. 607

Salmon, J. D. "- 176. 458. 463. 465", 466. 519. 573
S. D. W. - - - - 594

S. H. . - . - 309

S. K. - - . - - 512

Smith, J. D. - - - - 533

Strickland, Hugh E. - 64. 76. 160. 252. 265. 494.

607
Subrusticus .... 245

T. . - - - - 150

Tatem, J. G. - - - 239

Taylor, R. C. - „ - 27. 163

T. G. (Chipping Norton, Oxon.) - 152. 157

T. G. (Clitheroe, Lancashire) - 202. 486. 521,
522. 542. 577
Thompson, Thomas - - - 530

Thompson, W., Vice-President of the Belfast

Natural History Society - - 76

Tiro - - . . 515. 543

T. K. - ■• - - 539

Trevelyan, W. C, F.L.S. - T 143

Turner, Henry, Curator of the Botanic Garden,

Bury St. Edmunds - - - 596

Turton, William, M.D. - 315. 350. 390

Waterton, Charles, Author of Wanderings in

South America - 1. 67. 69. 71, 72. 74. 100. 278.
281. 283. 328
Watson, Hewett Cottrell, F.L.S. - 20. 443

W. B. B. W. - . . - 162

Weatherill, Thomas, M.D. - - 147. 597

Westwood, J. O., F.L.S. . 179. 257, 258. 379.
425. 470. 496
W. H. H. - - - 517. 636. 567

Williamson, W., jun. . . - 353

Wilson, Edward, jun., F.L.S. 251. 525. 534. 539
W. L. - - . - 146. 182

Wood. S. V. - . - - 275

W. W. - . . - 161

Y. . . - . -514

n . . ... 235

t4t - - - - 40

THE MAGAZINE

OF

NATURAL HISTORY,

JANUARY, 1834.

ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.

Art. I. Facts suggesting to Man his fittest Mode of de-fending him-
self from Attacks of Animals of the Feline and Canine Tribes,
By Charles Waterton, Esq.

A man, at some period or other of his life, may have the
misfortune to come in contact with the larger individuals
of these two desperate and sanguinary races of quadrupeds.
Perhaps a few hints, of a precautionary nature, in case of col-
lision, may not be altogether unacceptable to Mr. Loudon's
readers.

The dog and the lion are both most formidable foes to an
unarmed man ; and it is singular enough that the very resist-
ance which he would be forced to make, in order to escape
being worried by the former, would inevitably expose him to
certain destruction from the claws and teeth of the latter.

All animals of the dog tribe must be combated with might
and main, and with unceasing exertion, in their attacks upon
man : for, from the moment they obtain the mastery, they
worry and tear their victim, as long as life remains in it. On
the contrary, animals of the cat tribe having once overcome
their prey, they cease, for a certain time, to inflict further
injury on it. Thus, during the momentous interval from the
stroke which has laid a man beneath a lion, to the time when
the lion shall begin to devour him, the man mai/ have it in his
power to rise again, either by his own exertions, or by the
fortuitous intervention of an armed friend. But then, all
depends upon quiet, extreme quiet, On the part of the man,
until he plunges his dagger into the heart of the animal: for,
if he tries to resist, he is sure to feel the force of his adver-

VoL. VII.— No.37. B

2 Mara s fittest Mode of Defence against

sary*s claws and teeth with redoubled vengeance. Many
years ago, Colonel DufF, in India, was laid low by the stroke
of a Bengal tiger. On coming to himself, he found the animal
standing over him. Recollecting that he had his dirk by his
side, he drew it out of the case, in the most cautious manner
possible, and, by one happy thrust quite through the heart,
he laid the tiger dead at his side.

I will here mention a trivial row I once had with two dogs.
It will tend to prove the advantage of standing up manfully,
when attacked by animals of the canine tribe ; and I will con-
clude with recounting an adventure with a lion, perhaps un-
paralleled in the annals of hunting.

Towards the close of the year 1823, in passing over a com-
mon, I accidentally came upon two dogs. One of them was a
stout, ill-looking, uncouth brute, apparently of that genealogy
which dog-fanciers term half bull and half terrier ; the other
was an insignificant female cur. The dog immediately bristled
up ; and I had just time to take off my hat, and hold it shield-
wise, in self-defence, when he came on, and made directly at
it. I gave him a hearty kick under the breast, which caused
him to desist for a moment. But he stoutly renewed the
attack, which was continued for above five minutes ; he always
flying at the hat, and I regularly repeating my kicks, some-
times slightly, sometimes heavily, according to our relative
situations. In the mean time the female cur was assailing me
from behind ; and it was with difficulty that I succeeded in
keeping her clear of me, by means of swinging my foot back-
wards at her. At last, a lucky blow on her muzzle, from the
heel of my shoe, caused her to run away howling, and the dog
immediately followed her, just at the moment when two ma-
sons were coming up to assist me. Thus, by a resolute oppo-
sition, I escaped laceration. But this little affair is scarcely
worth relating, except that it affords a proof of the advantage
to be derived from resisting the attack of a dog to the utmost.
And now for the feline tribe. The story which I am about
to recount will show that nonresistance was the only plan to
be pursued, when escape from death seemed utterly hopeless.
The principals in this affair were a brave young British officer
and a full-grown lion of India. I was at Frankfort on the
Mayne in August last, and I heard the account from the
officer's own mouth. I shall never forget the affable and un-
assuming manner in which he related it to me. I repeatedly
urged him to allow me to put it on record, and, at the same
time, to make use of his name ; but I plainly saw that his
feelings were against his complying with my request, and I
think I should not have succeeded, had I not luckily brought

Feline and Canine Animals* ^

to my assistance the plea of benefit to natural history. With
this I conquered the objections of the young soldier ; and I
only wish that it had fallen to an abler pen than mine to relate
the following adventure.

In the month of July, 1831, two fine lions made their
appearance in a jungle, some twenty miles distant from the
cantonment of Rajcote, in the East Indies, where Capt. Wood-
house, and his two friends, Lieutenants Delamain and Lang,
were stationed. An elephant was despatched to the place in
the evening on which the information arrived ; and on the
morrow, at the break of day, the three gentlemen set off on
horseback, full of glee, and elated with the hope of a speedy
engagement. On arriving at the edge of the jungle, people
were ordered to ascend the neighbouring trees, that they
might be able to trace the route of the lions, in case they left
the cover. After beating about in the jungle for some time,
the hunters started the two lordly strangers. The officers
fired immediately, and one of the lions fell, to rise no more.
His companion broke cover, and took off across the country.
The officers now pursued him on horseback, as fast as the
nature of the ground would allow, until they learned from the
men who were stationed in the trees, and who held up flags by
way of signal, that the lion had gone back into the thicket.
Upon this, the three officers returned to the edge of the jungle,
and, having dismounted from their horses, they got upon the
elephant ; Captain Woodhouse placing himself in the hinder-
most seat. They now proceeded towards the heart of the
jungle, in the expectation of rousing the royal fugitive a second
time. They found him standing under a large bush, with his
face directly towards them. The lion allowed them to approach
within range of his spring, and then he made a sudden dart
at the elephant, clung on his trunk with a tremendous roar,
and wounded him just above the eye. While he was in the
act of doing this, the two lieutenants fired at him, but without
success. The elephant now shook him off"; but the fierce and
sudden attack on the part of the lion seemed to have thrown
him into the greatest consternation. This was the first time
he had ever come in contact with so formidable an animal ;
and much exertion was used before his riders succeeded in
urging him on again in quest of the lion. At last, he became
somewhat more tractable ; but, as he was advancing through
the jungle, all of a sudden, the lion, which had lain concealed
in the high grass, made at him with redoubled fury. The
officers now lost all hopes of keeping their elephant in order.
He turned round abruptly, and was going away quite un-
governable, when the lion again sprang at him, seized his

4 Man^sjittest Mode of Defence against

hinder parts with his teeth, and hung on them, until the
affrighted animal managed to shake him off by incessant
kicking.

The lion retreated farther into the thicket; Captain Wood-
house, in the mean time, firing a random shot at him, which
proved of no avail ; as the jolting of the elephant, and the
uproar of the moment, prevented him from taking a steady
aim. No exertions on the part of the officers could now force
the terrified elephant to face his fierce foe, and they found
themselves reduced to the necessity of dismounting. Deter-
mined, however, to come to still closer quarters with the formid-
able king of quadrupeds, Capt. Woodhouse took the desperate
resolution to proceed on foot in quest of him ; and, after
searching about for some time, he saw the lion indistinctly
through the bushes, and discharged his rifle at him; but he
was pretty well convinced that he had not hit him ; for he saw
the lion retire, with the utmost composure, into the thicker
parts of the brake. The two lieutenants, who had remained
at the outside of the jungle, joined their companion, on hear-
ing the report of his gun.

The weather was intolerably sultry. After vainly spending
a considerable time in creeping through the grass and bushes,
with the hope of discovering the place of the lion's retreat,
they concluded that he had passed quite through the jungle,
and gone off in an opposite direction. Resolved not to let
their game escape, the lieutenants returned to the elephant,
and immediately proceeded round the jungle, expecting to
discover the route which they conjectured the lion had taken.
Captain Woodhouse, however, remained in the thicket, and,
as he could discern the print of the animal's feet on the
ground, he boldly resolved to follow up the track, at all
hazards. The Indian gamefinder, who continued with his
commander, at last espied the lion in the cover, and pointed
him out to the captain, who fired, but unfortunately missed
his mark. There was now no alternative left but to retreat and
load his rifle. Having retired to a distance, he was joined by
Lieutenant Delamain, who had dismounted from his elephant
on hearing the report of the gun. This unexpected meeting
increased the captain's hopes of ultimate success. He lost no
time in pointing out to the lieutenant the place where he
would probably find the lion, and said he would be up with
him in a moment or two.

Lieutenant Delamain, on going eight or ten paces down a
sheep-track, got a sight of the lion, and instantly discharged
his rifle at him.

Feline and Canine Animals, 5

" Impetus est fulvis, et vasta leonibus ira ! "

" Vast is their fury and as vast their power." — Eusden's Trans.
This irritated the mighty lord of the woods, and he rushed
towards him, breaking through the bushes (to use the cap-
tain's own words) " in most magnificent style." Captain
Woodhouse now found himself placed in an awkward situ-
ation. He was aware that if he retraced his steps, in order to
put himself in a better position for attack, he would just get
to the point from which the lieutenant had fired, and to which
the lion was making : wherefore, he instantly resolved to stand
still, in the hopes that the lion would pass by, at a distance of
four yards or so, without perceiving him, as the intervening
cover was thick and strong. In this, however, he was most
unfortunately deceived; for the enraged lion saw him in
passing, and flew at him with a dreadful roar. In an instant,
as though it had been done by a stroke of lightning, the rifle
was broken and thrown out of the captain's hand, his left arm,
at the same moment, being seized by the claws, and his right
by the teeth, of his desperate antagonist. While these two
brave and sturdy combatants, " whose courage none could
stain," were yet standing in mortal conflict. Lieutenant Dela-
main ran up, and discharged his piece full at the lion. This
caused the lion and the captain to come to the ground toge-
ther, while Lieutenant Delamain hastened out of the jungle to
reload his gun. The lion now began to craunch the captain's
arm ; but as the brave fellow, notwithstanding the pain which
this horrid process caused, had the cool determined resolution
to lie still, the lordly savage let the arm drop out of his
mouth, and quietly placed himself in a couching position,
with both his paws upon the thigh of his fallen foe. While
things were in this untoward situation, the captain, unthink-
ingly, raised his hand to support his head, which had got
placed ill at ease in the fall. No sooner, however, had he
moved it, than the lion seized the lacerated arm a second
time; craunched it, as before, and fractured the bone still
higher up. This additional memento mori from the lion was
not lost upon Captain Woodhouse ; it immediately put him in
mind that he had committed an act of imprudence in stirring.
The motionless state in which he persevered after this broad
hint showed that he had learned to profit by the painful
lesson.

He now lay, bleeding and disabled, under the foot of a
mighty and an irritated enemy. Death was close upon him,
armed with every terror calculated to appal the heart of a

B 3

6 Defence against Feline and Canine Animals,

prostrate and defenceless man. Just as this world, with all
its flitting honours, was on the point of vanishing for ever, he
heard two faint reports of a gun, which he thought sounded
from a distance ; but he was totally at a loss to account for
them. He learned, after the affair was over, that the reports
were caused by his friend at the outside of the jungle, who
had flashed off some powder, in order to be quite sure that
the nipples of his rifle were clean.

The two lieutenants were now hastening to his assistance,
and he heard the welcome sound of feet approaching; but,
unfortunately, they were in a wrong direction ; as the lion was
betwixt them and him. Aware that, if his friends fired, the
balls would hit him, after they had passed through the lion's
body. Captain Woodhouse quietly pronounced, in a low and
subdued tone, " to the other side ! to the other side ! "
Hearing the voice, they looked in the direction from whence
it proceeded, and to their horror saw their brave comrade in
his utmost need. Having made a circuit, they cautiously
came up on the other side, and Lieutenant Delamain, whose
coolness in encounters with wild beasts had always been con-
spicuous, from a distance of about a dozen yards, fired at the
lion over the person of the prostrate warrior.

The lion merely quivered ; his head dropped upon the
ground, and in an instant he lay dead on his side, close to his
intended victim. The lieutenant's aim was so good and true,
that it puts one in mind of what happened at Chevy Chace ;

** Against Sir Hugh Montgomery
So right the shaft was set,
The grey goose wing that was thereon
In his heart's blood was wet ! "

Thus ended this ever-memorable homo-leonine encounter.
I beg to return my thanks to Captain Woodhouse for allow-
ing me to avail myself of it. From what has been related, a
proof may be drawn of the utility of lying quite still, when
we have the misfortune to be struck to the ground by an ani-
mal of the cat tribe.

I bade a long farewell to Captain Woodhouse, and his two
friends, Messrs. Kavanagh and Pontardent, at Frankfort on
the Mayne. They were on their way to India, through Vienna
and Constantinople. May honours, health, and wealth attend
them !

Charles Waterton.
Bruges^ Sept. 25, 1833.

Green-mnged Teals of America and Britain, 7

Art. II. On the Green-tvinged Teals of America and Britain,
By James Drummond Marshall, M.D.

During the mania for forming new genera and species which
seems at present to exist, when names and distinctions hitherto
employed are no longer permitted to occupy the place they
formerly held in our nomenclatures, it is strange that even
one species should have been allowed to remain in obscurity
under a different name ; more particularly a species pre-
senting so many distinguishing traits as the green-winged teal
of America, the subject of the present remarks.

The similarity between this bird and the common teal of
Britain has appeared so great, as to lead Wilson, and other
writers on the subject, to consider them as one and the same
species. Wilson says, " On an examination of the figure
and description of the European teal by the ingenious and
accurate Bewick, and comparing them with the present (the
green-winged teal), no difference whatever appears in the
length, extent, colour, or markings of either, but what com-
monly occurs among individuals of any other tribe ; both,
undoubtedly, belong to one and the same species."

Now, it is remarkable that Wilson, who has been in general
so accurate an observer of nature, and whose descriptions are
so correctly and beautifully given, should in this case have
overlooked the disparity between these two birds ; a disparity
sufficiently great, in my opinion, to constitute them distinct
species. On looking at the birds separately, and not having
previously compared them, one would be inclined to pronounce
them of the same species ; but when a specimen of each is
laid before you, the markings will be perceived to be in many
points totally different. Latham, Forster, Pennant, Bonaparte,
and the authors of the Northern Zoology, have mentioned some
of the distinguishing marks, but have merely considered the
American as a variety of the European, and not a species
distinct from it. Sir William Jardine, in his beautiful edition
of the American Ornithology, is of opinion that the species are
distinct, and has accordingly given the American teal the
distinguishing name of J56schas carolinensis. It shall be my
aim, in the present remarks, to show that the American and
European teals are in many points totally different ; and that
Sir William Jardine has, with great propriety, made them,
for the first time, distinct species.

In length, extent, weight, and general appearance, they
nearly correspond. The crest in the American species is
perhaps larger than in the European, and the black extends
farther down the throat. The bill is smaller and more

B 4

Green-winged Teals

Common Teal of Britain.

slender in the American, and the edges of the upper man-
dible considerably overlap those of the lower mandible. In
the American, the white streak is wanting which extends
from the bill over the eye in the European ; and the white
line below the eye is also nearly wanting, being but very in-
distinctly marked in the American. The beautiful cream-
coloured longitudinal band on the scapulars, which is so
evident in the European, is totally wanting in the other;
while across the shoulder, a very distinct transverse bar of
white (about IJin. long, and three eighths of an inch broad)
is noticed, no trace of which is seen in the European.

Now, to me, these marks afford sufficient evidence of the
birds not belonging to the same species. When we speak
of a variety of a bird, we mean a certain departure from the
ordinary structure or plumage of that species ; but where so
many writers, for so long a period, have noticed a decided
difference among the members of what was supposed the same
species, we cannot surely longer continue the inappropriate
term of variety.

For the better illustration of the subject, I shall accompany
these remarks by figures of both the species ; and any one
who compares them must, I think, be struck with the differ-
ence. {Jigs. 1. and 2.) It is strange that Wilson should
have given a figure of the American bird, without the white
line extending over the eye, and with the transverse bar on
the shoulder, two of the most distinguishing marks, and yet
have called it merely a variety of the European ; while in
Rennie's edition of Montagu's Or?iithological Dictionary we
find an engraving intended to represent the British species,
but which is evidently copied from Wilson's plate, and marked

of America and Britain*

Green.winged Teal of North America,

with the bar of white in the shoulder, which is never seen in the
British teal ; thus perpetuating an error, or at least giving a
representation of the American bird accompanying the de-
scription of the British species. An accurate engraving of
the latter may be found in Bewick, similar to the one here
supplied.

In the Proceedings of the Committee of Science and Cor-
respondence of the Zoological Society of London, Colonel
Sykes mentions the ^^nas Crecca, or common teal, as being
found in the Dukhun, and that his specimens appeared
identical with male and female British specimens. He has
also in his possession specimens resembling the ^^nas Crecca,
but in which the proportional length of the intestinal canal
differs so much from that of the yi^nas Crecca (3*30 to 1, and
5*57 to l), that he is induced to believe that they may belong
to a distinct species. Now, it would be well worthy of attention,
to ^have the relative length of the intestinal canal of the
American species (^oschas carolinensis Jar dine) compared
with that stated by Colonel Sykes, lest the teal found in
Dukhun may be the same as the American, and not the
European, as now supposed.

I do not mean to say that the length of the intestinal canal
should be a sufficient datum to constitute a new species, but
the difference in plumage may have been overlooked, as has
been hitherto done, and the species thus confounded. It
seems to me much more probable that the American and
Indian species should be the same, than that the American
should differ from both the Indian and European, and these
latter be similar.

I merely throw out these hints to induce further investi-
gation ; and, should they lead some one to pursue the subject
farther, they will not have been made in vain.

James Drummond Marshall, M.D.
Belfast, Sept. 20. 1833.

10 Strtt€ture of some of the Organs of a Spider,

See, in Vol. V. p. 473., a notice of the occurrence of " vast
flocks of teal" in Jamaica, during the cooler months. They
are, the writer states, " of the species, I apprehend, named by
Gmelin the carolindnsis, or American teal." — J, D,

Art. III. An Illustration of the Structure of some of the Organs
of a Spider, deemed the Type of a new Genus, and proposed
to be called Trichopus libratus. By C. M.

[" Contrivance intricate express'd with ease.
Where unassisted sight no beauty sees."

Cowper's Retirement.']

Sir,
I MISTOOK the spider of which I send you a sketch for
Pholcus jphalangioides, which I had never met with living.
The great length of its legs, the cylindric body (fg, 3. q), and
the attitude, caused it to bear so considerable a resem-
blance to that species, that it was only on carefully examin-
ing the eyes and parts of manducation, that I discovered
my" error. As it agrees exactly with none of the heretofore
established genera, I propose naming it

Tri'chopus. (Thrix, hair, pons, foot; legs extremely hairy, the hairs
themselves branched, n.) Eyes 8, large, subequal, separated by a con-
siderable interval from the base of the mandibles ; placed in two rows, the
anterior curving considerably downwards and having the eyes approximated,
the posterior curving forwards and having the eyes widely separated, the
exterior being placed on a species of tubercle {fig. 3. a b). Mandibles
cylindric, cut off very obliquely beyond the middle of their inner side, and
presenting a cavity toothed on both sides for receiving the strong curved
hook ; hairy and spiny (c). Maxillce strong, rounded externally at the
apex, and cut off very abruptly internally, contracted behind the middle,
and dilated slightly where they receive the palpi (d). Lip higher than
broad, narrowed anteriorly, and with a sinus at the tip which in rest re-
ceives the apex of the anterior hp (d). Palpus long, curved downwards ;
1st and 2d joints short, 3d very long, 5th long, and 6th in the male elon-
gate pyriform without a hook ; spiny and hairy (d^). Cephalothorax cir-
cular or broadly oval behind, produced anteriorly. Legs very long and
very hairy, with a few spines especially on the tibia; 1st pair (Ji i), 9 times
the length of the thorax ; 2d and 4th pair, 7i times ; 3d pair, 6a times :
tarsus clawed. Abdomen cylindric with 2 long feelers, and short spinnerets.

Tr. libratus. {Libratus, balanced; pensile appearance of insect when
at rest, />.) Cephalothorax brownish green posteriorly, castaneous an-
teriorly, with 2 irregular parallel black lines running from the posterior
intermediate eyes down the back, terminating half way by joining semi-
lunar patches which occupy the remainder, and which have 3 irregular pro-
cesses projecting outwards towards the origins of the legs ; internally they
are shaded off, but rather defined behind the middle thoracic point, which is
marked by a minute short line ; beneath reddish brown, darker towards the
edges, but with a brighter spot opposite the origin of each leg. — Abdomen
greenish ; lighter in the middle, which is bounded by 2 longitudinal dark

deemed the Type of a new Genus,

11

festooned lines, the basal portions of which, taken together, seem to form
3 triangles surmounting each other, the apices deficient; behind these
the central line has a series (four) of small crescents arching backwards.
From the external angles of the festooned lines dark patches run out-
wards and backwards. Beneath concolorous; 4 parallel festooned lines
running down the middle and converging towards the spinnerets. Legs
greenish, very hairy, the two anterior coxae and femora [hips and thighs]
castaneous.
Habitaty Kent.

I have never seen more than tv^^o males, and, of course, am
unacquainted with the female. It bears the closest resem-
blance in its generic characters to ^ranea and Agelena;
but differs in the eyes being nearly equal, in the length of
the lip, and in the maxillae dilated at the apex : the palpi,
too, differ considerably. From Clubiona, to which the ap-

12 Structure of seme of the Organs of a Spider.

pearance of the maxillae would carry us, it is easily separable
by the size of the eyes, the greater curvature of the rows,
the lip, mandibles, and palpi, and, above all, the great length
of the legs. It weaves, in the corners of unfrequented build-
ings, a coarse irregular net with a recess, in which it awaits
its unlucky prey. When at rest, it is usually supported by
the legs, as represented by the outline p ; and then the tibiae,
standing perpendicularly, present the appearance of a series
of columns.

In examining the insect minutely with a magnifying power
of about 30, I was struck with the appearance presented by
the hairs about the claws : these (the tip of one is seen at I)
were very stiff, spine-like, and serrated along the edges,
especially at the apical extremity (/), and nearly all arose from
the under surface of the tarsus, enveloping the claws (seey).
A single claw is figured at g, to show its form, and the pec-
tinated teeth, thirteen or fourteen in number. I found that,
along the whole legs, the hairs had more or less of this
appearance (/); the serrae, however, diminishing in sharpness as
I approached the body ; and among these, and lying close to
the limb, were other finer downy hairs, from the sides of
which proceeded alternate secondary hairs : a representation
of one of these is given {n). The leg itself is shown at h and
i, the latter being the tarsus. The discovery of these ano-
malies (anomalies from anything I had before observed) in-
duced me to examine other portions of the body ; and I
found that some of the hairs, or rather spines, jutting out
from the mandibles, had hairs differing from the former : from
these innumerable little processes proceeded in a spiral direc-
tion, as seen at Jc, being most strongly marked towards the
tip of the spine. On the palpi the spines were merely ser-
rated (see o), and only on the last three joints. I could not
find any elsewhere. On the exterior portions of the maxillae,
both kinds of hairs or spines were detected ; but along the
inner edge, the tufts were found to have hairs quite flat and
smooth until within a little of the apex, where they became
plumed mostly on one side alone. The longer curved ones
at the extremity of the maxilla were exactly similar : they
are represented at e, and a few detached have this portion
represented at m, A singular appearance also presented itself
in a row of sixty-eight minute blunt teeth extending the whole
length of the curved extremity of the maxilla: two of these,
highly magnified, are shown at e\ I now recollected having
once before observed teeth similarly situated, but I have for-
gotten in what species; but it would seem likely, if detected
in a few, to offer characters which might be appropriated for

Illustrations in British Zoology, 13

generic distinctions ; at any rate, directing attention to these
points may, perhaps, lead to some curious particulars in allied
genera. I am, Sir, yours, &c.

London^ September 14. 1833. CM.

In the London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine, vol. iii. (completed
with the number for December, 1833), p. 104. 187. 344. 436., several newly
discovered British and three exotic species of spider are described in great
detail, and some new genera constituted of them, by J. Blackwall, Esq.
F.L.S. The names applied to them are these (by B. we mean Blackwall) :
--- Tribe Inequitelae Lat. Mandunculus B. amblguus B. ; Neriene B. mar-
ginata B., riibens B.y corniita B., bicolor B.y and rufipes B. — Tribe Or-
bitelae Lat. Linjphia Lat. minuta B., luteola J?., marginata B.y annulipes
B., and fuliginea^.; Nephila ieacA Turnen B., exotic. — Tribe Tubitelse
Lat. Savigni« B. frontata B. ; Walckenaera B. acuminata J?., cristata B.,
and cuspidata B. ; Textrix B. agilis B. ; Agelena Walckenaer brunnea B.;
Clubiona Lat. saxatilis B.y and parvula B. j Drassus Walckenaer nitens
B.y and sylvestris B. — Tribe Territelae Lat. ikfygale Walckenaer elegans
B.f exotic ; Cteniza Lat. spinosa B., exotic. — J. JD.

Art. IV. Illustrations in British Zoology. By George John-
ston M. D., Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edin-
burgh.

It is known to naturalists in general that Peyssonel, a phy-
sician of Marseilles, who had travelled into Barbary and the
Levant, was the first who distinctly published the animal
nature of coral and of other lithophytes ; an opinion which,
however true, gained no proselytes, until Abraham Trembley,
a native of Geneva, had discovered the ii/ydra and its wonder-
ful properties ; and Bernard de Jussieu and Ellis had demon-
strated the existence of similar polypes in a great number of
the lithophytes and zoophytes of the European shores. Since
that time it has been believed that the little tenants of every
zoophytical production, and all the little creatures which are
found embedded in any common gelatinous mass, are po-
lypes identical in structure, or nearly so, wdth the iiydra ;
and, in this belief, many fleshy and fibrous productions which
were known or imagined to be a common matrix of a numerous
colony, were unhesitatingly arranged together in the same
class, under the denomination of ^Icyonium. The structure
of a few of these was ascertained, and seemed to confirm the
propriety of this classification ; for there could be no doubt
that the inhabitants of the ^Icyonium digitatum of Linnaeus
were truly polypes ; and this was the best known and most
easily examined species. Nor were the observations of

14r Illustrations in British Zoology : —

Schlosser, or of Gaertner, whose name is immortalised by his
work on seeds, sufficiently precise or distinctly announced to
invalidate the received notions ; so that we may safely assert
that, previously to the year 1815, no naturalist had even sus-
pected that the individuals of the compound y^Icyonia pos-
sessed any more complicated organisation than zoophytes in
general.

At the commencement of the year just mentioned, Savigny
read to the French Institute a memoir which at once over-
turned the established opinion, and which, while it forms,
from the newness and importance of its matter, an epoch in
the history of invertebrate animals, was also of great utility in
directing the attention of naturalists to a department which
had lain long uncultivated. By a series of the most delicate
dissections, exhibited in engravings of equal delicacy and
beauty, Savigny proved that very many of the compound
-41cy6nia possessed inmates whose structure was such as to
give them a claim to be enrolled in the class Mollusca : and
the claim, although still disputed by many, has been allowed
by the most illustrious naturalist of modern, perhaps of any,
times. Savigny, at all events, showed that these minute
creatures were organised very differently from the gelatinous
polype or hydra ; and that, instead of a simple stomach for its
only viscus, they had both thoracic and abdominal viscera,
two separate apertures for these viscera, special organs of
generation, and, in some, he thought, vessels and traces of a
circulating system were by no means equivocal.

Of the productions which were the subject of Savigny*s
dissections and enquiries, there are several species in the
British seas, which the reader will find enumerated in Dr.
Fleming's history of our native animals; and I believe that
the two to be figured for the present series of Illustrations are
additions to his list. They had, when recent, so much resem-
blance to a fig, that it was not doubted that one of them, at
least, would prove to be identical with the y^lcyonium ficus
of Ellis; but a closer examination showed the contrary.
The naturalist, however, will not find, in our rude dissections
and figures, the various organs exhibited with the clearness
and definiteness they have in the engravings of Savigny :
what the artist saw was correctly drawn, and, if they are found
sufficient for specific discrimination, my object is accom-
plished. It may merely be remarked, that, in one, I could
perceive, in the large thoracic cavity, traces of a netlike
structure on the walls, similar to some of those figured by
Savigny, and sufficient to convince me of his general accuracy ;
but they are not shown in our figure, as the appearances were

ApUdiumfdllax,

15

not sufficiently distinct to be drawn by one unfamiliar with
anatomical researches.

16. Apli'dium fa'llax. {fig. 4.)

A, The common masses, of the natural size, on a small stone.

B, A single animal removed, and much magnified.

Description. Common body subglobose or papillary, gela-
tinous, of a clear honey-yellow colour marked on the upper
surface with white and brown specks from the contained
animals; orifices circular, protuberant, plain, and entire.
Animals distinct, scattered irregularly, each in its proper cell,
perpendicular, about two lines long. Branchial aperture [a)
divided into 6 equal short segments ; the sac (b) large, white,
netted on the sides with minute square meshes, w^hich, how-
ever, are very obscure ; oesophagus (c) narrow, entering late-
rally at the upper side of the stomach {d\ which is large,
yellowish brown, and mottled ; intestine {e) dark-coloured,
wide, flexuose, recurved and winding up at the side of the
branchial sac ; anal aperture {/) elongate, linear, entire,
lateral, and near the mouth ; ovary [g) white, cellulose, at the
base of the intestine, with a long white tubular canal running
up and along the middle of the intestine, and terminating in
the branchial cavity. Differs from Aplidium ficus in having
the apertures in the common envelope entire, whereas, in the
A. ficus they are distinctly cut into 6 equal rays. See Ellis,
CoralL tab. 17. fig. b, c, d. Hab. Affixed to old shells, &c.
from deep water in Berwick Bay.

16 Illustrations in British Zoology : — Aplidiiim nutans.
]7. Afli'dium nu'tans. {fig. b.)

A, The common masses of the natural size. B, An individual removed and magnified.

Description, Common body adherent by a broad base,
knob-like or pear-shaped, nearly an inch high and half that
in diameter, smooth, gelatinous, pellucid, of a straw-yellow
colour tinted with brown, and marked with whitish streaks
from the immersed animals. There are no fibres nor spicula
to strengthen this common mass ; neither are there any visible
orifices on the surface ; but, by ripping up the skin with a
needle, the contained animals may be removed entire without
difficulty. These are of a long threadlike shape, with a
bulging and nutant head, scattered irregularly in the sub-
stance of the jelly, in which they lie horizontally or nearly so.
The length of a single individual is about four tenths of an
inch. The mouth {a) is cut into six equal segments, and
placed on the upper side of the large branchial sac (^), which

Natural Productions of l^exden and its Neighbburhood, 1 7

is an oval bag filled, in the specimens examined, with innu-
merable minute granules. When the animalcule was com-
pressed between plates of glass, these granules escaped
abundantly from the mouth, and from a prominent aperture
a little below it on the side. The walls of the branchial sac
are marked with several lines or plaits in a longitudinal
direction ; but I saw no traces of any vascular network. On
the inner side of the branchial sac there is an obscure ap-
pearance of an intestine or vessel winding up it to end at the
anal aperture {c) ; and near the base of the sac there is a con-
siderable orange-coloured spot marked with longitudinal lines,
and presumed to be the stomach {d). Immediately below
this, the body is suddenly contracted into a very long and
linear tail, as it may be called, in which, when compressed,
we perceive a dark intestine-like mark, mottled with darker
and lighter shades on each side, and a clear space between
them ; but I cannot trace any distinct termination of these
organs (which are the ovaries) in the branchial sac, although
the shadings at the base of this part indicate the existence and
situation of some distinct organs. This species has a great
resemblance to Aplidium effusum of Savigny, but I cannot
consider them identical. Hob, Berwick Bay, in deep water.
Berxmck upon Tweed, Sept, 1833.

Art. V. Remarks on the Natural Produelions of Lexden and

its Neighbourhood* By J. G. (^TtfRct/*^*^-^ <^y%>^^ )

Our village stands on a gentle slope, at the foot of which
runs the river Colne, winding its course through a picturesque
valley, fertilising many rich and verdant meadows, and turning
in its passage a considerable number of mills. Our soil is
generally a light gravel, and so very dry, that our usual paths
are passable even in the depth of winter, and we are thereby
afforded facilities for the enjoyment of sylvan scenery which
but few neighbourhoods possess.

Just below the village, on the north-west side, is a con-
siderable extent of spongy boggy soil, full of springs of un-
common purity and strength, which, in the short space of a
quarter of a mile, form a crystal stream sufficient to drive a
corn mill, lately erected on the spot. This stream, which
affords a supply of 400 gallons a minute, is not at all affected
by the seasons, being equally strong in the driest and the most
rainy weather.

Our parish is particularly well wooded, producing many
lofty oaks, elms, and alders ; and, consequently, we have mast

Vol. VII. — No. .37. c

18 Na/ural Productions of Lexden

of the birds common to wooded districts, and some which are
by no means generally diffused.

The boggy ground, in which the springs have their rise, is
covered with low alders, and produces much that is interesting
to the botanist. The raspberry (7i!iibus ida^^is) abounds in
it, and, when the fruit is ripe, presents a temptation to venture
on the soft and treacherous soil. In spring, the brilliant
Chrysosplenium oppositifolium, with its yellow flowers and
shinin<' foliage, forms large beds of green and gold ; the lowly
wood sorrel (O'xalis Acetosella) hangs its pale and modest
head beneath the mossy stumps of the decayed alders ; the
beautiful ferns, Aspidium JFllix fce'mina and Aspidium di-
latatum, luxuriate in the moisture and shade so congenial to
them ; and the huge Carex paniculata rises to the height of
four feet or more, and, with its long and elegant leaves issuing
from the top of the stem, and reaching to the ground, might,
by its exotic appearance, almost make you imagine that you
had been suddenly transported into some tropical region, —

" Where the huge palms extend their shady tops.
And torrents foam o'er beds of golden sand."

But the song of the nightingale in the adjoining copse, the
peculiarly joyous and happy note of the willow wren (Cur-
ruca Trochilus), the loud and familiar laugh of the wood-
pecker (Picus viridis), and the often repeated note of the
marsh tit (Parus palustris) are sounds which will soon awaken
feelings inseparably connected with " our own, our native
isle." Amongst the vernal plants of our district must not be
omitted the sweet Adoxa Moschatellina, which rears its
delicate flowers on the moss-grown bank of many a shady
hedgerow ; a mild and certain liarbinger of sunny days to
come. On the dry banks we have Jasione montana and the
diminutive yet elegant Ornithopus perpusillus. Our woods
abound with the anemone and the hyacinth (Anemone ne-
morosa and »Scilla niitans), and our river banks are clothed
with the beautiful spikes of Z/ythrum Salicaria, the unassuming
Scutellaria galericulata, and Cardamine amara with its bright
purple anthers.

From the beginning of autumn to the end of the year, we
see on the borders of our streams that graceful little bird
the grey wagtail (Afotacilla Boarula) taking its insect prey
among the stones in the shallow water ; and, in the depth of
winter, the siskin (Pringilla ASpinus) abounds on the lofty
alders, the seeds of which afford it acceptable food. The
brilliant kingfisher (^Icedo I'spida) is almost constantly to be
seen skimming over the surface of our waters, or seated on

and its Neishhourhood, 1 9

"to

a solitary pile or naked branch, patiently watching [IV.
450.] for its finny prey, while its glossy and radiant
plumage is strongly contrasted with the sober dress of the
skulking moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) which is flirting up
its tail amongst the sedges hard by. We now and then see
the kestrel (Falco 2mnunculus), the sparrowhawk (^uteo
^isus), and the hobby* (Falco Subbuteo); and our ears are
often assailed, in the stillness of the night, by the clear and
plaintive hooting of the brown owl (^Strix stridula), and the
hoarse scream of its congener, the white owl (»Strix flammea).
The nuthatch (.Sitta europae^a) utters its shrill and frequent
cry, " wit, wit, wit," in our groves ; while the notes of the jay,
the cuckoo, the turtle dove, and the mingled melody of a
host of summer visiters, " aid the full concert," and form
together a chorus which, combined with the usual scenery
around, must move to ecstasy every heart that is capable of
any degree of sensibility, and which ought to engage the
breast in the adoration of Him who has given us all these
things richly to enjoy.

Our streams afford a considerable variety of fish, but to
these I have paid little attention; for, even in this sequestered
spot, " far from the noise, the hum, the shock of men," the
cares of life will intrude, to the exclusion of those pursuits of
nature which console in adversity, and render prosperity
doubly delightful.

I have sometimes been much gratified in observing that
elegant little animal, the water shrew (^Sorex f()diens), diving
and sporting under a little waterfall in one of our groves : it
is one of the prettiest of our few quadrupeds, and is an animal
which appears to have attracted but little notice.

We have all that can be desired in a country village, and
whether our lovely scenes be visited in the glorious spring,
when morning puts forth its melody from grove and park and
verdant field, or in the silent and mellow autumn, when the
cool air breathes vigour and health to the frame, and the
brilliant dews bespangle the mossy turf, now strewed with
many a yellow leaf, they cannot fail to delight and exalt the
soul of every rational lover of the beauties of nature.

Lexderiy near Colchester^ \0 mo, {October'\ ^% 1833.

♦ A beautiful specimen of this bird was shot here last year by my much
valued friend, Henry Doubleday of Epping, who, by his unwearied assi-
duity and acute observation, has done much to promote a knowledge of the
ornithology of our island. [See, in VI. 321., a notice of Mr, Doubleday's
discovering " several nests with eggs " of the hawfinch in Epping Forest.]

c 2

20 Altitude of Habitats of Plants in Cumberland,

Art. VI. On the Altitude of the Habitats of Plants in Cumber-
landf with Localities of the rarer Mountain Species. By Mr.
Hkwett Watson.

Often as the county of Cumberland has been traversed
by botanists, we are, nevertheless, yet very imperfectly ac-
quainted with the stations of its rarer plants ; and there is,
perhaps, not another county of England in regard to the
botanical productions of which there are so many errors in
print. Under these circumstances, I need scarcely apologise
for submitting some observations and discoveries, made during
a month's residence at Keswick, in May and June of 1833.
This county is so constantly visited by the students in every
department of natural history, that there will doubtless be
some, among the readers of this Magazine, to whom the fol-
lowing notices will be useful. My attention was principally
directed towards the influence of height in changing the vege-
table productions ; and, taking the highest stations at which
particular species were observed, they may be arranged in
steps of 500 ft., as follows ; but Scawfell Pikes, the highest
hill of the county, being only 3166 ft., the first step in our
descent will be a shorter one. The names accord with those
of Hooker's British Flora.

1. Between 3000 ft. and 3160 ft. — O'xalis Acetosella, Ceras-
tium viscosum, ^Saxifraga stellaris, Galium saxatile. Campanula
rotundif5lia, FacciniumMyrtillus and Fitis idae^a, Thymus ^er-
pyllum, /2iimex Acet5sa, ^Salix herbacea, JE'mpetrum nigrum,
Carex rigida, jFestiica ovina, Lycopodium iSelago, Crypto-
gramma crispa.

2. Between 2500 ft. and 3000 ft. — jRanunculus acris, Caltha
palustris, Cardamine pratensis, Fiola canina, V. palustris,
Pyrus aucuparia (the highest arborescent species, and the
specimens of it only stunted bushes), Tormentilla officinalis,
Gfeum rivale, Alchemilla alpina, Rhodiola rosea, Chrysosple-
nium oppositifolium, ioTieracium murorum, Siktxce. Armeria,
Jiiniperus communis, Luzula [Luciola Smith'] campestris,
L. maxima, Juncus squarrosus, Eriophorum vaginatum, Carex
pilulifera, Anthoxanthum odoratum.

3. Between 2000 ft. and 2500 ft. — i^aniinculus Flammula,
^nembne nemorosa, Thalictrum alpinum, Cochlearia(danica?),
Stellaria uligin6sa, Silene acatilis, JRubus saxatilis, Epilobium
fllsinif^lium, *Saxifraga oppositifolia, Valeriana officinalis, Cal-
liina vulgaris, Solidagovirgaurea, ^chillae'« Ptarmica, /ip^rgia
autumnalis, Pingukula vulgaris, Juncus effiisus, Eleocharis
pauciflbra, Eriophorum angustifolium, Carex binervis, C. cses-
pit5sa, Polypc^dium Phegopteris, ^lechnum boreale.

mth Localities of rare Mountain Species. 21

4-. Between 1500 ft. arid 2000 ft. — Thalictrum minus,
y^Vabis hirsuta, Polygala vulgkris, Sagina proc6mbens, i^iibus
idae'us, Alchemilla vulgaris, Montia fontana, ^^axifraga ^yp-
noides, S. o'lzoides, Angelica sylvestris, Pimpinella /Saxifraga,
Heradeum 5'phondylium, ^rica cinerea, E, Tt^tralix, ^'rbu-
tusU\a6rsi, Gnaphalium dioicum, Leontodon Taraxacum,
Ciiicus palustris, //ieracium palud6sum, VerSiiica officinalis,
ik/elampyrum pratense, Digitalis purpurea, Pedicularis sj'lva-
tica, Zysimachia iiemorum, Oxyria reniformis, ^etula alba,
«Salix (aurita?), O'rchis mascula, -Hyacinthuj nonscriptus,
Narthecium ossifragum, Juncus trigliimis, Carex dioica, P6a
annua, iVardus stricta, Aivd flexu5sa, Pt^ris aquilina, Aspi-
dium dilatatum, Polypodium Phegopteris.

5. Between 1000 ft. arid 1500 ft. — We begin to seethe
oak, ash, holly, and other trees, with a large addition of
smaller species ; but it does not appear to be worth while for
us to carry these lists below 1500 ft., since they would become
more long than interesting as we descend to the low grounds.

All these species descend to the low grounds about the
lakes, except the following, the inferior limit of which appears
to be at or about the heights added to their names : — iSaxi-
fraga stellaris, 500 ft. ; »Salix herbacea, 2400 ft.; ^'mpetrum
nigrum, Carex rigida, 2200 ft. ; Alchemilla alpina, 400 ft. to
600 ft.; Rhodiola rosea, 700 ft.; katice Armeria, about lOOOft.
or 1200 ft.; Thalictrum alpinum, probably 1200 ft.; Coch-
learia danica ; Epilobium «lsinif61ium, 700 ft. ; Oxyria reni-
formis, 450 ft. Silene acaulis and iSaxifraga oppositif61ia were
only seen in one station, and are fixed at about 2000 ft. by
guess. Juncus triglumis and y4'rbutus UVa ursi were also seen
in only one station, not actually measured. The lake at Kes-
wick is estimated to be 228 ft. above the sea ; that of Thirl-
mere is nearly 500 ft. All the other species were seen at or
nearly on the level of one of these lakes. The early period
at which the hills were visited would no doubt prevent my
seeing all the species towards their summits, in the hollows
near to which some patches of snow still lingered at the end
of May, but quite disappeared before the second week of
June. Excluding the ferns, we have, above 3000 ft., only 13
species ; between 2000 ft. and 3000 ft., 53 species ; and be-
tween 1000 ft. and 2000 ft. there were 150, or more. Now,
by observations in the highlands of Scotland last autumn (see
Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal^ No. 28.), there are at
these heights on the Scottish mountains, 80, 183, and 273
species. The small extent of surface elevated above 1000 ft.
or 1500 ft. in the county of Cumberland, the dryness of the

c 3

22 Altitude of Habitats of Plants in Cumberland,

mountain summits, and the comparative paucity of elevated
valleys, deep chasms, and rocky precipices, will no doubt ex-
plain the numerical deficiency in its mountain flora. Up to
1000 ft. the vegetation of Cumberland is superior to that of the
Scottish highlands. Above 2000 ft. the species are not only
fewer, but, with all the advantage of a more southern latitude,
they commonly fail much earlier as we ascend the hills. The
average heights to which the species mentioned in the preced-
ing lists were observed to attain in the highlands are, for the
first (or those exceeding 3000 ft. in Cumberland), 3900 ft. ;
for the second, 3200 ft. ; for the third, 2900 ft. ; for the fourth,
2400 ft. By average height is meant the mean obtained by
dividing the sum of the highest stations observed in Scotland
by the number of species.

Mr. Winch, to whom we are indebted for the fullest and
most accurate lists of species and botanical notices for the
county of Cumberland, has very recently printed a thin quarto
pamphlet of Contributions to the Flora of Cwnberland, in which
are enumerated all except the commoner species said to have
been found in the county ; but, from the author's remarks, it is
pretty evident that many stations published on the authority
of the late Mr. Hutton are errors, if not deserving of a harsher
designation. Though I have verified many of the stations
given by Winch, it is unnecessary to repeat them here ; and
I shall, therefore, confine myself to those not included in his
Contributions^ and mention only the mountain species ; at least
with a very few exceptions.

Circae^a alpina. Between the Great Wood and Falcon Crag,
&c. — Galium boreale. In plenty on the east side of Derwent-
water. — Alcliemilla alpina. Particularly plentiful about the
Scawfell group of hills, as well as on the hills in crossing from
the Vale of Newlands to Borrodale. — Lobelm Dortmann«.
Watendlath Tarn, and the small tarn among the hills above it.
In most of the lakes. — Fiola Idtea. Between Castlerig and
Armboth, and on the north side of Latrigg. — Hibes petrae^um.
Hedges of the fields between Ullock Moss and Braithwaite.
— Lysimachia vulgaris. I believe to have seen this between
Swinside Hill and Braithwaite. " Paterdale and Keswick,
Hutchinson [?]. 1 could not find it in either of these places."
Winch's Co7itributions.—-Bhkm\ms Frangula. Ullock Moss, side
next to Swinside Hill. — Convallaria multiflora. Castle Head
Wood, near the entrance from Keswick. " Convallaria Poly-
gonatum, Keswick, Mr. Hutton. Not in his Herbarium."
Winch. — Juncus filiformis. Near the foot of Derwentwater,
between the lake and willows, and among the willows. The

with Localities of rare Mountain Sjjecies, 23

station is flooded when the water is high. — Juncus triglianis.
About half way up Helvellyn, ascending obliquely from the
north end of Thirlmere. — Oxyria reniformis. Black Rocks
of Great End, abundantly; ascending from the Vale of New-
lands towards Borrodale, &c. — Epilobium «lsinifolium.
Ashnessgill and west side of Helvellyn. Not seen in flower,
and the species not quite certain. — Faccinium Oxycoccos.
Rare about Keswick. Only seen in a moss on the west side of
the highest point of the road over Whinlatter. — ^'rbutus
UVa ursi. Descending Grassmoor to Crummoch Water;
rather on the Buttermere than the Scale Hill side. — >S'axi-
fraga stellaris. Many hills from 1000 ft. to 3000 ft.—
S, ttizoides. Black Rocks of Great End abundantly, and other
hills. — S. oppositifolia. Black rocks of Great End. The
Black Rocks were so called by my guide. They are the
walls of a deep ravine crossed in ascending direct to the sum-
mit of Scawfell Pikes from Styehead Tarn, keeping the Wast-
dale side of Great End, instead of the usual ascent by the
upper tarn. They are near to, but not in, the Screes, where
this species has been before found. — S. ^ypnoides. Helvel-
lyn, Great End, Grange, &c. — Silene acaulis. Black Rocks
of Great End. Not in Winch's list. — i^ubus saxatilis. Hills
between Thirlmere and Derwentvvater. — Potentilla alpestris.
On the steep rocks in ascending from the Vale of Newlands,
over Grange Fell to Borrodale. Not in Winch's list. —
Thalictrum alpinum. Ascending from Styehead Tarn to
Sprinkling Tarn, but nearer to the latter; also ascending from
the Black Rocks of Great End to Scawfell Pikes. I showed
the former station to my guide, Moore, jun., of Keswick.
Mr. Winch seems to doubt the species being found in the
county, and probably this is the first authentic station. —
Habenaria albida. Hills to the south of Watendlath Tarn ;
between the latter and Borrodale, &c. — Carex rigida. On
various hills, near their summits, as Saddleback, Helvellyn,
Great End, Scawfell Pikes, Grisedale Pike, Grassmoor.
Mr. Winch only mentions Skiddaw. — SnVix herbacea. Sum-
mits of Helvellyn, Scawfell Pikes, Grisedale Pike, Grassmoor,
Sic. — Rhodiola ?'6sea. Various rocks on Great End, Scaw-
fell Pikes, Helvellyn, west side of Grange Fell, Grassmoor. —
,7uniperus communis. Frequent on the hills. Within a few
feet of the summit of Grisedale Pike, considered to be 2580ft.
high. Winch, in his essay on the distribution of plants in the
northern counties, mentions it as if rising only to 1.500 ft.; but
I saw it in various places above 2o6o ft. The summit of
Grisedale Pike was the highest station observed. In Forfar-

c 4.

24- Epiphyllous Fungi near Oxford,

shire it attains 2750 ft. — y^spl^iiium septentrionale. On the
steep rocks in ascending from the Vale of Newlands over
Grange Fell to Borrodale. Not in Winch's list. — Hymeno-
ph^'Uum Wilson/. Black rocks of Great End, west side of
Grange Fell, &c.

Art. VII. A brief Notice of several Species of Epiphyllous Fungi
•which have been observed in the Neighbourhood of Oxford^ and
have not been hitherto generally knoxvn to occur in Britain, By
Mr. William Baxter, A.L.S., Curator of the Botanic Garden
at Oxford.

Amongst many epiphyllous fungi, which I have observed
in the neighbourhood of Oxford, the following are, I believe,
new to the British cryptogamic flora.

Dothidea Heraclhi, Fries Syst. Mycol. v. 2. pt. 2. p. 556.
Parasitical on the under side of the leaves of i/eracl^w??i
S'phondylium L. — D. Geranii, Fries Syst. Mycol. v. 2. pt. 2.
p. 558. ; Loudon's Hort. Brit. p. 458. On the upper surface
of the leaves of Geranium rotundifolium L, Summer and
autumn, common. — D. i^raxini. Fries Syst. Mycol. v. 2.
pt. 2. p. 561. On the under surface of the leaves of JPraxinus
excelsior L. In the autumn, not common. Shotover plant-
ations. Oct. 2. 1826. — D. Potentillae, Fries Syst. Mycol. v. 2.
pt. 2. p. 563. On the leaves of Potentilla reptans Z.

Asteroma Prunellce, Purton's MSS. Baxter's Stirpes
Cryptogamse Oxonienses, fasc. 2. n. 79. ; Loudon's Hortus
Britannicus, p. 459. On the leaves and stems of Prunella
vulgaris L. in the spring and summer. In damp shady
places in Bagley Wood, and on Shotover Hill. This very dis-
tinct and beautiful species of Asteroma was first discovered by
Mr. John Haines, of the RadclifFe Library, who pointed it
out to me in February, 1824.

[** My much lamented friend, the late Thomas Purton, Esq.,
of Alcester, Warwickshire, an excellent botanist, and author
of the Midland Flora, so often referred to in this work, named
it A. PrwiMcc. It is by no means uncommon in Bagley
Wood, principally upon such plants of the Prunella as grow
in moist places, or on the margins of rills, &c.." (Mr. Baxter,
in No. xvii., for December, 1833, of his Illustrations of British
Flowering Plants, in the text appertaining to Prunella vul-
garis Z/. — See a communication on British plants by the late
Mr. Purton in this Magazine (VI. 57.). J- ^0

£rysiphe (mildew) Epilobii Link, in Willd. Sp. PI. v. 6.

not generally Jcnonion to occur in Britain, 25

pt. 1. p. 102. On the leaves and stems of Epilobium hirsu-
tuni L. Summer and autumn. — E, nitida, Grev. MSS.
Baxt. Stirp. Cryp. Oxon. fasc. 2. n. 97. On the leaves and
stems of Circse^a lutetiana L. In the autumn, Bagley Wood
(1826 to 1833).

Erineum R^b'i Link, in Willd. Sp. PL v. 6. pt. 1. p. 146.
On the under surface of the leaves of Z?^bus macrophyl-
lus Weihe. Bagley Wood, summer and autumn, common
(1832-33). Mr. E. Jenner of Brighton has found the same
Erineum about Windsor. — E. lanosum, Grev. MSS. ; Baxt.
Stirp. Crypt. Oxon. fasc. 1. n. 49. ; Loud. Hort. Brit. p. 464.
On the upper surface of the leaves of the common crab tree
(Pyrus it/alus L,) in Magdalen College Water Walks, and
between Cowley Marsh and Bullington Green ; September
1822 to 1833. I believe these to be the only localities at
present known for this new Erineum.

Puccinia iScillarum, Grev. MSS. ; Baxt. Stirp. Crypt. Oxon.
fasc. 1. n. 40. On the leaves of (Scilla campanulata H. K., and
5cilla nutans Sm., in the Botanic Garden, May (1823 to 1833.),
common. On S. nutans Sm.y on Shotover Hill.

iEcidium Behenis, Decand. Fl. Fr. v. 6. p. 94. ; Baxt.
Stirp. Crypt. Oxon. fasc. 2. n. 90. Caeoma Z/ychnidearum
Link, in Willd. Sp. PI. v. 6. pt. 2. p. 59. On the leaves and
stems of Sil^ne inflata Sm., in corn fields between Bullington
Green and Cheyney Lane, plentiful. Aug. 1827. — M. qua-
drifidum, Decand. Fl. Fr. v. 6. p. 90. Caeoma quadrifidum
Link, in Willd. Sp. PI. v. 6. pt. 2. p. 55. On the leaves and
leafstalks of ^nem^ne coronaria, L, in gardens; not un-
common. See Loud. Gard. Mag. vol. iii. p. 490. — JE. AW,
Grev. MSS. On the leaves of A\um maculatum //., Bagley
Wood, rare. Mr. G. Gulliver has found the same species
in the neighbourhood of Banbury.

Uredo i:/yperic6rum, Decand. Fl. Fr. v. 6. p. 81.; Baxt.
Stirp. Crypt. Oxon. fasc. 1. n. 42. Ceeoma i/yperic6rumZ/zVi^,
in Willd. Sp. PI. v. 6. pt. 2. p. 24. On the under surface of
the leaves of /Hypericum ^ndrosse^mum L. Shotover Hill, and
the Botanic Garden, plentiful. June to September, 1825 to
1833. I, in June, 1831, observed the same Uvedo on the
leaves of i/ypericum pulchrum Z/., in the neighbourhood of
Rugby in Warwickshire. — U, Nicot/aw^?, Purton's MSS.
On the under surface of the leaves of ISicoiidna multivaivis
LindL, in the Botanic Garden, September, 1832 and 1833. —
U. ^Statices. Common on the leaves of »Statice Armeria Z., in
the Botanic Garden. I am not aware that this Uredo is
noticed in any work on cryptogamous botany. It forms
oblong rusty-coloured spots, surrounded by the ruptured

26 Rarer Species of British Epiphyllous Fungi.

epidermis of the leaf. Sporidia globose. — TJ, Behenis De-
cand. Fl. Fr. v. 6. p. 63. Caeoma Behenis Link, in Willd.
Sp. PI. V. 6. p. 27. On the leaves of Silene inflata Sm.^ in corn
fields "between Eullington Green and Cheyney Lane, Aug. 9.
] 827, rare. — JJ. pallida, Grev. MSS. On the under side
of the leaves of Conyza squarrosa Z/., in the Botanic Garden.
Dr. Greville informs me that this livedo grows also on So-
lidago laevigata H. K. and Pyrethrum macrophyllum W.

William Baxter.
Botanic Garden, Oxford, Sept. 28. 1833.

That true and elegant naturalist, Hurdis (an Oxonian), was
he who said, —

" Not a tree,

A plant, a leaf, a blossom, but contains
A folio volume; "

and the proverbiality his saying has attained proves that the
truth of its sentiment is generally felt. Mr. Baxter con-
tributes not a little to illustrate its truth, not only in the above
communication, but in the cheap and excellent periodical now
in the course of publication, entitled Figures and Descriptions
of one Species in a Genus of the Flowering Plants of Britain,
In that work, a plurality of associations are drawn together
and connected with each of the plants figured, and among
these associations, not rarely a notice, from Mr. Baxter, of the
species of fungus which have been found to inhabit the plants'
leaves and herbage, is supplied. — J. D.

The common Berberry (Berber is vulgaris L.) is perfectly harm-
less to the Crops of Wheat which may grow near it. (VI. 367.)
— To Mr. Babington*s pertinent practical fact (VI. 367.),
illustrative of this assertion, I would add, that the parasitic
fungus which diseases the leaves of the berberry is ^cidiuni
Berberidis Persoon, and is in species and genus most distinct
from the parasitic fungus, Puccini« Graminis Persoon, which
is frequently found infesting the herbage of crops of wheat.
A figure of ^cidium Berberidis is given in Loudon's Ency-
clopcedia of Plants, p. 1045. No. 16676*. ; and one of Pucciniflj
Graminis in p. 104-7. No. 16710. In hedgerows around corn
fields in some neighbourhoods, plants of the berberry are not
rare (by Shaker's Lane, near Bury St. Edmunds, as one in-
stance) ; and it is probable that the charging on the berberry
the diseasing of the wheat, or other corn, which has grown near
it, has arisen from the likely case of the berberry being infested
with its parasitic fungus, the ^cidium Berberidis Pers., at the

Pucbides in the Transition Rocks of North America. 27

time the herbage of the wheat has been infested with its para-
sitic fungus, the Puccinia Graminis ; a coincidence which, it is
presumed, ought rather to be interpreted as pointing to certain
foregone conditions of the atmosphere or soil, which promoted
the growth and multiplication of the respective funguses con-
temporaneously, each in its own appropriate soil, the leaves or
herbage of the kind of plant in and on which it flourishes.
That the fungus of the leaves of berberry can grow on the
herbage of wheat, or the fungus of the herbage of wheat on
the leaves of berberry, is an idea which the concUisions of
science wholly repudiate. The first origin of the funguses,
and their appointed agency, must be deemed identical, in time
and source, with those of the largest of plants. — J. Z).

Art. VIII. A Description of a Fossil Vegetable of the Family Fu-
coides in the 2\ansition Rocks of North America^ and some
Considerations in Geology connected with it. By R. C. Taylor,
Esq.

The accompanying drawing represents an interesting fossil
which abounds in certain parts of the transition series in
Pennsylvania. This plant was noticed, for the first time, in
1831, under the name of Fucoides alleghaniensis, by Dr.
Harlan, in the Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences
of Philadelphia.

Dr. Harlan's description of this fossil jFWcus is so applicable
to the specimen before me, that I shall take the liberty of con-
densing his account. " It presents one of the richest spe-
cimens of vegetable organic remains that have hitherto come
under my notice. Not only is the surface of the stone
crowded with the forms of this plant, but they lie upon each
other three or four layers deep, as is demonstrated by a hori-
zontal fracture. They project in bold relief from the surface,
with their distal extremities disposed in every direction ; they
appear to have been of different ages, and vary in size,
accordingly, from 2 in. to 5 in. in length, the largest being
eight tenths of an inch in thickness. In breadth they vary
from one to five tenths of an inch ; they are generally
gently arched from the base towards the apex, and more or
less recurved at top ; in every instance the apex is curved
downwards, and sinks into the stone. The superior surface
of both the stalk and branches is cylindrical, transversely
wrinkled by irregular channels, and marked by a longitudinal
and depressed line. The digitations or branches are all com-
pressed laterally as well as the stalk, and are flisciculated or

28 Fucoides in the Transition Rocks

closely applied side by side at the commencement, and gra-
dually diverge towards their distal extremities.

" In every case the stalks divide into two or more branches ;
the latter are more or less wrinkled, apparently according to
age, the rugae being more or less obsolete in the largest, pro-
foundly developed in the smaller or younger specimens. The
plants are fractured in many places and in various directions;
but the fractured portions do not display any evidence of
organisation ; nor is there any appearance of leaves, nervures,
or fructification."

I believe that a fossil of this description has not been
noticed in any part of the transition series in Great Britain ;
yet, as some traces may be discovered through the aid
afforded by an accurate illustration, I am induced to transmit
some further notice of this fossil plant and of its geological
position.

Mr. De la Beche enumerates two or three species of Fu-
coides in the grauwacke group of Europe. How near they
may approach to the fossil which is so strikingly character-
istic of a part of the same group in North America, I have no
present means of ascertaining. The two species found in the
transition limestone of Canada are dissimilar to the Fucoides
alleghaniensis.

The aggregate thickness of the grauwacke group is enor-
mous in Pennsylvania; its breadth being about 120 miles, and
its stratification being inclined at a very high angle, and often
approaching to verticality, it is not improbable that the entire
mass averages forty-five degrees. I have examined a large
portion of this in detail, and have constructed a transverse
section of about seventy miles, from which it appears that in
about half this breadth the inclination of the rocks is towards
the Alleghany chain, and in the other portion it is reversed.
On the details of the subordinate portions of this group it is
not my intention to enlarge. It is sufficient to observe, gene-
rally, that they consist of arenaceous, slaty, and limestone
rocks, subdivided into innumerable varieties of siliceous and
argillaceous beds, conglomerates, shales, clays, marbles, flinty
slate and flinty limestone ; and include numerous coal seams,
both of anthracite and of the quality which may be termed
bituminous anthracite, and large deposits of iron, both argil-
laceous and haematitic.

The surface of this region is broken into an infinite number
of sandstone ridges and limestone valleys, all running parallel
with the mountain chain of the Alleghany.

These ridges are generally 700 or 800 feet above the
valleys, and are incapable of cultivation. Thev are covered.

of North America.

29

to the thickness of from 10 to 100 feet, with huge blocks of
sandstone. Upon their steep sides few traces of vegetable soil
exist ; yet the oak, the chestnut, the pines, and several other
trees, Iiave obtained a firm footing, and have extended over
the loftiest crests. Embarrassed with this accumulation of
debris, the geologist seeks, almost in vain, for some exposed
face, some unencumbered surface, to determine the arrange-
ment and structure of these vast and singularly prolonged
masses. He finds as much difficulty in viewing the details of
their geological features, as in obtaining, from amidst the
ancient forests which overshadow them, an uninterrupted view
of the wide-spread landscape beneath his feet.

I have observed Fucoides alleghaniensis, at points 150 miles
remote from each other, in the sandstone ridges that occur
parallel with the eastern side of the Alleghany Mountains; but
nothing resembling them can be detected in the intermediate
limestone valleys. The subject of my sketch {Jig> 6.) was

derived from the vicinity of this place [Lewistown], on the
banks of the Juniata River, and in the same district from
which Dr. Harlan's specimen was procured. Detached
fragments, rolled from the mountains, and fallen slabs, exhi-
biting fine specimens of this fossil, are not unfrequently met
with amidst the talus of the ridges ; but it is only very recently
that thfe beds in which it occurs in situ came under my observ-
ation. Under the conviction that these vegetable strata have
hitherto escaped geological notice, I' proceed to detail some
circumstances relating to their position.

After passing Lewistown, the Juniata flows easterly, for

30 Fucoides in the Transition Rocks

about six miles, through " the Narrows;" that is, in a deep
narrow trough between the two sandstone ridges of Shade
Mountain and Black Log Mountain ; having, for the most
part, barely space for its channel. The great western turn-
pike road and the Pennsylvania Canal also pass through this
ravine ; being, for some distance, excavated out of the base of
the northern ridge, called Shade Mountain. In consequence
of these public works, many of the inferior strata are here
exposed ; and although, in the aggregate, they do not com-
prise a thirtieth part of the entire elevation, they are highly
interesting, in displaying beds of fossil i^uci in unexpected
abundance.

These beds, where I first saw them extensively intersected,
consist of fine-grained compact white sandstone ; interstrati-
fied with greenish argillaceous seams, and some laminae of
black shale, both containing mica. Upon the upper surfaces
of the argillaceous slabs are disposed innumerable groups of
Fucoides. Above these layers, other courses, covered with
the same fossil plants, could be traced obscurely ; while masses
of hard sandstone, whose figured surfaces bore rude resem-
blance to the Gothic tracery of ancient sculpture, had evi-
dently fallen from much more elevated sites.

Pursuing the examination farther eastward, the beds of
Fucoides were again laid bare, by the canal excavations, to
the height of 50 ft. above the Juniata. Here I counted seven
courses of them, comprised within the thickness of 4 ft. Among
the lower beds are some of white cherty sub-crystalline sand-
stone, and others composed of micaceous schistose sandstone,
whose upper surfaces were traversed by another species of
Fucoides, distinguished by their long curving stalks ; whilst
upon other argillaceous slabs a third description of fossil ioici
crossed each other in straight lines, resembling network. It
may be remarked, that no casts of shells, nor, indeed, any
other organic body, occur with these deposits.

At another point, three miles eastward of that where I com-
menced tracing the i^ucus beds, numerous seams of fine white
sandstone, separated, as before, by thin courses of micaceous
shale and clay, are exposed. Some idea of the rapid succes-
sion of vegetable deposits will be conveyed, when it is men-
tioned that eight or ten were numbered within the space of
6 ft., some of them not exceeding 1 in. thick. The surface
of Shade Mountain is too much obscured, by its thick covering
of coarse debris, to enable an examination of its structure to
be satisfactorily pursued ; but there is reason to conceive that
these fossils occur at various elevations, besides those of which
I have spoken. I have observed them at 100 ft., 1.50 ft.,

of North America. S^l

and at 500 ft. above the Juniata ; and specimens have even
been obtained from the summit.

The strata I have enumerated dip towards the north-west
generally ; but local derangements have occasioned some par-
tial curvatures and arching of the inferior strata, so as to
occasion a variation from 30° N.W. to 60° S. The valley of
the Juniata is remarkable for the singular contortions, on a
large scale, of the strata upon its banks.

Lower down the Narrows succeeds a variety of argillaceous
beds, which furnish the flagstones for the side pavements of
the town of Lewistown. The surfaces of these pavements
are covered with irregular protuberances, evidently of vege-
table origin, and, probably, another species of fossil ^'Igae,
Beyond this point another series of strata occurs. These
consist of red sandstones, interlaced with numerous veins of
white quartz, and conglomerates of granulated quartz, inter-
mixed with fragments of red micaceous slate. Even these
rocks occasionally exhibit coarse impressions and casts of
Fucbides. To these succeed thick deposits of black shale,
having no trace of organic remains.

The strata which I have thus briefly enumerated, although
they form but an insignificant fraction of this immense series,
present matter for the consideration of the speculative na-
turalist. It has been seen that here occur many alternating
beds of Fucbides, and, probably, several species of these
fossil plants. Hence may be inferred the existence, at various
epochs, of so many separate surfaces, on which vegetation
flourished at the bottom of an ancient ocean. We thus ascer-
tain that, in those remote times, there were frequent successions
of these remarkable submarine plants, and many renewals of
the argillaceous surfaces upon which they took root. But it
does not appear that the consequence of these frequent
changes was the obliteration or destruction of the organic
forms of the vegetation so overwhelmed. The entire series,
from the lowest bed even to the highest, appear to retain their
original distinctness of outline.

In the phenomena of deposition, and of recurring vegeta-
tion we may, perhaps, trace some circumstances analogous to
the formation of coal beds.

The figure which illustrates this article represents a group
of Fucbides, on a scale somewhat less than half their actual
proportions [the drawing was about an inch too wide for our
page]. An assemblage of these groups, ornamenting the sur-
faces of large slabs, in clear relief, foinns one of the most i-e-
markable fossil productions of this continent. Imagine beds of
these Fucbides miles in extent, deposited, or rather accumu-

32 Remarks on the Decay of

lated, layer over layer and growth over growth, until the mass
contributes to form an entire mountain, and you will have one
more subject for contemplation in addition to the innumerable
others which result from an enquiry into '* the remains of a
former world." R. C. Taylor.

LewistowUi Mifflin County, Pennsylvania,
Nov. 2. 1833.

Art. IX. Remarks and Illustrations on the Decay of the Stems
of succulent Plants. By Frederick C. Lukis, Esq.

The fossil vegetables which are found in the secondary
formation, designated as coeval with the consolidation of the
sandstone and coal measures, present to the eye of the ob-
server patterns of great beauty and regularity, and display
figures which have been often compared wuth the eccentric
ornaments of ancient architecture.

Without entering into the general geological hypothesis,
much may be done, in the study of these interesting remains,
by close investigation and analogy ; and, indeed, the nature of
fossil vegetables must receive its principal elucidation from
the careful examination of existing species analogous to them,
when they can be found.

The physiological botanist is well aware that plants in
decay are disposed to shrivel up, each in a manner peculiar
to its own class, and that this operation is governed by their
internal as well as external organisation, and by the circum-
stances under which they may be placed.

As the greater number of our fossil plants have been
referred to the ferns, cactuses, and other succulent analogues,
it is among these we are to look for characters of resemblance ;
and although many of these remains possess dimensions which
baffle our conceptions, when brought in comparison with our
pygmy tribes of the present economy, still the latter, in-
significant as they appear, may aflPord us physiological types
sufficiently clear to bring us near the truth. A series of
observations made on the drying and decomposition of suc-
culent plants has occupied my attention for many years,
and I propose to notify some of the changes remarked in the
stems and branches of the ASempervivum arb^reum L., or
tree houseleek, as it is called, in the course of their decay.
They will suffice to show the variety of patterns which may
be produced, under favourable circumstances, by a single
individual of the succulent class. The result of decay
in stems of this plant has been the production of exterior

the Stems of Succulent Plants, SS

markings, presenting a strong analogy to those of fossil plants ;
and I may venture to say that, if casts had been taken from
them, they would have been mistaken for real specimens of
these interesting remains.

The plants, when chosen for examination, were old, and of
extremely luxuriant growth. The stems had acquired the
size of a man's arm, and were about five feet in height. They
were withdrawn from the hot-house during a sharp frost, by
which they were soon killed. The leaves dropped off, leaving
the rudiment more prominent and perfect than when their
removal happened by natural decay. After the death of the
plants, they were kept in the mould they occupied, and placed
in a shaded situation, where decomposition was allowed to
proceed slowly for the space of two years. During dry seasons
they were occasionally watered, and the upper part of the
stems was scooped out so as to admit moisture in the interior
soft parts when required : thus a partial fermentation was con-
tinued until the medullary substance became dissolved.

The first change observable in the appearance of the epi-
dermis was a disposition to form regular ridges or risings in
the interstices between the marks left by the leaves and sub-
spinous nerve near them, preserving a reticulated pattern.
The hardness of the ligneous centre resisted decay for a long
time, and allowed the cortical covering to form its pattern
with considerable exactness ; and at last, by its own shrink-
ing, and the want of farther resistance from the nerve of
spine and leaf, the covering contracted in a longitudinal
direction, leaving the end of the wood projecting beyond the
upper part of the plant.

The following drawings of the plants, taken at different
stages of decay, will be better understood than a lengthened
description.

Fig, 7. represents the common appearance of the stem,
deprived of its leaves, before decay ; the tubercle and rudi-
ment of the leaf, in quincuncial order, scarcely rising above
the epidermis.

Fig, 8. This figure shows the first angular depression
round the tubercle and leaf, caused by the shrinking of the
interior parts of the plant : the dried state of the cortex
opposing the contraction of its circumference.

Fig, 9. is part of the same stem, contracting more equally
downwards, it having been more under the influence of
moisture than the lower end. It had now commenced a
wavy and rhomboidal cancellated figure, the elevated ridges
preserving an almost united wavy line from top to bottom.

Fig. 10. The same as the last figure, having now attained
Vol. VII. — No. 37. d

34

Remarks on the Decay of
8

a more decided pattern, by the completing of the above-stated
rhomboidal depressions, which had been assisted by a longi-
tudinal cut of a knife, and the careful removal of the woody
centre.

10 11 ■ 12 13

Fig, 11. Other parts of the plant produced this pattern.
It appeared that the spinous processes in the interior had
resisted the vertical contraction of the cortex. Here the
spaces retained an oblong form, having the elevated ridges
prominent, though not united throughout their diagonal
direction, but breaking into distinct approximate compart-
ments, much in the same manner as those in the Phytolithus
cancellatus. (Jig, 21.)

Fig, 1 2. The most general appearance of the plants, where
contraction was carried on more equally from both ends of
the branch. The elevated ridges surrounding the compart-
ments had now become dry and hard, and might be said to
have arrived at the state of hay.

Fig, 13. is a vertical section of a branch, to show the lig-
neous centre, or woody stem, in a fresh state.

Fig, 14. The same after decay had commenced. The
woody centre, in contracting, had produced lengthened lozenge-
shaped elevations, retaining the spinous processes rather pro-
minent.

the Stems of Succulent PlaJits. 35

15 16 17

Fig. 15. A longitudinal section of a branch, to show the
disposition of the medulla, or pith, in the ligneous centre,
where it forms transverse cells : the cortical cells or layers,
running in a vertical manner, are traversed by the spinous
nerve which produced the elevations in the epidermis.

Fig. 16. represents the base of the stems of old plants.
The epidermis becomes hard and leather-like, and is generally
ruptured by the enlargement of the subspinous elevations. In
the case under consideration, it formed lozenge- shaped open-
ings round each tubercle, and retained a slight remain of the
impression left by the original leaf across the tubercle.

Fig. 1 7. In this last figure decomposition had affected the
interior so as to enable the cortical covering to sink between
the stiff prominent spines, which resisted decay with greater
obstinacy; thus forming rhombic compartments in a reversed
order to wliat had taken place in the younger branches, as
seen in^^, 1 1 .

A greater variety of figures might have been produced,
but as many were the same in character, under a few modi-
fications, and in progress of decay, I have chosen the most
decided patterns only. Some interior changes in the epi-
dermis, cutis, and ligneous centre presented very regular
markings during the progress of decomposition and desic-
cation.

Fig. 1 8., taken from the inside surface of the epidermis of
the largest stem, will suffice to show the various changes
exhibited by a single plant : in this case the cortical parts,
under the epidermis, had separated in macerating, and left it
at liberty to produce this pattern, although the exterior
surface was not much altered from the rest of the plant.

In this figure the hollows were numerous and deeply marked.
Over each a transverse, sharp, wavy, elevated line passed in
regular succession; undoubtedly formed after its separation
from the rest of the plant. These lines were not marked on

D 2

36

Remarks on the Decay of

the outside of the epidermis, nor were they at all visible on
the remains of the soft part which had been in contact with it.
Fig, 19. is a portion of the stem, or lignum^ from which,
when perfectly dry, its bark has been removed by peeling. It
formed a hard and tough cylinder, of moderate thickness,
the longitudinal striae being only interrupted by the slightly
elevated spots which held the spinous nerves as they emerged
from the wood, and then passed through the bark, where they
formed the external rugae. That part of the bark which
immediately covered the wood retained the same impressions
on its surface, but that in contact with the epidermis had
large tubercles corresponding with the outside of the plant;
but in no case did this portion of the bark exhibit a pattern
dissimilar from it.

In fossil plants it has been remarked that the same species
may appear under three different states; such as are produced
by the epidermal, cortical, and ligneous configurations : the
first and the last differing much from each other ; and, as
Mr. Parkinson states, " it is only close observation that deter-
mines that it originates from the same plant."

Assuming that fossil succulent plants have undergone
changes similar to those here represented, either before they
were lodged in their matrix, or when so embedded, it will be
easily perceived that one species may appear under several
aspects difficult to determine. It is not improbable that,
during the progress of maceration in the matrix, a variety of
circumstances may have occurred to favour these changes and
variations.

In contrasting these observations with what is visible in the
submarine peat found in these islands, many indications point
out a similar decomposition to be going on; and although
these trees and vegetables have been buried many centuries,
and are of a different description from those under notice, yet
they exhibit changes nearly as difficult to recognise.

the Stems of Succulent Plants.

37

On referring

ir^^^^^"C-l ^^ Parkinson's
Outlines of O-
ryctology (the
only work near
at hand on the
subject), he
there states,
when treating
of the Phyt6-
lithus verru-

c5sus(^^.20.))

that this fossil was a plant of the succulent tribe, differing
from vegetables of the present world by its containing a more
solid part within its succulent substance, from which proceeded
a delicate organisation, by which a communication was pre-
served with the external surface." He further adds : — "It
also appears that the species of this genus, distinguished by
their characteristic markings, may have been numerous ; that
the different situations in which the internal part is found in
different fossils are attributable to the resolution of the ten-
derly organised intermediate part, connecting the included
substance with the surface, and to the other accidents depend-
ent on partial and irregular decomposition, pressure, and
distortion, occurring during its passage from the vegetable to
the mineral kingdom."

M. Steinhauer has also remarked, in speaking of the
Phytolithus cancellatus {Jig, 21.), " that the first or epidermal

Epidermal, Cortical. ^ Ligneous.

configuration is formed of rhombs, divided by lines forming

a network in a manner difficult to express by drawings or

D 3

38 Geological Discoveries at Billesdon Coploxo),

description, which leaves the rhombs still app'oximate ;" he
again adds: — " In the h'gneous, the cancellated appearance is
here entirely losty the surface is slightly striated, with a scarcely
perceptible rising under the central ridge, and a minute but
distinct raised dot in the place of the depression in the epider-
mis. It has all the appearance of a peeled plant, which had
been furnished with small branches or spines in quincuncial
order." M. Steinhauer also remarks, " that these plants
were furnished in the centre with a pith of a structure differ-
ing from the surrounding wood or cellular substance, more
dense and distinct at the older end of the plant."

Comparing these statements with the appearance of the
plants under review, a strong analogy will be observed be-
tween them, tending in some degree to elucidate this obscure
subject, and bringing their variety of configurations nearer to
our minds. It may be found interesting to those who have
not examined the different states of the same plant while
under decay, and may prevent the multiplying the number of
species, whose only difference, perhaps, exists in the degrees
of decomposition of the same plant.

GuernseT/, Januarys, 1833.

Art. X. A Notice of some important Geological Discoveries at
Billesdon Coploiv, Leicestershire; tvith Observations on the Na-
ture of their Relation to the modern System of Geology. By
Joseph Holdsworth, Esq.

In contemplating the numerous theories of the earth's struc-
ture and materials, which have from time to time been advanced
by men of profound minds, one cannot but be struck with the
discrepancy of those ideas and opinions which, like the ebul-
litions of fancy, have successively triumphed and radiated with
an effulgent brightness, until the discovery of some new, some
simple unexpected fact, some sad reality, has consigned them,
in succession, to oblivion.

Much, very much, however, has undoubtedly been achieved ;
many luminous discoveries have been made, and many sur-
prising truths have been established, by the meritorious exer-
tions of the scientific, as is sufficiently exemplified in the
modern system of geology. This system, however, notwith-
standing it is countenanced by many of the most scientific
characters of the age, may be far from the climax of perfection ;
and the warmest advocates of it even admit that it is liable to
many weighty objections. Indeed, the complex, the multi-
farious, the extraordinary diversity everywhere observable in

and their Relation to the modern System of Geology, 39

the terraqueous arcana of nature, laugh at the poverty of our
ideas, and mock the futile efforts of man to reduce them to
system, or to effect anything approaching to a faithful delinea-
tion of so mighty, so mystical and magnificent a prototype.

Notwithstanding this, there are certain individuals vs^ho, in
their anxiety to preserve inviolate adopted principles and pre-
conceived notions, treat with disdain or levity such actual cir-
cumstances as do not happen to accord with their prepos-
sessions, and thereby evince a disposition to give, rather than
to receive, the laws of nature. Certain geological discoveries
which I have recently made in this district, and of which a
short account is published in Taylor's London and Edin-
burgh Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, vol. iii.
p. 76. 112., 1833), have met with instances of this kind of re-
ception ; and on this account, as well as by the advice of some
eminent literati who liave examined the discoveries, I am in-
duced to solicit the farther attention of the unprejudiced
scientific to them and to their bearing on the existing system
of geology.

This system originated in the labours of Mr. Wm. Smith,
an English surveyor, who in 1790 published his Tabular
Views of the British Strata ; in which he proposed a classi-
fication of the secondary formations in the west of England,
and contended that the order of different groups is never in-
verted, and that these groups may be identified at very dis-
tant points, by the presence within them of fossils of a deter-
minate structure, peculiar to each. According to the order of
superposition and marks of identification prescribed by Mr.
Smith (admitting the infallibility of the latter in the present
case), it appears, from the occurrence of the Gryphae^a in-
ciirva and Pentacrinites Briareus in the site of ray trial for
coal, that it is in the stratum which science denominates lias,
and is situated about five miles from the eastern edge or ex-
tremity of the red marl. The last-named stratum, according
to Mr. Smith's doctrine, reposes upon coal measures, and dips
under the lias clays ; consequently, if Mr. Smith's doctrine be
true, and we assume the undisturbed presence of the above
beds in this district, the lias and red marl formations must be
penetrated before the old coal formation can be reached. The
mean thickness of each of the two former strata is, according
to the calculation of some geologists, about 500 ft. ; the thick-
ness varying extremely in different districts, even down to six
or ten feet, and, in some cases, one or both of the beds are
entirely wanting. At the Glutton Ridge pits, the red marl
is, in some places, thirty fathoms deep, and in others but ten.

I will not stop here to question the correctness of the theory

D 4

40 Geological Discoveries at Billesdon Coplow,

which ascribes to every distinct stratum a new order of organic
beings, nor dwell upon the unanticipated facts which my prac-
tical efforts have brought to light in this locality ; but, in actual
consistency with Mr. Smith's theory, I will proceed to adduce
a few of the many instances which have occurred in this
kingdom of the successful penetration, even from the surface
of the oolite, to the carboniferous strata or independent coal
formation. As instances : Paulton Hill, near High Littleton,
Gloucestershire, is topped with oolite, beneath which is a
bed of lias ; then the newer red sandstone or marl, and finally
the pennant or coal seams, at a moderate depth. In another
part of the same county, the thickness of these beds, which
lie above the coal, is as follows : — Oolite, 6 yards ; lias 53
yards ; red marl, 44 yards : in all, 1 03 yards to the coal form-
ation. Coal is equally accessible through these formations near
the Mendip Hills, and in some parts of Wales, &c. In the
above districts, as in all others, the various superstrata of the
carboniferous formation vary much in thickness, in compara-
tively short distances. The Walton pit, a short distance east
of Glutton, and near to Midsummer Norton, descends through
the red ground, containing shaly limestone, in which fossils
abound, and through the like order of mill grit, shale, and
sandstone, to the depth of 200 fathoms, where the main bed
of coal occurs. These instances sufficiently demonstrate the
probability of the existence of coal in this place, at an obtain-
able or definite depth, especially when we take into account
its proximity to the red marl and newly discovered coalfields
to the west, and distant hence about fifteen miles in a direct
line ; and, additional to these considerations, we may reason-
ably calculate upon the latent existence, and consequent
assistance, of some of those wise ordinations of Providence
termed faults, by means of which the coal of very extensive
fields is found to be, in many instances, thrown near the sur-
face, when otherwise it would, in consequence of its natural
dip, soon be out of the reach of the miner.

In the vicinity of these natural intersections (the consequences
of subterranean convulsions), vast stratified masses, several miles
square, are found to have been upheaved from very consider-
able depths. From among hundreds of instances of this case on
record, I may here adduce two or three in illustration : — The
coal formation of Ashby Wolds is a curiously denudated mass,
entirely surrounded by the red marl, which (if it existed prior
to the catastrophe) appears to have fled from its assigned geo-
logical destination, when the volcanic thunders shook the mi-
neral treasures of its sub-neighbours, and summoned them to
approach nearer to the light of heaven. The coal measures of

and their Relation to the modern System Of Geology, 41

Tamworth, and some others in the red marl, assume precisely
the same insulated character ; but the systematist affirms that
these anomalous masses are peculiar to the red marl. Since,
however, he attributes them to igneous causes, whose bounds
no lines of demarcation can prescribe, whose power and
universality no mortal dare presume to dispute, may we not
reasonably infer that immense stratified masses have been
subjected to the same mighty causes, not only throughout the
whole of this kingdom, but in the remotest regions of the
globe? So recently as the 9 th of November, 1822, an earth-
quake happened in Chile, South America, which furnishes an
amazing example of the extensive effects of the tremendous
explosive powers by whose agency such awful catastrophes
are operated. Mrs. Graham, who was an eye-witness of the
above, relates that, " on the morning of the 20th, it appeared
that the whole coast, from north to south, to the distance of
above one hundred miles, had been raised above its former
level ; at Valparaiso, the alteration of level was about three
feet, and at Quintero about four feet. She found good reason
to believe that the coast had been raised by earthquakes, at
former periods, in a similar manner ; several ancient lines of
beach, consisting of shingle mixed with shell, extending, in a
parallel direction to the shore, to the height of fifty feet above
the sea." These phenomena may be regarded as of frequent
occurrence in the formations of all ages, and as indicating the
most effective of the numerous disturbing causes by which the
earth's surface has been affected.

I am prepared to show the igneous effects of these revolu-
tionising catastrophes in the vicinity of Billesdon Coplow. At
an apparent fault, which intersects the southern extremity of
the Coplow basin, where many of its deep measures are pro-
miscuously thrown up, are found large masses of fused mat-
ter, muscle shells, coal, and oyster shells, in conglomerated
masses ; fragments of fir trees, partly carbonised and striated
with sulphur; all evidently having been subjected to the
powerful action of fusible heat. From what I have adduced
respecting the universality of lands uplifted by subterranean
convulsions, and from the signs of these convulsions having at
some remote period exercised their powerful and mystical
effects in this district also, is it not reasonable to infer that im-
mense anomalous masses are as likely to expand their denu-
dated bosoms in the centre of the lias marls, oolitic, or other
ranges, as they are well known to do within the limits of the
red marl ? However, there can be no necessity for resorting
to such violent hypothesis, as the instances we have quoted
are sufficiently in point to warrant fully (with a full and un-

42 , Geological Discoveries at Billesdon Coplaw,

compromised admission of the undisturbed order of super-
position of the British series of strata) the conclusion that
coal may be reached and worked to advantage from the sur-
face of the lias, and even oolitic, ranges of this kingdom. But
however powerfully and clearly the inferences drawn from the
general laws of an established science may tend to justify
such a decision, the prudential calculator and nice observer of
nature's laws would certainly not feel himself justified in the
adoption of expensive practical experiments to prove the real
existence of an object which natural deductions, derived from
theoretical principles, had shown to be probable. " No;" he
would naturally enough say, " I must first be convinced, by
indubitable evidence, of the real merits and stability of this
grand and orderly structure which the inductive spirit of
modern geology has called into being; and even then, before
I proceed to act upon principles of so general and comprehen-
sive a character, I shall require a mass of actual evidence (of
a local nature) perfectly analogous to those infallible criteria
which are known to direct and reward the researches of the
practical geologist and mineral explorer." Such, I confess,
were the sentiments which dictated my examination for coal
strata in this hitherto untried district.

I will now proceed to consider whether or not the disco-
veries already made are calculated to affect or confuse the
order of superposition of the British series of strata, so sys-
tematically arranged by modern science, and also endeavour to
demonstrate the presence of valuable coal strata in this dis-
trict, by existing evidence, of such an incontrovertible nature
as, I flatter myself, cannot fail to remove the prejudices of the
most determined sceptic.

The marks of identity by which the respective formations
are distinguished, and their geographical extent ascertained,
are, as I have before observed, the fossil exuviae they indi-
vidually contain. Such being the case, I would ask the
founders of the existing system to account, by reasonable in-
ferences, for the assemblage here of the Cirrus acutus of the
mountain limestone ; the Pecten fibrosus of the under oolite ;
the Trigonia costata of the upper ; the Mytilbides labiatus,
from the chalk and superior strata ; with madrepores, muscles,
corals, and oysters from the coal formation, found, apparently,
not in the diluvium or adventitious deposits, but in the regular
strata, constituting a part and portion of the ponderous form-
ation denominated lias ?

In relation to this question, I shall here introduce an extract
from the Rev. Mr. Scutcliffe's Geology of the Avon (p. 24.): —
" With regard to organic remains, the marble, often alternating

and their- Relation to the modern System of Geology. 43

to magnesian limestone, the shaly limestone, and the oolite,
contain the genera, the families, and species of shellfish, ma-
drepores, coralites, encrinites, pentacrinites, far beyond what
scientific men have attempted to distinguish. Mr. John
Walcott has very accurately painted and engraved about sixty
shells, besides leeches, bones, and palates ; Mr. Sowerby, in
his beautifully coloured work on shells, has published many
others : but these do not contain the fourth part of the spe-
cies which exist in gentlemen's cabinets. This science, which
merits the most enlightened classifications and the best powers
of the pencil, is yet in a state of infancy. But of seeing it
brought to perfection one can have little hope ; learned men
having unaccountably committed themselves, by contending
that in every fresh order of strata we meet with an entire fresh
order of extraneous fossils. It is granted, at once, that we do
meet with such order; for the works of the Creator are im-
mense. We meet, also, with fresh plants in every continent.
Nevertheless, in all these fresh orders of strata, we meet with
many shells and plants found nearly in all the other orders.
These are facts founded on personal examination and the
severest scrutinies. These are facts which command the judg-
ment, and must eventually supersede the contumacy and novelty
of our modern theories. No man will surely tell us that the
belemnites, the ammonites, the ostracites, the trochites, the
nautilites, and the gryphites, found in the lowest strata of
the alum shale of Yorkshire are of a totally different order
from those of the same name in this district, and in the chalk
and limestone ranges of the south of England. I have seen
three of the Yorkshire ammonites, which differ from those
of the south ; one of which had mouldings on the whole spiral
coil, resembling the edges of the oak leaf."

Of vegetable fossils, embedded in the same mass, many
occur ; some of a species of fir, and of other dicotyledonous
woods; also detached leaflets of the osmund filicite upon
nodules of ironstone, and other vegetable impressions upon
the sandstones (found on the spot where the coal and its con-
comitants crop out to the surface) ; which fossils are described
by geologists as belonging to the old coal formation. To
these I may add the extraordinary circumstance of the pre-
sence of an immense number and great variety of tropical
fruits, with knots of wood, and other vegetable fossils, found
in a most perfect state, embedded in the regular stratifications,
about fifteen feet from the surface of the earth, and on the
spot where the boring for coal was performed. These fossils
have been pronounced fruits of a tropical climate by many
eminent scientific men in London and Edinburgh, where they

44 Geological Discoveries at Billesdon Coplow,

have been shown, and are universally allowed by the initiated
to be the first discovered within the lias range. The records
of geology furnish us with a description of a similar discovery
of the organs of fructification belonging to a tropical climate
being made in that division of the British strata (superior to
the chalk) termed the London clay, which is, according to the
present system, a deposit of a much more recent epoch than
the lias. In reference to these fossils, which were found in the
Isle of Sheppey, the following remarks are extracted from
Conybeare's Geology of England : — " The evidence of a neigh-
bouring region of dry land seems attested by these vegetable
remains, which, from the state in which they are found, can
scarcely be supposed to have been drifted from any great dis-
tance. . . We can scarcely resist the temptation of asking,
What was that ancient land ? Had any part of England
then raised its head above the waves ? Does it not sound
extravagantly, even to enquire whether its oldest and highest
mountain tracts then formed a group of spice islands , fre-
quented by the turtle and the crocodile? Speculations like
these, though unavoidably suggested, almost give the features
of romance to the sober walks of science."

According to the author above quoted, beginning with the
coal formation as the plane of superposition, the Has is the
second, and the London clay the fifteenth in the geological
series of English strata ; consequently, according to the doc-
trine of the relative ages of strata, a series of epochs transpired,
or geological catastrophes performed their respective revo-
lutionising effects on the face of this country, during the im-
mense period which intervened between the formation of the
lias and London clays. Now, bearing in mind the data (fos-
sils) from which these inferences are drawn, the following
queries naturally suggest themselves : — How are we to account
for the presence, in strata deposited subsecutively to the car-
boniferous strata, of some of the identical fossils (of tropical
origin) which characterise the carboniferous formation ? From
whence came, and at what particular epoch flourished, the
tropical organs of fructification, &c., found in the lias ? What
are we to infer from the circumstance of analogous vegetable
products of the same climate being found embedded in strata
supposed to be formed at periods so remote as is ascribed to
the deposition of the submedial and superior formations ?

Whilst indulging in such speculations as the above, we
have, for argument's sake, admitted the modern doctrine of a
series of subaqueous catastrophes and progressive changes
having, in the course of an immeasurable space of time, coated
the globe with regular and well-defined strata, whose order of

and their Relation to the modem Si/stem of Geology, 45

superposition is never inverted, and, being countless in
number, her incalculable age is, of course, understood. But
the mind, in its eager pursuit after secondary causes (for-
getting the First Great Cause), is speedily lost and confounded
in a labyrinth of soaring conjectures and humiliating reflections;
and truly, then, " may the sober walks of science be said to
assume the features of romance." But, if we refer to the
sublime and consistent records of 'the inspired writer for
assistance, the daring phantasm of system vanishes into thin
air, under the profound declarations of the sacred page.
Moses, in speaking of the grand catastrophe whose impetuous
waters overwhelmed the primitive world and its inhabitants
(of which event we have such abundant evidence), declares
that " the windows of heaven were opened, and the fountains
of the great deep were broken up," and that " the high hills
under the whole heavens were covered ; " and he further
affirms that the great turmoil of waters " prevailed," or, in
other words, continued their impetuous course, for a space of
270 days around the nucleus of the revolving globe. Surely
such a mighty circumfluent mass would be quite sufficient to
produce, during the above period (under the energy and
guidance of Him whose " spirit moved upon the face of the
waters ; " who said, '* Let there be light, and there was light ; "
whose creative fiat willed all things into being), the whole
of the terrestrial formations, with the peculiarities ascribed to
each ; all the astounding phenomena which the philosopher
labours in vain to define ; all the magnificent framework of
the world, so greatly to be admired for the beauty and diver-
sity of its materials, and for the provident and orderly arrange-
ment of its structure. The Rev. Mr. Scutcliffe observes (in
his valuable geological essays), that " the Mosaic theory of
stratifying the earth, by the long-continued action of tre-
mendous tides, is the only one which can correct the contra-
dictory theories of geologists, and illustrate the phenomena of
the stratified earth." He also remarks, " that whatever earths
the impetuous tides of the deluge washed from one place,
they must, of necessity, deposit in another. This is an inva-
riable law of the ocean. Hence, one tide would bring gravel
and marine exuviae, already worn by the action of the billows
rolling on the shore ; another would bring sand, and another
clay. But though all alluvial strata were formed of the de-
tritus of the old earths, they would repeat the first formation,
by combination ; they would change into a variety of silica,
rocks, marls, and minerals ; while ©thers, falling on more
neutral earths, would remain in their primitive state. Thus,
also, the deeper strata of the earth would be laid on while the

46 Geological Discoveries at Billesdofi Coplow,

waters were rising; and all the more loamy earths by the
gradual retreat and subsiding of the waters. These long-
continued actions and deposits of the water are a sure guide
in accounting for all the conformations and heterogeneous
masses found in most parts of the alluvial earth."

Thus, with the semblance of truth on our side, and reason
for our guide, we may unhesitatingly infer that the tropical
fruits, plants, and other fossils, which we find so indiscrimi-
nately scattered in the submedial, medial, and superior strata of
geologists (and many others, which may also arise from their
fossil tombs, at some distant day, to prove the fallibility of
modern theories), were upborne to their respective destinations
by the levelling floods of the Noachian deluge ; and, conse-
quently, are, like the strata in which they are embedded, of
contemporaneous origin ; and were, in all probability, deposited
at a period when no portion of England had raised its head
above the waves. May we not also fairly surmise that the
sportive element, which had arbitrarily disposed of the fossil
exuviae, would also, by a succession of retiring tides, leave, in-
discriminately, its vast flotillas of the uprooted spoils and
refuse of the antediluvian forests in the deeper recesses of the
earth, in the insulated situations they now occupyjn the charac-
ter of coals ; and of the immediate existence of which we have
certain infallible indications, ordained by the all-wise Director
and Disposer of all created things for the direction and assist-
ance of the " practical explorer ; " who, by the evidence of
these indications has been led to the discovery of those im-
mense treasures which have proved the mainspring of the
activity, prosperity, and glory of the British nation.

I will now proceed to show that " local indications" are to
be found in this district, presenting their silent but incon-
trovertible testimonies of the immediate presence of mineral
riches, concealed here, in the subjacent regions of the earth.
Passing over the numerous veins, detached masses of smuts
and coal (as being indicative, only upon more general prin-
ciples, of a coal neighbourhood) so numerously scattered
throughout the diluvium or compound beds which principally
constitute the multifarious undulations of this (the eastern)
division of Leicestershire ; the first thing worthy of notice is
the circumstance of the vestigia of coal, and all its concomi-
tants^ being found, generally speaking, immediately below the
surface of the ground, in one continuous line, traversing this
field in a direction due N.E. and S. W. ; five miles of which
have been minutely explored by myself, and its real character
and importance ascertained and declared by several expe-
rienced scientific and practical men. From the outcrop, these

and their Relatw?i to the modern System of Geology, 4:7

measures decline rapidly to the S.E. ; but in traversing the
lower grounds, where the greater portion of them have been
actually proved, by boring, to lie in regular stratified order,
they dip but about five inches in the yard to the above point
of the compass. In regard to the quantity of coal, I may
adduce the single fact of the vestigia of certain of its conco-
mitants, of considerable thickness (say from three to eighteen
feet), proved in the deep, being found throughout the whole
of the longitudinal line of the bassets, bearing a propor-
tion short of the coal vestigia there scattered. Reasoning
from this fact*, in conjunction with coexisting evidence, it is
demonstrable to a certainty that the latter are portions of
a very considerable and valuable stratum of coal, occupying
its individual station, as a part of the mass of stratification
partially explored, and whose bassets, or vestigia, were evi-
dently deposited at the same period and by similar means.
As a concurrent proof that these vestigia have been carried
but an extremely short distance from their respective beds,
I need only remind the initiated (who are aware of the ex-
traordinary chafing or decomposing power which impetuous
waters exert upon some of even the hardest minerals brought
from any distance) that the various freestones, shales, coal,
&c., found at the crop, are not in the slightest degree worn by
attrition : even of the binds, which are of an extremely friable,
tender, and sol uble nature, I have numerous specimens, whose
angles and asperities are of the most acute description.

About 400 yards beyond the first basset another coal
appears to the day ; which, in some places, has been discovered
two feet thick, and also accompanied by its immediate con-

* An exactly analogous line of coal vestigia, and all its concomitants,
varying from about 10 yds. to 30 yds. wide, traverses the new Leicester-
shire coalfield, in a direction due N.E. and S. W. ; which vestigia are
thrown up to the surface through the red marl formation; a very con-
siderable thickness of which entirely conceals the superficies of the sub-
strata (carboniferous) over a great extent of country. The important cha-
racters of these bassets were first noticed, examined, and appreciated by
Mr. Williamson (an experienced practical coal discoverer and miner), who,
placing that implicit confidence in them which experience in exactly similar
evidence (or laws of nature) had taught him to entertain, was thereby
encouraged to persevere in a long and tedious trial (by boring) for coal in
Bagworth Lordship (made a few hundred yards to the west of the above
line), which, after penetrating through about 103 yards of red marl, ulti-
mately led to the discovery of the vast stores of coals now working there •
and other collieries subsequently opened in the immediate vicinity. Ac-
companied by Mr. Williamson, the discoverer of the above coalfield, I have
recently traced and very minutely examined the, aforenamed carboniferous
bassets, and found them, in everi/ peculiar and essential character , precisely
analogous to those which traverse this district.

48 Geological Discoveries at Billesdon Copious

comitants, and resting upon a clunch, the usual pavement of
coal : this has also an almost vertical dip to the S.S.E. Here,
as in the first bassets, confusion and disorder are apparent;
but this, as Williams asserts, in his History of the Mineral
Kingdom^ is common to all strata which, as in this instance,
come in contact with the base of hills or other previously
formed elevations.

In reference to the measures proved by boring, it may be
necessary to state, that men of unquestionable judgment have
not only recognised them as the identical strata represented
by their vestigia at the surface or line of bassets, but pro-
nounced them to possess, collectively, precisely the same
mineralogical characters, &c., which so definitely distinguish
the old coal formation. It may be important to remark, that,
in the course of our penetrating the upper beds of this form-
ation, marine exuviae were found tolerably abundant, but de-
creased until we arrived at, apparently, the old coal formation,
where they entirely disappeared, and were succeeded by those
of vegetables alone. The carbon, which gradually increased
in the measures, was, in the last * fifteen or twenty yards, ex-
tremely abundant ; indeed, quite equal in quantity (as proved
by the common process of washing) to any of the strata in
the immediate vicinity of the coal beds of the explored coal-
fields. This lower series also contained two or three thin
veins of coal, commonly called breeders. Can any thing be
more clearly demonstrative of the total absence of the red
marl (in this vicinity) from its assigned geological position ?
However, there appears nothing extraordinary in this circum-
stance, when we take into consideration the extremely variable
thickness of all the secondary formations, and particularly the
red marl, or new red sandstone, which, it is well known, is
frequently found terminating abruptly, forming thin beds, or
swelling into considerable thickness, in the comparatively
short space of a square mile or two.

To revert to the fact of the bassets of the coal and all its
concomitants, accompanied by the characteristic fossils of the
old coal formation, traversing this district in a direct line:
whether they result from igneous or aqueous causes ; whether
they are calculated to break or disarrange the concatena-
tions of the modern system, or whether they can be recon-
ciled thereto, I leave to the learned to determine. That the

* After this interesting enquiry had been prosecuted to the depth of
more than 100 fathoms, it was unfortunately terminated by the introduc-
tion, by some malicious person, of a quantity of iron and steel into the
boring-hole.

and their Relation to the modern SyUein of Geology. 49

facts are substantial and stubborn ones, I am fully prepared to
prove, and I shall also be most happy to give ocular demon-
stration of all that I have advanced respecting the geology of
this neighbourhood.

In the contemplation of unanticipated or unpalatable truths,
the determined sceptic and uncompromising systematist should
ever bear in mind that there are many phenomena in the mag-
nificent arcana of nature which the accumulated wisdom of
ages, even to the end of time, shall fail to demonstrate ; that
" the book of nature," as Bishop Pontoppidan observes, " con-
tains many leaves which no mortal ever yet perused ;" and,
consequently, it behoves the votaries of system, who aim at
perfection, so to construct their scientific temples that the
admission of any of the unexplored truths contained in her
sacred pages may not sap their foundation, nor disturb the
general harmony of the structure. That this would be a
hard task is admitted ; but, in contemplating the extreme jea-
lousy and pertinacity sometimes evinced by the privileged few
who are permitted to assume the banner of science, one can
scarcely resist the inclination to indulge in such reflections.
In a complex subject like geology, the abstruse disquisitions
of the theoretic must ever remain subservient to the actual
discoveries of the practical. However at variance such dis-
coveries may happen to be with the previously adopted notions,
prevailing opinions, or vested interests of individuals or socie-
ties, they will ultimately, despite of every disparagement, jpre-
vail, and find their way into the stores of public knowledge ;
where unshackled liberal and inquisitive minds will appreciate
them according to their worth, and where, perchance, they
may occasionally merit to be received as new data, whereon
to found speculations and enquiries which may ultimately
tend to the farther developement of science and the extension
of national wealth.

Coplow House, Leicestershire, J. Holdsworth.

Nov, 18. 1833.

The Geological Museum of Gideon Mantell, Esq., of Lewes,
of which an account is given in III. 9. to I?., VI. 75., is
about to be transferred to Brighton. Mr. Mantell, after
twenty years' extensive and successful practice in the medical
profession in the eastern side of Sussex, is removing to Brigh-
ton ; where we trust that, consistently with his professional
engagements there, he will make some arrangements which
may allow scientific enquirers to visit his museum, without any
sacrifice of his own time. — f+t

Vol. VII. — No. 37. e

so 0?i ail Aurora Bor calls

Art. XL Some Observations on a very interesting Aurora Boreah's,
witnessed at Hull on the Evening and Night oj^ October 12. 183S-
By George H. Fielding, Esq. M.R.C.S.L., Member of the
British Association for the Advancement of Science, Treasurer
and Hon. Curator of Comparative Anatomy to the Hull Literary
and Philosophical Society, &c. &c.

On the evening of Saturday, Oct. 12. 1833, we had the
most brilliant exhibition of the aurora borealis I have ever
seen. The evening was remarkably bright and clear; the
sky presented a deep blue tint, and the stars were uncom-
monly brilliant; the air felt sharp, the temperature being
about 40°; the pressure of the atmosphere 29*832; the wind
rather brisk, and from the north-west. At half past 8 p.m.
there was a broad, irregular, semicircular belt of vivid white
light, stretching across the northern hemisphere of the heavens.
The span of the arch was from 70° to 80°, its upper edge
reaching as far as the star Eta in Ursa Major, about 18°
above the horizon ; and the breadth of the belt, which varied,
I should state to be about 5°. It was exactly similar to a
rainbow in shape, but of pure white light.

Below the bow 1 at first thought there was a dark black
cloud ; but, on minuter investigation, I found this to be a
deception, caused by the extreme brilliancy of the aurora,
which threw the surrounding medium into shade, and ob-
scured the lustre of the fixed stars so much as to make them
seem blue. By degrees the arch extended itself towards the
zenith, and included the whole constellation of Ursa Major :
it also gradually filled up the concavity down to the horizon,
until it finally presented the magnificent appearance of an arc
of an immense globe of fire.

During the whole time of my observation, brilliant radii
were shooting up towards the zenith from the convexity of the
arch, sometimes broad, sometimes narrow, sometimes vanish-
ing immediately, and at others remaining visible for a minute
or more, to an altitude of 60° or 70°, and seeming like pillars
of flame. The radii mostly disappeared at or before they had
attained, an altitude of 90°, but might occasionally be traced
in very narrow wavy streaks into the southern hemisphere.

The most extraordinary appearance, however, was a rapid
undulatory motion, accompanied with frequent brisk flashes *,

* These flashes resembled, both in duration and colour, the silent light-
ning frequently seen in the horizon on warm summer evenings, apparently
at an immense distance, and when not a cloud is visible.

I cannot but consider the aurora as an electrical phenomenon, and think
that, were it not at such a remote distance, we should have explosions
audible as in a thunder storm. This, however, is mere conjecture; but I

recently witnessed at Hull.

51

which extended through the whole length of the curve. These
immense flashes reached an altitude of 80° or 90°, and were
often divided into numbers of square portions, or flashes,
separated by broad dark lines. This singular phenomenon
I should judge to be owing to the intervention of patches of
dense vapour between me and the aurora; and, as not a cloud
was visible during the interval between the flashes, and as the
stars preserved their brilliancy, the height of the aurora must
have been immense.

As a diagram, however rough, excels description in these
matters, I add a slight sketch (j%. 22.) of the appearance
when the square masses were given off.

I think the exhibition was the most splendid about 10 p.m.,
although it continued very beautiful till after 2 a. m. There
was not the slightest corresponding appearance in the south,
nor could I distinguish any sound I could attribute to the
aurora : in fact, the latter is perhaps hardly to be expected,
as the mean distance of the aurora from the earth, as cal-
culated from the observations of twenty different philosophers
in the same century, is, according to Sir Richard Phillips,
500 miles; the distance observed varying from 100 to 1000
miles.

With respect to the very remarkable changes in the weather,
and especially in the temperature, which immediately fol-
lowed this certainly uncommon exhibition of the aurora in
these latitudes, and which I am about to detail, a large share,
in the absence of any other known cause, may fairly be attri-
buted to this phenomenon. During the night the temperature
fell to 34?°, being the lowest degree of cold I have registered

hope soon to see the matter fully explained, as Captain Ross (whom I had
the pleasure of seeing immediately on his arrival at Hull, after his long
absence and perilous adventures) himself informed me he jiad obtained
ample and satisfactory information respecting it and its causes.

E 2

52 Short Commitnications : —

this season : the barometer rose slightly. On the following
morning, at nine o'clock, the northern hemisphere of the sky
was studded with the mottled cirrostratus ; the wind was brisk
from the west, but tending to the south ; the pressure of
the air 30*096; the temperature 41*9°, being 7"2° lo*isoer than
the preceding morning at the same hour. The temperature
remained low the whole day, the sky wild, and the wind
increasing until the evening, when it blew strong from the
south-west in gusts, and was accompanied with showers of
rain, the temperature increasing considerably. At nine a. m.
the following morning the thermometer stood at 58*8°, being
16*9° higher than the preceding morning: the barometer
showed 29*417, being a fall of '679, or rather more than half
an inch. The early part of the day was bright, with a fresh
breeze from the south-west : at two p. M. it became overcast,
and a heavy shower of rain fell : at night it blew strong from
the south-west, accompanied with showers of rain, and once of
hail. On the 15th, at nine a.m., the temperature was 46*1°,
a decrease of 12*7° from the preceding morning: the baro-
meter 29*132, and ultimately sinking to 29*118. These
great and sudden differences in temperature are very uncom-
mon at this time of the year, and actually greater than many
of the same parallel hours in June and January of the present
year, as I have found by referring to my own observations.
Hull, Oct. 18. 1833.

Art. XII. Short Communications,

Birds. — A Notice of some rare Species of Birds observed or
Jcilled in the County of Suffolk, and adjoining Borders of Essex,
during the Winter Months of 1 8S2 and 1833. [% J. D, Hoy,
Esq., of Stoke Nayland^ Suffolk.']

Two Eagles of the cinereous or white-tailed Species (Falco
Mhicilla), but in the plumage of the sea eagle (F. Ossifragus),
were, in December, 1832, trapped on a large rabbit-warren,
near Thetford [and, it may be assumed, from Mr. Hoy's
heading, on the Suffolk side of this town, which itself is just
within the boundary of the county of Norfolk]. They had
been observed for some time in the neighbourhood. One of
the eagles carried a heavy trap a considerable distance, I
believe, nearly half a mile, and was secured with some diffi-
culty. One was apparently in its first year's plumage : the
other, from its lighter-coloured feathers, and the tail-feathers
possessing much more white, was probably a year older. They
were both presented to me by G. Gardiner, Esq., of Thetford.

Birds, 53

They are the very birds to which the remarks and query (VI.
448.) of H. T. of Bury St. Edmunds relate.

A Goshawk {A!stur ^alumbdrms), an adult male bird, in
most beautiful plumage, was, on March 16. 1833, caught by
a gamekeeper of Sir Joshua Rowley, Bart., of Stoke Nay land,
in a trap baited with a red-legged partridge, which it had
killed. I believe its capture to be an exceedingly rare occur-
rence in this part of the kingdom. I am not aware of more
than two or three instances of the goshawk's being killed in
the southern parts of Britain ; and, in those instances, I am
inclined to suspect they might be birds escaped from falconers,
as the goshawk has been trained and flown, at no very distant
date, in the counties of Norfolk, Cambridge, and Herts, in
which counties also the specimens were killed.
T/ie Merlin {Fdlco lE/salon) seen.

The Peregrine Falcon {Fdlco peregrlnus) seen.

The Hawfinch (Fringilla Coccolhraustes) [VI. 520., and, in
addition to the references there given, III. 436.] visited
us in small flocks, and many were seen and shot in different
parts of the county. Although the whitethorn berries were
abundant, the seeds of the sycamore and maple appeared to be
their favourite food, more particularly those of the sycamore.
A flock of eight or ten frequented some plantations near
Ipswich during a great part of the winter, and seemed to feed
almost entirely on the sycamore seeds. They were shy, and
difficult of approach.

Siskins {Fringilla Splnus) were very abundant through the
winter, feeding principally on the seeds of the alder.

S?ww Buntings {E?nbe?iza nivalis) in large flocks, in marshes
and fields contiguous to the coast.

The Great Butcher Bird {Lanius excubitor) seen in Tendring
Hall Park, Sir J. Rowley, Bart., in February, 1833.

[For mentions of its occurrence in various parts of Britain,
seel. 395.; III. 436.; V. 567. 723. Lanius excubitor, in
IV. 449., is wrongly introduced by myself: the author's bird
was Lanius Collurio. — J. Z).]

Least Woodpecker {Vlcus mhior). Two specimens were shot.
It is a rare species in this locality.

Little Gull {JLdrus minutus) shot.

Little Gallinule {Galltnula mi7iuta) shot near Yarmouth.

Gadwall Duck shot.

A Black Stork {Cicbnia nigra) was shpt, in October, 1832,
in the parish of Otley, about eight miles from Ipswich, in this
county. I was informed of the circumstance by E. Acton,
Esq., of Grundisburgh, who can bear testimony to the fact,
having seen the bird, when in a high state of putrefaction, sus-

E 3

5-^ Short Communications : —

pended from the bough of a tree, where it had been placed by
the person who had shot it. Atkinson, in his Compendium of
British Ornithology^ mentions a bird of this species being
killed in Somersetshire a few years since.

Crossbills (Ldxia curvirostra) were shot in the same planta-
tions [which are spoken of in p. 53., in the notice of the haw-
finch], where they were often seen during the last winter, and
generally feeding on a variety of spruce fir bearing a small
cone. I have invariably found the crossbill preferring the
larch to every other tree of the pine tribe, except in this
instance, when the seeds of the small cones of this variety of
spruce fir appeared to be their favourite food. I have seen
them feeding on the common spruce fir, and occasionally on
the Scotch and Weymouth pines, but seldom on the two last
mentioned.

Rusticus (of Godalming), in his esteemed communication
(VI. 111—116.) of " More about Birds," in speaking of the
habits of the crossbill, says (VI. 113.), that the idea of its
" holding the fir cone in the claw, and extracting the seeds
with the beak, must have been suggested by some wag to a
credulous naturalist." Now, I do not in the least doubt
but Rusticus is perfectly correct, as far as he may have had
opportunities of observing the habits of this species, and, as
he mentions the acts of individuals which he observed feeding
on the Scotch pine, he may not have closely watched the
movements of this species when on the larch.

From October, 1821, to the middle of May in 1822, cross-
bills were very numerous in this county, and, I believe, ex-
tended their flights into many parts of England. Large
flocks frequented some plantations of fir trees in this vicinity
from the beginning of November to the following April. I
had almost daily opportunities of watching their movements ;
and so remarkably tame were they, that, when feeding on fir
trees not more than fifteen or twenty feet high, I have often
stood in the midst of the flock, unnoticed and unsuspected.
I have seen them, hundreds of times, when on the larch, cut
the cone from the branch with their beak, and, holding it
firmly in both claws, as a hawk would a bird, extract the
seeds with the most surprising dexterity and quickness. I do
not mean to assert this to be their general habit ; but it was
very frequently done when feeding on the larch. I have never
seen them attempt the like method with cones of the Scotch or
other species of pine, which would be too bulky for them to
manage. Their method with these, and, of course, most
frequently with the larch, was to hold firmly on the cone
with their claws ; and, while they were busily engaged in this

Birds, 65

manner, I have captured great numbers ; many with a horse-
hair noose, fixed on the end of a fishing-rod, which I managed
to sh'p over the head when they were feeding, and, by drawing
it quickly towards the body, I easily secured them ; others I
took with a limed twig, fixed in such a manner in the end of
the rod that on touching the bird it became immediately dis-
engaged from it, adhered to the feathers, rendered the wings
useless, and caused the poor bird to fall perfectly helpless on
the ground. In this manner, in windy weather, I have taken
several from the same tree, without causing any suspicion of
danger. On warm sunny days, after feeding a considerable
time, they would suddenly take wing, and, after flying round
for a short time in full chorus, alight on some lofty tree in
the neighbourhood of the plantations, warbling to each other
in low pleasing strains ; they would also fly from the trees
occasionally for the purpose of drinking, their food being of
so dry a nature.

In captivity they were quickly reconciled, and soon became
very familiar. As, at first, I was not aware what food would
suit them, I fixed branches ^f the larch against the sides of
the room in which I had confined them, and threw a quantity
of the cones on the floor. I found that they not only closely
searched the cones on the branches, but, in a few days, not
one was left in the room that had not been pried into. I gave
them canary and hemp seed ; but, thinking the cones were
both amusement and employment, I continued to furnish them
with a plentiful supply. I had about four dozen of them ;
and frequently, whilst I have been in the room, they would
fly down, seize a cone with their beak, carry it to a perch,
quickly transfer it to their claws, and, in a very short time,
empty it of its seeds, as I have very many times witnessed, to
my surprise and amusement. As the spring advanced, the
male birds in the plantations were frequently singing on the
tops of the firs, in low but very agreeable notes ; yet they
continued in flocks, and were seen in some parts of the county
until the beginning of June. I had hopes of their breeding
in confinement, and I accordingly kept them in different rooms,
fixing the tops of young fir trees in the floor, and against the
walls, and supplying them w^ith as great a variety of food as
possible ; but all to no purpose, as neither those I had con-
fined in this manner, nor those in cages, ever showed any
inclination to breed. They are amusing birds in confinement,
as they have some of the habits of the parrot tribe ; climbing
about the cage with both beak and claws.

Since 1822 I have seen but few crossbills; small flocks
have occasionally visited the fir plantations in the neighbour-
hood, but have remained only a short time. During the early

E 4

56 Short Communications : —

part of last winter, a small flock took up their abode in some
plantations near Ipswich ; and, in the beginning of September
of the present year, several specimens were seen, and one
killed evidently in nestling plumage much resembling in mark-
ings the young greenfinch.

When every part of our islands shall have been visited by
naturalists with ears alive to every note, and eyes that mark
the species by the passing glance, at rest or in the distant
flight, then may we expect to hear of different localities, where
the crossbill may occasionally breed ; which may probably be
in some of our mountainous districts ; more especially as the
sides of the hills, in many parts of the empire, are now
covered with rising woods of larch and other species of the
pine tribe. — J. Z). Hoi/. November 28. and Dec, 4. J 833.

Notices of the occurrence of the crossbill will be found in
1,394,395.; 11.89.268.; III. 176.; IV. 163. 449.; \,555,;
VI. 112. In some of these places, facts are added on the
food and manners of this species. From these, and the pre-
sent one by Mr. Hoy, it seems that, although the crossbill may
prefer the seeds of the common larch for its food, it will, in
the absence of these, partake of the seeds of any species of
pine, fir, or larch ; and, it is highly probable, of the seeds
of any plant included in the natural order ^bietinae. Mr.
Yarrell has, in the Zoological Journal, iv. 459. to 465., de-
scribed, and illustrated by seven coloured figures, the struc-
ture of the crossbill's beak, and the form, office, and relative
action of each of the bones and muscles which subserve the
bird's act of extracting and taking its food. Mr. Yarrell has
quoted Mr. Townson for some facts on habits. From both
authors we have learned as follows : — The structure of the
beak in the two British species of crossbill, and in these alone
of all British birds, is such as supplies a capability of lateral
motion, and of a surprising degree of power in a lateral direc-
tion. These avail the bird in the acquisition of food, thus.
It first fixes itself across the cone, and then brings the points
of its mandibles from their crossed or lateral position, so that
they are immediately over each other. The bird then in-
sinuates its beak, thus reduced in compass, between the
scales of the cone, and then opening its mandibles, not in the
manner of birds of other species, but by drawing the lower
mandible sidewise, it forces the scales asunder. It now
applies its tongue, which has at the extremity a peculiar ap-
pendage resembling a cutting scoop ; this is inserted under-
neath the seed, which, by it, is dislodged and conveyed to the
mouth. — J, D,

The Plectrophanes lapponica (VI. 482. 486.) has been cap-
tured, along with Larks, near Preston, Lancashire. — As Mr.

Birds, 57

John Harrop, son of the sub-curator of the Manchester
Museum of Natural History, was, on Oct. 18. 1833, passing
through the Manchester fish and game market, he was struck
with the appearance of a bird among a number of larks. He
obtained it, and it turns out to be Plectrophanes lapponica.
Mr. Harrop, on dissecting it, could not determine whether it
was a female or a young male ; he thought it the latter. On
comparing it with the figure in Fmina Boreali- Americana,
1 should say that the figure is highly coloured; while the
colours of the specimen are more brilliant than those in Wil-
son's figure. The specimen is now in the Museum of the
Manchester Natural History Society. The bird was taken
near Preston, in this county.

While writing, I would ask T. K. (VI. 519.) to examine
the works of Messrs. Harrop. — J. O. Manchester, Nov. 11.

Crossing and Lengthening in the Mandibles of Birds ; Re~
marks on the Causes of, and Conditions observable in, (III. 402. ;
VI. 517.) — In the numerous instances which have fallen
under my observation, it has always appeared to me that
excess of nutriment has been the principal, if not the sole,
cause ; as in every case the individuals have been in good
plump condition. Monstrosities of this kind, consequentl}', are
much more common among birds in captivity than birds in a
state of nature : and it may be generally observed, particu-
larly in soft-billed birds, that the under mandible is more
subject to grow out than the upper. I have repeatedly
noticed this in the redstart and robin, and have now, in
confinement a pied water-wagtail, in which I find it necessary
to cut off, every three or four weeks, nearly a quarter of an
inch of horny substance at the extremity of the under man-
dible. In a twite (Linaria montana), also, which I possess,
the lower mandible grows out still more rapidly than in the
wagtail, and has continued to do so for upwards of a twelve-
month ; though the upper one has ever retained its natural
form. In the bullfinch and in the oxeye I have known the
upper mandible to increase, and not the under ; but these are
the only instances. The goldfinch and the siskin are very
apt to have both mandibles grow out ; one of the former, in
my possession, has, at this time, its bill nearly half as long
again as it ought to be, but the mandibles do not cross. An old
favourite siskin, which I long kept in confinement, was a per-
fect Loxia in this respect, and its mandibles became, in time,
so much decussated, as seriously to inconvenience the bird.
While removing the excrescence, I chanced, unfortunately, to
pass the knife rather too deep ; and, though the wound was so
small as to be scarcely visible, the poor little creature bled to
death. I mention this as a caution to others who may find it

58 Short Communications : -^

necessary to use the knife in similar cases. When once the
bill of a bird has begun to grow out in this manner, it will
always continue to do so ; and, though cut, will very soon
increase again ; in the instance of the goldfinch above-
mentioned, the lower mandible continued to grow out for six
or eight months before the upper one commenced, but both
now increase equally fast. This elongation of the mandibles
has never taken place in any of the numerous species of
warblers (Sylvianae) which I have kept, and now keep, in cap-
tivity ; though the birds of the robin kind appear extremely
subject to it. Among other species, I have noticed it in
the tree sparrow (Passer arboreus, Pringilla montana L.) —
Edward Blyth. Tooting^ Surrey^ Nov. 26. 1 833.

The crossing of the mandibles in the crossbill itself seems
liable to a variation in the mode. Mr. Yarrell, in his Treatise
on the beak of the crossbill. Zoological Journal^ iv. 459., has
this remark : — "In some individuals the upper mandible is
turned to the right, the lower mandible curved to the left ; in
others, the position of the mandibles is reversed as to their
direction."

In continued frosts, one occasionally sees a robin, or other
species of bird, with the distal half, more or less, of one,
usually the upper, of its mandibles absent; broken off, perhaps
by a shot, perhaps by the bird's violent application of it to the
ground, then frozen " hard as a stone," to remove thence some
object of food. As the portion which is left of the fractured
mandible usually exhibits some bloodiness, the bird, the fate
of Mr. Blyth's siskin suggests, bleeds to death. If not, it
may be presumed that it must die of starvation, from its
inability, from the absence of the more prehensive part of
one mandible, to pick up a sufficiency of food for sustaining
itself.— J. Z).

Excrescences on the Head and other Parts of the Common
Hedge Chanter [Acc^7itor modiddris Cuv.) (VI. 153.) — In the
instances which have come under my notice, I am confident
they were of extremely rapid formation. A short time since,
one of these birds was brought to me, weak and exhausted for
want of food ; really a hideous object, with numerous large
excrescences on different parts, some of which completely
blocked up the nostrils, and twisted the beak out of all form,
completely incapacitating it from taking any kind of food, but
which was nevertheless extremely plump and in good condi-
tion. I once observed excrescences somewhat similar rise in
the course of four days on the head and knee (the real heel)
of a tree pipit (^aithus arboreus), one of which was very nearly
as large as the head itself. — Edward Blyth, Tooting^ Surrey,
Nov, 26. 1833.

Entomological Society of London, 59

Entomology. — The Entomological Society of London held
the first meeting, of their first session, in the evening of Nov. 4.
1833, at 17. Old Bond Street. Messrs. Kirby and Spence,
the distinguished authors of the Introduction to Entomology^
and thereby the founders, it may be said, of this science
in Britain, were present, and the members assembled, about
fifty in number (including Messrs. Stephens, Hope, Walker,
Westwood, Yarrell, Dr. Horsfield, and Col. Sykes), testified
their sincere gratification at this circumstance. The Rev. Mr.
Kirby, who had been unanimously chosen honorary pre-
sident of the Society, and to whom the chair, first taken by
J. G. Children, Esq., was resigned, stated that he would do
all in his power to advance the interests of the Society ; but
that he felt that, at seventy-four years of age, much would
not be expected from him. He could not, however, refrain
from observing, that science was indebted for the most interest-
ing and valuable portions of the work to which his own name
appeared conjointly as author, to his friend beside him ; and,
here, Mr. Kirby laid his hand on the shoulder of Mr. Spence.

The meeting elected Mr. Spence an honorary member, by
general acclamation ; and Mr. Spence, in returning thanks,
avowed that he came to the meeting, and had brought his
two sons, for the express purpose of joining the Society. He
then produced a letter, which was read by one of his sons,
detailing so much of the proceedings at the late meeting of
naturalists at Breslaw as referred to entomology, and with
which, he said, he had been favoured, previously to leaving
Paris, a fortnight ago, by M. Lefebvre, the secretary of the
Societe Entomologique de France, who, as well as many
others of the principal members, had expressed to him their
high gratification at the institution of the Entomological So-
ciety of London, and their ardent desire that a frequent inter-
course between the two Societies might promote the objects
which both have in view.

Mr. W. B. Spence (eldest son of Mr. Spence) was then
elected foreign secretary of the Society, and the members,
after going through the by-laws and other routine business,
separated, highly gratified at the very auspicious circumstances
under which the meetings of the new Society had been com-
menced.

The second meeting took place on Dec. 2. " The room
was considerably crowded." Some scientific communications
were read. For the details, see the Entomological Magazine
for January, 1834. The Society's future meetings are to be
held on the first Monday in every month, and the chair to be
taken precisely at 8 o'clock in the evening.

60 Short Communicatio?is : —

lA Pupa of Bdmbyx mentMstri, Six Pupas of the O^phion
vinulte, and a Pupa of Bdmbi/a: vinulus, all found in company
mthin^ and bred from, the hard Cocoon of the Bombi/a: vinulus.
(IV. 267., V. 592., VI. 378.)] — In p. 378., I forgot to give
the extracts from Dr. Leach's and Mr. Kirby's letters about
the ophions and 56mbyx menthastri that were found in
company within the cocoon of ^ombyx vinulus. Mr. Kirby
says : — "I shall be glad to learn whether the pupa you found
in vinulus turns out lepidopterous, as it will furnish a new
circumstance in entomology, if it so turn out." (Dated May 22.
1820.) Dr. Leach says : — " Respecting the ichneumon, the
fact of six being found in one pupa, and a lepidopterous insect
within, is very curious, and quite new to me. I have found
one, frequently, in the form of pupa, within the perfect pupa
of a Cossus, which must have entered in form of egg deposited
by the parent." (Dated March 10. 1820.) The ^ombyx
menthastri bred June 8. 1820; but the ophions did not
appear till the 28th. The larva of ^ombyx vinulus I took at
Whitdesea Mere, July 24. 1819. Another person has said
there must be some mistake ; but I can assure him it is a fact,
although I cannot account for it. — J, C. Dale. Sept. 1833.

An Instance of Variation in Shape in the Upper Wings of
two Males of the Lycce'^no. dispar. — Mr. Kirby has said, —
" Colour, I believe, often varies in Lepid6ptera, but I cannot
think that shape does." Now, I have taken two male speci-
mens of Lycae^na dispar, near Trundle Meer, in Hunts, in
which the outline varies much ; the upper wings of one being
long and acute, the upper wings of the other short and ob-
tuse; but in no other respect do they vary. [A sketch, which
accompanied this communication, exhibited a very obvious
degree of variation. Mr. Dale has drawn the outline of the
smaller within the outline of the larger.] The second dot
in the upper wings [exhibited in the sketch] always shows
more or less in Lycae^na dispar male, but, I believe, never in
L. Hippotho^ male. (Is it quite true that L. Hippotho^ is
British ?) Ediis« varies the same. — Id.

Cordulia Curtis'n Dale, a Species hitherto undescribed, cha-
racterised by Mr. Dale. — On June 29. 1 820, I discovered a
new Cordulia on Parley Heath, Hampshire. It is one of the
finest insects I have ever found ; and I had proposed to name
it after a certain friend, but objection has been made to its
bearing his name, " he not being the captor." As it has
remained a nondescript up to this time, and is unnoticed, so
far as I can find out, by Vander Linden, Charpentier, and
other writers, I now venture to describe and name it after a
friend whom I saw capture it: and, as some jealousy has

Injects. 01

been displayed on account of my having given a manuscript
name only to Halictophagus CurtiszV, I request the favour of
the following appearing in print : —

Genus Cordulia Leacli^ &c. ; Libellula Xzw., &c. Species
CurtiszV Dale. Viridi-senea ; abdomine medio flavo-maculatis
( $ compresso et alis flavescentibus.) Habitat: Parley Heath,
Hants, in June, J. C. Dale : Ramsdown, Hants, in May,
J. Curtis, Esq. ; Braunton Burrows, Devon, J. Cocks, Esq.
About the size of C. ag^nea. Brassy green ; body compressed,
with a row of oblong yellow spots down the back, absent on
the 7th and 8th joints only ; head notched in front : wings
very pale greenish yellow, slightly yellow at the base in the
male; yellow- brown in the female, along the costa of all the
wings, suffused to their centre ; stigma and nervures piceous.

The above is sufficient, I believe, to distinguish it from all
other species at present known ; but I hope my friend Curtis
will now be enabled to give us a figure and a better descrip-
tion, without having his modesty called in question by being
gratuitously made subject to the imputation of his naming an
insect after himself. — J". C Dale, Sept, 1 833.

Of the Genus Oxycera Mr. Dale and myself have [in 1832]
succeeded in making out eight or ten species (I beheve only
three have been noticed by Mr. Stephens), and we are yet in
hope of discovering more ; although at Pinny Cliff, near Lyme,
where I first discovered one new species last year, they are
extremely local, and almost confined to one or two trees.
— Francis Or pen Morris. Charmauth, Dorset, Sept. 1832.

Two Facts on the Dung-jiy [Scatophaga stercordria). — I have
frequently found this insect, when dead, firmly attached
round the stem of an ear of corn, &c., and its body here
and there covered with a white dust resembling mould.
During last year, 1832, I met with only one example; but,
during the previous year, I must have noticed a hundred at
least. They are fixed in precisely the attitude of life, as if
only resting for a short time ; and, from this appearance, may
have escaped general observation.

While standing (in 1832) under an oak tree at Hamp-
stead, something fell down from the boughs upon the grass,
in which it produced a loud humming noise. I searched
for it, and found it to be a common bluebottle fly, spinning
round upon the earth, and uttering that peculiar buzz which
it makes when struggling with a spider ; and firmly attached
to it was a dung-fly, which was rather reluctant to loose its
hold : before, however, I could open a pill-box to receive
them, they had separated, and flown off in different directions.
What could be the purpose of the attack ? — James Fennell,

62

MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE.

Art. I. Retrospective Criticism,

Observations on Classification^ in reference to the Essays of
Messrs. Jenyns (VI. 385.), Newman (48L), and Blyth (485.).
— Sir, The two great defects of modern systems appear to be,
the want of simplicity and of uniformity ; and I cannot but
think that both these may be in great measure attained, with-
out any violence being offered to the " natural system."

Mr, Jenyns (VI. 385 — 390.) appears to have blended
together two distinct causes of complaint : first, that in
modern systems genera are founded upon characters of un-
equal value (<?.^. Emberiza and Plectrophanes) ; and, se-
condly, that several genera are placed in the same family,
certain of which are more nearly allied to each other than
they are to the remaining ones {e. g. Jetrao, iagopus, Per-
dix, Coturnix). In making the first complaint, Mr. Jenyns
seems to have overlooked the fact, that, when a systematist
separates a new genus from an old one, he must necessarily
restrict the characters of the old genus, as well as establish
those of the new ; or else the species in question might be
referred as correctly to one genus as the other. Linnaeus
founded the genus Emberiza on a peculiar form of the bill.
He is silent concerning the other characters of the bird.
Now, if we define the genus Plectrophanes to possess that
peculiar bill and a long hind-claw, it is plain that we must add
.to our definition of Emberiza the character of having a short
hind-claw. When this is done, the two genera become of
equal value, be the number of species in each what it may,
since they are founded on characters of equal importance, and
they are therefore no longer liable to Mr. Jenyns's objection.
Whether the characters of these groups are of sufficient value
to constitute genera, is another question ; and I fully agree
with Mr. Jenyns in deprecating the practice of multiplying
genera ad infinitum upon the most trivial and unimportant
characters.

Let us now turn to Mr. Jenyns's second cause of complaint.
The genera Tetrao and Perdix, if restricted as shown above,
may be rendered of the same value as their offsets Zagopus
and C6turnix ; but still Zagopus will be more nearly related

Retrospective Criticism, ^S

to T^trao than to Perdix. If we place these genera, as Mr.
Newman (p. 484.) proposes, in two distinct families of Rasores,
viz., Tetraonidae and Perdicidse, still these two will be more
nearly connected with each other than they are with Phasi^-
nidae, or any other collateral family. Or if we follow Mr.
Blyth (p. 487.), in making them into subfamilies, Tetraonae
and Perdicianae, of the family Tetraonidae, we shall diminish
the simplicity of our system by multiplying our groups, and
its uniformity by introducing a new kind of group, the sub-
family, which it will be impossible to apply to every branch
of the animal kingdom. We ought, I think, to adopt no
more gradations of groups in any one class than admit of
being established in every class. It therefore only remains to
make these minor groups into subgenera or sections of the
larger ones, Tetrao and Perdix. Subgenera are practically
useful for facility of reference ; and th6y are useful to the more
philosophic naturalist, by bringing into one view those species
which are nearest allied ; thus giving a right direction to his
comparisons and observations: but it is, I think, of the
utmost importance that these subgenera should not have
names imposed upon them. The needless multiplication of
names is the very bane of science ; loading the memory be-
yond its powers of endurance, and degrading the philosophic
naturalist into a walking dictionary. Careful and minute
observations on animals cannot be carried too far ; they enrich
the descriptions of species, and supply characters for sub-
genera ; and hence Mr. Blyth deserves much praise for his
careful remarks upon the habits of birds, in Rennie's Field
Naturalisfs Magazine ; but I cannot agree with him, that be-
cause distinct, and even natural, groups can be formed upon
these minor characters, therefore every such group is to be
made a genus, and honoured with a name. Suppose that,
instead of studying one order of birds alone, Mr. Blyth was
to extend the same principle to the whole animal kingdom, we
should have, perhaps, 50,000 or 60,000 genera ! Who, then,
could be an ornithologist, much less a zoologist ? Language
itself would fail in finding names for such a countless multi-
tude.

Another strong objection to naming subgenera is, that the
generic and subgeneric name are continually confounded and
used promiscuously. This is often the case with the French
writers ; and even the immortal Begne Animal of Cuvier is
not free from this blemish. The confusion which hence arises
is evident. Mr. Jenyns's plan seems,' therefore, to be the
best ; to distinguish subgenera, or, as I would rather call
them, sections, by signs or letters. But now comes Mr. New-

64 Retrospective Criticism,

man's difRculty; how are we, in writing or conversation, to
indicate subgenera? I think that, for common purposes, it
is not necessary to do so at all. When the name of a genus
is mentioned, a knowledge of the larger groups in which it is
contained is presupposed. If, therefore, we carry the standard
of our genera too low, it is probable that none but those few
who have leisure to make themselves perfect in zoology will
know the class or order of a genus which another person may
casually mention. If a naturalist at Calcutta is told that the
i^ringilla coe^lebs is common in England, he at once recognises
the general characters of the bird ; but if it were called Schiza
coe'lebs, as Mr. Blyth would call it, it is a great chance
whether he would be the wiser for the information. But, if
greater accuracy be required, the informant may add that it
belongs to section A or B ; and, if he were describing a new
species, he would, of course, either indicate the section, or
describe it with sufficient accuracy to enable any one to refer
it to the right one.

In offering these remarks, I am far from desiring the Lin-
naean genera to be retained unaltered, but merely wish the
practice of forming new genera not to be carried too far.

Mr, Newman says (p. 480.) that the orders i^erae, ^cci-
pitres, and Coleoptera are not of the same value, because
the latter contains many groups analogous to the two for-
mer, and others quite different. He seems to have over-
looked the remark of Decandolle, in Mr. Jenyns's paper
(p. 389. note *), " that the same characters are not of equal
value in different groups." Hence there can be no doubt
that it is far more natural to found the orders of insects
upon the structure of their wings, than to put Fespa, Libel-
lula, and Cicindela into one order, on the ground of being
rapacious ; and ^'pis, Papilio, and Chrysomela into another,
because they are herbivorous.

Mr. Newman objects to uniting the Cetacea with the other
Mammalia ; but if we attend not only to the number of charac-
ters which they have in common, but to the value of those
characters, that is, to the high station which they hold in the
scale of existence, there can be little doubt that this is a
natural union. The claim of the Marsupialia, and especially
the Scansores, is more doubtful; founded, as they are, on
single characters only, and those not, perhaps, of very great
importance. I am. Sir, yours, &c. — H, E. Strickland.

Classification (VI. 385. 481— 488.)— Mr. Newman (p. 480.)
appears to me to have misunderstood the observations of
Mr. Jenyns. (p. 385.) Mr. Jenyns refers, I presume, to a plan
similar to that adopted in botany; where subgenera (or, as they

Retrospective Criticism, 65

are there called, sections) are very generally used and named :
the sectional names being merely intended for convenience in
description and reference, and not to be retained in the
memory. The sections are founded upon characters which
are considered of subordinate value to those used in distin-
guishing the genera : the latter depending almost solely on
the construction of the flower and fruit, and the former upon
the general habit of the plant, the form and character of the
leaves, stipules, &c., and such variations in the fructification
as are found to be but of little value in the natural order
to which the plant belongs. The advantage of this plan
appears to be, that the genera in each order, all depending
upon modifications of the same parts, are of nearly an equal
value, and the sections are only employed where there is a
marked difference in subordinate characters or habit between
the parts of a genus. Some genera will therefore contain
many of these sections, and others only one; in the same
manner that an order is sometimes found to contain only one
genus. Or, perhaps, it would be more correct to say, that we
are not yet acquainted with the other sections of the genus or
the other genera of the order. In illustration of this, I give
the characters of the genera and sections (subgenera) in the
tribe Thlaspideae, order Cruciferse.

The tribe is divided into two parts : — 1. Cells of silicle
two- or many-seeded; 2. Cells of silicle one-seeded.

I take the former of these, because it contains three British
genera : the characters are —

Thlaspi. — Silicle emarginate at the apex, valves winged at the back ; cells
two- or many-seeded.

Hutchins/«. — Silicle elliptical, valves wingless; cells two-, rarely three-,
seeded.

Teesdalw. — Silicle oval, emarginate at the apex j cells two-seeded ; sta-
mens each with a scale on the inner side at the base.

Platyspermum. — Silicle oblong, crowned by the short thick style; cells
four-five-seeded ; seeds with a broad margin.

The genus Thlapsi is divided into the following sections
(subgenera) : —

Seel. Pachyphragma. — Silicle broad. Style none. Dissepiment thick,
double, furnished with three longitudinal plates. Seeds four, not
striated.

Sec. 2. Carpoceras. — Valves expanding at the end into a hornlike wing.
Dissepiment membranous, oblong. Seeds foi^r, striated.

Sec. 3. Nomisma. — Valves with a wing along the whole back. Seeds
numerous, striated.

Sec. 4. Neurotropis. — Silicle orbicular, with a narrow recess ; back of
Vol. VII. — No. 37. f

66 Retrospective Criticism,

the valves with a broad wing, circumscribed by a nerve. Seeds
numerous, not striated.

Sec. 5. Pterotropis. — Silicle somewhat obovate, with a broad recess, or
truncate ; back of the valves with a wing not circumscribed by a nerve.
Seeds not striated.

Hutchinsza is divided into

Sec. 1. /beridella. — Style filiform. Leaves entire or toothed. Flowers
purplish, resembling those of an /beris.

Sec. 2. iVasturtiolum. — Leaves pinnate, lobed. Flowers small, white,
like those of Draba and Teesdalia.

Teesdal/a and Platyspermum have no sections, or, rather,
each contains only one.

According to the plan proposed by Mr. Newman, the above
sections must, I presume, be formed into genera, and the
genera themselves will become families ; therefore the two
(TeesdahVx and Platyspermum), which have only one section,
must have new names invented, to mark the difference between
the family and the genus. I cannot see what additional
advantage would result from this plan, to compensate for load-
ing the memory with additional terms.

In speaking of a plant, the generic and specific names alone
are used ; the sectional one being only employed in descrip-
tion, to avoid repeating the same character in numerous spe-
cies, or to communicate a general idea of a plant without
giving a detailed description. This plan, of named genera
and sections, has been partially adopted in entomology. See
the genus Colymbetes, in which the generic character depends
chiefly on the formation of the mouth, and the sectional upon
that of the legs. — Charles C, Babingto7t, M. A., F.L.S., &c.

3Ir, Audubon and his Work, the Biograjyhy of Birds, (VI.
550.) — One glance more at testimonies relative to Mr. Au-
dubon's claim to the authorship of the Biography of Birds.

" I have read Mr. Audubon's original manuscripts, and I
have read Mr. Waterton's original manuscripts ; and both
before they were published.* I think the English of the one
is as good as the English of the other." [W, Swainson,
in VI. 550.)

" Mr. Audubon is the son of French parents. He was
educated in France till the age of seventeen. At that time he
could not speak the English language. It cannot, therefore,
be the least disparagement to Mr. Audubon, if, when he had a
valuable work to publish in English, he should wish to receive

* Mr. Mawman, who published the Wanderings, was bound down not to
make any alterations in the Wanderings.

Retrospective Criticism, 67

the assistance and correction of a native." (i2. B.y in VI.

371.)

" Tanta est discordia fratrum ! " Ovid,

What proof of discord here we see
'Twixt Mr. Swainsoii and R. B. !

Here I beg to remark, that Audubon told Cuvier that he
had resided for twenty j^ears in the woods of America, living
in a rude hut, constructed by himself, for the purpose of
studying the habits of birds. Now, let us put these twenty
years to seventeen, and we get thirty-seven. Then let us take
into consideration the time which Mr. Audubon must have
spent in his "counting-room" in Louisville, and in buying
and selling goods in other places : for be it known that he
kept a shop for many years in the United States. This is far
from being a discreditable circumstance; I merely introduce
it to show that his avocations of a commercial nature might
possibly have interfered with those of a literary nature. The
contradictory, ungrammatical, ill-constructed paper, signed
" Audubon," on the habits of the turkey buzzard, which
appeared in JamesorHs Journal for 1826 [reviewed in VI.
162 — 171.]; in which paper, by the way, Mr. Swainson
found a " freshness and an originality," which he pronounced
to be " delightful to the general reader," [I. 45.] seems to bear
me out in my surmise. Enough. " How blind is that man,"
said Don Quixote, " who cannot see through a sieve ! " —
Charles Waterton, Walton Hall, Nov, 7. 1833.

Mr. Auduhony Jun. (VI. 550.) — How extremely forgetful
it was in this gentleman, when he attempted (VI. 551.) a
defence of his father's account of the rattlesnake, never
once to have alluded, in the slightest manner, to the mo-
mentous descent of the large American squirrel, tail fore-
most, down the rattlesnake's throat ! To have touched upon
the minor parts of that very startling narrative, and not to
have bestowed a solitary word on the tail-foremost feature of
it, is as defective in Mr. Audubon, jun., as it would be in a
surgeon who should try to dissect the fibrous roots only of a
cancer, and leave the cancer itself to eat into the vitals of his
unfortunate patient. Nobody doubts that rattlesnakes swallow
squirrels ; but every body must condemn Audubon's account
of a rattlesnake chasing a squirrel, and then swallowing it tail
foremost. Tail foremost ! Why, as long as this foul stain on
the page of Audubon's zoology remains unblotted out, of what
use is it in his son to tell me that his father has explored the
" Floridas, the Keys, and the Tortugas Islands?" The story
of the rattlesnake will alwavs appear against him, as a phan-

F 2

68 Retrospective Criticism,

torn of bad omen, and it will warn me how I put confidence
in other narratives which may come from Mr. Audubon's
zoological pen. Indeed, if even his friends should be rash
enough to call me to account for incredulity on future topics,
my short and simple answer will be, that Mr. Audubon's story
of a rattlesnake swallowing a large American squirrel, tail
foremost, still sticks in my throat, and that positively I cannot
try to gulp any thing else till they manage to ease me of that
foreign body.

In the very face of this reptile stinging his father's reputa-
tion, Mr. Audubon, jun., has the temerity to hint at fables in
the Wanderings. Will he have the goodness to point them
out? Should he succeed in proving a fable in one single
instance, be it ever so trivial, I will renounce all claim to
veracity, and never more write another word to meet the
public eye.

Mr. Audubon, jun., remarks, that what little information I
have given of the American birds is positively useless until
I publish an Indian vocabulary. In the same breath he
adds, that Azara has given us both the Indian and scientific
names of the birds. To crown all, he pronounces Azara " the
very first authority on these matters;" after telling us that
Azara affects to despise system. Again, he appears shocked
at my want of science, just, by the by, after he has most
unhappily quoted his father's own words, to prove to us that
his father himself stood in absolute need of a scientific assist-
ant ; while his friend Swainson fully confirms this arrant
ignorance in the great American ornithologist, by telling the
world that he was expected to have given assistance to Audu-
bon in the scientific details of his work.

Systematic arrangement, in moderation, is useful and desir-
able; still it would not suit the Wa7iderings, a work which
professes to be nothing but a sketch. Were I to sit down
expressly to describe the habits of those birds of which I have
a knowledge, I should begin by saying. Preserve me from
bewildering Mr. Loudon's readers in the mazes of modern
divisions and subdivisions of birds, and hard names, and
mathematical sections of bill and toe ; till, at last, we hardly
dare pronounce a crow not to be a magpie ! These arcana of
foot and front are, and ought to be, the exclusive property of
those " eminent and scientific naturalists of the metropolis,"
who inspect bird-skins in closets. Young Mr. Audubon has
applied, in his hour of need, to these grave doctors in nomen-
clature for their opinion on me. Eheu ! I am condemned.
Well, it is some consolation, at least, to have one's death-
warrant pronounced by the first judges of the land inforo

Retrospective Criticism, 69

ornithologico, Lausus, son of Mezentius, was my prototype
in the olden time, as far as regards the dignity of my demise.
" Be comforted, poor Lausy," said the Trojan, " for be-
hold, 't is the hand of the great ^neas that fells thee to the
ground !"

" Hoc tamen, infelix, miseram solabere mortem ;
-^neae magni dextra cadis." Virg.

I will now proceed to give Mr. Audubon, jun., proof sufficient
that I can detect a fable from genuine ornithology, without
having recourse to the pages of Azara, in order to learn my
lesson. Ere I commence, however, I must just hint to
Mr. Audubon, jun., that he has not succeeded in convincing
me of his father's " fair fame." I myself, with mine own
eyes, have seen Wilson's original diary, written by him at
Louisville ; and 1 have just now on the table before me the
account of the Academy of Sciences indignantly rejecting
Mr. Audubon as a member, on that diary having been pro-
duced to their view. — Charles Waterton.

Aerial Eiicounter of the Eagle and the Vulture. (See Audu-
bon's Biography of Birds, p. 163.) — Next to the adventure
of the rattlesnake and squirrel, I am of opinion that this pre-
sents the toughest morsel ever offered to the proverbially wide
gullet of Mr. Bull. Audubon says : — '* Many vultures were
engaged in devouring the body and entrails of a dead horse,
when a white-headed eagle accidentally passing by, the vul-
tures all took to wing, one, amongst the rest, with a portion of
the entrails, partly swallowed, and the remaining part, about
a yard in length, dangling in the air. The eagle instantly
marked him, and gave chase. The poor vulture tried, in vain,
to disgorge, when the eagle, coming up, seized the loose end
of the gut, and dragged the bird along for twenty or thirty
yards, much against its will, till both fell to the ground ;
when the eagle struck the vulture, and in a few moments
killed it, after which he swallowed the delicious morsel." In
his strange paper oq the habits of the turkey buzzard, Mr.
Audubon tells us " that if the object discovered is large,
lately dead, and covered with a skin too tough to be ate and
torn asunder (cart before the horse), and afford free scope to
their appetites, they remain about it and in the neighbour-
hood." Now, reader, observe, that, the dead horse being a
large animal, its skin, according to this quotation, must
have been too tough to be torn asunder by the vultures,
until putrefaction took place. If, then, these vultures really
commenced devouring the dead animal while it was yet fresh,
Mr. Audubon's theory, just quoted, is worth nothing. If, on

F 3

70 Retrospective Criticism.

the contrary, the horse in question had become sufficiently
putrid to allow the vultures to commence operations, then I
will show that the aerial account of the eagle and the vulture
is either a mere imaginary effusion of the author's fancy, or a
hoax played off upon his ignorance by some designing wag.

The entrails of a dead animal are invariably the first part
to be affected by putrefaction. Now, we are told, that a piece
of gut had been torn from the rest, and swallowed by the vul-
ture ; a portion of the said gut, about a yard in length, hang-
ing out of his mouth. The vulture, pressed hard by the
eagle, tried in vain to disgorge the gut. This is at variance
with a former statement, in which Mr. Audubon assures us
that an eagle will force a vulture to disgorge its food in a mo-
ment: so that the validity of this former statement must be
thrown overboard, in order to insure the safety of the present
adventure; or, vice versa, the present adventure must inevi-
tably sink, if the former statement is to be preserved. Be this
as it may, the eagle, out of all manner of patience at the
clumsiness of the vulture, in his attempt to restore to daylight
that part of the gut which was lying at the bottom of his sto-
mach, laid hold of the end which was still hanging out of the
unfortunate rascal's mouth, and actually dragged him along
through the air, for a space of twenty or thirty yards, much
against the vulture's will. Now, though the eagle pulled, and
the vulture resisted, still the yard of gut, which we must sup-
pose was in a putrid state, for reasons already mentioned, re-
mained fixed and firm in the vulture's bill. With such a force,
applied to each extremity, the gut ought either to have given
way in the middle, or to have been cut in two at those places
where the sharp bills of the birds held it fast. But stop,
reader, I pray you : speculation might be allowed here, pro-
vided this uncommon encounter had taken place onterrajirma ;
but, in order that our astonishment may be wound up to the
highest pitch, we are positively informed that the contention
took place, not on the ground, or in a tree, but in the circum-
ambient air 1

Pray, how was it possible for the eagle to progress through
the air, and to have dragged along a resisting vulture, by
means of a piece of gut acting as a rope, about a yard in
length? Birds cannot fly backwards ; and the very act of the
eagle turning round to progress after it had seized the end of
the gut, would have shortened the connecting medium so
much, that the long wings of both birds must have imme-
diately come in contact ; their progress would have been pre-
vented by the collision ; and, in lieu of the eagle dragging the
resisting vulture through the air, for a space of twenty or thirty

\

Retrospective Criticism. 71

yards, both birds would have come to the ground, or the gut
would have given way.

I have never read any thing in the annals of ornithology
that bears any similarity to this aquila-vulturian exhibition
progressing through the vault of heaven. Verily, " there is
a freshness in it/'

When we reflect that Mr. Audubon is an American ; that
he has lived the best part of his life in America ; that the two
birds themselves were American, and that their wonderful
encounter took place in America, we Englishmen marvel
much that Mr. Audubon did not allow the press of his own
country to have the honour to impart to the world so astonish-
ing an adventure. — Charles Waterton, Walton Hall, Nov, 7.
1833.

Audubon* s Humming-bird, (See his Biography of Birds,
p. 248.) — Mr. Audubon tells us, that in one week the young
of the ruby-throated humming-bird are ready to fly» One
would suppose, by this, that they must be hatched with a good
coating of feathers to begin with. Old Dame Nature some-
times performs odd pranks. We are informed that our
crooked-back Dicky the Third was born with teeth ; and Ovid
mentions the astonishingly quick growth of certain men. He
says, in his account of the adventures of Captain Cadmus,
who built Thebes (my native town*), that the captain em-
ployed some men as masons who had just sprung up out of
the earth.

I have read Mr. Audubon's account of the growth of the
humming-bird, and I have read Mr. Ovid's account of the
growth of Captain Cadmus's masons, and both very attentively.
I think the veracity of the one is as apparent as the veracity
of the other. What, in the name of skin and feathers, I ask,
has Mr. Audubon found in the economy of the ruby-throated
humming-bird to enable him to inform Englishmen that its
young can fly in so short a space of time ? The young of no
other bird that we are acquainted with, from the condor to
the wren, can fly when only a week old.

The humming<rbird, in every part of its body and plumage,
is quite as perfect as the eagle itself; neither is it known to
differ in the duration of its life from any of the smaller birds
of the forest which it inhabits. Like them, it bursts the shell
in a state of nudity ; like them, it is blind for some days ; and,
like them, it has to undergo the gradual process of fledging,
which is so slow in its operation, that I affirm, without fear of

* See the last Number of this Magazine (VI. 552.), in which Mr.
Audubon, jun., styles me the " learned Theban."

p 4

72 Retrospective Criticism.

refutation, it cannot possibly produce, in the space of one
short week, a series of feathers capable of supporting the bird
through the air.

Again, the precocious flying of the young birds argues
precocity of feathers; and this would authorise us to look for
precocity of lustre in the male. But Mr. Audubon informs
us that the male does not receive its full brilliancy of colour
until the succeeding spring: and I myself can affirm, from
actual observation, that the additional plumage which adorns
some humming-birds does not make its appearance till towards
the middle of the second year.

Were it necessary, I could show to naturalists their error,
in sometimes mistaking a male httmming-bird of the first
year for a fuU-plumaged female. I am fully satisfied in my own
mind that the internal anatomy of all humming-birds is pre-
cisely the same, except in size ; having found it the same in
every humming-bird which I dissected in Guiana and Brazil.
Now, as the young of the humming-birds in these countries
require more than a week to enable them to fly, and as Mr.
Audubon's humming-bird differs not in internal anatomy from
them, I see no reason why the young of his species should
receive earlier powers of flying than the young of the hum-
ming-birds in the countries just mentioned.

A word on the cradle. Mr. Audubon tells us that the
little pieces of lichen, used in forming the nest of the humming-
bird, " are glued together with the saliva of the bird." Fiddle I
The saliva of all birds immediately mixes with water. A single
shower of rain would undo all the saliva-glued work on the
nest of Mr. Audubon's humming-bird. When our great
master in ornithology (whose writings, according to Swainson
[I. 45.], will be read when our favourite theories shall
have sunk into oblivion) saw his humming-bird fix the lichen
to the nest, pray what instrument did it make use of, in order
to detach the lichen from the point of its own clammy bill
and tongue ; to which it would be apt to adhere just as firmly
as to the place where it was intended that it should perma-
nently remain? — Charles Waterton. Walton Hall, Nov, 19.
1833.

The Virginian Partridge, — " Nantes in gurgite vasto."
Virgil.

" Like the turkeys, many of the weaker partridges often fall
into the water while thus attempting to cross, and generally
perish ; for, although they swim surprisingly, they have not
muscular power sufficient to keep up a protracted struggle."
(See Biography of Birds, p. 388.)

Birds which can " swim surprisingly" will never " perish"

jRetrospedive Criticism, 7S

by the act of swimming; neither would they be under the
necessity of having recourse to " a protracted struggle " in a
movement which requires no struggle at all. A bird struggling
in the act of swimming, in order to save itself from drowning,
is about the same as if we were to struggle in our usual act of
walking, lest we perish therein. The very mention of " a
protracted struggle " argues that the partridge cannot swim.
A partridge on the water is nearly in as great a scrape as a
shark on shore. The latter, by floundering, may, perchance,
get into the water again ; still we cannot say that a shark
moves surprisingly on land : and the former, by help of its
feet, may possibly reach the river's bank, through an element
as fatal to it as the shore is to the shark. All birds, whether
alive or dead, must naturally float on the surface of the water ;
but all birds cannot swim : otherwise those birds which we
commonly call land birds would have to be new-modelled in
form, and would require a very different kind of plumage.

We startle at the novel information of a partridge " swim-
ming surprisingly," and we are anxious to know what sudden
change has taken place amongst the birds in the western
hemisphere, whilst our eastern birds remain in statu quo.
For example's sake, let us examine a waterhen, which, like
the partridge, is not web-footed; still it swims remarkably
w^ell. Its body is nearly similar in shape to a boat ; the
arrangement of its feathers is most admirably calculated to
resist the entrance of the water; while its every motion, when
in the act of swimming, is full of gracefulness and confidence.
It moves to and fro by a very gentle action of the feet, and it
may be seen, for hours together, enjoying itself on the deep in
perfect security. This bird may be truly said to swim sur-
prisingly ; but it is never doomed to keep up a protracted
struggle by means of muscular power, in order to save its life,
on an element where it runs no risk of perishing.

Now let us look at a partridge floating on the river. The
form of its body is very unlike that of the waterhen, and,
though it cannot possibly sink, still it is in the utmost fear of
death, and tries to reach the shore by an evident and vehement
struggle. Its feathers immediately become saturated wuth
water, whilst the cold strikes deeply into its body. Death is
fast approaching; the wings are soaked with flapping on the
water, and at last appear extended quite motionless on the
surface of the stream ; the legs are cramped and stiffened ;
the mouth is open ; the head falls, and, after a few convul-
sive effc)rts to support itself, down it drops for the last time
into the water, and the bird dies. This is the fate of the
partridge which Mr. Audubon assures us can " swim sur-

74 Retrospective Criticism.

prisingly." The mere motion of its legs, to propel its floating
body towards land, in order to escape from certain death on
an element where it was never intended by Nature to exist,
even for the space of one short hour, has been magnified by
Mr. Audubon into an important act of " swimming sur-
prisingly."

If the admirers of Mr. Audubon should try to force us to
agree with their great naturalist, that partridges can " swim
surprisingly," then it behoves us to call upon them to declare
that every bird in the creation can swim. Our little tomtit,
till now" a land bird, must be proclaimed to swim surprisingly,
and have a place amongst the waterfowl ; because, on tumbling
accidentally into a washing-tub, he has " muscular power
sufficient to keep up a protracted struggle" till he reaches the
side.

How delighted Ovid would have been, had he seen a par-
tridge swimming surprisingly, or a goatsucker flying off with
a mouthful of eggs ! We are told in ancient history that the
stomach of Mithridates was poison-proof: I wonder if his leg
also was poison-proof; so that he could have danced, without
danger of sudden death, in the fatal American boot mentioned
by Mr. Audubon in his wonderful story of the rattlesnake's
swallowing a squirrel tail foremost. — Charles Wateiton,

The Wandering Albatross {Diomede2i exulans L.) (VI. 147.);
its size (VI. 372, 373.) — I have a stuffed specimen, which was
given me by your correspondent, " A Grenada Subscriber."
Its dimensions are ; — Length from the tip of the bill to the end
of the tail, 4 ft. 2 in. ; expansion of wings about 1 1 ft. 4 in. ; the
humerus measures 17 in. in length, the radius ISj^in., and the
pinion, with its quills, 27^ in. : the tail is very short, not
exceeding 4 in. — A Subscriber. Vale of Alford, Nov. 20. 1833.

The Bird called " Booby'' by Sailors (VI. 373.) is the Pele-
canus Sula : it is often caught, while asleep, on the yards.

The Noddy {Sterna stolida) is also frequently captured in
the same manner. I have seen both so taken. — Id,

The Booby is not a Name^ even among Sailor s^ for the Alba-
tross. (VI. 373.) — J. D. has, I think, been misinformed as to
the application, by sailors, of the term " booby" " to any
long-winged bird of a whitish colour," and to the albatross as
one such. Although the ornithological terms of sailors are
probably usually applied indefinitely enough, it appears, from
Pennant's British Zoology^ that the solan goose, or gannet, is
the " booby." In a work called The Natural Historian the
characters of the booby are given technically and in detail,
but the scientific name is omitted. The albatross and the
penguin have both obtained, among our sailors, the name of

Retrospective Criticism. 75

Cape sheep (see Rennie's Architecture of Birds, p. 37.) ; and
the gannet is designated the " boolDy." — James FennelL
Aug. 1833.

The late Rev. Lansdown Guilding, in a communication
lying by us, made in relation to the admirable remarks of
K. in II. 186., on the acquired wariness of birds, has re-
marked : — " The booby, and other birds celebrated for their
stupidity and contempt of the destroyer man, are cunning
enough in places much frequented : it is only when they are
met with in desert places, or during the season of incubation,
that they exhibit a stupid inattention to danger." — J. D.

Mr, BlytKs Identification (VI. 516.) of the Species of Thrush
'which W. L.^ 'who describes (VI. 218.) its Migration, deems an
unrecognised one, with the Redwing {Turdus \llacus). — Sir, If
W. L.'s species of thrush (VI. 218.), of which he saw " thou-
sands" in the Island of Harris, in the month of June, prove
to be not a new species, but merely the redwing (Turdus
zliacus), as suggested by Mr. Blyth (VI. 516.), it will go near
to establish the fact (hitherto, so far as I am aware, not known
to naturalists) of these birds remaining throughout the sum-
mer, and breeding in the northern parts of Great Britain. It
is much to be wished that W. L. had procured a specimen of
his thrush, in order to put the point beyond dispute. Of the
musical powers of the redwing I entertain no doubt ; for even
in winter, when the weather is very fine, and still more in the
spring, they will congregate on the top of a large tree, along
with their friends the fieldfares, and begin to tune their pipes,
uttering in concert a low, murmuring, half-stifled song, as
it were an earnest of what they can do when in full voice.
Many birds, as the chaffinch, blackcap, nightingale, &c., when
first they commence their song in the spring, sing but imper-
fectly, giving only detached fragments of their melody ; as if,
from disuse, they had partly forgotten their notes, and were
out of practice. Yours, &c. — W. 2\ Bree, Allesley Rectory^
Nov. 6. 1833.

Dates of the Redwings Appearance. — Among those I have
given in VI. 516., for " months," in that for 1832, line 14.
from the bottom, read " weeks." — Edward Blyth. Nov, 26.
1833.

The Distinctions and Synonymes of the British Species of
Sylvia. (VI. 447. 521.)— Mr. Blyth's words, in VI. 521., repre-
sent me as adducing, in VI. 447., Professor Rennie's paper in
No. 2. of The Field Naturalist's Magazine " as a correct eluci-
dation of the species of the genus" Sylvia. My words in
VI. 447,448. are, " Professor Rennie's admirable elucidation
of the species Sylvia hippolais and rufa."

76 Retrospective Criticism,

Mr. Blyth asserts (VI. 521.) that " the common chifFchafF
of this country, S. 16quax Herbert^ S. hippolais of other British
authors) is a distinct species from the S. rufa.'* I agree in the
opinion that the S. loquax is identical with the S. hippolais of
British authors ; but I do not stop here, as I consider the S.
rufa identical with it also, from the fact that the song, habits,
and manners of the chiffchafF, as long known to me, accord
fully as well with the descriptions of S. rufa, as these are given
by Continental authors, as they do with those of the "S. loquax
of Herbert," or " the S. hippolais of other British authors : "
in addition to which, the dimensions and plumage of the spe-
cimen that I most particularly examined, and which was shot
when in the act of uttering its singular song, coincided with
those of the S. rufa as they are detailed by Temminck, Rennie,
&c. — W, Thompson. Donegal Square^ Belfast^ Nov.2S. 1833.

The Red Viper, (VI. 399. 526.) — Another specimen of
this viper was brought me on Sept. 13. 1833 : its length
was 9i in. E. N. D. asserts (VI. 526.) that the red viper
is the young of the common one ; but I cannot consider this
as proved, till the vipers of intermediate size are captured
and described. I have never been able to procure any but
full-grown vipers, and young ones yet unborn : the latter are
greyish, with dark markings, and show no signs of the pecu-
liar colour of the red viper. Now, although colour alone is
not sufficient to characterise the species of Ophidia, yet any
marked difference of size would certainly form a specific dis-
tinction. If, therefore, the red viper should prove never to
exceed 10 in. in length, or if a series of young common
vipers could be procured, of various sizes, but uniform in
colour with the old ones, the distinctness of the red viper
would be proved. I trust some of your readers may be able
to decide this question. I am obliged to E. N. D. for his
" information " that the number of scuta in snakes is variable ;
but if he will look at my communication, in p. 400., he will
find that I have there stated the same thing.

The Black Viper, mentioned by Mr. Blyth (VI. 527. )>
differs from the common one only (I believe) in being of a
darker colour ; and is, therefore, deservedly considered a
variety. — H, E. Strickland. Nov, 22. 1833.

The Black Viper. (VI. 527.) — When E. N. D. says
(VI. 526.) " there is but one species of viper or poi-
sonous reptile in England, he forgets the black viper (Co-
luber Prester of Linnaeus) ; to the existence of which, in the
west of England, Mr. Blyth also alludes doubtfully, in VI.
527. Of this species, I have seen, at different times, alive
and at large, two specimens in the Isle of Wight, one of

Retrospective Criticism. fj

which I succeeded in killing on Oct. 12. 1804. I was, at the
time, in company with a gentleman resident in the island,
who seemed to be familiar with the reptile, and informed me
that it was very venomous ; of which fact I entertain no
doubt. " Os armatum est veneno diro," observes Linnaeus,
in Fawia Suecica; he gives, as a synonyme, " Vipera anglica
nigricans " of Petiver : the animal, therefore, has long been
known as a native of England. On a transient view, this
species appears entirely of a uniform deep black colour, as
described by Linnaeus, " ater toto corpore ; " but, on closer
inspection, a row of angular spots, similar to that on the
back of the common viper (C J5erus) is discernible, being of
a still more intense black than the rest of the body. Li size,
shape, manners, and habits it seems exactly to resemble the
common species ; of which, 1 think, I have heard that it has
been sometimes considered only a variety, and from which I
am not aware that it differs, except in colour.

The red viper, mentioned in VI. 399. 526., I should
suspect, was only the young state of the common species ; the
smaller specimens of which, I have observed, are generally of
a brighter colour than the full-grown ones, and have the
spots more inclining to red. — W. T, Bree, Alleslej/ jRectory,
Nov. 6. 1833.

Leptocephalus MorrisVi Pennant (V. 313. 7*2., VI. 531.)
seems doomed to be never accurately represented by the
engraver. The cut, in VI. 531., which professes to be a
copy of my drawing, is defective in one most essential point :
the engraver has neglected to represent the pectoral fins,
and has rendered the lateral line too strong. The engraving,
with these exceptions, is very like the fish. —Henry Vietz
Deere. Nov. 15. 1833.

The Authorship of the Prefixes, ^;ro, meso, and meta, to the
Limbs of Insects belongs to Mr. Newman ; not to Mr. Haliday.
I observe that Mr. Westwood has appended to some techni-
cal descriptions in VI. 495, notef, a remark expressly for
the purpose of depriving Mr. Newman of the merit of the
above prefixes, and of giving the said merit to Mr. Haliday.
Mr. ^e^m^njirst published the names in question at p. 400.
of the E7itomological Magazine (July 1. 1833). Mr. Haliday
has nowhere published them, that I can find. Indeed, at
p. 516. of the same magazine, published three months subse-
quently (Oct. 1. 1833.), he follows Meigen, in applying the
term metatarsus to the last articulatiorj of the tarsus ; so that
it is evident that Mr. Haliday not only did not originate these
terms, but declines employing them. — Lacon. Newcastle,
Nov. 5. ]833.

76 Itetrospective Criticism*

" The barbarous nature of these compound Latin and
Greek names [mesothorax and metathorax] (which may be
remedied by employing the terms medithorax and post-
thorax)". — J. O. Westwood. (VI. 495. note f) In what
lexicon does Mr. Westwood find thorax absent, and medi and
'post present, as Greek words? — Discipidus. Nov. 26. 1833.

The additional British Species of Cicindela, alluded to,
in VI. 533., as being enumerated in p. 55i*., is only a
variety (of C. hybrida Linn.), as Mr. Stephens has indicated
(p. 554.) by the parenthesis. I am glad to see that Mr. Cur-
tis's view of the subject has been adopted by E. N. D., in
p. 532., and that he is borne out by the testimony of the
Linnaean cabinet. — Corroborator.

Hypercompa dominula^ the singidar Variety of, described in
VI. 540, 541. — The engraving {Jig. 72.) in p. 541. represents
the black blotches on the primary wings far too distinct and
well defined : these markings, in the real specimen, are by no
means so discernible. — W. T. Bree. Nov. 6. 1833.

Encrinite versus Cyathocrinite (VI. 560., and the pre^
vious Discussions there indicated). — A few additional words
appear necessary to set myself right with Mr. Gilbertson. I
cannot exactly comprehend Mr. Gilbertson's description, at
p. 561. He says, " the line of dots from a terminates at the
alimentary canal ; that from b, upon one of the five plates sur-
rounding it, which form the pelvis ; c is placed upon the
costals," &c. Now, according to this description, I find (as
I am able to understand it) that the pelvis, in this specimen,
formed a circle of less circumference than the vertebral
column, and, consequently, was entirely hid by it. Is this
fact, or is it error ? Is this ever known to be the case in any
crinoideal animal? It is not the case in any of those figured
or described by Miller, nor in any instance that has come
under my own immediate observation. Mr. Gilbertson pro-
ceeds to say, that, in my figure, " the whole of the pelvis, and
nearly the whole of the costals, are hid by the column."
This, I presume, is erroneous : if the enlargement of the
column, in my specimen, is natural, and not formed of extra-
neous matter, I think the above statement of Mr. Gilbertson
would not be in accordance with the facts in our possession
upon the subject. Does it not always follow, as a matter of
course, that, where the column is enlarged and expanded at
its junction with the pelvis, the pelvis is also widened and
enlarged in the same proportion ? as in the genus Apocrinites.
This, I think, cannot be denied. The relative size of the
bones, in my specimen, will, I think, prove that this opinion
of Mr. Gilbertson is not tenable. The scapula (according to

Retrospective Criticism, 7S>

Mr. Gilbertson^s idea), which he describes as being in its pro-
per place, in my figure, on the left of the column, is nearly as
large as that part of the column which I have supposed to be
extraneous. This scapula must rest upon a costal, and this
costal upon a pelvic bone, or rather upon two pelvic bones ;
the costal upon which this scapula rests must be as large as
the scapula itself; and the pelvic bones upon which the
costal rests must be of equal dimensions : therefore, if the
scapula be nearly equal in size to the column, the sca-
pula, costal, and pelvis, united, must of necessity be much
larger ; and yet Mr. Gilbertson says, that, in my specimen,
the column hides nearly the whole of these bones : this is a
physical impossibility, for the thing covered is of greater
magnitude than that which is said to cover it. Again : that
the angular bones, in my specimen (VI. 126.), and to
which I have referred in VI. 472., are really the bones
of the pelvis, is, I think, absolutely proved by their position.
The costals are placed upon the pelvis, I believe in every
instance, in this way : one costal rests upon part of two pelvic
bones, and covers the joints formed between them ; and thus
locks them together, precisely in the same way as a bricklayer
places one brick to cover portions of two others, in laying one
course over another, in building a wall : and this is exactly
the position they occupy in my figure. If this bone were the
scapula, the angular bone (the costal of Mr. Gilbertson) must
have had a joint in the angle, in a line with the joint between
the supposed scapulae ; but in my figure there is no such
division. If the column absolutely '' covers the whole of the
pelvis, and nearly the whole of the costals," it appears to me
difficult to account for the use of the pelvic or costal plates ;
for by this means they would be united into one solid mass,
and, therefore, their division into plates would appear to be
almost useless. In conclusion, Mr. Gilbertson accuses me of
constnicting a nondescript. Whether he means this in good
part or not, I can hardly say. I have already acknowledged
that, in my opinion, it had not " hitherto been figured or
described ; " and it was because I considered it a nondescript
that I communicated it to this Magazine, and endeavoured to
furnish a description of it. If nothing is to be made public
but what is already described, then must science have already
reached its limits; and the naturalist may sit down in listless-
ness, and exclaim, " There is no new thing under the sun ! *'
Mr. Gilbertson sums up his observations by stating, that it is
a desire to check the progress of error that alone has induced
him to controvert my statements ; I beg to inform him that
there is no other motive influencing me. I am not at all
anxious to prove that I am in possession of the lily encrinite

80 Queries and A?iswers,

from a new locality, and to make my specimen a lily encrinite,
whether or not; for this would be mere childishness. The fact
is this : the remains of a crinoideal animal fell into my hands ;
I fancied it to be more nearly allied to the genus Encrinites
than to any other; this opinion I have given; I have given
my reasons for that opinion ; and I have defended it : whether
that opinion be right or wrong, others must judge. That it is
a nondescript is no fault of mine ; I have argued for its being
such : and, if Mr. Gilbertson would, in some way, publish
figures of his specimens, which "have a much greater claim"
to be considered as encrinites than my specimen, perhaps the
other opinion which I have stated (VI. 474.), that the encrinites
pass by a regular gradation of form into the cyathocrinites,
would receive additional confirmation, if not full proof. Mr.
Gilbertson says that both specimens are the same ; that is,
that mine is Cyathocrinites tuberculatus. This is impossible :
the name itself contradicts it. There is not a single tubercle
upon my specimen : it is almost as smooth as the paper upon
which I am writing. Mr. Gilbertson has not noticed the
relative proportions of the bones which I have pointed out in
the different specimens. I should be extremely glad to be
put in possession of figures of the specimens mentioned by
Mr. Gilbertson ; and I think he would be doing the world a
service by publishing them. Let us be put in possession of
as much knowledge as possible, in order to come to a clear
understanding of these singular animal remains. — C Conway,
Nov.l2.lSSS.

Art. II. Queries and Answers.

" On the supposed Connection of Vicissitudes of the Sea-
sons and prevalent Disorders with Volcanic Emanations,'" Sfc.
(VI. 289 to 308.) — Although the author (the Rev. W.
B. Clarke) of that interesting communication does not posi-
tively maintain a closer connection between events which are
apparently dissimilar than that of juxtaposition, I think he
has established a high degree of probability that the connec-
tion is that of cause and effect, in numerous instances which
he has adduced. I propose, at a future time, to offer a few
observations on some of the facts stated by Mr. Clarke, my
object in the present letter being merely to request farther
information from that gentleman respecting the " symptoms
of renewed action in the extinct craters of the Eifel ; " and,
again, " symptoms of renewed action in the extinct craters of
Auvergne." (VI. 301.) The date of the latter is given Dec. 9.
1828; but no authorities for either event are stated. It would

Queries and Answers* ^1

greatly oblige me if your ingenious correspondent would state
the circumstances which have been called renewed symptoms
of action more fully, and also the authorities by which they
are supported. It could surprise no one who has attentively
examined the extinct volcanoes in central France to be in-
formed that they had broken forth into renewed activity after
a period of repose of many hundred, if not thousand, years.
Vesuvius is known to have had periods of repose for many
centuries ; and the lava of some of the volcanoes in Auvergne
appears as fresh as if it had been very recently erupted : in-
deed, it is very difficult to conceive how it could preserve such
a fresh appearance after exposure to the atmosphere for ages.
In my Travels in the Tarentaise, published in 1823, I stated
that " there is nothing in the appearance of the volcanoes of
Auvergne which can lead the observer to the conclusion that
their eruptions will never be renewed : the springs of hot water
in this district indicate that the source of subterranean heat
beneath it is not extinct. The most abundant and best known
of these springs are Mont d'Or and Vichy ; they have a tem-
perature of from 120° to 125°; and there are many other
springs of equal temperature. Should the volcanoes of Au-
vergne resume their activity, such an event would not be at
variance with our present knowledge of volcanic operations."
(vol. ii. p. 379.) Many of the eruptions in Auvergne must
have taken place in a recent geological epoch ; for lava has
flowed into the present valleys, and the heaps of fresh scoriae
that are spread loosely, near the mouths of the craters, and
volcanic vents to which they can be traced, prove that the
country has not been since subjected to diluvial currents, for
these would have swept them away. They prove, also, another
fact of some interest : many of the most recent eruptions appear
to have taken place from volcanic openings, which were closed
before craters could be formed round them ; for, had craters
been formed, and afterwards destroyed by inundations, the
same causes would have removed the lava and scoriae. In
other instances, volcanic craters v/ere formed by repeated
eruptions, and remain nearly perfect to the present time.

The occurrence of volcanic mountains, over a space of
several thousand square miles in central France, should induce
us to receive with caution the accounts of the increase of
temperature in Artesian wells in PVance, at a rate of about 1°
of Fahrenheit for every 45 ft. of depth ; for this increase may
depend on local causes, which may not extend into other
countries. It is greatly to be regretted' that few experiments
on the temperature of Artesian wells have been made in Eng-
land. If any correspondent could furnish information on this

Vol. VII. — No. 37. g

82 Queries and Answers.

subject, he would supply what is much wanted at the present
time. — Robert Bakewell. Uampstead, Dec. 7. 1833.

Mr. Clarke has in preparation a sequel to the very ori-
ginal and valuable communication which Mr. Bakewell has so
justly commended. In that sequel, Mr. Bakewell's queries and
suggestions will, we are certain, receive Mr. Clarke's best atten-
tion. In the meantime, we are quite sure that Mr. Clarke will
concur with Mr. Bakewell in soliciting all possible information
on the temperature of Artesian wells, and on any point in the
subject under consideration, from any correspondent. — J. D.

To prevent Martins and Swallows affixing their Nests^
Mr. Whiddon (VI. ^56.) should spread a thick coating of
soap upon the sides of the places which he wishes free from
nests. The muddy materials applied by the birds will moisten
the soap, and its sliminess will cause the muddy materials to
fall. I believe this to be an old plan, and an effectual one. < —
James Fennell,

Polyommatus hlexi?>^ I^carus, and Icdrius. (VI. 544.) — In
reply to Mr. Conway, I must observe that Polyommatus
Alexia of Stephens is P. I'caru5 of Lewin, Haworth, and
others. Accordingly, no species is enumerated under the
specific name of Fcarus by Stephens nor by Wood ; each of
these authors, however, gives P. Icarius as a species, though
the former, at least, doubts its being really distinct from P.
Alexis. " It approximates," says Mr. Stephens, " so very
closely to the following species [P. Alexis], that, I conceive,
it will eventually prove a mere variety of that insect." Pro-
bably the similarity between the names of I^carus and Icarius
has misled Mr. Conway. I cannot but join this gentleman in
his regret (VI. 542.) that the under sides of more of the Papi-
lionidae are not figured in V^ood's Index Entomologicus : " a
deficiency greatly to be lamented," and one which, I hope,
may yet be supplied.

Melitae'ff Silent, in p. 541., should be M. Selena. — W, T,
Bree, Nov, 6. 1833.

\espa campandria. (II. 404., III. 94. 195. 476., VI. 536,
537, 538.) — Where is this insect described? I have not
heard of it before. — Querist.

Querist does not mean the acts and habits of the insect
which has been so called, or we could reply, in Knapp's
Journal of a Naturalist^ p. 333., with a figure of its nest in
pi. 7. of that work : this is taught in our Vol. III. 195. 476.
Querist, however, means the distinctive features of the insect's
external anatomy, as compared with those of other recog-
nised species of Fespa: this question stands with entomo-
logists. — J, D.

83

REVIEWS.

Art. I. Catalogue of Works on Natural History ^ lately published,
tvith some Notice of those considered the most interesting to British
Naturalists*

Bylandt, Le Comte de: Resume Preliminaire de I'Ouvrage
sur la Theorie des Volcans. pp. 50. Naples, 1833.

This " avant-propos " details a forthcoming work in 4 vols,
with plates, the result of more than thirty years' researches
into the causes and effects of volcanic phenomena. If the
work fulfil the expectation which this bill of fare induces,
the author need not despair of being rewarded with the title
of " laborious'^ But it cannot be supposed that, till we have
perused it, we should recommend the adoption of the views
which it contains, some of which we can hardly appreciate
from this preliminary abridgment. It shall be our business,
however, to dissect hastily and briefly these fifty pages of
prospectus : —

The groundwork of M. de Bylandt's reasoning process
are the principles, that accurate observation is the basis of
truth in science, that every thing in nature has an ordained
end and object, that nothing happens by chance, that there
are an equilibrium and a harmony between all the divisions
of matter, and that there is neither increase nor decrease
in its composing particles, (p. 1 — 7-) These principles are
next applied to the doctrine of volcanoes, (p. 8.) To in-
vestigate these, he is led to consider the doctrine of the
elevation of mountains, (p. 11.) . This elevation our author
attributes to four causes^ sometimes isolated, sometimes united.
The eruption of the central fire {feu igne central) at " the
beginning ; " the sinking down of the mineral crust after its
stretching to the top of its elasticity ; the " eboulement " of a
part of the strata into profound depths, produced by the
pressure of waters, which explains the obliquity of contra-
dictory beds in the same mountain; and the lifting up of
the outer crust by interior pressure in the direction of certain
radii of the globe, when the diminution of the central fire
could only elevate those points which offered least resistance,
to which is attributed the vertical direction of certain rocks
and strata.

o S

84 Bylandfs Resume Preliminaire de VOwvrage

To investigate this, the author visited all the mountain
chains of Europe, from the Caucasus to the Pyrenees, the
analysis of the latter of which, during two summers, he com-
pared with the studies of nine consecutive years amongst the
Alps. There he observed the play of the elementary fluids;
and noticing that the mountains possess a particular attrac-
tion from the west, declining to the south, and that it is imper-
ceptible to the east, and null towards the north, he discovered
that the electric fluid constantly follows the sun, rises with
him to the zenith, sinks with his rays, and disappears in his
absence, (p. 12.) This phenomenon attaches only to moun-
tains of the second and third classes as to height; for in
snow-clad mountains an electric current is perceptible from
N. to S. at from 7000 to 8000 feet, corresponding to the
latitude of from 60° to 70°. Now, the aurora borealis shows
that this fluid there abandons the globe, and therefore it
ought to bend from N. to S. at an angle of 45°. The tables
given by Franklin and Back show that the aurorae which
appear between 60° and 70° cease at 70°, and their axes
are directed to the S., reappearing at the equator, at the
height of 17,500 ft., under the name of the zodiacal light; which
exactly agrees with the inferences derived from the currents
in the polar seas, whose influence diminishes inversely with
the angle of direction, ceasing at 55'^ N. and 40° S, Hum-
boldt remarked the force of electricity at the height named ;
and M. de Bylandt on Mont Blanc, at 8700 ft., which cor-
responds therewith the latitude in question, (p. 13.)

M. de Bylandt then states, that in 1818, at the height of
20,700 ft. under the equator, which correspond with 10,500 ft.
of Mont Blanc and 85° N. lat., the caloric had not enough
activity to form ice, but that above there was nothing but
perpetual snow. Parry, Heemskerke, Franklin, &c., are
brought in to show there is a great correspondence between
the glaciers of the Alps and the Polar Sea.* It seems that
our author compared his calculations with Captain Back's
at Naples, and also in London with those of Parry and
Franklin, and that the results were wonderfully coincident^ so
that be assumed the magnetic pole from 81° 57' to 83° N.

* Of this the writer of these remarks has no doubt. The coast of
Greenland was first frozen up in the year 1348 (the year of the " black
death"), and in 1817 (the year of the cholera) that coast began to be
disengaged. Now records attest that, previously to 1348, a straight path
lay over Mont Blanc, where now the glaciers are, into Italy; and it is
known that recently there has been a diminution of ice and snow on the
same mountain. This is not the place to avail himself of the deduction
he wishes to draw ; but these facts correspond with the observations of
M. de Bylandt. — W, B, C,

5wr la Theorie des Volcans. S3

discovering that on Chimborazo the magnetic power ceased
at 20,700 ft. corresponding with 10,500 ft. of Mont Blanc,
and the level of the sea at 83° N. lat. (p. 14.) Captain Ross
has recently determined the magnetic pole to be more south-
ward, in lat. 71° — 72°. But this by no means throws over
all the count's arguments. Our author proceeds (p. 15.) to
treat on the fluids by whose separation matter was originally
developed: — 1. The ethereal universal fluid ; 2. Caloric.
3. Light ; and, 4, 5, their auxiliaries, the electric and the
magnetic fluids ; lastly, that fluid which is combined of all,
X)olca7iic Jire, Under these impressions he investigated the
course of natural phenomena, and the results will be laid
before the public in the forthcoming work. Some of them
we state here. The parallelism of volcanoes is the first:
they never appear isolated. The fluids above-mentioned
depend on the sun; and their influences cease at 80° N. and
65° S. The points of intersection of the equator and the
ecliptic are correspondent with similar points of intersection
between the equator and the course of the volcanic fire, the
latter of which are visible ; the line of junction of these points
making an angle of 5° with the earth's radius, and this angle
being the constant measure of the divergence of all the vol-
canic radii, horizontal or vertical. (There is some difficulty
in understanding the count's meaning in this place, arising
from a want of perspicuity.) But he states that the slopes
of the summits of volcanoes, opened by the flow of lava, are
all towards the equator, with a trifling inclination to the west,
(p. 17.) He next assigns to the Gulf of Mexico, as M. de
Humboldt has done before, the central seat of volcanic fire,
taking the correspondent inverse focus to be in the Archi-
pelago of the Molucca Islands. Forming a circle on the
volcanic equator round these islands as a centre, and dividing
it into segments of 10°, he found that radii drawn through
these points passed through the lines of direction, and to
the limit of all the volcanoes in the globe. 1st, to 90°, passes
by the Philippine Islands, Manilla, and China. 2d, to 80°,
follows a nearly similar course. 3d, to 70°, commences at
the Isle of Niphon and finishes at Japan. 4th, to 60°, forms
the chain which passes through the Kurile Islands and ex-
tends to Kamtschatka about 70° N. lat., which with Iceland
and Jan Mayen's Island (about 70°) seems to limit the vol-
canic action to that latitude. 5th, to 50°, passes by Ma-
gellan's Island to Behring's Strait. 7th, to 30°, forms the
volcanoes of the Marian Islands. 8th, to 20°, forms the vol-
canoes of the Caroline Islands. 9th, to 10° extends to the
Sandwich Islands, (p. 19.)

G 3

86 Bylandt''s Resume Preliminaire de VOuwage

The same division is made from the Gulf of Mexico as
a centre, and a similar result obtained, (p. 20.) The cur-
rents of the ocean are attributed to the volcanic action, which
is said to correspond exactly with the lines of magnetic and
aerial phenomena, (p. 22.) The author flatters himself that
he has discovered a volcanic canal flowing round the globe
between two parallels, and concludes that volcanoes are like
knots on a string, which must partake any shock commu-
nicated to either extremity (p. 24.), quoting his examples
from the known localities, (p. 26.)

He next proceeds to examine the nature of the volcanic fire,
which, he says, is purely material, arising from infiltration
and fermentation (p. 26.) of gases, and water, and the mate-
rials of the strata it traverses ; these being dissolved, com-
bined, and reunited. To volcanoes acted on by the sea,
the author attributes the great partial catastrophe which has
desolated our hemisphere, and which, by the junction of the two
oceans, under the name of the great cataclysm (the deluge),
has produced the diluvial effects which the earth exhibits,
(p. 28.) He explains by this means the currents directed
towards the west, and the immense ravages in the coasts of
the continents of Africa, America, and Europe, and the
separation of the two former quarters of the globe, once
united, as proved by the traces of African civilisation in
Mexico, (p. 30.) The elevation of mountain chains is also
made to result from this cataclysm^ and the Pyrenees are
quoted as the example, (p. 31.)

M. de Bylandt next classifies volcanoes into — I. Sub-
marine ; II. Volcanoes " a de convert ; " which are subdivided
into — 1. Direct volcanoes, situated on the great canal; 2.
Indirect, on the extremities of the lateral branches ; 3. Vol-
canoes in permanent action ; 4, Extinct or mud volcanoes ;
5. Volcanoes of air ; 6. Volcanoes of smoke ; 7. False vol-
canoes, or simply burning hills (such, we suppose, as the
cliffs near Weymouth), (p. 32.)

A long illustration of another position follows, namely,
that the size and height of volcanoes are proportioned to
the force of the volcanic fire and the depth whence it rises.
The formation of volcanic cones is next mathematically shown
by a system of triangles upon the base of the volcano, and the
height of the cone and depth of the crater proved to be pro-
portionably determined by a general law, whilst the depth of
the crater is made to be a third part of the primitive height
of the volcano, (p. 35.) Here, again, we are a little at fault.
Vesuvius is the subject of the experiment to exhibit the truth
of these theories.

sur la Theorie des Volcans. ^f

A singular fact, before pointed out by other writers, is next
commented on ; viz., that all volcanoes to the north of the
equator have all their orifices to the west, and constantly
discharge their lavas to the south; while those to the south of
the equator as invariably follow an opposite direction, (p. 35.)
Strombolo being an exception, the author accounts for it by
assuming that the great cataclysm removed the original crater
and made a breach lower down in the N.N.W. side. The
action of the ejected materials is said to be spiral in the
crater, and the parabolas described by the projectiles to be
from an axis turned to the south, (p. 37.) Tlie exciting
cause of volcanic action is attributed to sea water finding
its way to the fermenting matter, producing increased heat
and dilatation of gases ; the change being proportioned to the
calibre of the volcano, and when it exceeds this destroying
the volcano, (p. 37.) This spiral motion of the materials
in action may, perhaps, be borne out by the circular motion
in earthquakes ; but M. de Bylandt does not allude to it. A
second cause of excitement is attributed to atmospheric air
rushing down so as to produce regular respirations. The deto-
nations are refen'ed to the noise occasioned by the separation
of the molecules in the rocky masses acted on, and the evolu-
tion of hydrogen gas, combined with electric shocks, (p. 38.)
The flow of lava is said to be uniform, and to follow the direc-
tion of the axis of the crater ; and examples are quoted where
lava streams have been diverted from their direction, by
walls at an angle ; as in the case of the eruption of 1 669,
when the garden wall of the Benedictine convent saved the
city of Catania. In 1831-32, the author also tried the
experiment, and says that it is possible, by taking advantage
of the slowness of the current, to prevent its ravages, (p. 39.)
We have no space for the calculations of the author on the
heights and forces of volcanoes : but we may mention that
he divides lavas, as follows, into seven classes : — 1. Lithoid ;
2. Compact ; 3. Trachites ; 4>. Basaltic ; 5. Obsidian or vi-
treous ; 6. Scoriae ; 7. Pumice. He, moreover, adds, that
the materials differ according to different situations and dif-
ferent epochs of each. (p. 42.)

Such are the principal subjects to be discussed in M. de
Bylandt's work, of which the ^^ avant-propos" gives an out-
line. The first volume is to contain an introduction in con-
nection with La Place's theory of the world, ending with
an account of the causes and effects of the currents o^ the
sea and the trade winds, and Captain Franklin's tables of
magnetic phenomena, (p. 43.) The second volume is to em-
brace the effects of water in motion, the parallel betw««n the

G 4

88 Bylandfs Theorie des Volcans,

Alps and the Pyrenees, and the application of the theory to
the volcanoes of Europe, commencing with Sicily ; noticing,
also, the circumstance of the decreased action of volcanoes in
extent of country affected being counterbalanced by the pro-
portionate increase of force. Etna and Vesuvius are also to
be carefully considered, (p. 46.) The third volume is to con-
tain the volcanic history of France, Dalmatia, and Italy.
The fourth volume is to treat of the branch of the counter-
current which passes under the Gulf of St. Euphemia, in
lat. 39° N., embracing Calabria, &c., and concluding with an
analysis of all particulars connected with Vesuvius, (p. 47.)

A classification of the operations of volcanoes is also added,
in eight distinct portions: — ]. Real eruptions. 2. Demi-
eruptions. 3. Eruptions in the radial lines. 4. Partial erup-
tions from interior galleries. 5. Interior eruptions not ejecting
lavas. 6. Eruptions of water, cinders, and mud. 7. Lavas
of reconstruction. 8. Emanations of inflammable gas. A
body of maps will be appended, to illustrate the subject,
drawn up after careful surveys and accurate comparison with
undoubted authorities.

Such a work, if properly accomplished, must be an acqui-
sition to science ; and, for the facts introduced, must be valu-
able. Of the opinions or theories of M. de Bylandt we
cannot here speak; ihehrochure before us is but a concise abridg-
ment by way of prospectus, and we have given attention to
it in this second ^^ Resume Preliminaiy-e,^' in the hope of calling
the attention of our readers to an interesting subject, on which
we have at present no positive information ; volcanoes being,
like comets, subject hitherto to as many speculations as
there are investigators. " Quot homines tot sententiae.**
Count Bylandt adds another to the list of commentators, and
if his doctrines obtain the weight he attaches to them, he
may indeed exult in his proof of the epigraph on the present
pamphlet : —

" There are more things in heaven and earth
Than are dreamt of in our philosophy."

The italics are his own. We must wait to see to whom the
" our " applies. He seems to himself to have cut the Gor-
dian knot, and, in a strain of anticipated triumph, reminds
us of the risk we run in adding more, quoting, in conclusion,
the words on the tomb of Marshal Saxe —

" La critique est aisee, et I'art est difficile."

W. B. C.

The Naturalisfs Poetical Companion. 8^,.

A Fellow of the Linncean Society : The Naturalist's Poetical
Companion, with Notes. Foolscap 8vo, 360 pages. Hamil-
ton & Co., London; Knight, Leeds; 1833.
The date of publication of this book marks an epoch in
the progress of natural history in Britain.

One of Euclid's postulates is, " a circle may be described
from any centre, at any distance from that centre:" so, in
nature, there is not an ol3Ject which may not become the centre
of a thousand associating circumstances. The systematist
encircles every object with a series of considerations on its
affinities and distinctive characters ; the economist, with his
calculations on the answers it will bear to his grand testing
question of cui bono P the sentimentalist, with his halo of
"pleasing thoughts and kindly emotions;" others with other
considerations, but none with evil ones ; for, as Sir James
Edward Smith has said, " in nature, all is elegance and de-
light ; and none but the most foolish or depraved can derive
any thing from it but what is beautiful, or associate with its
lovely objects any but the most amiable or most hallowed
images." Thus far good and true ; and it only remains that
each party perceive the propriety and the duty of depre-
cating, in spirit and in practice, that exclusive feeling, which,
if not deprecated, would lead him to deem the circle de-
scribed by the student of a taste distinct from himself, less
noble in diameter than the circle which he himself describes.
This premised, it is time to state that the volume before us is
one filled to overflowing with a collection of the " pleasing
thoughts and kindlv emotions" which sentimental naturalists
have, from time to time, encircled around, and associated with,
certain and many of the innumerable objects of nature.

Sentimental naturalists, at least those of them who have de-
scribed the feelings and ideas which natural objects have excited
within them, have been fewer; have awakened into action
later; and, consequently, have fewer followers, admirers, and
pupils, than other students in nature, who have been longer
in the field, and have, by their more multiplied researches and
discoveries, rendered themselves more rich and more capable
of enriching others of tastes congenial to their own. The
present little volume shows something, a good deal — for, per-
haps, two more such volumes would hold all — of what has been
done in sentimental natural history; and the reason why we
think that it marks an epoch in the progress of natural history
in Britain is, that it is significant to see the teachers in the
sentimentality of natural history so numerous as this little
volume shows them to be, and the day arrived when the (other
or) precursory branches of natural history have been so

90 Jar diners Natural Histori/ of Humming-birds,

familiarised " to the business and bosoms of men" as to make it
safe to risk the expense of publishing a volume of sentimental
poems, and scraps of poetry, on the objects with which natural
history acquaints us. We wish the author of the compilation
all success : he deserves it.

Jardine, Sir William, Bart. F.R.S.E. &c. : The Natural His-
tory of Humming-birds, Vol. II.: illustrated by 31 plates,
coloured ; with a portrait and memoir of Pennant. Small
8vo, 166 pages. Edinburgh, London, and Dublin, 1833. 6s.

Very cheap, the pictures striking, and doubtless as accu-
rate as the nature of the materials and facilities extant, which,
we believe, are neither excellent nor numerous, for producing
such a work, will admit. Stuffed specimens, and the plates
of M. Lesson, in his work on the Trochilides, most of these
probably derived from stuffed specimens, are the main sources
of the figures. In the existence of this case, we presume it
is necessary to associate with the pictures the consideration
of the possibility of error in the attitude, and symmetry of
disposition of the parts, of almost every bird. Indeed, we have
learned that the birds are placed on the branches in a very
faulty manner. In the pictures, their feet and legs are ob-
vious enough. In life and nature, when the birds are upon
branches, you never can have a view of their thighs or legs ;
and, at the very farthest, you can only now and then get a
sight of their toes. A remarkable feature in the humming-
bird is the shortness of its legs, which are always concealed in
the thick and puff-like plumage of the abdomen ; so that, when
the bird is sitting or flying, you can never see its legs; and
the only means to get a view of them is catching the bird itself.

The spirit of the text is the names, synonymes, dimensions,
proportions, colours, structure, and systematic affinities of the
species; but is devoid of those poetical notices of habits which,
in a treatise on such lovely creatures, we can but wish were
supplied. At the end of the volume there is a systematic
synopsis of the species of humming-birds, with their names
and distinctive characteristics. The memoir of Pennant, pre-
fixed to the volume, imparts much useful information. The
frontispiece is a portrait of Pennant.

The Natural History of Humming-birds, notwithstanding the
qualifying considerations which we haxe, suggested to apper-
tain to its merits, will, we conceive, conduce to two excellent
effects. It will lead general admirers of the forms and hues
of created beings to examine them in the spirit of the science
of natural history, and thus extend that science; and the
work will, at the same time, become a point to which those
of British naturalists who may have opportunities to supply

Lauder and Broivrt's Natural History of Parrots, 91

corrective and additional information may refer it, until a
more perfect history can be produced from the materials
thus accumulated.

Lauder, Sir Thomas Dick, Bart. F.R.S.E. and Brown, Capt.
Thomas, F.L.S. : The Natural History of Parrots, Vol. I.,
illustrated by 35 plates, coloured; with a biographical
sketch and portrait of Audubon. Small 8vo, 170 pages.
Edinburgh, London, and Dublin, 1833. 6s,

The contents of the volume are, a chapter on the physical
characters of parrots, a chapter on the intellectual and imita-
tive faculties of parrots, a chapter on the geographical distri-
bution of parrots, and, then, descriptions and coloured figures
of thirty-five species of parrots. At the end of the volume are
illustrations of the terminology used in describing birds ; at the
beginning, a portrait and a biographical sketch of Audubon.

In the commencement of the enumeration of physical cha-
racters, " the toe of the parrot is made to tread" somewhat
" too near the heel of the courtier ;" for there is grave talking
about an analogical connection in structure between man,
monkeys, and parrots. The rest of the " physical characters,*'
although they are not sorted into the most orderly succession,
nor unclogged with some repetitions which betray crudity, are
worthy of regard, and of a proportion of the book's price.

The dissertation on the " intellectual and imitative facul-
ties of parrots," we leave to — to whom ? — It may be dis-
respectful to our grandams to say.

The *' geographical distribution of parrots" is inane enough.
In the pictures, prodigious capacity of claws is given to some
of the birds ; most of them grasp, as a perch, a tree with
ease. Plates 14. 9. 29., and some few others, are more con-
sistent with common sense in this particular. It is needful
that the reader pay attention to the dimensions of each bird
as set down in the text; for, in the pictures, one of 6 in. in
length is pretty well of the same magnitude as one of 2J ft.
or 3 ft. Birds have great versatility of neck, we know ; and
we presume that plate 13. is an illustration of an extreme
instance of this versatility.

Various Contributors : The Entomological Magazine. In Quar-
terly Numbers, each 3s. 6d., containing 104 or more Svo
pages, and four of the five numbers published, a plate of
figures each.

No. v., Oct. 1833, was not sent us in time to be noticed
in our last; it has been too long before the world to be
noticed in detail now. It is a richly stored number, of great
value to every naturalist, and of extreme value to entomolo-

92 Entomological Magazine.

gists. This number completes the first volume of the work,
and has a full accompaniment of titlepage, indexes, errata,
&c., together with " a list of the genera and species described
in the volume, for the purpose of labelling cabinets." All
these things seem given, that is, supernumerary to the quan-
tity of pages assigned to a number.

With this number, which completes the first volume, price
185., there is also given an appeal " to all lovers of natural
history, all lovers of science, all who have the welfare of
entomology at heart," to afford, by the purchase of the first
volume, those who have originated this work and advanced,
voluntarily and for the sake of science alone, their responsi-
bility for its pecuniary support, " the means of continuing
their exertions, and prosecuting their undertaking." This
appeal we are happy to be able, on the best authority, to
state has not been made in vain. Owing to the liberal
support advanced by a few true naturalists, there is now no
prospect of the cessation of the Entomological Magazine, This
is gladdening news.

No. VI., for January, 1834- (the first number of the second
volume), will and does (for we have been shown the land of
promise) contain the following communications ; — 1. Col-
loquia Entomologica ; by Corderius Secundus. Four lovers
of nature, of natural history, entomology, and the Entomo-
logical Magazine, are made to discourse much (12 pages), and
merrily, on men and things thereto appertaining. — 2. Mo-
nographia Chalcidum ; by F. Walker, Esq. F.L.S. In this
contiimation of the monograph (from vol. i. p. 446.), the fa-
milies Leucopsidae and Chalcididae are described. The first
includes but the genus Leucopsis ; the second, seven genera.
The characters of the genera and species are given in great de-
tail, and numerous synonymes are cited. Mr. Walker describes
several species from the neighbourhood of Paris, communicated
by M. F. de Laporte, and some derived from the Island of St.
Vincent, taken there by the late Rev. Lansdown Guilding
(p. 13. to 39.). — 3. Capture of Insects at Burghfield ; by the
Rev. C. S. Bird, M.A. F.E.S. This is a most interesting com-
munication. Mr. Bird supplies a list of those of the species of
insects, not quite common, which he has captured during ten
years' residence at Burghfield. He has been most successful in
the order Lepidoptera. " This success I owe to the use of a
lamp to attract moths. During the moonless nights of summer,
I sit with a sinumbra lamp, and perhaps one or two smaller
lamps, placed on a table, close to the window. The moths
speedily enter the room, if the weather be warm. I have had a
levee of more than a hundred between the hours of ten and

Entomological Magazine. 93

twelve. In the spring, too, and autumn, I have been frequently
fortunate, though generally having my patience sufficiently
tried. . . . If, at any time of the year, a warm mist pervade the
air, there is almost a certainty of success." At cool times of the
year, the window is kept shut till the moths knock for admit-
tance. Reading and writing may be combined with this plan
of mothing. ** Moths are extremely sensible of any keenness
in the air : a north or east wind is very likely to keep them
from venturing abroad. Different species have different hours
of flight. ... I have, for experiment's sake, sat up in the sum-
mer till three o'clock, when the whole heaven was bright with
the risincT sun, and moths of various kinds have never ceased
arriving in succession till that time. Some of them must come
from a considerable distance. Scotophila porphyrea, being a
heath moth, must have come nearly a mile." Not only the
Nocturna have come to Mr. Bird in the night, but " the Se-
midiurna, the Geometridae, accompany them at all hours.
Many coleopterous insects are also attracted . . . sometimes
swarms of gnats . . . the house cricket once or twice. Redu-
vius personatus has been amongst my captives, A few com-
mon ichneumons and 7ipulae are frequent guests." What a
world of interest these successive visiters must induce in a
summer's night. Surely an entomologist must, while thus
sitting and observing, have, like Shakspeare, a rich " Mid-
summer Night's Dream " of his own ! Mr. Bird illustrates
many of his remarks (and we have given but a sample of
them) by adducing the names of the insects whose manners
those remarks describe. His list follows, with those species
distinguished " which he does not take by the lamp." —
4. Thoughts on the Geographical Distribution of Insects; by
Delta. This is professed to be written with a trembling hand ;
but the author seems to have fortified himself very strongly
with an extensive and intimate acquaintance with the nature
of his subject. Will not the paper in our Vol. V. p. 149.,
collateralise a little with diis ? Delta's essay is to be con-
tinued.— V. Entomological Society: an account of its meet-
ings and transactions. These have been, and promise to
continue to be, very interesting, and of excellent effect. — •
VI. Osteology, or External Anatomy of Insects ; by E. New-
man, Esq.F.L.S. Letter 2. On the Head of Insects. We have,
in VI. 435., given our humble opinion of this author's first
letter on the osteology of insects. The present second letter,
like the first, is of the highest possible value, and, therefore,
interest, to every student in entomology ; and who in ento-
mology is not a student? Itris a most elaborate production,
very long (more than 20 pages), and yet, at every step through-

94 Bushnan on Animals found in the Blood.

out, teems with facts, comparisons, contrasts, arguments, de-
ductions, and information ; with, here and there, discursive
notices in illustration, written playfully and pleasingly, in
agreeable relief to the severer, that is, more strictly technical,
nature of the thesis. Would we had volumes full of such
notices on insects as that supplied on the dragon fly in p. 67.
The end for which Mr. Newman labours is the establishment
of a uniform nomenclature of the parts of insects ; for, until
we can speak of the various parts of insects in common terms,
a reciprocal communication of ideas between those who study
insects (and every one who loves nature must) cannot take
place. We wish his amiably intended, and, we believe, ex-
cellently executed, labours all regard, and cordially commend
them, and the nomenclature he has proposed for the parts of
the head of insects, to the analytical examination of every
entomologist. — Vll. Essay on the Classification of parasitic
Hymenoptera ; by A. H. Haliday, Esq. M. A. — VIII. Va-
rieties. Among the contributors of the communications under
this head are, Messrs. Swainson, Westwood, Babington,
Cooper, Denny, Wood, Walker, and others.

Bushnan^ J. Stevenson, F. L. S., Surgeon to the Dumfries
Dispensary, &c. : the History of a Case in which Animals
were found in Blood drawn from the Veins of a Boy, with
Remarks. 8vo, 74 pages ; I plate, exhibiting the one
species of animal found, of the natural size and magni-
fied, both coloured. Highley, Fleet Street, London, 1833.
The history of the particular case which led to the pro-
duction of the book is of less interest than the remainder of
the book's contents. The author has passed in review, and
taken the essence of the evidence supplied by, every author
who, from the earliest records till now, has written on, or in
any way mentioned cases of, the occurrence of entozoa and
other animals within the veins, arteries, heart, stomach and
intestines, uriniferous organs, &c., skin, &c. ; and his book is
valuable, were it only as supplying a concise and essential
abstract of the facts on this subject, which are scattered up
and down in numerous and expensive books on medicine.

The history of the recent case, and the abstract of the
previously recorded ones, occupy 40 pages. Pages 41. to
74. are occupied with a review of the " very different
opinions which have at different times been entertained with
respect to the origin of the proper entozoa of the human
body," and with the author's own opinion on the subject.
He arranges the opinions which have prevailed, according to
the principle they involve, and makes five of them ; and pro-

Wyatfs Alga Damnonienscs. 95

ceeds to argue the untenableness of four of these, and the
tenableness of the fifth, with which his own coincides. This
is that of Rudolphi and Bresmer, " that the entozoa in general
are generated primarily, not from ova at all, but spontaneously
in each organ in which they are found."

Tf^att, Mar?/, Dealer in Shells at Torquay : Algae Damno-
nienscs, or Dried Specimens of Marine Plants, collected,
principally, on the Coast of Devonshire. Vol. I., con-
taining specimens of fifty species. Simpkin and Marshall,
London.

We have announced this work in VI. 445. Mr. Babington
has contributed the following remarks on the first volume of
it: — " The plants are carefully dried, are very fine and perfect
specimens, and most of them are beautifully in fructification.
The names adopted are those used in Dr. Hooker's British
Flora, vol. ii., and a reference is also given to Greville's Algce
Britannicce ; Sowerby's English Botany and Dillwyn's Cori-
JervcE are also quoted in some places. Many of the plants
in this volume are rare, such as Nitophyllum oceanicum and
z/lvoideum, Laurenc/a obtusa and tenuissima, Gigartina
acicularis and TeedzV ; and the three following new species
described by Hooker in his British Flora^ Mesogloia purpurea,
Griffithsz^TZtt, and virescens. The work is known to be
under the superintendence of a lady justly celebrated as a
marine botanist." [Mrs. Griffiths.]

Finch, /., Esq., Cor. Mem. Nat. Hist. Soc. Montreal, &c. :
Travels in the United States of America and Canada,
containing some Account of their Scientific Institutions,
and a few Notices of the Geology and Mineralogy of those
Countries: to which is added, an Essay on the Natural
Boundaries of Empires. 8vo, 455 pages. London,
Longman, 1833.

The " essay on the natural boundaries of empires " should
be our quarry, but we can only note its drift. " The limits
of empires are controlled by the physical geography of the
soil, and the power of man : the first is eternal, the last
variable. The decisions of nature soon cut asunder the
artificial arrangements of man. To acquire a true knowledge
of the history of nations, we must study the physical structure
of the soil, for this is the leading feature on which historical
details are always dependent. Mountains, seas, and oceans,
rivers, lakes, deserts, and forests, form natural divisions on
the surface of the earth, which serve as boundaries to the
several empires." The relative influence of these is then

96 Literary Notices,

considered in detail, and connected with the evidences of
history. Each kind of boundary is the theme of a distinct
chapter. The entire essay is made to occupy upwards of
100 pages.

Art. II. Literary Notices.

^^ Volumes on Entomology and Ichthyology^ hy ^,W\\sor\,
Esq., F. R.S.E , W. Macgillivray, Esq. M.W.S., the Rev.
W.Duncan of Applegarth, and the Rev. J.Duncan, M.W.S.,
will appear at an early date. The next volume will con-
tain the

Natural History of the Tellnce^ or Lions^ Tigers, &c. A
portrait and memoir of Cuvier will accompany the volume."
[Extract from Jardine's Natural History of Humming-birds,
vol. ii. Nov. 1833.)

An Introduction to the Study of Nature, illustrative of the
Attributes of the Almighty, as displayed in the Creation, by
J. Stevenson Bushnan, F.L.S., &c., is announced to appear in
the spring of 1834, uniform with the Bridgewater Treatises.

Cuvier' s Classification of the Animal Kingdom. — An abs-
tract of this is given in No. 63. of the Penny Cyclopaedia : it
occurs under the article Comparative Anatomy.

The Parenfs Cabinet of Amusement and Instruction : No.
XIII., price 6d,, of this excellent monthly periodical, contains
some information on snails and spiders, which render it a fit
present for juvenile naturalists.

A Teacher's First Lessons on Natural Meligion ; by Charles
Baker, head master of the Yorkshire Institution for the Deaf
and Dumb, &c. &c. Price Sd.

Geological Positions in direct Proof of an Impoitant Part of
Scripture Chronology. A circular containing these positions,
classed under two lines of argument, has been sent us ; and
it is there stated, that " a detail of the facts on which the above
positions are founded, has been sent to the Editors of the
London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine and Journal, in
which work they will probably soon appear, in the form of
two papers."

Of Curtis's Illustrations of British Entomology the 10th
volume is just completed and published.

Of 8te})hens's Illustrations of British Entomology it is stated,
in No. V. of the Entomological Magazine, that a number, in
resumption of the work, is about to be published.

THE MAGAZINE

OF

NATURAL HISTORY.

MARCH, 1834^.

ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.

Art. I. On designating Genera and Subgenera, and on the Prin-
ciples of Classijlcation which they involve. [VI. 385. 4-81.. 485.,
VII. 62. to 66.] By the Rev. Leonard Jenyns, A.M. F.L.S.

Mr. Strickland seems (VII. 62.) to infer, from what I
have written (VI. 385.) on the subject of classification, that
my plan is " to distinguish subgenera by signs or letters."
I beg to state that he has misunderstood me entirely. So far
from adopting this plan, I am of opinion that in all cases sub-
genera should be named. What I remarked (which, I pre-
sume, led Mr. Strickland to this inference) was, that many
modern genera had been established on characters too trivial
and unimportant to entitle them even to the rank of sub-
genera ; and I intimated that, where such had been adopted
principally with a view to convenience, and because of the
large number of species contained in the old groups of which
they formed portions, it would have been better to have sub-
stituted for them mere sectional divisions, indicated by signs.

With respect to the much agitated question as to whether
we are to employ the name of the genus or subgenus in de-
signating any species we may wish to speak of, it appears to
me it must be left in a great measure open for each individual
to decide as he pleases. It would be difficult to lay down
any rule, on such a subject, which would be generally adopted.
For my own part, I should say, that, oi^ all ordinary occa-
sions, it is quite sufficient to use the former only ; but where
1 was naming the species, with the particular view of point-
ing out its affinities and its exact situation in the system, I
should there employ both ; and I should write the name cf

Vol. VII. — No. 38. h

9B On designating Genera and Subgenera.

-the subgenus in a parenthesis. * Thus, I should usually say
(speaking of the Lapland bunting), Emberiza lapponica ; but,
in the particular instance just alluded to, Emberiza (Plectro-
phanes) lapponica.

I cannot forbear adding, on this occasion, that I fear I have
been much misunderstood on the subject of the division of
genera. The object of my former communication [VI. 385.3
was not so much to find fault with the subdividing of old
genera, where there may appear just ground for the sub-
division, or the calling of the new groups by this title, if we
object to the adoption of that of subgenera, as with the not
appreciating the relation which these new groups bear to the
old one, and to the other genera in the same family with
which this old one was considered of equal value. Perhaps,
however, my meaning will be rendered more intelligible than
it was in that article, by the assistance of a diagram. Let us,
then, suppose the family of ^rdeidse, for instance, and three
of its induded genera, to be represented in the following
manner, —

^rdeidae

A'rdea Ciconia Platalea;

assuming that the above three groups, placed in the same
line, are of equal value amongst themselves, but all subordi-
nate to the one above, in which they are included, and which
we here designate by the name of family. Suppose that, on
farther investigation, we find that, in like manner as this
family includes three genera f, so that one of these genera,
say A'rden, includes also three subordinate groups. What
do we do? We attach the same name, ^'rdea, though in a
restricted sense, to that subordinate group which is more
typical than the others ; while to the remaining two we affix,
perhaps, the new names of Botaurus and iVycticorax ; and
we carry on the diagram in this manner, —

yirdeidae

^'rdea Ciconia Platalea

^'rdea Botaurus iVycticorax ;

in which we still have the old group A'rdea held together by
certain characters as before ; only we distinguish in it three

* This is what Cuvier recommends, in his Histoire des Poissons, 4to edit,
torn. ii. p. 41. note 1. In a former work he advises that, on ordinary occa-
iions, the name of the subgenus be suppressed. {Reg.Aii., torn. i. p. xvii.)

f I am not really asserting that there are no other existing genera in
this family, but merely selecting these three as sufficient for my argument.

071 designating Genera and Subgenera, 99

minor groups, each of which has some additional characters
peculiar to itself, of less importance than those common to
all. Now, it is perfectly arbitrary in what point of view we
choose to consider these three new groups ; we may either
affix names to them or not ; we may call them genera, if we
please, or subgenera, or mere sections of the old genus A^r^
dea : but what we must noi do (and here, I would observe, is
the principal ground of my complaint) is, having determined
them to be genera, first to abolish the original group ^^rdea,
and then to place them on the same footing with Cic6nia and
Platalea *, in this manner, —

^rdeidae

A'rdea. Botauras iVycticorax Ciconia Platalea;

or, raising ^'rdea to the rank of a family, and the group
which w^e here call ^rdeidae to one of a still higher deno-
mination, not to raise Ciconia and Platalea also ; for these
three groups, ^Vdea, Ciconia, and Platalea, having been
assumed to be of equal value, it is clear that, whatever rank
we assign to one of them, we must assign the same to all.

I am unwilling to extend this .communication, or I should
make some comment on the objections which Mr. Newman
has brought forward (VI. 485.) against the expressions which
I adoptecl in my former article. [VI. 385.] I shall simply
observe, that, when I talk of principles of classification, I do
not mean principles of my own setting up, as that gentleman
seems to think, but such as have been laid down by those
who have studied most deeply the philosophy of the science,
and such as are generally acknowledged by all professed
naturalists. Of this nature is the only principle to which I
had occasion to allude ; viz., thai all groups bearing the same
title shoidd be groups of the same value.

I conceive that every systematist would assent to this prin-
ciple, at the same time that no one would ever think of assert-
ing that it was now, for the first time, brought forward and
offered to his notice.

L. Jenyns.
Swaffham BulbecJc^ Cambridgeshire^
Jan, 14. 1834.

* The arrangement adopted, not merely in Mr. Stephens's continuation
of Shaw's Zoology, to which reference was before given [VI. 388.], but in
the latest ornithological work which has appeared in this country. See
Selby's IllusU of Brit. Or?i., vol. ii. (Water Birds) p. 8. &c.

H 2

TOO Observations on the Habits of the RooJx.

Art. II. Observations on the Habits of the Roolc.
By Charles Waterton, Esq.

Last year I partly promised [V. 241.] that, on some dis-
mal winter's evening, I would sit me down, and write the
history of the rook, llie period has now arrived. Nothing
can be more gloomy and tempestuous than the present aspect
of the heavens. The wind is roaring through the naked
branches of the sycamores, the rain beats fiercely on the
eastern windows, and the dashing of the waves against the
walls of the island warns us that one of November's dark and
stormy nights is close at hand ; such a night, probably, as
that in which Tam O'Shanter unfortunately peeped into Kirk
Allowa}^ Foreigners tell us that on these nights Englishmen
are prone to use the knife, or a piece of twisted hemp, to calm
their agitated spirits. For my own part, I must say that I
have an insuperable repugnance to such anodynes ; and, were
a host of blue devils, conjured up by November's fogs, just
now to assail me, I would prefer combating the phantoms
with the weapons of ornithology, rather than run any risk of
disturbing the economy of my jugular vein, by a process
productive of very unpleasant sensations, before it lulls one
to rest.

According to my promise, I will now pen down a few re-
marks on the habits of the rook, which bird, in good old
sensible times, was styled frugilegus. It is now pronounced
to he prcjedatonus. Who knows but that our great ones in
ornithology may ultimately determine to call it up to the house
of hawks ?

If this useful bird were not so closely allied to the carrion
crow in colour and in shape, we should see it sent up to the
tables of the rich, as often as we see the pigeon. But pre-
judice forbids the appearance of broiled rook in the lordly
mansion. If we wish to partake of it, we must repair to the
cottage of the lowly swain, or, here and there, to the hall of
the homely country squire, whose kitchen has never been
blessed by the presence of a first-rate cook, and whose yearn-
ings for a good and wholesome dish are not stifled by the
fear of what a too highly polished world will say.

There is no wild bird in England so completely gregarious
as the rook; or so regular in its daily movements.' The ring-
doves will assemble in countless nmltitudes, the finches will
unite in vast assemblies, and waterfowl will flock in thousands
to the protected lake, during the dreary months of winter:
but, when the returning sun spreads joy and consolation over
the face of nature, their congregated numbers are dissolved,

Observations on the Habits of the Rook, 101

and the individuals retire in pairs to propagate their respective
species. The rook, however, remains in society the year
throughout. In flocks it builds its nest, in flocks it seeks
for food, and in flocks it retires to roost.

About two miles to the eastward of this place are the
woods of Nostell Priory, where, from time immemorial, the
rooks have retired to pass the night. I suspect, by the ob-
servations which I have been able to make on the morning
and evening transit of these birds, that there is not another
roosting-place for, at least, thirty miles to the westward of
Nostell Priory. Every morning, from within a few days of
the autumnal to about a week before the vernal equinox, the
rooks, in congregated thousands upon thousands, fly over this
valley in a westerly direction, and return in undiminished
numbers to the east an hour or so before the night sets in.
In their morning passage, some stop here ; others, in other
favourite places farther and farther on ; now repairing to the
trees for pastime, now resorting to the fields for food, till the
declining sun warns those which have gone farthest to the
westward that it is time they should return. They rise in a
mass, receiving additions to their numbers from every inter-
vening place, till they reach this neighbourhood in an amazing
flock. Sometimes they pass on without stopping, and are
joined by those which have spent the day here. At other
times they make my park their place of rendezvous, and cover
the ground in vast profusion, or perch upon the surrounding
trees. _After tarrying here for a certain time^ every rook
takes wing. They linger in the air for a while, in slow
revolving circles, and then they all proceed to Nostell Priory,
which is their last resting-place for the night. In their morn-
ing and evening passage, the loftiness or lowliness of their
flight seems to be regulated by the state of the weather.
When it blows a hard gale of wind, they descend the valley
with astonishing rapidity, and just skim over the tops of the
irlervening hills, a few feet above the trees : but, when the
sky is calm and clear, they pass through the heavens at a
great height, in regular and easy flight.

Sometimes these birds perform an evolution, which is, in
this part of the country, usually called the shooting of the
rooks. [V. 239.] Farmers tell you that this shooting por-
tends a coming wind. He who pays attention to the flight of
birds has, no doubt, often observed this downward movement.
When rooks have risen to an immense 'height in the air, so
that, in appearance, they are scarcely larger than the lark,
they suddenly descend to the ground, or to the tops of trees
exactly under them. To effect this, they come headlong

H 3

102 Observations on the Habits of the RooJc,

down, on pinion a little raised, but not expanded, in a zig-zag
direction (presenting, alternately, their back and breast to
you), through the resisting air, which causes a noise similar
to that of a rushing wind. This is a magnificent and beau-
tiful sight to the eye of an ornithologist. It is idle to suppose
for a moment that it portends wind. It is merely the ordi-
nary descent of the birds to an inviting spot beneath them,
where, in general, some of their associates are already assem-
bled, or where there is food to be procured. When we
consider the prodigious height of the rooks at the time they
begin to descend, we conclude that they cannot effect their
arrival at a spot perpendicular under them, by any other
process so short and rapid.

Rooks remain with us the year throughout. If there were
a deficiency of food, this would not be the case ; for, when
birds can no longer support themselves in the place which
they have chosen for their residence, they leave it, and go in
quest of nutriment elsewhere. Thus, for want of food, my-
riads of wildfowl leave the frozen north, and repair to milder
climates ; and in this immediate district, when there is but a
scanty sprinkling of seeds on the whitethorn bush, our flocks of
fieldfares and of redwings bear no proportion to those in
times of a plentiful supply of their favourite food. But the
number of rooks never visibly diminishes ; and on this account
we may safely conclude that, one way or other, they always
find a sufficiency of food. Now, if we bring, as a charge
against them, their feeding upon the industry of man, as, for
example, during the time of a hard frost, or at seedtime, or
at harvest, at which periods they will commit depredations, if
not narrowly watched, we ought, in justice, to put down in
their favour the rest of the year, when they feed entirely upon
insects. Should we wish to know the amount of noxious
insects destroyed by rooks, we have only to refer to a most
valuable and interesting paper on the services of the rook,
signed T. G. Clitheroe, Lancashire, which is given in Vol. VI.
p. 14'2. of this Magazine. I wish every farmer in England
would read it. They would then be convinced bow much the
rook befriends them.

Some author (I think. Goldsmith) informs us that the
North American colonists got the notion into their heads that
the purple grakle was a great consumer of their maize [1. 47.];
and these wise men of the west actually offered a reward of
threepence for the killed dozen of the plunderers. This
tempting boon soon caused the country to be thinned of
grakles, and then myriads of insects appeared, to put the
good people in mind of the former plagues of Egypt. They

Observations on the Habits of the Rook. lol

damaged the grass to such a fearful extent, that, in 1749, the
rash colonists were obliged to procure hay from Pennsylvania,
and even from England. Buffon mentions that grakles were
brought from India to Bourbon, in order to exterminate the
grasshoppers. The colonists, seeing these birds busy in the
new-sown fields, fancied that they were searching for grain,
and instantly gave the alarm. The poor grakles were pro-
scribed by government, and in two hours after the sentence
was passed, not a grakle remained in the island. The grass-
hoppers again got the ascendency, and then the deluded
islanders began to mourn for the loss of their grakles. The
governor procured four of these birds from India, about eight
years after their proscription, and the state took charge of
their preservation. Laws' were immediately framed for their
protection ; and, lest the people should have a hankering for
grakle pie, the physicians were instructed to proclaim the
flesh of the grakle very unwholesome food. Whenever I see
a flock of rooks at work in a turnip field, which, in dry wea-
ther, is often the case, I know that they have not assembled
there to eat either the turnips or the tops, but that they are
employed in picking out a grub, which has already made a
lodgement in the turnip.

Last spring, I paid a visit, once a day, to a carrion crow's
nest on the top of a fir tree. In the course of the morn-
ing in which she had laid her fifth egg, I took all the
eggs out of the nest, and in their place I put two rooks*
eggs, which were within six days of being hatched. The
carrion crow attended on the stranger eggs, just as though
they had been her own, and she raised the young of them
with parental care. When they had become sufficiently large,
I took them out of the nest, and carried them home. One of
them was sent up to the gamekeeper's house, with proper
instructions ; the other remained with me. Just at this time
an old woman had made me a present of a barn-door hen,
" Take it, Sir," said she, " and welcome ; for, if it stays here
any longer, we shall be obliged to kill it. When we get up to
wash in the morning, it crows like a cock. All its feathers
are getting like those of a cock ; it is high time that it was
put out of the way, for when hens turn cocks people say that
they are known to be very unlucky ; and, if this thing is
allowed to live, we don't know what may happen. It has
great spurs on its legs, and last summer it laid four eggs. If
I had had my own way, it would have- been killed when it
first began to crow." I received the hen with abundant
thanks ; and, in return, I sent the old woman a full-bred
Malay fowl. On examining the hen, I found her comb very

H 4

104? Observations on the Habits of the Rook.

large ; the feathers on the neck and rump much elongated ;
the spurs curved, and about l^in. long; the two largest
feathers in her tail arched, and four or five smaller arched
ones, of a beautiful and glossy colour, hanging down on each
side of the tail. In a word, this hen had so masculine an
appearance, that, when strangers looked at her, they all took
her to be a cock, and it was with difficulty I persuaded them
that she was a hen. We allowed her the range of a sheltered
grass-plot, flanked on one side by holly trees, and open to the
lake on the other. Here, also, was placed in a cage the
young rook which I had taken from the nest of the carrion
crow. The hen showed such an antipathy to it, that, when-
ever I held it to her, she would immediately fly at it. When
visiters came to inspect her, I had only to take the rook
out of the cage, and pit it against her, when she would stand
upright, raise the long feathers on her neck, and begin to
cackle, cluck, and crow. One morning the rook had managed
to push aside a bar in front of its cage. A servant, in passing
by, looked into it, and missed the bird. The hen had also
disappeared. On search being made, they were both found
floating side by side, dead, in the lake below. We conjectured
that the hen had pursued the rook after its escape from the
cage, and that the wind, which blew very strong that morning,
liad forced them both into a watery grave. I had still one
rook left at the gamekeeper's. It was kept in a cage, which
was placed on a little stand in his garden ; and I had given
orders that upon no account was it to be allowed to go at large.
The feathers remained firm at the base of the bill till the
15th of August; on which day the keeper perceived that
a few feathers had dropped from the lower mandible, and
were lying at the bottom of the cage. In a couple of weeks
more, the lower mandible had begun to put on a white scurfy
appearance, while here and there a few feathers had fallen
from the upper one. This is the purport of the keeper's in-
formation to me, on my return home from Bavaria. On the
31st of the same month, a terrible storm set in. By what the
keeper told me, the night must have been as dark and dismal
as that in which poor King Lear stood in lamentation, and
exposed his hoary locks to the four rude winds of heaven.
A standard white-heart cherry tree, }ierhaps the finest in
Yorkshire, and which, for many generations, had been the
pride and ornament of this place, lost two large branches
during the gale ; and in the morning, when the keeper rose,
he found the cage shattered and upset, and driven to the far-
thest corner of his garden. The rook was quite dead. It
had lost its life, either through the inclemency of that stormy

Observations on the Habits of the Rook, 105

night, or through bruises received in the fall of the cage.
Thus both the rooks were unlucky. The old woman, no
doubt, could clearly trace their misfortunes to her crowing
hen. However, the experiment with the two young rooks,
though not perfect, has nevertheless been of some use. It
has shown us that the carrion crow makes no distinction
betwixt its own eggs and those of the rook ; that it can know
nothing of the actual time required to sit upon eggs in order
to produce the young ; that the young of the rook will thrive
under the care of the carrion crow, just as well as under that
of its own parents ; and finally, that the feathers fall off from
the root of the rook's bill, by the order of nature, as was sur-
mised by the intelligent Bewick, and not by the process of
the bird's thrusting its bill into the earth, in search of food,
as is the opinion of some naturalists. [III. 402., V. 241.]

The rook advances through the heavens with a very re-
gular and a somewhat tardy beat of wing; but it is capable of
proceeding with great velocity when it chooses : witness its
pursuit and attack on the sparrowhawk and kestrel. It is
apt to injure, in the course ot' time, the elm trees on which it
builds its nest, by nipping off the uppermost twigs. But this,
after all, is mere conjecture. The damage may be caust^d by
an accumulation of nests, or by the constant resort of such a
number of birds to one tree. Certain, however, it is, that,
when rooks have taken possession of an elm tree for the pur-
pose of incubation, the uppermost branches of that tree are
often subject to premature decay.

Though the flocks of rooks appear to have no objection to
keep company, from time to time, with the carrion crows, in a
winter's evening, before they retire to roost, still I can never
see a carrion crow build its nest in a rookery. There was
always a carrion crow's nest here, in a clump of high Scotch
pines, near the stables, till the rooks got possession of the
trees ; the carrion couple then forsook the place : the rooks
were dislodged from this clump of trees ; and then a pair of
carrion crows (the same, for aught I know to the contrary)
came and built their nest in it.

The rook lays from three to five eggs, varying much, like
those of the carrion crow, in colour, shape, and size. After
the rooks have built, and even lined their nests, they leave
them on the approach of night, to repair to the general ren-
dezvous at Nostell Priory ; but, as soon as they begin to
lay, they then no longer quit the trees' at night, until they
have reared their young. When this has been effected, we
see large flocks of them resorting to the different woods of the
neighbourhood to pass the night. This they continue to do,
till a few days before the autumnal equinox, when, for reasons

106 Natural History of Molluscom Animals : —

which baffle all conjecture, they begin to pass over this valley
every morning in a westerly direction, and return in the even-
ing to their eastern roosting-place in the woods of Nostell
Priory.

Rooks are observed to keep up a very close and friendly
intercourse with starhngs [VII. 183.] and jackdaws [VI. 394.
516.] ; but, on looking at them in the fields, the observer will
perceive, that, while the jackdaws mix promiscuously with the
rooks, both in their flight and in searching for food, the star-
lings always keep in their own flock. This circumstance
has long engaged my attention ; but I am no farther advanced
in the investigation than I was on the first day on which I
set out. It is one of the many secrets in the habits of birds,
which will, perhaps, be for ever concealed from our view.

Walton Hall, Nov. 27. 1833. Charles Waterton.

[For remarks, by Mr. VTaterton, " on the nudity on the
forehead and at the base of the bill of the rook," see V. 241
— 245. ; and for observations, also by Mr. Waterton, " on
the supposed pouch under the bill of the rook," see V. 512 —
515. In Captain Brown's edition of W^hite's Natural History
of Selborne, which is noticed in VI. 133., there is a figure of
"a domestic hen in male plumage;" and in p. 93, 94., in a
long note. Captain Brown has adduced some instances of this
phenomenon which he had read of, or seen.]

Art. III. An Introduction to the Natural History of Molluscous
Animals. In a Series of Letters. By G. J.

Letter 12. On their Respiration.

The respiration of the Mollusca is so slow, so little ob-
vious, and so easily suspended for a time, that it is possible
you may never have observed the process even in those
species which daily cross your path. You will, therefore, in
your next walk, please to examine the snail or the slug while
they are in progression, and you will see them at intervals
open wide a circular hole on the side of the neck and near
the margin of the shield or collar, and, after dilating it to the
utmost, they will close it again until its place becomes im-
perceptible ; this they do about four times in a minute, ex-
pelling at each time the effete air, and inhaling a fresh
supply. In like manner, the aquatic tribes, while crawling
along the surface, raise from time to time the pulmonary
aperture, in order to emit the vitiated air, sometimes even
with a crackling noise, and to receive an equal quantity

their Respiration. 107

unadulterated before the aperture is shut. This process is
not so obvious in the branchial Mollusca, and in many of
them, from the position of the gills, such a function is not
necessary to renew the water around them. Where, how-
ever, the gills are strictly internal, it seems probable that the
water is regularly changed when the creatures are in their
natural habitats and undisturbed : we know that such is the
case with the Cephalopoda, in which inspiration and ex-
spiration are well marked. " The first is effected by a gradual
dilatation of the sac in every direction, but particularly at the
sides, accompanied by a subsidence of the lateral valves, col-
lapse of the walls of the funnel, and a rush of water through
the lateral openings into the sac. Inspiration being com-
pleted, the lateral valves are closed, the sac is gradually
contracted, the funnel erected and dilated, and the water ex-
pelled through it with great force, and in a continued stream."
Dr. Coldstream, from whose letter I quote the preceding
sentence, has seen the stream emitted by an individual of the
Octopus ventricosus, " whose sac measured about four inches
in length, carry light bodies to the distance of eleven inches
from the orifice of the funnel. Respiration is performed
more frequently in young than in adult individuals. One,
whose sac measured 1^ in. in length, I saw respire 18 times
per minute ; and the larger one, mentioned above, respired
10 times per minute. The time seemed to be pretty equally
divided between inspiration and exspiration." In the bi-
valves, whose cloak forms a shut sac, the water is sucked in
through the siphonal tube, when the capacity of the sac is
increased by its own expansion, or by the opening of the
shells ; and by its muscular contraction, aided sometimes by
the closure of the shells, it is again expelled in a stream from
the anal siphon : but there is no regularity in the process in
such species as I have observed in confinement. It is the
same with the Mollusca tunicata. The branchial sac is
muscular, and just as its capacity is enlarged, apparently by
the contraction of its longitudinal fibres, the water flows in
to fill the space in a slow and uniform current, through the
branchial aperture only, for none can be detected entering by
the anal orifice. It is, after a space, expelled again by a con-
traction of the annular fibres of the sac, but the voluntary
contractions for this purpose, as stated above, take place at
irregular intervals of time, and, for the most part, not
oftener than once in a minute. {Cu\\e\\Molliis. Me7n. xx. p. 17.;
Coldstream, in Edin. New Phil. Joiirn. for July, 1830, p. 240.)
I have told you that the respiration of the Mollusca is at
all times slow, and easily suspended for a long })eriod ; but, to
obviate the inconveniences which might result from this, and

1 0^ Natural History of Molluscous Animals ; —

to supply the place of that regularly alternate and ceaseless
play of the resph-atory muscles of the vertebrates, Dr.
Sharpey has discovered that, in " the Mollusca, and other
inferior tribes of aquatic animals, the external covering of the
body generally, but especially of the respiratory organs,
possesses the power of impelhng the water contiguous to it
in a determinate direction along the surface, by which means
a constant current is kept up, and the blood exposed to the
influence of successive portions of the surrounding element :
this peculiar provision effecting, in those creatures, the same
purpose as the respiratory muscles in the more perfect
animals." These currents, in the Mollusca at least, and
probably in all the animals in which they have been detected,
are produced by the action of minute cilia, visible only with
a glass, which are in constant motion, and clothe all the
surfaces along which the currents are excited. Similar cilia
had been observed on the eggs and organs of many zoophytes
by previous naturalists, and in a few naked Mollusca, by
Dr. Fleming; but the merit of proving their existence in
all the great families of the Mollusca, with the exception of
the Cephalopoda and the Tunicata, and of pointing out
their use, is due to Dr. Sharpey. Carus came near the
discovery ; for he observed the currents in question, but left
uninvestigated their cause ; or, rather, he attributed the
phenomena to one which has probably little efficiency. His
words are : — " In a living bivalve, it is easy to observe that
the water gains access to the branchial laminae by the fissure
in the cloak, and escapes by the anal tube, which serves also
to evacuate excrement and ova. It has not, however, been
hitherto noticed, that this current is uninterrupted, and that
thus these animals, when not too deeply immersed, form an
eddy on the surface of the water. But as, in almost all other
animals, the influx of air or water to the respiratory organs
is intermittent, the simultaneous and continuous current into
the fissure of the cloak and out of its tube, of which I have
satisfied myself by numerous observations, must depend on a
very peculiar mechanism, which consists chiefly in the mus-
cularity of the cloak, but partly also in the mobility of the
gills themselves, and may be compared to the mechanism of
certain bellows, which produce an uninterrupted current of
air by means of double bags." [Camp. Anat., transl. vol. ii.
p. 148.)

As this discovery appears to me the most important which
has been made of late years in the physiology of these
animals, you will permit me to transcribe, for your perusal, a
paragraph of considerable length from Dr. Sharpey's Essay,
with a view of giving some farther illustration of the process.

their Respiration. 109

" When a live muscle (Mytilus edulis) is attentively examined
in a vessel of sea water, it is soon observed to open its shell
in a slight degree, and about the same time a commotion
may be perceived in the water in its vicinity. This is occa-
sioned by the water entering at the posterior or large ex-
tremity of the animal, into the cavity in which the gills are
lodged, and coming out, near the same place, by a separate
orifice, in a continued stream. This current is obviously
intended for the purpose of renewing the water required for
the respiration and nutrition of the animal ; but, though it is
now a well-established fact in the history of the muscle, the
mechanism by which it is produced has not, so far as I know,
been satisfactorily explained. Some have contented them-
selves with ascribing it to an alternate opening and shutting
of the shell ; but, as no such motion takes place in the shell,
except at distant and irregular intervals, it is evident that the
constant passage of the water cannot be explained in this
way. Others, who saw the insufficiency of this explanation,
have endeavoured to account for it by assuming peculiar
contractions and dilatations of the mantle in virtue of its
muscular power, or, like M. de Blainville, have supposed
that the triangular labial appendages placed round the mouth
excited the current by their constant motion. After meeting
with the currents in the tadpole, it struck me that the entrance
and exit of the water in the bivalve Mollusca might not
improbably be owing to a similar cause ; and that the surface
of the respiratory organs, and other parts over which the
water passed, might have the power of exciting currents in
it, the combined effect of which would give rise to the entering
and returning stream.

'' This conjecture proved, on actual examination, to be
right. Having cut off a portion of the gill, I found that a
current was excited along its surface in a determinate di-
rection, and that it moved itself through the water in an
opposite one, exactly as in the case of the tadpole. The
whole surface of the gills and labial appendages or accessory
gills, the inner surface of the cloak, and some other parts,
produced this effect. The currents on the gills are of two
kinds. When finely powdered charcoal is put on any part
of their surface, a great portion of it soon disappears, having
penetrated through the interstices of the vessels into the
space between the two layers of the gill. On arriving here,
a part is forced out again at the base of the gill from under
the border of the unattached layer, but most of it is con-
veyed rapidly backwards in the interior of the gill between
the two layers, and almost immediately escapes at the ex-

IrlO' Natural History of Molluscous Animals : —

cretory orifice, or that from which the general current
already mentioned is observed to come out. That portion
of the powder which remains outside the gill is carried
along its surface in straight lines from the base to the margin,
along which it then advances onwards towards the fore part
of the animal. As the spaces between the layers of all the
gills terminate directly or indirectly at the excretory orifice,
it is easily conceivable that the water, penetrating by the
entire surface of these organs, may, by their concentrated
effect, give rise to the powerful current which is observed to
come out from the animal.

" On examining a portion of the gills with a powerful
lens, I perceived that it was beset with minute cilia, which
are evidently instrumental in producing the different currents.
Most of them are ranged along the anterior and posterior
margin of each of the vessels composing the gills, in two
sets : one nearer the surface, consisting of longer and more
opaque cilia; the other close to the first, but a little deeper,
in which they are shorter and nearly transparent. Both sets
are in constant motion, but of this it is difficult to convey a
correct idea by description. The more opaque cilia, or those
of the exterior range, appear and disappear by turns, as if
they either were alternately pushed out and retracted, or
were continually changing from a horizontal to a vertical
direction. The motion of the other set appears to consist
in a succession of undulations, which proceed in a uniform
manner along the margin of the vessel from one end to the
other. It resembles a good deal the apparent progression
of the turns of a spiral when it revolves on its axis, and
might very easily be mistaken for the circulation of a fluid in
the interior of a canal, more particularly as the course of the
undulations is different on the two edges of the vessel, being
directed on the one towards the margin of the gill, and on
the other towards the base. But, besides that the undu-
lations continue to go on for some time in small pieces cut
off from the gill, which is inconsistent with the progression
of a fluid in a canal, the cilia are easily distinguished when
the undulatory motion has become languid- When it has
entirely stopped, they remain in contact with each other, so
as to present the appearance of a membrane attached to the
edge of the vessel.

" It is very remarkable, that, when the gill is immersed in
fresh water, both the currents and the motion of the cilia are
almost instantaneously stopped." *

* On a peculiar Motion excited in Fluids by the Surfaces of certain
Animals ; by William Sharpey, M.D. Edin. Med. and Surg. Journaly vol.
xxxiv. p. 118, &c.

their Respiration, 111

The purpose of the respiratory organs, and of the currents
just described, is, to expose the blood freely to the purificative
action of the atmospherical air, that it may be purged of
some noxious qualities which it has acquired during its
circulation through the venous system, and fitted again for
the continuance of the life of the individual. In the ver-
tebrate animals the blood is altered, even in its outward ap-
pearance, by this process ; from a dark it becomes a bright
red fluid: but no perceptible change is operated on the white
serous blood of the Mollusca, yet that it has experienced a
similar purification is not to be doubted ; for the air breathed
by these creatures is similarly deteriorated, as it would have
been had it been breathed by the quadruped or bird ; the
oxygen has disappeared, and its place become occupied by
an equal bulk of carbonic acid gas. This had been proved
by the well known experiments of Spallanzani and other
physiologists ; and though, in general, the proportion holds
good, yet it appears, from the recent experiments of Tre-
viranus, that the absorption of oxygen is not always pro-
portional to the excretion of carbonic acid, the proportion
of the one to the other depending on the strength of the
respiration, the time of its continuance while the respir-
ability of the air is diminishing, and the volume of the air
in which the respiration is performed. " The more car-
bonic acid," says Treviranus, " there is developed while
breathing in the open air, and the less the power of con-
tinuing in a medium deficient in oxygen, the less is the
proportion of the consumption of oxygen to the production
of carbonic acid gas, whence a small quantity of atmospheric
air is respired for a moderate period. But when the re-
spiration is continued for a longer period in the same air^
and the strength of the individual begins to sink, the excre-
tion of the latter diminishes more rapidly than the absorption
of the former. We know that the higher classes of animals,
when enclosed in a certain quantity of air, die long before all
its oxygen has been exhausted. The case is very different
with many of the Mollusca under the same circumstances;
for they not only consume all the oxygen, but actually con-
tinue afterwards to exspire carbonic acid gas : consequently,
after the respiration has been continued for some time, there
has been more of the latter excreted than there has been con-
sumed of the former; nay, sometimes this occurs even before
all the oxygen has been consumed." [Edin. New Phil. Jouni.,
April, 1833, p. 383.*) These observations may serve to

* The Rev. Mr. Guilding has conjectured that some Mollusca may even
purify water: — " AMeritinae are destroyed with great difficulty : some.

112 Natural History of Molluscous Animals : —

explain, in some degree, the apparent apathy of the Mollusca
generally to a temporary deprivation of their respiratory
media : for snails may be immersed in water for many hours
without injury; and the purely aquatic species will survive as
long a time exposed to the atmosphere. Oysters and muscles,
as every one knows, and probably all the Conchifera, will
live for three or four days without any more water to breathe
in than what may lie in the concavity of their shells ; and
Mr. Boyle has some experiments which illustrate, in a remark-
able manner, their tenacity of life even in vacuum. He found
that two oysters, put " into a very small receiver," exhausted
of air, were alive at the end of twenty-four hours ; " but how
long afterwards they continued so, I did not observe." {Phil.
Trans., 1670, p. 2023.) Another oyster was put into a vial
full of water before being enclosed in the receiver, " that,
through the liquor, the motion of the (air) bubbles, expected
from the fish, might be more pleasantly seen and considered.
This oyster proved so strong, as to keep itself close shut, and
repressed the eruption of the bubbles, that in the other did
force open the shells from time to time ; and kept in its own
air as long as we had occasion to continue the trials." {Ibid.,
p. 2024.) Shelled snails (Helices) appeared to be not more
disordered in vacuity ; and even the slugs (Z>imax) endured
the privation for many hours. The same illustrious philo-
sopher included two of the latter " in a small portable
receiver," carefully exhausted ; " but, though they did not
lose their motion near so soon as other animals were in
our vacuum wont to do, yet, coming to look on them after
some hours, they appeared moveless and very tumid; and, at
the end of twelve hours, the inward parts of their bodies
seemed to be almost vanished, and they seemed to be but a
couple of small full-blown bladders ; and, on the letting in of
the air, they immediately so shrunk, as if the bladders had
been pricked : the receding air had left behind it nothing but
skins ; nor did either of the snails afterwards, though kept
many hours, give any signs of life." {Ibid., p. 2050.) In this
experiment, it is obvious that the snails were killed from the
mechanical effects of the expansion of the air within them,
and not from its ingress to the pulmonary cavity being
prevented.

which were even kept close in salt water, seemed to have the power of
purifying it, and rendering it fit for respiration; while many large air-
bubbles were generated in the glass. Some power of this kind would be
very valuable to those species which inhabit maritime ponds, the waters of
which, nearly dried up at certain seasons, must be stagnant and unwhole-
some." (Zoological Journal^ vol. v. p. 33.)

their Respiration, 113

But there are on record some extraordinary facts, which
seem to prove that, under certain conditions, all of which are
not yet known, the respiration of many Mollusca, more espe-
cially the terrestrial, may be suspended for an indefinite period,
and again renewed by the application of heat and moisture ;
life, as it were, keeping watch, and holding at bay every
destructive agent, but without giving any outward sign of her
presence and constant wakefulness, until the return of those
influences in which she joys. " All the land Testacea," to
use the words of Dr. Fleming, " appear to have the power
of becoming torpid at pleasure, and independent of any alter-
ations of temperature. Thus, even in midsummer, if we
place in a box specimens of the Helix hortensis, nemoralis,
or arbustorum, without food, in a day or two they form for
themselves a thin operculum, attach themselves to the side of
the box, and remain in this dormant state. They may be
kept in this condition for several years. No ordinary change
of temperature produces any effect upon them, but they
speedily revive if plunged in water. Even in their natural
haunts, they are often found in this state during the summer
season, when there is a continued drought. With the first
shower, however, they recover, and move about ; and at this
time the conchologist ought to be on the alert." {Phil, Zool.^
vol. ii. p. 77.) I may illustrate these remarks, which are per-
fectly correct, by some additional examples; one or two of
which you may find to require an exercise of faith for which
you may not be altogether prepared. Mr. Lyell tells us that
" four individuals of a large species of B^limus, from Val-
paraiso, were brought to England by Lieutenant Graves, who
accompanied Captain King in his late expedition to the Straits
of Magellan. They had been packed up in a box, and en-
veloped in cotton, two for a space of thirteen, one for seven-
teen, and a fourth for upwards of twenty months ; but, on
being exposed, by Mr. Broderip, to the warmth of a fire in
London, and provided with tepid water and leaves, they re-
vived, and are now living in Mr. Loddiges's palm-house.'*
{Princ. GeoL, vol. ii. p. 109.) Dr. Elliotson put a garden snail
" into a dry closet, without food, a year and a half ago : it
became torpid, and has remained so ever since, except when-
ever I have chosen to moisten it. A few drops of water revive
it at any time." (Blumenbach's Phi/siologz/, p. 182.) Similar
instances may be found in some of the periodical journals ;
but they are as nothing when compared with the snails of
Mr. Stuckey Simon, a merchant of Dublin, which, on being
immersed in water, recovered and crept about after an uninter-

VoL. VII. — No. 38. I .^,^,.v, u..

11> Natural History of Molluscous Animals : —

rupted torpidity of at least fifteen years * ; and I agree with
Mr. Bingley in thinking that this is a well-authenticated fact.
Whether what follows is so, I leave to your own decision ; but
I will not say you are unreasonably sceptical if you deem it
too tramontane. " Professor Eaton of New York stated,"
says my authority, " that the diluvial deposits through which
the Erie Canal was made contained ridges of hard compact
gravel. On cutting through one of these, near Rome village,

* " Mr. Stuckey Simon, a merchant of Dublin, whose father, a fellow
of the Royal Society, and a lover of natural history, left to him a small
collection of fossils and other curiosities, had among them the shells of
some snails. About fifteen years after his father's death (in whose pos-
session they continued many years), he by chance gave to his son, a child
about ten years old, some of these snail shells to play with. The boy put
them into a flower-pot, which he filled with water, and the next day into
a basin. Having occasion to use this, Mr. Simon observed that the
animals had come out of their shells. He examined the child, who assured
him that they were the same he had given him, and said he had also a few
more, which he brought. Mr. Simon put one of these into water, and in
an hour and a half after observed that it had put out its horns and body,
which it moved but slowly, probably from weakness. Major Vallancey and
Dr. Span were afterwards present, and saw one of the snails crawl out,
the others being dead, most probably from their having remained some days
in the water. Dr. Quin and Dr. Rutty also examined the living snail several
different times, and were greatly pleased to see him come out of his solitary
habitation after so many years' confinement. Dr. Macbride, and a party
of gentlemen at his house, were also witnesses of this surprising phe-
nomenon. Dr. Macbride has thus mentioned the circumstance : — ' After
the shell had lain about ten minutes in a glass of water that had the cold
barely taken off, the snail began to appear, and in five minutes more we
perceived half the body pushed out from the cavity of the shell. We then
removed it into a basin, that the snail might have more scope than it had
in the glass ; and here, in a very short time, we saw it get above the sur-
face of the water, and crawl up towards the edge of the basin. While it was
thus moving about, with its horns erect, a fly chanced to be hovering near,
and, perceiving the snail, darted down upon it. The little animal instantly
withdrew itself into the shell, but as quickly came forth again when it
found the enemy was gone off'. We allowed it to wander about the basin
for upwards of an hour, when we returned it into a wide-mouthed phial,
wherein Mr. Simon had lately been used to keep it. He was so obliging
as to present me with this remarkable shell ; and I observed, at twelve
o'clock, as I was going to bed, that the snail was still in motion j but next
morning I found it in a torpid state, sticking to the side of the glass.'

" A few weeks afterwards the shell was sent to Sir John Pringle, who
showed it at a meeting of the Royal Society ; but some of the members
imagining that Mr. Simon must have been imposed upon by his son having
substituted fresh shells for those that had been given to him, the boy was
reexamined by Dr. Macbride on the subject, who declared that he could
find no reason to believe that the child either did or could impose upon
his father. Mr. Simon's living in the heart of the city rendered it almost
impossible for the boy (if he had been so disposed) to collect fresh shells,
being at that time confined to the house with a cold. Mr. Simon has also
declared that he is positive those were the shells he gave to him, having in
his cabinet many more of the same sort, and nearly of the same size."
(Bingley's Animal Biogra'phy^ vol. iii. p. 574.)

their Respiration. 115

16 miles west of Utica, the workmen found several hundred
of live molluscous animals. They were chiefly of the Mya.
cariosa and Mya purpi^rea. The workmen took the animals,
fried, and ate them. He adds, ' I was assured that they were
taken alive ^2ft. deep in the deposit. Several of the shells
are now before me. The deposit is diluvial. These animals
must have been there from the time of the deluge, for the
earth in which they were is too compact for them to have been
produced by a succession of generations. These freshwater
clams of 3000 years old precisely resemble the same species
which now inhabit the fresh waters of that district ; therefore,
the lives of these animals have been greatly prolonged by
their exclusion from air and light for more than 3000 years."
(Silliman's Amer. Journal^ No. xv. p. 249., as quoted in Tur-
ner's Sacred History, p. 473.)

With the exception of the last example, the others refer to
land Testacea ; but some pulmoniferous aquatic species are
equally capable of assuming this state of torpidity, when under
circumstances which deprive them of their respiratory medium.
In early spring, I have more than once observed the Limneus
fossarius to abound in small pools of water, which were dried
up as the season advanced ; and when, after a careful search,
the little snails were found, in a torpid condition, concealed
in the cracks made by the drought, or under small clods of
earth, where they awaited a happier season to refill their pools,
and permit them to resume the functions of active life. Per-
haps, in this country, their torpidity can rarely be continued
beyond a few weeks ; but, in tropical climes, similar species
can pass the dry season of five long months in this state.
Thus, Adanson informs us that the minute freshwater shell,
which he calls Bulimus, is to be seen only from the month of
September to January, in the marshes of Senegal, formed by
the rains which fall in June, July, August, and September.
When these marshes are dried up, and, as it were, roasted by
the sun, the shellfish disappear; a few empty shells alone
being left, to show where they had been ; but they never fail
to return with the rainy season ; and Adanson remarked that,
the hotter the preceding summer, the more abundant was the
issue of the succeeding hordes. How, asks the author, shall
we explain this marvellous reproduction ? Can the eggs of
the animal, necessarily very delicate and minute; can they
remain in a soil so burned up, without being entirely dried; or
can the animals themselves, if it is true that they conceal
themselves in the bosom of the earth, can they resist, during
five or six months, the heat of a burning sun ? {Hist. Nat.

i. 2

i 1 6 Natural History of Molluscous Animals : —

du Senegal, p. 7.) The latter supposition is the only one
which can, I think, solve the question.

When in this torpid state, the condition of the snail itself
has not been ascertained. Some authors speak of it as being
dormant^ and the language would seem to imply that they
consider it in a state of sleep, in which the circulation and re-
spiration go on uninterruptedly and as strongly as when awake ;
but I suspect that the authors alluded to never intended that
such an inference should be drawn from their analogical lan-
guage. The fact is, it is not known precisely whether the
circulation goes on or is stopped, or whether the contact of air
is essential or otherwise. It is difficult to believe that all the
functions as well as the signs of life cease entirely ; and yet
it is scarcely less so to suppose that, for the space of fifteen
years or more, those functions could exist without some supply
of food to keep up the waste and secretions, however trivial,
which necessarily flow from a circulation, or without some air
to purify the circulating fluid.*

If I deem it necessary to distinguish torpidity from sleep,
it is, perhaps, not less so to distinguish it from the state of
hybernation, although the phenomena of both are more
strictly analogous. Snails become torpid when the atmosphere
is hot and dry ; and, as often as they are unbound by the
application of a warm moisture, they come forth from the
shell strong and vigorous ; but, -^ intelligent of seasons,"
they begin instinctively to seek hybernating quarters at a
moist season of the year, and before the cold has benumbed
their powers ; and, if roused ultimately, their languid move-
ments evidence their weakness, and bespeak our sympathy to
leave them to repose. Whether the vital functions in these
creatures are similarly aff*ected during torpor and hybernation
remains to be determined. It is probable that they are.

In this country, and in others with similar climates, pro-
bably all the terrestrial shelled snails, and all the pulmoniferous
freshwater MoUusca, pass the winter in a state of hybernation.
I believe that the naked slugs do not hybernate ; for, although
they retire under stones, clods of earth, or moss, to protect

* " This living principle has the singular property of remaining dormant
and inert for years or ages ; without, therefore, ceasing to exist. We all
know that seeds may be kept a long while unsown, and yet grow whenever
planted in a suitable soil . This, again, is like animals which have been
found enclosed in trees, and yet have revived. When plants are buried in
the ground to a greater depth than is natural to them for their proper
growth, they do not vegetate; but they do not therefore die; they retain
their power of vegetation to an unlimited period; and when, by any acci-
dent, brought so near the surface as to suit their evolution, they begin
immediately to grow." (Turner's Sacred History^ p. 195.)

their Respiration, 117

themselves from the cold and storms of the season, yet I have
always found them immediately to resume their activity when
taken from their concealments, and they are in motion all the
winter in mild weather. It is not certainly known, although
the contrary has been asserted *, that any marine Molluscum
hybernates. There would seem to be no necessity that the
snails of tropical countries should be endowed with this
remarkable property ; but the observations of Adanson prove
the contrary. He tells us that the BMimus Kdmbeul appa-
rently passes the nxiinter^ or dry season, in a deep slumber, like
the snails ofT^urope ; for he found several of them which were
half-buried, in the month of September, at the roots of trees
and in the thickest brushwoods ; and of these some had
already closed the aperture of their shell very exactly with a
lid of a whitish and plaster-like matter, to protect themselves
against the long droughts which continue for eight or nine
months uninterruptedly. [Hist. Nat. dn Senegal, p. 18.)

None of the hybernating Mollusca exhibit any remarkable
cunning in the selection of their hybernacula or winter quar-
ters. On the approach of the cold weather, the terrestrial
tribes seek out a convenient station in crevices of old walls, at
the roots of coarse grass, or in tufts of moss, and, retiring
within the shell, they close up its aperture by a membranous
or calcareous epiphragm, which serves, at the same time, to
fix or cement the shell to the wall or body against which it
rests. At the same period, the aquatic tribes descend to the
bottom of their ponds and ditches, sink a little in the soft
mud, and cover over the mouth of the shell with a transparent
gelatine. In general, when the temperature of the air sinks
below the 50th degree of Fahrenheit, cold-blooded animals
begin their winter slumber, and, previously prepared by that
instinct which operates as wisely as if right reason had fore-
seen the coming evil, they gradually, with the increasing
cold, sink into a state which resembles more the stillness of
death than the quietness of sleep ; a state without motion, or
feeling, or sense, or heat, and in which the heart and lungs,
the vital organs, perform their functions more and more feebly,
until they also rest still in the general quiescence ; and in this
deathlike condition these animals continue " for five, six,
seven, or even eight or nine months, according to the climate
and season," until the genial warmth and dews of spring
recall them anew to life and action.

M. Gaspard has given a minute and' a very interesting

* " The marine Mollusca probably migrate in part from the shallower
to the deeper waters in cold winters : many, however, hybernate." {^Duncan

I 3

116 'Natural History of Molluscous Animals : —

account of the hybernation of Helix pomatia, in the first
volume of the Zoological Journal ; to which I must refer you
for the particulars. This species forms, by aid of its foot and
a very glutinous secretion, an excavation or nest, in which it
buries the shell, and it then closes the aperture with a thick
calcareous epiphragm, and with several interior membranous
partitions, which are more numerous at the end than at the
beginning of winter, and in the snails inhabiting the moun-
tains than in those found on low ground. Thus buried and
enclosed, it passes six months in a state of total torpidity ;
for the only indication of irritability perceptible during this
period is a slight contraction of the collar of the mantle when
touched, on removing the epiphragm. He found that there
was no digestion ; the heart at first beat feebly, and with a
very slow pulsation; but at a later period it was found to
have stopped, and the circulation was entirely suspended;
respiration ceased ; no animal heat, which even in the sum-
mer, when respiration and circulation are most lively, does
not exceed one degree above the surrounding atmosphere,
was evolved; no secretions nor wasting function went on,
neither any growth or reproduction of new parts. " In our
climate, it is about the beginning of April, soon after the song
of the cuckoo begins and the swallows appear, that the snails
leave their torpid state; varying a little, however, according
to the season. The mode by which their escape from con-
finement is effected is simple and easily comprehended. The
air which is contained in the different cells, and which had
been expired on the animal withdrawing itself farther and
farther into the shell after the formation of the operculum, is
again inspired, and each separate membranous partition
broken by the pressure of the hinder part of the foot pro-
jected through the mantle. When it arrives at the calcareous
operculum, the animal, making a last effort, bursts and detaches
its most obtuse angle. Then insinuating by little and little
the edge of the foot between the shell and the operculum, it
forces the latter off, or breaks it away. The animal then
comes forth, walks, and immediately begins feeding, with an
appetite excited, doubtless, by an abstinence of six or seven
months." (p. 99.)

Such is M. Gaspard's account of the reviviscency of Helix
pomatia, and the process must be still simpler in the other
species; for they have merely to rupture a single horny or
semigelatinous membrane. But there has been a difference
of opinion relative to the source of the air which is first
respired. Gaspard, you will observe, says that that portion
which is confined between the layers of the epiphragms is

their Respiration, 119

the first inhaled ; and, in coincidence with this opinion, we
must infer that the species with a single membrane respire in
the first instance the air behind it, and then, by their own
efforts, burst their prison wall. A very different explanation
of the process has been advanced by Sir Everard Home. He
says : — " When warmth and moisture are applied, the mem-
branous film (of the garden snail) falls off; a globule of air
that remained in the cavity of the lungs becomes rarefied, and
forces its w^ay out, and admits of fresh air being applied to
these organs."* {Comp, Aiiat.^ vol. iii. p. 156.) I suspect that
more of fancy than of observation enters into the baronet's
theory; for were the rarefaction of the contained air, and its
egress through the pulmonary aperture, all that was neces-
sary to shake off the winter slumber, this would be done on
several days in winter and in early spring, when the sun
shines brightly and the atmospherical temperature is high
enough to produce the effect, often higher, indeed, than it
is when they begin, in the appointed time, to leave their
hybernating retreats. If, says M. Gaspard, individuals of
Helix pomatia " were exposed during the winter to a dry
heat of from 60° to 100° for several days, or even weeks,
not one made its appearance; whilst, on the contrary, those
which were placed in a deep recess, the regular temperature
of which was 50°, came forth in April, or at the beginning of
May, without any increase of temperature."

Dr. Turton, on the other hand, maintains that the doctrine
of Gaspard is equally untenable ; for that the direct commu-
nication between the external air and the animal within its
shell is never interrupted, but on the contrary preserved, by
means of a small aperture in the epiphragm. His words
are : — " But, upon examination, it will appear, that in the

* In the following extract Sir E. Home repeats his hypothesis in a more
detailed manner : — "It is curious that, although respiration is necessary
for carrying on the functions of life, it is by no means so for the con-
tinuance of its existence. The garden snail illustrates this fact in the most
satisfactory manner. When the temperature of the atmosphere sinks
below a certain degree, this animal places itself upon a solid body, that it
may not be liable to fall off: it then forms an operculum of mucus, by
which respiration is stopped, and the animal remains hermetically sealed
up till warmth and moisture dissolve the mucus by which the animal was
fixed to its place ; and a globule of air retained in the lungs, which consist
only of one cell or bag, being rarefied, escapes externally, restoring the
communication with the air of the atmosphere which rushes in, and the
action of the heart is renewed. If it is admitted that the application of
oxygen to the muscles of the heart is capable of stimulating that organ,
nothing can be more simple than the mode in which this is effected : the
oxygen of the atmosphere is absorbed by the blood in the lungs, and the
closeness of the ventricle of the heart to the lungs permits the oxygen to
penetrate to the heart." (Comp. Anat.y vol. v. p. 129.)

120 Natural History of Molluscous Animals,

centre of this epiphragm (of Helix pomatia) is an exceedingly
minute orifice, communicating with an umbilical cord, which
is connected with a fine placenta-like tissue of vessels, pene-
trating into the pulmonary cavity itself; and this minute ori-
fice, although not large enough to admit a drop of water, is
of sufficient capacity for the passage of that quantity of oxy-
genated air necessary for the purposes of extremely slow, but
not totally extinct, respiration. If this orifice be covered
over with a coat of wax or varnish, so that all possible con-
nection with external air be excluded, animal life becomes
altogether extinguished, never to be again restored. We have
observed this minute puncture in the winter covering of the
H. ericet5rum and some others ; and it is probable that all
whose aperture is closed during the cold season only, are fur-
nished with this beautiful apparatus for the preservation of
life." {Manual of Land and Freshwater Shells, p. 46.) I re-
commend you to examine into those very interesting state-
ments ; and, if your own observations confirm them, they will
materially alter some inferences which have been drawn from
Gaspard's experiments, and adopted by us, in reference to
the total cessation of the action of the lungs and heart. That
snail does not reach this northern latitude; but I have exa-
mined, too carelessly however, the epiphragm of Helix aspersa
during its hybernation, and always find a small aperture in
it ; and also, in the aquatic tribes, I find a larger hole in their
thin winter operculum, intended, assuredly, to keep up the
communication between the pulmonary cavity and circum-
ambient medium in their season of repose.

There is something admirable in this curious adaptation of
the economy of the hybernating creatures to their situations ;
for otherwise they could not live beyond a single summer in
the countries which they now inhabit with impunity to them-
selves. If, during their active state of existence, you were to
keep a Limneus, or any other aquatic pulmoniferous species,
immersed in water for only one short day, it would die irre-
coverably; but it remains under water, perhaps with the
surface frozen over, for three or four months uninjured, when
the system has been prepared, in autumn, for the change.
And so of the land kinds : they perish if deprived of air for a
few hours only in summer, or if exposed to an artificial cold
not lower than the cold of winter; but in a state of hyberna-
tion they respire, if any, such a small quantity of air as is not
to be appreciated, and brave our longest and severest frosts
without peril and without pain. " O Lord, how glorious are
thy works ! thy thoughts are very deep ! "

Sept, 26. 1833. G. J.

Structure and Economy of the Aunulate A?imals. 121

Art. IV. On Structure, and its adnptedness to Economy in the
Annulate Animals, By il.

The most advantageous occupation for man is the study of
the works of his Creator ; this study is also the most natural,
and consequently the most gratifying. Man delights to en-
quire into the means employed to accomplish appointed ends;
he possesses an innate desire to discover the causes of those ob-
vious phenomena which are continually attracting his attention.
It is but too frequently the aim of those who instruct youth
to repress this desire, this thirst for natural knowledge, sup-
posing it likely, if encouraged, to interfere, in after-life, with
the pursuit of power and riches, which are generally the only
desiderata held up to our youthful hopes. It should be far
otherwise; the expanding mind, like the growing body,
should be copiously supplied with wholesome nutriment, else
its tastes become vitiated and its power weakened. There is
nothing which enables an ardent and aspiring mind to form
so just an estimate of itself, as does an idea, however imper-
fect, of something greatly superior. Now, that mind must be
lost to the power of thinking, that cannot trace in the circu-
lation of the blood, in the conversion of an egg to a chicken,
or in the reproduction of a spider's leg or a lobster's claw,
the design and superintendence of an intelligence infinitely
above its own. Let man enquire into these things. As he
imbibes great and important truths in natural history, he be-
comes deeply imbued with a sense of his own insignificance.
His first safe step in knowledge is the assured feeling of his
own utter ignorance.

I have long desired the opportunity now afforded me, of
addressing readers among whom many will be willing to
consider themselves learners. For the learned I have no no-
velties in store. I address myself more particularly to those
yet in the morning of life, whose enthusiasm of enquiry has
received no chill from the unsatisfactory sophisms and pe-
dantry of soQie of the self-elected dictators in natural history.
I am no dictator, but a fellow enquirer : my solicitation is,
" Come with me, a lowly and unworthy son of science ; come
with me, and let us together meditate on the wonderful works
of our Creator. Let us examine together the structure of
one branch of the animal kingdom. Let us trace the pecu-
liarities which distinguish it from the other branches. Let
us see how beautifully these very peculiarities are adapted to
the parts in the creation which these creatures are designed
to perform."

122 Relations of the Structure of

In this research, Professor Grant, hi his admirable lectures
at the London University, and Mr. Newman, in his letters on
the Osteology of Insects, in the Entomological Magazine, have
both preceded me; but, by restricting myself to much narrower
limits than the former, and avoiding altogether the tech-
nicalities of the latter, I trust it will not be difficult to steer a
middle course, without the least interference with either of
them.

Animals are termed annulate, from having the exterior of
their bodies divided into rings. The name may be considered
as applicable to every creature commonly known as an insect;
flies, bees, wasps, beetles, grasshoppers, dragon-flies, moths,
butterflies, fleas, mites, spiders, centipedes, scorpions, lob-
sters, crabs, shrimps, &c., &c.

In these creatures we find the seven principal systems of
organs observable in larger animals and in man : the organs
of sensation, or nervous system; the organs of support, os-
seous or bony system ; the organs of motion, or muscular
system; and these three we shall find, throughout their varied
developement, peculiarly connected and dependent on each
other : the organs of circulation, or vascular system ; the
organs of respiration, or respiratory system ; these two, also,
being dependent on each other : the organs of nutrition, or
digestive system; and the organs of reproduction, or generative
system.

We frequently find, in the writings of men entitled to the
greatest respect, a kind of triple division made of the organs
of sensation — the brain, the nerves, and the organs of the
senses. Let us examine whether this division really exists.
Vegetable physiologists have shown that the delicate flowers
of a plant are but the perfected continuation and completion
of the same rind which originates in the root and clothes the
stem. Now, it appears to me, that the nerves originate in
the brain, which is their root, branch through the body, and
blossom in the organs of the senses ; and that, therefore, each
peculiar character they assume is but the modification of the
same system. Taste, smell, hearing, and sight must, in this
case, be considered as nothing more than variously perfected
attenuations of the same nerves which are distributed through-
out the body; in other words, varied developements of the
power of feeling, wonderfully contrived to arrest, ascertain,
and apply the properties of substances, effluvia, sounds, and
rays of light. The nerves, when terminating simply in organs
of sensation, appear to be endowed with a double capacity :
they convey the impression of the presence and form of inert

Annulate Animals to their Economy. 123

matter, and of pain from the quality or motion of matter.
One impression is not the excess of the other ; the scald of
hot water, or the entrance of a bullet, conveys no impression
of form. We find that, the more concentrated the brain, as
in vertebrates, the more perfect are the organs of the senses.
Let us select, for example, a mouse: mark the bright eyes, the
attentive ears, the inquisitive nose, all taking instant cogni-
zance of danger, or enquiring for means of support. Ex-
quisitely slender, infinitely ramified, and tremblingly alive to
pain, are the nerves which serve for the sense of touch. Of
vertebrated animals, moreover, it is a distinguishing character
that the separation of the brain from its branches, the nerves,
causes death.

In annulates, the nerves are nowhere concentrated into a
mass analogous to the brain of man, but are gathered up into
knotted strings, two principal series of which pass longitu-
dinally throughout the body, extending their branches into
all the limbs. The head, in such a formation, is therefore no
longer the seat of life, or essential to life, but every segment
and every limb is possessed of, and retains, vitality in equal
proportion. This diffused brain, like the concentrated human
brain, appears to be the organ governing sensation, and, like
that, also, seems, in its principal masses, without sensation in
its own self; and its radiations do not, except as organs of
the senses, generally, as in vertebrates, find their way to the
surface. From these circumstances it may be conjectured,
that, had we the means of ascertaining, we should find that
annulates are altogether without that acute sense of pain
which we possess. The organs of the senses, also, are less
perfectly developed. If we select the lobster as an example
of a large and tolerably perfect annulate, and examine its
dull eyes, its simple vestibules of ears, we shall instantly be
struck with its inferiority in these respects. Another Jesuit
of this difference in organisation is, that creatures having the
concentrated brain enjoy, in a greater or less degree, that
wonderful reflecting meditating power possessed in so glorious
a degree by man ; whilst the whole of the annulates are di-
rected in all their actions by a blind unreasoning instinct.
The annulates, then, may be said to be unprotected by reflec-
tion, and for the most part unguarded by the senses. The
lobster is driven by the waves and dashed among the roughest
rocks ; the heedless beetle flies in our very faces ; myriads of
insects are forcibly impelled by the winds against the hardest
substances ; myriads are beaten to the earth by rain ; myriads
are cast, unresisting, into rivers and lakes. Yet they escape

Ig-i delations of the Structure of

from all this unharmed, and, by a simple and beautiful con-
trivance, are enabled to abide their time, to exist till their
destiny is complete. They are provided with an exterior
skeleton, a covering which wraps them as a mantle and shields
them from harm.

The covering of annulates is completely bony; it is, in
every respect, a substitute for the internal skeleton of verte-
brates : like that, it serves for the attachment of the muscles
and support of the whole frame. It bears uninjured the con-
tact of the roughest and hardest substances. It enables its
possessor to endure that rough usage which the more perfect
developement of the organs of the senses in vertebrates en-
ables them to avoid. When we consider the destiny of annu-
lates, principally food for each other, or for larger animals,
we cannot wonder that the same nicety of reasoning power
and of sensation, which vertebrates enjoy, has not been given
them. To what good purpose would it have tended, had
nature furnished creatures so obviously the sport of wind and
wave, so obviously liable to continual loss of limb, so ob-
viously designed the living food of others, with that constant
apprehension of danger, and that acute sensation of injury,
which we ourselves possess? Certainly to none. Their
brain does not reason, their covering does not feel. This
bony covering or skeleton of annulates gives them shape, and,
like the skeleton of vertebrates, affords the naturalist some of
the best characters for distributing them into groups. It is
transversely divided into thirteen segments, or rings ; whence
the term annulate. To each of these rings names have been
lately given by Mr. Newman, in the work before alluded to,
the Entomological Magazine. Attached to these rings are
the organs of locomotion ; and the number, position, and de-
velopement of these are very various ; and a knowledge of
these variations is, consequently, not only highly interesting,
but absolutely essential to the right understanding of the
economy and classification of these wonderful creatures.

The muscles, in annulates, are very various in their pro-
portions; we shall, however, always find them beautifully
adapted to the labour they have to perform ; and their degree
of developement operates immediately on that part of the
skeleton which covers them, by a visible increase or decrease
in size of the bony plates of which each segment is composed.
It not unfrequently happens in glowworms, moths, &c., that,
in the same species, one sex is provided with wings and the
other sex wants them entirely : in these cases we find that, in
the females, there is a tendency to equal developement of all

Annulate Animals to their Economy. ] 25

the segments; whilst, in the males, the wing-bearing segments
are both increased in magnitude and altered in form. By
dissection we find that those muscles which, in the males, are
essential to move and guide, with great power and rapidity,
the organs of flight, are become obsolete, or rather repose in a
quiescent and undeveloped state, in the inactive females,
which are doomed never to traverse the realms of air. Ob-
serve, again, the common ant. Compare, in a winged ant,
the wing-bearing segments with the same parts in a worker
which is constantly without wings, and you cannot fail to
be struck with the difference in their size. In autumn,
large wingless ants are not uncommonly seen w^ith the wing-
bearing segments precisely similar to that of the winged ants:
these are females which have once possessed wings, but
which have, on settling down to form a new colony, stripped
off these organs as useless in the subterranean life they are
about to lead.

We must, however, in making a law for the appropriation
of muscular developement to the extent, strength, or activity
of the organs it has to govern, be ever on the watch for the
operation of yet more positive and unvarying laws, which
may supersede the operation of the one we may assume.
Specific gravity is one of these. The lobster, which is so
nearly equal in weight to its own bulk of salt water that it
floats in it with perfect ease, can, in that medium, move its
ponderous claws with the greatest activity ; but in the air,
unless the governing muscles, and consequently that portion
of the body which they occupy, were increased at least ten-
fold in magnitude, these claws would be unwieldy and useless.
If we hold a lobster up by the back, we find that these claws
are too heavy to be employed : the forceps will pinch, and
that severely, but the object must be placed purposely in
their way. the animal possessing no muscles which will raise
them sufficiently to seize an object on a level with its head.
Still we must not conclude that the annulates inhabiting
water are invariably thus unfitted for exertion in another
medium; for this is by no means the case; many possess a
form and organs equally adapted for living in the water or on
the land.

X2.
January 16. 1834-.

(To be continued.') ^

126

Illustrations Z7i British Zoology : —

Art. V. Illustrations in British Zoology, By George John-
ston, M.D., Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edin-
burgh.

18. Se'rpula tubula'ria. (/g.23.)

Synonymes. — Serpiila tubularia,
Mont. Test. Brit. p. 513. (1803),
Turt. Brit. Faun. p. 202. (1807),
Fleming in Edin. Encyclop.
vol.vii. p. 67. t. 204. f.9., Penn.
Br.Zool. vol.iv. p. 362. (1812),
Dillw. Cat. Rec. Sh. p. 1083.
(1817), Fleming in Edin. Phil.
Journ. vol. xii. p. 243. (1825).
Serpula arundo, Turt. Conch.
Diet. p. 155. (1819), Berkeley
in Zool. Journ. vol. iii. p. 229.
(1828). The figure there re-
ferred to I have not seen.

? variety. — The tubes clustered.
Serp. tubularia, Mont. Supp.
p. 171. (1808), Turt. Conch.
Diet. p. 154. t. 24. f. 84.

Habitat. — The sea; af-
fixed to old shells, particu-
larly bivalves. Coast of
Devonshire, Mbw/flt^>-W/ Wey-
mouth, Berkeley; Zetland,
Fleming; Berwick Bay, G.
J, The variety has been
found on the coasts of Devon
and Essex ; and, of a smaller
size, in Dublin Bay, Turton.

Oy The animal in the shell, natural
size, by The animal removed
from the shell, natural size,
c, A single filament of a bran-
chial tuft, magnified.

This splendid worm was first discovered by Colonel Mon-
tagu ; and although it has been since noticed by several con-
chologists, yet as none of them, except Mr. Berkeley, has
taken any notice of the animal, it may not be deemed an un-
interesting subject for these illustrations, particularly as the
figure alluded to is contained in an expensive work, in the
hands, perhaps, of few readers of this Magazine; and the
figure itself I was never able to procure.

Serpula tubularia is the largest species of its genus found

Sei'piila inhuldriai, 127

on our coasts, and has been usually considered among the
rarest. The shell is from four to five inches long, and some-
times more, but the animal tenant does not exceed three. The
body of this is vermiform, flattish, distinctly annulated, of a
reddish-orange colour, stained v^^ith irregular blotches, from
the opacity of the viscera and their contents. The anterior
extremity is obtusely truncate, and on it are placed two large
fan-shaped bundles of filaments of a yellowish colour, beauti-
fully marked with scarlet spots. The filaments in each bundle
are numerous, and are united at the base into a fleshy stalk,
which again is directly connected with the head, on which
also some scarlet spots are distributed. Each filament is
simple, but pectinated along the internal edge with a close
series of short blunt processes, which are not visible without
the aid of the magnifier. The anterior third of the body is
covered with a thin brown membrane, divided on the ventral
aspect, where the margins are free and somewhat undulated ;
they are also furnished on each side with seven little brushes of
bristles, which appear to be partly retractile. These brushes
are placed at equal distances ; the anterior, perhaps, a little
closer; and at the side of each there is a scarlet bar or spot ; the
bristles in each are very slender, numerous, yellowish, smooth,
and acutely pointed. The remaining portion of the body is
divided into very numerous short rings, on the sides of each
of which there is a thickened puckered spot, something like a
beginning tubercle ; it is grooved along the back, and tapers
to a rather obtuse end, where it is sparingly clothed with
some delicate hairs. The ventral surface is convex, smooth,
and flesh-coloured ; and the anus is terminal, there lying
underneath it a long white spot, produced, perhaps, by some
dilatation of the intestine.

The shell, as we have said, is from four to five inches long,
and as thick as a goose-quill. It is cylindrical, gradually
tapered at the posterior end, where it becomes more or less
flexuose, and where it is affixed to the foreign body whence
it takes its origin. The attachment in our specimen was
broken off. The colour is opaque white, and the smooth sur-
face is partially covered with corallines and smaller Serpulae.
The margin of the aperture is circular, smooth, and even ;
the other extremity is closed.

I kept the individual here figured for several days by me,
to observe its motions. The worm would sometimes remain
for hours concealed in the shell : and, when it ventured to
peep out, the branchial tufts were sometimes slowly and cau-
tiously protruded, and sometimes forced out at once to their
full extent. After their extrusion they were separated and ex-
panded, as in the figure, and lay at perfect rest on the bottom

128 Illus'rations i?i British Zoology: — Serpida tuhuldria,

of the plate, in unrivalled beauty, and an object of never failing
admiration. The worm, however, seemed never either to
slumber or sleep; for, on any slight agitation of the water,
occasioned, for example, by walking across the room or leaning
on the table, it would at once take alarm, and hurriedly retreat
within the shelter of its tube. It was never off its guard,
and would often, when lying apparently in calm indulgence,
suddenly withdraw, in evident alarm, without a cause but
what was gendered by its own natural timidity; for the phan-
toms of dreams are not, it may be, the visitants only of
higher intelligences, but come as they like, in a fearful or
cheerful mood, even to these lower things. It never pro-
truded itself farther than is shown in fig. 23. a ; and, after
becoming weak and sickly, it first threw off one half of its
pride, a branchial tuft ; and after several hours the other
was likewise cast away, when the poor mutilated creature
buried itself, still living and to live for a day or so longer, in
its own house and cemetery.

The anus is at the posterior extremity, as in other worms ;
but the remains of its food are ejected from the mouth of the
shell, in small egg-shaped pellets. By what contrivance this
is done, I do not know: are the pellets forced along the
dorsal furrow? The fan-shaped fascicles are its breathing
organs ; and the brushes of bristles in the sides of the
mantle are the organs which enable it to move up and down
the tube, assisted, undoubtedly, by the rough spots on the
margins of the body. This is traversed down the centre of
the back with a vessel filled with red blood, and which sends
off minute branches to almost every ring.

Mr. Berkeley has attempted to draw a distinction between
Serpula arundo and tubularia. The former, he says, may be
known "by its more slender form and delicate substance;
'neither is the aperture expanded, as in S. tubularia. The
animal differs from S. tubularia in its oblong dorsal area;
while that of the latter is much attenuated behind ; and in the
absence of the operculum." Now, if we turn to Montagu,
the original describer of S. tubularia, and whose name
therefore ought to be retained, we shall find him telling us
that the animal has no operculum ; and his description of it
agrees exactly, so far as lam able to judge, with Mr. Berkeley's.
Indeed, it seems to me, that this very acute and excellent
naturalist has confounded the S. tubularia of Montagu with
the S. wrmicularis of authors : for, on this supposition, his
remarks on their distinctive characters will be found per-
fectly correct and decisive.

Benvick upon Tweedy Feb, 19. 1833.

British Animals not generally hnonx)n. 1^9

Art. VI. Illustrations of some Species of British Animals ivkick
are not generally knoxun, or have not hitherto been described. By
CM."

[" Segnius irritant animos, demissa per aures,

Quam quae sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus." Hor.

" What we hear.

With weaker passion will affect the heart,
Than when the faithful eye beholds the part."

Francis'* Translation.']

Sir,
I SHALL feel gratified if the accompanying contributions to
the British Fauna, " a very short paper and very long draw-
Hngs," should meet with your approval, and obtain a place in
your journal. Believing that natural history will, in this
country, he. much more advanced by presenting accurate
sketches of its objects, than by the most voluminous descrip^
tions unaided by them, I shall, confident in the attention I
pay to the delineation of those I forward, continue to supply
you, from time to time, with such of the animals I meet with
as appear to me totally new. I am. Sir, yours, &c.

CM.

Asci'dia? ge'jmi"NA. {Jig.^Ai.a) — Body coriaceous, elongate,
cylindric, adhering to the rocks by 5 or 6 roots, of a greenish
brown colour, surmounted superiorly by two mammiform pro-
cesses {b\ each with a terminal orifice {c) surrounded by 5 oval
orange marks. These processes are retractile, but easily made
to protrude by pressing the body ; and, on continuing it, water
is projected in jets from both orifices. It adheres very strongly
to the rocks, a number of them being generally found within
the limit of a few inches.

Vol. VII. — No. 38. k

130

British Animals not generally known

25 ^^,

Asci'dia? //olothu'ria? a'nceps. (7%-. 25. «) — Sessile,
elongate, irregular in form, obscure greenish yellow, one of
the apertures lateral, erect, subterminal. Mouths crateriform,
with 8 or 9 segments, from each point of union a row of
bright yellow oval dots leading directly to the orifice, which,
on pressing the body, emits a jet of w^ater. The interior
structure was not examined, so that no opportunity occurs of
referring it to its proper position. It appears to approach in
form to Ascidia prunum. Dredged up off Carrickfergus, Belfast
Lough, August, 1811. {b,c. Views of the mouth, magnified.)

26

a, The animal of the natural size. b. The same magnified.

c, A profile of the anterior portion magnified.

An atom is an ample field." Cowper.

^A^is Lin. ^ERPENTf NA Gmcl. {fg. 26. a) — Hyaline ; the
convolutions of the intestinal canal obvious. Two dark spots
mark the position of the eyes, which seem made up of nume-
rous irregular black points. Mouth immediately beneath the
eyes. The snout rounded. A single row of simple spines is
protruded from the belly at the will of the animal ; a sheath,
easily distinguishable, receives them when retracted. The
intestinal canal continues in constant action.

If this be Nai5 serpentina, and I am disposed to believe it
is, it agrees indifferently with the generic character of La-
marck, and the specific of Miiller. The former describes the

Mode qfdryhig Fungi ^r Herbariums.

131

mouth as terminal, while in mine it recedes considerably from
it ; the setae lateral, instead of a single ventral row, and the
body flattened, instead of cylindric. Miiller's description, and
his figure does not agree with it, is " setis lateralibus nullis,
coUari triplici nigro." Mine is totally deficient in the latter
quality, but agrees with the former, though possibly in a differ-
ent sense from that intended by Miiller. It was found entwined
round the bracteas of Chara flexilis.

LvMBRi^cvs? Clite''llio Savigny? pellu^cida. {Jig.^l, a)
— Minute, hyaline, with porrectile setae, one series on each
side of the body, retractible at the will of the animal, within a
sheath, which can be distinguished, exterior to the intestinal
convolutions. Neither eyes nor mouth is apparent. The
rings are strongly marked anterior to the position of the
sexual organs, and from each of them proceed 2 lateral setae,
which are, at e, exhibited retracted : they were exserted at
each violent movement of the animal, or about once every
20 seconds, a Represents the animal of the natural size;
^5 magnified; c, the anteal extremity; f/, the anal, with the
setae shot out. It was found among moss. The jLumbricus
minutus of Fabricius and Miiller is marine, else the description
answers tolerably.

Art. VII. A Description of a Mode, practised hy M. Klotzsch, of
drying Specimens of Vungijbr Preservation in Herbariums, By
William Christy, Jun, Esq., F.L.S.,,&c. &c.

Sir,
If the following brief notice of an easy and successful mode
of preserving Jungi should be deemed worthy of a place in

K 2

132

Mode of drying Specimens ofYungi

your pages, I shall be gratified. I enclose, for your inspec-
tion, some specimens, which have now been prepared between
three and four years, and which, you will, I think, allow, give
a very fair idea of the i^ungi in their growing state.

I am, Sir, yours, &c.
Clapham Boad^ Teh, 1834. W. Christy, Jun.

The extreme difficulty of preserving Fungi, so as to give
any idea of their colours or forms, except by the cumbrous
and expensive plan of putting them in spirits, must have struck
every one who has paid any attention to this beautiful branch
of botany. When on a visit, several years since, to my excel-
lent friend Dr. Hooker of Glasgow, I became much interested
with a mode which M. Klotzsch (who had then the care of
the doctor's herbarium) adopted to preserve various Fungi.
M. Klotzsch was good enough to give me some lessons on his
plan, by which, I am sorry to say, I have as yet profited little ;
but I have done at least enough to satisfy myself that it is not
only practicable, but easy and very successful. Preserving
Fungi in spirits, besides the expense for spirit and glasses, is
of little use as regards their colours ; whereas the plan alluded
to preserves the colours, in most instances, in their native
brilliancy. M. Klotzsch published, I believe, an account of
his plan in that valuable work the Botanical Miscellany ; but
as that work, from its comparatively high price, has a much
less extensive circulation than your Magazine, I think I may
be rendering a service to some of the lovers of Fungi by com-
municating, through your pages, a sketch of the mode as
known to myself.

The plan which, in pursuance of M. Klotzsch's instructions,

I have adopted, is as follows : —
With a sharp knife I divide
the fungus through the pileus
and stipes into two parts, one
rather larger than the other.
From the inside of the larger
portion I take, in the same
manner, a thin slice [Jig. 28.),
which thus affords a complete
vertical section of the fungus,
showing the peculiarities in the
structure of the stipes, pileus,
and gills. The remaining por-
tions are then to be treated as
follows : — Carefully separate
the pileus {Jig, 29, a) from the

for Preservation in Herbariums.

133

29

Stipes (b) ; scrape out the gills, and,
where the fungus is very fleshy, re-
move also a portion of the solid part
of the pileus. The vertical section,
and the respective portions of pileus
and stipes, are then to be placed in
blotting-paper, and submitted to
pressure, as is usual in drying plants.
It is, however, advisable to expose
them to the air for a short time, in
order to wither them, and also to
apply the pressure at first gently, as
they are otherwise liable to split and
crack. If the fungus is of a succulent
nature, M. Klotzsch recommends
drying them within the influence of
the fire, and changing the papers
several times a day. When dry, the vertical section, with
the pieces of stipes on which are to be placed the respective
portions of pileus, may be glued upon
paper, and the whole will give a very
good idea of the general appearance
of the fungus, (fg. 30.)

Where a sufficiency of plants of a
species occur, sections may be made
of them in their different stages of
growth, showing the various degrees
of developement. {fg, 31.)

The very vivid colours of some
jFungi (^garicus emeticus and others),
are, in specimens dried in this man-
ner, beautifully preserved, as well as
the forms of some of the most fragile
and delicate species.
The advantage which this mode of preservation possesses
over all others, by enabling us to place
the specimens in almost as little space as
other plants in our herbaria, renders it
worth the notice of all botanists.

I trust I have made myself intelligible ;
but any one desirous of farther information
would doubtless find it in M. Klotzsch's
paper. Not having the Botanical Mis-
cellany at hand, I can only speak from me-
mory; but I think the paper will be found
in the fifth or sixth number of that work
[Vol. ii. p. 159. t. Ixxxiii.]

1 34 Shm't Coimmini cations i —

The dried specimens of funguses sent by Mr. Christy are
affixed to four tablets of paper, and are thereon named ^gari-
cus squarrosus Miiller, A. peronatus BolL^ A. emeticus Schaejff]
A* pratensis Pers. The place and time in which they were
obtained are added : the time, as to the year, is 1830. Their
appearance on the paper is very pleasing, and their character-
istics seem most satisfactorily exhibited. A» squarrosus is
illustrated by one specimen, very young ; a vertical section of
another, a little older ; a profile of one full grown ; and a
vertical section of another full grown : this last shows the
relative thickness of the pileus, the depth of the gills, and the
structure of the stipes. A. peronatus is shown in two pro-
files and two vertical sections : A, emeticus by a profile and
two vertical sections ; the external colour of the pileus is a
fine fulvous red : A, pratensis by two profiles, and four ver-
tical sections of as many plants in progressive stages of
growth. The condition of all the specimens proves the excel-
lence of this mode of preparing them, and this must render a
knowledge of it very useful to every student of F(xugu We
hope to see a descriptive notice of it given in the volume on the
funguses of Britain, now in preparation by Dr. Hooker : it
will then be under the eye of every one who may endeavour,
by the help of that work, to attain an acquaintance with these
plants. — J, D,

Art. VIII. Short Communications,

Mammiferous Animals. — Fooc at Deptford, — Sir,lscarcely
know whether you will think it worth noticing among your
Short Communications, that a fox should have established an
" at home " within four miles of London Bridge. My garden
is one that is rather remarkable for having its own way. Some
years ago, I took a great deal of pains to introduce into it all
kinds of wild flowers, shrubs, and trees, and these have grown
uninterruptedly and formed large masses of underwood,
which, being principally composed of bramble and dog-rose,
have established a seat of empire not easily to be shaken.
What is termed, vulgarly, a tide-ditch, elegantly, a canal,
which the river Thames fills at high water, surrounds more
than two thirds of the garden. In this spot a fox established
his abode, and made himself very happy for more than six
weeks. The neighbours lost their fowls, ducks, pigeons, and
rabbits. Many a long face have I seen pulled about their
losses ; many a complaint of the " howdaciousness " of the
rats, the cats, the thieves, and the new police ; in all which I

Mammiferous Animals. 13.5

took very great and sympathising interest. In the mean time,
I used to sit in my summer-house of an evening, and watch
master Reynard come out of his retreat ; and a great amuse-^
ment it was to me. He would come slowly trotting along, to
a round gravelled place, where four paths met; then he
would raise himself on the sitting part, look about, and listen,
to ascertain that all was safe, and, being satisfied of this, he
would commence washing his face with the soft part of the
leg, just above the pad. After this operation was well per-
formed, he used to lie flat down on his belly and walk delibe-
rately along with his fore legs, dragging the rest of his person
along the gravel, as though it were quite dead, or, at least,
deprived of motion ; then he would run round and round
after his brush ; which I could see he sometimes bit pretty
severely, and on such occasions he would turn serious all at
once, and whisk his brush about in a very angry manner.
Poor fellow I a neighbour happened to see him cross the
ditch by moonlight into my garden with an old hen in his
mouth. The outcry was raised; a search was demanded.
Next day there came guns, dogs, pitchforks, and — neigh-
bours ; the upshot of all which was, that poor Reynard/s
brush is dangling in my little wainscotted room between an
Annibal Caracci and a Batista. — E, N. D. Dec. 14. 1833.
[Facts on the fox will be found in 11.457., IV. 11. 24.,
VI. 207., VII. 181.]

Instances of depraved Appetite in Mammiferous Animals,
(V. 714., VI. 364.) — Sir, The case of a dog's eating heath
mould, related in p. 714. of Vol. V., is, as you observe,
more strange than the case I have, in Vol. III. p. 364.,
described, of a dog's eating oats, as oats are, as you have
observed, of the nature of part of a dog s food ; such as,
" bran, pollard, barley-meal," &c. : but I think that the dog's
eating mould was occasioned by a depraved appetite, similar
to that in human creatures who eat coals, mould, &c., of
which many cases are on record. I lately met with a case of
this disease, mentioned in a recent work on the West Indies.
The writer states that he saw a slave who was in the habit of
eating earth in large quantities. He seemingly considered it
a luxury. Yours, — J. M. Haughton le Skerne^ County of
Durham, August 20. 1833.

A somewhat large, and a very interesting, collection of in-
stances of depraved appetite in the human species will be
found in Good's Study of Medicine. Humboldt, in his Tableaux
de la Nature, informs us that the Otomacs sometimes appease
their hunger by distending their stomachs with prodigious
quantities of slightly baked clay.

K 4

136 Short Corrmmnkations : - —

In farther illustration of this subject we present
Some Instances qf^ depraved Appetite in the domestic Babbifj
taken from a communication on the habits of this animal, con-
tributed by our correspondent, Wm. G. Barker. After he
has described the usual articles of food with domestic rabbits,
he thus proceeds : —

They will drink ale with avidity, but in this matter, I must
own, they show much greater sense than pigs, two or three
spoonfuls sufficing them. But the appetite of the rabbit ap-
pears to have no bounds : vegetables are their natural food ;
but I unhesitatingly assert that they feed upon animal sub-
stances both dead and living. Some ievf of your readers will
undoubtedly feel surprised at this declaration : I have, how-
ever, seen it myself. Depravity of appetite is far from being
peculiar to the rabbit. If time and space allowed me, I could
refer to a kestrel (Falco Tinnunculus L.), now in my posses-
sion ; and to some remarkable anecdotes of hyaenas, by Pro-
fessor Biickland, in his valuable Reliquice Diluviame. Of these
in their season. Many, I may say the whole, of your readers
have, in all probability, kept rabbits in their younger days,
and they must, therefore, be well aware that the male has so
great a propensity to devour the young ones, that breeders of
rabbits always remove him from the doe, at the time of kind-
ling. As soon, however, as the young ones can see, there
remains not the slightest danger to them, from him * ; on the
contrary, he will sometimes display great ferocity in defend-
ing them from their enemies. Far otherwise the doe : if the
young are born dead, as they not unfrequently are, they are,
in most cases, immediately devoured by the mother ; and some
have this unnatural propensity in so strong a degree, that the
offspring, though born alive, share the same fate. I have
known one remarkable and solitary instance of a doe who
killed her whole brood, when two months old. They were
tolerably fine young rabbits, lively, and appeared healthy, but
there was something in them which exasperated their mother,
for she seemed wholly bent upon destroying them. It was not
done at once, nor in a few hours, but occupied her about ten

* I have known an instance of a male inducing the death of a young
rabbit, between a third and half grown. The latter, and all those of the
same litter, were moving about on the floor of the apartment, out of their
hutch, when the male forced open the door of his own hutch and sprang
among them, and bit through the skin of one of them behind the shoulders.
In the struggling of the young rabbit to get away, and the detention of it
by the male, the skin, in an instant, was torn off a considerable portion of
its back, although not wholly detached from the portion of skin left re-
maining; insomuch that it was judged proper to kill the little rabbit
instantly, and this was done. — J. D.

Mamm{ferous Animals. 137

days. I do not, however, mean that she was employed the
whole of that time in the operation of slaughtering, as two or
three days intervened between the death of each. It was painful
to see her chase the little unoffending creature round the hutch,
in frenzied passion, and literally thirsting for its blood ; but
there was no alternative : to remove it from her was certain
death, to allow it to remain was to leave it in the jaws of de-
struction : one after another, they all were slain. One of
those which perished in this manner had recipived a wound
from her teeth and claws in the side, through which the bowels
protruded. As soon as it was dead, nay, even before the
breath had left the mangled body, the unnatural brute, and
the surviving young ones, eagerly devoured the whole of the
carcass, and even the bones, leaving nothing of their horrid
banquet but a portion of the skin, the legs, and, if I mistake not,
the head. Until then, I had thought maternal love inviolate in
the brute creation. I have since found, from other sources,
that they share the depravity of man. If any person presumed
to touch one of the young rabbits above mentioned, its death
was sure to follow almost immediately. What renders the
above account more remarkable is, that the animals had just
received their morning's allowance of food ; but the deaths ge-
nerally happened after feeding time. May I here be allowed
to ask some of your medical readers, might not this extraor-
dinary and unnatural depravity arise from some disease in the
organs of smell, and, perhaps, in the stomach also ? The
mother invariably examined them, which rabbits always do,
by smelling, previous to commencing her attack. — Wm, G.
Barker, East Witton, March 22. 1833.

GoGseherry-eating Dogs. (VI. 364.) — Grammarians tell
us of three degrees of comparison: J. M.'s dog is positive;
J. D.'s is comparative ; mine is superlative. The book people,
and the technical people, and the anti-Natural History Maga-
zine people may laugh at all three, dubbing us, by way of
epithet, stultus, stultior, sttdtissimus : but no matter ; I cannot
let my poor old favourite Crib, and his favourite appetites, be
forgotten like a common dog or a common propensity, when
the oat-cracking, gooseberry-crushing candidates for immor-
tality are eternised by Mr. Loudon.

My friend Crib was a dog of talent and discerning;
he was bred at Ely, and educated at Cambridge; having
graduated with his master, as Bachelor of Arts, in the year
1821. Like Ulysses*, he was one of the ugliest and
most eloquent of animals, and his very exuberance of black

* " l^on formosus erat, sed exaXfacunduSy Ulysses." Ovid.

138 Short Comrmmications : —

whisker and eyebrow, and his unceasing bark, made him
noticeable by day and night. I never was given to such pas-
times, but I am told he would dive after a waterfowl, and
draw a badger; accomplishments some years since in high
odour with puppies at the Universities ; now, I hope, in these
reforming days, abandoned for more philosophical and classical
pursuits. Crib, therefore, did not want courage. He was
Cerberus from that time till his death, in 1831, at my resi-
dence in Suffolk, and during those ten years became cele-
brated as a guardian by night, a companion by day, an enemy
of poachers, the friend of cats, and, like J. D.'s Toby, a
mighty connoisseur in gooseberries. I have no time here to
tell all his adventures with a monkey and a snake, which I
kept with him as playmates ; but I may add that Toby, with
all his " taste" and " well-bred" enjoyment, does not appear
to have arrived at Mr. Crib's state of renown. I found him,
one day, in the garden, performing Toby's feat of gooseberry-
crushing ; thereby discovering the depredator, whom we had
long unjustly considered a two-legged dog. In his heedless-
ness, he swallowed a berry, in which was a wasp. The wasp
stung his throat; and the agony, to judge by his grimaces,
must have been intense. From that hour he became the
mortal enemy of the whole race of wasps, and his skill in
destroying them was remarkable. Baring his teeth by the
withdrawal of his lips (V. 386.)j he would wait under his
favourite bushes till the wasps appeared, and then, snapping
at them, he contrived to kill them without injury to himself.
I have seen dozens of those marauders mingled with the
gooseberry husks under the bushes, but I never recollect an
instance of their doing their destroyer an injury after the first
insult. The dog never forgot the circumstance ; a wasp ever
after became an object of pursuit with him. This, however,
was not all : amongst other things. Crib, like his namesake of
the ring, was a tippler as well as boxer ; and nothing de-
lighted him so much as a saucerful of warm elderberry wine,
which he regularly partook at Christmas with the family.
I have seen him, more than once, *' pretty considerably decent
tipsy," as they say in America ; but justice compels me to say
that this was his only failing: a more moral dog, in every
other respect, never lived, and one more regretted never died.
The day I left my native place, he laid himself down at the
foot of my chair, burst a blood-vessel, and expired. He sleeps
in his quiet grave, under the shadow of one of the most
splendid oaks in all Suffolk; and his epitaph might put to
the blush many, perhaps, who may call its writer, for this

MammiferoHS Animals. 139

mention of it, simpleton. — W, B. Clarke. Stanley-Green
Cottage, near Poole, July 2. 1833.

Acts, possibly analogous, in the Lion and the Young of the
Domestic Cat. — In playing with a cat, young enough not to
refuse to play, it is observable that, when the cat has enclosed
your hand in its (all four) paws, and has also applied its
mouth to your flesh, ready to both lacerate and bite you at
the very next tickle, should you adventure one more, yet, if
you do not adventure one more, and hold your hand perfectly
still, you may usually save yourself the laceration and biting
threatened you, and, at the cat's own good pleasure, be entirely
released from its grasp. I have fancied there is a similarity
in this conduct of the cat of our hearth, and that of the lion
to Major Woodhouse, as described bv Mr. Waterton. (p. 5.)
J.D.

A few Words on Cats.— -J, W. L. (V. 275.) tells of a cat
at Dorking, which never ate the mice he caught, but laid
them at the feet of the first person he met. My father had a
white male cat, about the year 1815 (when we resided at East
Bergholt, in Suffolk), which was even more sportsman-like
than his Dorking compatriot. In a meadow bank, behind
the house, were abundance of rabbits; the cat would go
thither, and bring away his game, even rabbits more than
half-grown, and, without injuring them in any way, would
take them into the house, lay them at the feet of any one he
met, and retire to the door, to prevent the escape of his prey.
This I remember to have occurred frequently, till, in one of
his poaching expeditions, poor Tom was taken in a snare laid
for his game, and delivered over to the executioner, to be
done with according to game law.

J. D. (V. 276. and 674.), X. (V. 674.), and Mancuniensis
(V. 717.), speak of cats without tails. The last observes
that they are plentiful in the part of the Isle of Man
called '' the Calf of Man." This can hardly be, as the
Calf of Man is a smaller island at the southern extremity
of Man, and is not peopled or inhabited, save by the family
of the person who has charge of the splendid lighthouse
erected there. I do not exactly agree in the description
given by Mancuniensis, though the tailless cats of Man are
tall. When I was in the island, with some college friends, in
the long vacation of 1820, we had much amusement with
these curious creatures. I saw several in the huts of the
peasantry, amongst the mountains, between Ramsay and Peel
Town ; but as the honest people did not speak English, and we
spoke no Manx, I learned nothing of their history there. But
mentioning the subject to a person at Balla Salla, near Castle

140 Short Commwiications : —

Rushen, and not very far from the Calf, I was informed that
a vessel from Prussia, or some port in the Baltic, was wrecked
many years ago on the rocky shore between Castle Rushen
and the Calf, and that, on her driving close in to the land, two
or three cats without tails made their escape from the bowsprit,
and were taken by the wreckers ; and that these were the first
of the kind ever seen in the island. I do not say that this is
the truth, but I was told so ; and, if it be the truth, the original
breed is not of Manx extraction, but must be sought out in
the north of Europe. I do not agree, though, in the emend-
ation of Mancuniensis, who recommends (V. 717.) reading
" Isle of Man" for " Isle of Wight;" for Dr. Leach's cat
might have been wrecked there, or imported thither, as well
as its contemporaries to the Isle of Man.

Whilst on the subject, I will allude to a tale which was told
me when a boy, of an extraordinary instance of the powers of
abstinence of the cat. I forget the minutiae of the story, but
it ran thus : — A cat, which belonged to a vessel from the
port of Mistley, in Essex (a place about four miles from East
Bergholt), was missing when the vessel sailed from some har-
bour in America, and no one could tell what had become of it.
But on arriving in a part of the Channel where it was neces-
sary to unfurl a sail that had not been employed till then
during the voyage, the cat was discovered, in a sadly ema-
ciated condition, in the folds of the sail, and, notwithstanding
her long imprisonment, still alive. My informant was the
late Mr. Dunthorne of London Street (a young self-taught
artist, of rising and deserved celebrity, whose industry, taste,
and acquirements, in spite of difficulties and want of " ap-
pliances and means to boot," made him an extraordinary
instance of the power of genius and talent, and would have
wrought out for him a distinguished place in English bio-
graphy, had not a too early death taken him away from us*) ;
but I cannot now, in consequence of his having recently paid
the debt of nature, appeal to him for further information. If,
however, there be any feline Sadducees amongst your readers,
I would venture to assert that this story may have been true,
judging from an instance which I can fully attest by the evi-
cence of self-experience, and the testimony (if required) of
two or three friends. The Dutch commenced the siege of
Brussels, in the revolution of 1830, in the month of Septem-
ber. On the 24th of that month, they took possession of the
house of my friend. Dr. Verstraeten, rue de Namur; and, after

* He deserved this paragraph, and many more less parenthetical. He
was born at East Bergholt, April, 1798, and buried in November, 1832.

Mammiferous Animals. 141

barbarously destroying his furniture and drinking all his
wine, shut up his cat, with the empty bottles, in a closet in
the kitchen. As the family were driven out of the house at
the point of the bayonet, to seek shelter where they could, no
thought was taken of any thing but their preservation. On
the 1 5th October (just 21 days afterwards), I accompanied
Dr. Verstraeten and some friends to his house, to see the
ruins, and, on descending to the kitchen, the door of the
above-named closet was opened, and immediately the cat,
which had remained there a prisoner since the battle, came
bounding out with a look and a cry of hunger and joy. Dr.
Verstraeten remarked himself, that the cat was supposed to
have been lost or killed, and expressed his surprise at her
existence so long without food. The poor animal could not
have had any food (unless a mouse or two) during her im-
prisonment, as the house contained nothing which had escaped
the piratical hands of the besiegers, save a solitary bottle of
preserved gooseberries, the only entire article in the house.
The poor thing looked as wretched as possible ; but she de-
voured most voraciously some food we procured from a house
opposite, and lived to do justice to her deliverer from " durance
vile."

Since I wrote the above, I have been informed, by Captain
T. Festing, R. N., of this place, that a favourite cat belonging
to his family, which was transported from Andover hither,
suddenly decamped, and, after being on his travels nine days,
arrived, " hungry and sore bested," at his old quarters,
having discovered his way across the country without a guide.
So much, for the present, on cats, English, Manx, and Bel-
gian.— W. B. Claf'/ce, Parkstone, near Poole, Dec. 18. 1832.

Additional note to my short paper entitled '* A few Words
on Cats." — W. B, C. August, 1833.

" In the Sappho, lately arrived from Nova Scotia, at Bid-
deford, was found the cat belonging to the vessel, about the
middle of the cargo. She had been a prisoner 29 days, and,
of course, had nothing to subsist on during that time ; she
was still alive, but almost a skeleton. The captain gave her
some milk, of which she drank greedily, and is now slowly
recovering." [Western Luminary, Aug. 6. 1833.)

The Baltic trader, Mary, Capt. Ritchie, arrived a few days
ago at Leith, with a cargo of flax from St. Petersburgh. On
unpacking one of the bundles of flax, a cat; was found bound
up and much compressed within it, but still alive. The vessel
had been 28 days on its passage. The cat revived. (Berrow^s
Worcester Journal, Oct. 24. 1833.) — J. D.

Some of the Inhabitants of the Isle of Man ascribe the Origin

142 Short Communications : —

of their tailless Cats to a Sport of Nature, — Mancuniensis
(V. 717.) remarks that the cats without tails, in the Isle
of Man, are more like the hare or the rabbit; and this
circumstance may account for such an impossibility being
stated as the following, which appeared in the British Tra-
veller (May, 1823): " There is in the possession of Mr.
Henley, at Chatham, a cat, which has littered a kitten and
four rabbits ! ! " A writer in the Manx paper, in allusion to
the above, remarks: — " We are inclined to believe the four
rabbits to be nothing more than kittens of the same descrip-
tion as some cats in this island, viz., without tails, and which
must originally have been a freak of dame Nature's here, which
she is now showing at Chatham." — James Fennell. JLayton-
stone, June, 1833.

P. S. In the possession of the friend in whose house I am
at present writing is a female cat, which, I am informed, on
one occasion bit off the tips of the ears of her kittens just after
they were born. Is not this a modified instance of that
perversion of the natural affection (storge) which sometimes
induces animals to devour their own young? — Id.

Unusual Lengthening in the Cutting Teeth of the Rodent
Animals. — In II. 134., III. 27., VI. 21. 24., instances of this
effect, produced in the rabbit, and, in VI. 390. 393., in the rat,
are given. I add a notice of an instance which I have known to
obtain in the flying squirrel. Some time after the appearance
of the number of this Magazine for May, 1829, in which was
given the first of the above notices, I was requested by a lady
in this neighbourhood to examine a flying squirrel, a general
favourite with her family. I found the upper incisors very
much elongated, and inclined under the lower jaw ; rendering
it out of the little animaFs power to take his usual food, as
there was no possibility of the opposition of the extremities
of the upper and lower incisors. I considered that the disease
might be remedied, by removing such a portion of the upper
incisors as would allow them to come properly in contact with
those of the lower jaw. This I easily effected, by means of a
pair of forceps. I have frequently seen the little animal
since, and have had the satisfaction of observing him busily at
work on his nuts, and of learning from his mistress that he
has since that time taken his food as before the disease had
occurred. — John Reynolds Roxsoe, Wimhorne, Dorset^ Jan. 1.
1834.

Among the numerous individuals of the common squirrel
((Sciurus vulgaris L.) which occur in British woods, is one
with a discoloured coat often seen? On January 10. 1834, 1
learned that one with a party-coloured coat had, at some time

Birds. 143

previous, been several times seen upon the lawn at (Mrs.
Southwell's) Wroxham Hall, near Norwich. — J, D,

A Common Dormouse {Myoxus avellandrius L.), with me,
eats, of its own choosing, the A^phis lanigera III, and the
caterpillars of the Sphinx ocellata L, It is particularly fond
of the grubs of the Balaninus nucum Get^mar, preferring, for
the sake of them, the maggoty nuts to the sound ones ; and
I have known it eat the small caterpillars which are found in
blackberries and pears. Are these appetites morbid ones,
from the animal's domesticated condition ? Cannot the
animal be employed to avail us in gardening objects, as the
caterpillars, &c., it might destroy would fully compensate the
little damage it could do the fruit? — John Perry, jun, Godal-
ming, Surrey, February, 1834.

A Mole, of a beautiful silvery ash-grey Colour, with an
orange Mark under the lower Jaw, and a Line of the same
Colour down the Belly, taken in this Neighbourhood, was lately
brought to me. — It is probably the same variety as that men-
tioned in Griffiths's translation of Cuvier's Begne Animal as
occurring in Germany ; and does not appear to owe this pecu-
liar colour of its fur to the effect of age. Other individuals
of the same variety, and some also white, have been occasion-
ally taken by mole-catchers with whom I have conversed. —
W. C. Trevelyan, Wallington, Jan. 28. 1833.

The Singing of Birds at early Dawn in Summer-time. —

The wonders and beauties which Nature displays

Excite to devotion the soul ;
Her wonders teach wisdom, her beauties prompt praise,

Pure bliss is the fruit of the whole.

When I lived in the cottage at the end of the garden that
now adjoins the house I reside in, and my business called me
sometimes earlier than I am now willing to leave my bed, I
have been delighted in a summer's morning to hear the pleas-
ing note of the goldfinch busy amongst the dew-bespangled
foliage of the apple trees ; the blackbird, perched on the
highest branches of the highest trees, cheering its mate with
its song ; the lark caroling over my head ; joined by the deep
bass of a contiguous colony of rooks. In moments like these,
I have found myself elevated and inspired with pity for those
to whom, according to their own declaration, " this goodly
frame, the earth, seems a sterile promontory," to whom " this
most excellent canopy the air, this brave o'erhang'd firmament,
this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, appears nothing
but a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours." At times
like these, I have made resolutions to rise earlier, that I might
the more fully enjoy the beauties and the harmony of nature :

1 44? Short Communications ; —

but my propensity to indulge myself in the arms of Mor-
pheus has too often gotten the better of my resolution.

Larks always in fine weather hail the earliest dawn of day
with their song, and sometimes sing before the dawn, as I
have recently learned in a journey by the night coach (the
Red Rover) from Cambridge to London. I and my fellow
travellers were surprised to hear the singing of the lark as
early as two o'clock on a frosty morning, on the 7th of May
(1833). The subject furnished us with agreeable chat, and
roused us from our inclination to sleep : before it was ex-
hausted, we were greeted with the song of the nightingale and
cuckoo. The house sparrow, as we approached near London,
was chirping. The sun was rising. The metropolis of
England was in view. We arrived at the Flower-pot (a sign
suggested from nature), in Bishopsgate Street, almost forgetting
that we had lost a night's rest.

Birds, at least Singing Birds, are Lovers of Music. [VL 523.]
— A goldfinch of neighbour 's, in whose room the Pri-
mitive Methodists hold their meetings, always sang with the
congregation, whether by day or night. I have observed the
robin, when I have whistled to him, appear pleased, and

listen with attention. My nephew , who plays on the

violin, had a linnet that always appeared delighted when the
violin was played. The early singing of the lark, of which I
have spoken, was possibly owing to the bird's being aroused
by the sound of the guard's bugle ; it was immediately after
the guard's playing a tune that we observed the singing of the
lark, in a field near Buntingford, the London side of Royston.
Rustici.

At " vernal dawn" the larks pour forth a concert of music
as they sit on the clods. I witnessed this on April 16. 1833,
in passing some lands sown with barley, three miles north of
Cambridge : the barley was just visibly up. — J. Z).

The small dark br 011071 Thrush of the Western Islands of Scot-
land, which W. L. deems of an undescribed Species. (III. 238.,
note t, VL 218. 516., VIL 75.) — Mr. Blyth states, in VL
516., that I have mistaken the redwing ( Jurdus iliacus) for
the brown thrush of the western islands. Now, I beg to say
that the redwing, even at a considerable distance, is very
easily distinguished from every other species of Turdus, by
size, attitude, and general colour combined together ; for,
although its watchful and listening air, and its colour, resemble
much those of the fieldfare (T. pilaris), when this species is
observed at a distance, yet it is so much less (being, indeed,
the least of the genus), that there can be no mistake between
the two. Besides, I have several times noticed it at a dis^

Birds. 145

tance, by its own peculiar and distinguishing mark ; namely,
the large ash-coloured streak near the eye, so like that of the
stonechat.

The dark brown thrush that I first saw in the Lewis, and
have so often observed passing north in spring, is a very
sober and plain-looking bird as to colour ; and has nothing of
the airiness and elegance of the redwing, being shorter and
thicker ; and is very sparingly mottled on the breast. In fact,
both as to shape and colour, it might pass for a large edition
of the hedge sparrow (ikTotacilla familiaris). I have, I am
sure, seen hundreds of them, and not a redwing among the
number. Moreover, I would refer to a footnote [note f]
affixed to a communication of mine, in III. 237, 238., where
it is mentioned that Mr. Macgillivray saw this same brown
thrush breaking whelks on the shore. It must be allowed
that this enthusiastic and now skilful naturalist (from nought
else that I can suppose but innate modesty) took it for
granted that these thrushes were of the common species (Z*.
musicus). With not one tenth of his knowledge, I, with all
the rashness of a little learning, when I heard them singing
on these desolate shores, guessed that they must belong to a
different species ; and I hope I may be allowed to refer to
and cite the above note. " I was greatly surprised to hear
the song of the thrush resounding on all sides from the heathy
and rocky banks of the sea (* wasting her sweet notes on the
desert air ') ; but I have always suspected it to be another
species, darker and less." And so I am, with all due defer-
ence to Mr. E. Blyth, still convinced it really is ; and I beg
that Mr. Blyth will not take it as anything like want of
respect, when I use the freedom to suggest that there may be
more things to be seen, among the moors and rocks and bosky
glens of Scotland, than " he has yet dreamt of in his philo-
sophy." What if there may be not only plants and birds, but
two or three quadrupeds, that he has never seen ? But, I
would like to know, who has seen the nests of the redwing
there ?

I request to add that the migratory birds, in their journeys,
alternately, to their native homes and their winter abodes,
seem to keep generally along the " back-bone of the country."
The redwing, after all, I take to be comparatively a rare bird ;
for, although I have seen redwings both in spring and No-
vember, I have seen but few. It is in the upland glens of
Selkirkshire, Tweeddale, and Dumfriesshire, and not on the
plains of Lothian, the Merse, or " the Laigh of Teviotdale,"
that the flocks of female chaffinches, grey linnets, thrushes,
starlings, and snowflecks are seen. I well remember the

Vol. VII. — No. 38. l

146 Short Communications : —

flock of grey linnets that used to congregate on the leafless
branches of an old ash in my father's stack-yard, singing in
lively and cheering concert, for eight or ten days, as they
passed in November. * — W. L, SelJcirJcshire^ December 20.
1833. [See also in p. 175. of the present Number.]

Owls capture Fishes for Food. — In addition to the instances
of this fact already registered in I. 179., II. 288., V. 13., the
following one, told me by a friend, may be cited. In the
neighbourhood of Harrowgate there is a large building called
the Observatory, which affords from its summit an extensive
view. A pair of owlets, taken from a nest in an adjoining wood,
were placed in a cage on the summit of the tower, and for
nearly six weeks the old birds came every evening to feed
them there. They brought them, in addition to mice and
pieces of flesh, frequently fishes. The river Nidd is three miles
from the spot. Could they have procured the fishes thence ?
— A, Bloxam. RtigbT/, Warwickshire, Jan. 1834.

An Instance of the Baim OwVs seeking its Food at Mid-day
in sunny Weather. — I have once seen a barn owl on wing at
between the hours of twelve and one o'clock in the middle of
the day. The sun was shining brightly at the time. The owl,
as the sequel proved, was seeking food. After I had watched
it for some minutes, I saw it descend, and light upon the side
of a bank of an old watercourse, and remain there for the
space of a minute. It appeared to me to be working hard
■with its talons during that time, as if removing something
that impeded its immediate attack on its prey. At the ex-
piration of that period its labour was crowned with reward, for
it then took wing, bearing away in its talons a fine mouse. —
A. D. April, 1833.

The Food {Contents of the Pellets) of Owls. (V. IS. 727.)

* I am aware that there are often exceptions to these (as I suppose) gene-
ral habits ; for I have often seen hawks of different species skimming with
great swiftness southwards over the downs and fields of these districts,
generally during a fall of snow. On July 24. 1830, I met a small flight of
water swallows (-ETirundo riparia), and, about ten minutes after, another,
flying south over Bowden Muir, about seven o'clock in the afternoon.
They were evidently on a journey ; besides, it was nearly two miles from
the Tweed, which they were apparently leaving. Again : a friend has told
me that while himself and a companion were returning home early from a
party in Edinburgh, on a foggy morning, they heard a flock of wild geese
passing close over the city. They were aware of this from the repeated
calls of the geese to one another, which calls were probably necessary to
prevent separation : but they likewise distinctly heard the sound of their
wings, which the stillness of the streets of Edinburgh at such an hour
made easily distinguishable. The winged travellers were passing north-
ward, as their course was indicated by their calls dying away in the increas-
ing distance.

J

Birds, 147

— A pellet, which T, about February, 1833, found in Bays-
water meadows, on the flat top of a tree's truncated stem,
left in a hedgerow as a huge post, contained the fur and
bones of two field campagnols (Arvicola agrestis Flem,\ as I
have learned by submitting the skull bones to the inspection
of an excellent comparative anatomist. — J. D,

The Carrion Crow. — Mr. Waterton's admirable history
of the habits of this bird, and his able advocacy of its merits,
in VI. 208. to 214., have given me, and must all who have
read them, extreme pleasure. One vice, however, is charge-
able on the crow, to which Mr. Waterton has not adverted.
This bird has a strong predilection for the eyes of sheep. I
speak from my own knowledge ; for I have really caught this
bird in the very act and deed of plucking out the eyes of a
lamb ere it had scarcely drawn the vital air; hence, in
" lambing-time," particularly where sheep are kept upon
wastes and commons, which is much the case in Yorkshire,
you will be almost sure to see a carrion crow or two lurking
among them. The bird, with much cunning, watches the
movements of the sheep, and, if the shepherd should not be
constantly on the alert, the flock will most likely suffer some
loss. The ewe, when about to bring forth, is very restless,
lying down and getting up, &c., almost at every minute.
The cause of this uneasiness the crow appears to know full
well; for, sometimes before the parturient process is half
over, the luckless offspring is bereft of one or perhaps of both
its eyes. The crow is a most expert operator in this busi-
ness : the villanous deed is finished by his murderous bill in
the twinkling of an eye. I have also known these ravenous
birds to deprive sheep of their visual organs, when, from
sickness or the infirmities of old age, or from being entangled
with thorns and briars, they were incapable of resistance.
The carrion crow does not, on leaving its nest, cover its
eggs : Professor Rennie was therefore in error when he
stated that it did. — Thomas Weatherill, M, i). Liverpool,
Dec, 7. 1833.

[ The Titmice (Pdrus major and ccerideus, and dter andpalustris
may be added) mil sometimes feed on Walnuts while these are yet
on the Tree ,• a fact on their habits additional to those already
registered in III. 476., IV. 166., V. 489. 655, to 66S,'] They
eat the walnuts, attacking and devouring them as they grow on
the tree, and before they are ripe enough to quit the green out-
side husk. A walnut tree on the premises here affords peculiar
facilities to the operations of these little depredators : it bears
nuts which are frequently more or less imperfect in their shells ;
that is, the shells, instead of being composed throughout of a

L 2

148 Short Communications : —

hard woody substance, are partially defective towards the apex
on each side, or consist of a soft texture easily pervious to the
bills of the titmice. Here, at the soft or imperfect apex of the
shell, these birds commence their attack, and peck out the
kernel to the utmost depth that their bills will reach. I have
frequently known the entire kernel completely scooped out by
the titmice, before the nut was ripe enough to fall from the
tree. On one large tree, with a good crop, scarcely a walnut
remained that had not been attacked by these birds, and more
or less eaten. I mention this circumstance merely as a fact
in natural history ; not by any means with a view to blacken
the character of the birds in question, a race which, I cannot
help thinking, is already more persecuted than it deserves
to be.*

\_The RooJc, VI. 142. VII. 100.] — For a similar reason,
and with no unfriendly feeling towards the rooks, I may
state that they also have a relish for walnuts. I have seen
them settle on the trees, several in a party, and, plucking off
the nuts, fly away with them to a distance. Whether they
swallow the walnuts whole, or, as I rather suspect, stock
through the shell and extract the kernel, I cannot positively
say. One autumn I was rather at a loss how to account for
the number of walnuts, some in their green husks, and some
without, which were to be seen strewed on the walks under
the elm trees which the rooks occupy as their breeding-place
in the spring. Recollecting that the rooks occasionally plun-
dered the walnut trees, and also that a day seldom passed
without their reconnoitring their spring quarters, I was led to

* Mr. Blyth has contributed a paper " On the British Tits" to the Field
Naturalises Magazine : it is published in the number for June, 1833, and
occupies more than seven pages, vol. i. 262 — 269. Have the names " cole
tit" and " cole mouse," which are ascribed to the Parus ater, been so
applied in expression of the blackness of the head, throat, and under side
of the neck of this species ? The synonymes, Parus atricapillus Brissouy
La petite charbonniere Buffon, and Mesange petite charbonniere Temminck,
seem to prove that they have ; and if they have, the prefix " cole" should
of course be spelled " .coal," analogously with " coaly hood," one of the
provincial names of the bullfinch (Pyrrhula vulgaris), —

" The honours of whose ebon poll
Are brighter than the sleekest mole ;

(His bosom of the hue
With which Aurora decks the skies,
When piping winds shall soon arise

To sweep up all the dew.") Cowper.

" Cole goose," one of the provincial names of the " great black cormo-
rant," is likewise, it is presumed, an erroneous spelling for coal goose. —
J.D.

Birds, lAf9

conclude that the stray walnuts were such as had been acci-
dentally dropped by the birds in their attempt to extract the
kernels from the shells. Whatever may be urged in pre-
judice of the rooks, and, besides eating a few walnuts, they
certainly do peck up and devour a portion of the newly sown
corn, they ought to be regarded as useful and beneficial crea-
tures to man, and by intelligent persons are generally allowed
to be so, for the reasons so ably shown by T. G. in VI. 142.

— TV, T, Bree. Allesley Rectory, June 12. 1833.

The partiality of rooks for walnuts is such as to render
it not unprofitable, in an orchard of walnut trees, to keep a
boy as a scarecrow, or rather scarerook, to prevent their
helping themselves to the walnuts too extensively. A rook,
having plucked a walnut, will, in its wariness, usually fly off to
a common, or any open place which may be not very distant,
to eat it unmolested. Occasionally a rook is induced to abandon
uninjured a walnut or other nut which it had borne off from
the tree that had yielded it, and such nut may, and in some
instances doubtless does, vegetate and produce a tree ; and
hence, and from similar accidents with other birds, it is that
birds form one of the classes enumerated by naturalists in
their catalogue of Nature's agents in disseminating plants.
(See V. 527. note *.) The springing of an oak tree from
an acorn buried by " a raven" has been likened to Melan-
choly burying Hope, '* which Providence still keeps alive,"
in eight lines of poetry published in Dr. Hodson's selection
of poems called The Bouquet, 2 vols. 8vo. 1 792. The lines
were copied off " a pane of glass at Kingsgate ;" and, although
entitled " a fable," describe an incident very likely to have
happened : the poet, perchance, mistaking a rook for a raven.

— J. Z).

Companies of Rool^s delight to assemble and build near human
Residences. — Mr. Jennings and others entertain this idea;
and the following fact tends to establish it. In the grounds
of Mr. Hope, at Deepdene, there are some trees on which
rooks used to build invariably before the mansion was de-
stroyed. This house stood close by the trees. Mr. Hope
added Chart Park to his own at Deepdene ; and, as he did
not wish to keep both mansions, the old Chart House was
pulled down. No rooks have built on the trees since, though
the trees remain in precisely the same state. — W. Fowler,
Dec, 17. 1834.

Instances of Enmity evinced by the Rooh and the Magpie to the
Kestrel Hawk. (p. 105.) — ^I'was much amused, the other day, in
witnessing an engagement that took place, over a small grove,
between a kestrel hawk, five magpies, and four rooks. My
attention was called, when at some distance, by the loud cries

L 3

150 Short Communications : —

of war. The rooks attacked the kestrel in the air, hovering
over and around him, and were sometimes in close contact
with him ; and when he, as if to gain breath, alighted on any
tree, up came the magpies^with their loud clang of war, and
fiercely carried on the combat. Again the kestrel mounted
into the air, which the rooks no sooner beheld than at him
they went, apparently as fierce as ever, and so they and the
magpies continued alternately attacking him for about a quar-
ter of an hour ; when he drove the rooks off, and, after having
another round or two with the magpies, he left them, and
soared off into quieter regions. The sight was the more in-
teresting to myself, from my having but just left a friend who
had related to me a description of a similar engagement, which
he had witnessed between a kestrel and three rooks; and
about a week since another friend told me of an engagement
which he had seen, but with only one magpie. Both occurred
within a mile from the place at which I saw the action. — T.
Ai/lesbury, Oct. 14. 1833.

[In the Field Naturalist, ii. 74., a correspondent tells of a
kestrel and a magpie, which a countryman had seen fighting
on the ground. " He approached them; the hawk en-
deavoured to escape, but the magpie held her so firmly by the
leg, which he had grasped in his claw, that she could not
escape, and both were taken with the hand."]

Habits of the Jackdaw (VI. 394. 396. 516.), Anecdotes on a
domesticated One, — Being informed that with the cleanliness
and management of the parish workhouse at Kidderminster
I should be much pleased, I accompanied a clerical friend to
visit it; and was gratified on finding the information true.
Noticing a jackdaw at large in the governess's parlour, mani-
festing as much self-consequence as if the whole establish-
ment were under its control, I was told that the bird had
become domesticated there when young, and had ever since
been quite a free agent about the premises and neighbouring
fields, and that it was a privileged pet and favourite, notwith-
standing its many peccadilloes of pilfering and stealing. I
learned farther as follows : — After it had been some time
an inmate, it having observed that " the copper-drawer,"
in which pence and halfpence for household disbursements
are kept, engaged a particular portion of the governess's care,
one day, no sooner was this drawer unlocked and left open,
than the bird began to carry into it whatever rags and loose
things it could find. At first they were thrown out ; when, fast
as possible, the bird, apparently in displeasure, carried them
in again. The governess, thinking it strange, submitted to
the bird's humour, by leaving the drawer open, after securing

Birds, 151

the coin by locking the room door. It was then the spring
season of the year. In the course of a few days, she was
surprised to find that " Jack " had laid two or three eggs,
and went on laying until it had laid the usual number. The
bird was thus, for the first time, discovered to be a female.
Though, in her rambles abroad, she had met with a sweetheart,
her old quarters of peace and plenty were preferred to all the
privileges of precarious freedom. From whatever excursions
she might choose to take during the day, she always returned
home in proper roosting time at night.

A caged Fieldfare, — In the same apartment, and, like
Miss Jack, perfectly contented, was a caged fieldfare, singing
sweetly, it being summer time, I was not a little pleased to
see a winter bird so happy in a strange land ; but more sur-
prised was I to know that it is a bird of song. In its wild
state, during its hybernal visit, we have only one or two notes,
and those somewhat discordant, uttered as a call to its com-
panions ; but the notes of this feathered stranger resembled
the woodlark*s, subdued and warbling. It was originally
brought to the kind-hearted governess, as a pensioner, with
a gunshot wound. She doctored and recovered it ; and the
bird, like its jetty friend Jenny Daw, is quite satisfied with its
" settlement." — L, Booker, LL.D, Dudley, Jan. 7. 1834. :

A Ferruginous Duck or Ruddy Goose {A^nas rutila, Fauna
Suecica) was shot, a few days since, at Iken, near Orford [on
the coast of Suffolk]. It is in the possession of Mr. Manning,
chemist, Woodbridge. {Ipswich Journal, Jan, 11 , 1834.) —
TV, B, C, [See VI. 141.]

The Account of the Oyster- catcher (VI. 151-2.) reminded
me of a circumstance relating to that bird which was entered
in my notes during a visit at Ramsgate in 1830, and which
is an additional proof of its capability of swimming and
diving.

On November 12., in that year, being out shooting with
a friend, we beat round Pegwell Bay, crossed the Sandwich
Haven in a ferry-boat, and proceeded along the shore till
opposite the blockade station-house beyond Shellness, when
an oyster-catcher flew past, which I shot at, and winged. It
fell in the water, and swam boldly. The shore was flat and
sandy, the sea calm and shallow, and the tide gently ebbing.
Having no dog with us, my friend, anxious to secure the
bird, actually undressed, and took the water after it, as it was
making out to sea ; on coming up, he pooped to catch it,
but it eluded his grasp by diving, and was lost to view till it
emerged at a distance of several yards from him. He re-
peated the attempt two or three times, but with no better

L 4

152 Short Communications : —

success. He then returned to the water's edge, shivering
with cold. Nothing daunted, however, he took my double
gun, and proceeded to the charge a second time. He fired,
but with little effect; as, on trying to take the bird up, it
dived again, though it did not remain so long under water as
before, owing, no doubt, to its wounds. When it rose again,
he killed it. These birds I noticed in pairs, and in little
parties of four or six, all the autumn ; but as winter ap-
proached, their numbers greatly increased. I have a spe-
cimen, killed by myself on September 10., which possesses
the white mark under the chin. — T. G. Chipping Norton,
Oxfordshire, March 6. 1833.

The Peqfo'wl (Pdvo cristdtus L.) is the natural Enemy of
the Serpent Tribe, (VI. 515.) — An opinion to this amount
prevails, as I have stated in VI. 515., in this part of England.
I have now to communicate two facts which seem to fully
justify it. The first has been related to me by an eye-witness
of it ; the second is included in an extract from a letter sent
to me by my esteemed friend, the Hon. and Rev. Charles
Bathurst. — M. Chalmers, M, D. Hull, Dec. 12. 1833.

A peacock was observed to remain for several days near to
a hotbed frame in the garden at Raynell, and to make fre-
quent attempts to break the glass of the frame with his beak,
and, although he was repeatedly driven away from it, he as
constantly returned to it again as soon as the gardener had
left the spot. This circumstance at length attracted the atten-
tion of the late Mr. Sykes (M. P. for Hull), who caused the
frame to be removed, when the peacock instantly leaped into
the bed, scratched away some part of the manure, under which
he found a nest containing several young serpents, all of which
he, with a little assistance, instantly killed and devoured.

Extract from the Hon, and Rev. C, Bathursfs Letter to Dr.
Chalmers; dated Siddington, near Cirencester-, Nov. 5. 1833. —
" Lord Bathurst's park, &c., is two miles from this place, and
in his woods, near the keeper's house, peacocks are kept as
ornaments to the wild scenery, but not, as far as I have ever
heard, or, even since reading your paper, been able to learn,
for the purpose of destroying serpents. I do not make out
that they are esteemed ' in this part of the country, the
natural enemy of the serpent tribe ; ' neither do I see, in any
of the works of natural history which I have consulted since
reading your article, that this peculiarity has been noticed.
Among ancient naturalists, Aristotle and Pliny say not a word
on that subject; BufFon and Bewick, you say, do not mention
this peculiarity, so I have not consulted them ; but I have
looked into Goldsmith and Blumenbach, but find it not there

Birds. 153

either. However, it may not be uninteresting to you, as in a
great measure connected with your subject, to mention a cir-
cumstance which recently came to my knowledge. My friend,
Sir John Ogilvy, who has lately been staying with us, told me
that, last year, when riding at Halnaker Park, in Sussex, he
saw a pheasant with a long thin substance in its beak, and,
upon his making towards the bird, he flew off and dropped
his prey, which turned out to be a slowworm or blindworm
(^"nguis fragilis). The pheasant has, by this anecdote, been
proved to prey on serpents ; and, if it be true of the pheasant,
why should it not be true of the peacock, for they are both
species of the same order, Gallinae?"

Some of the Habits and Anatomical Conditions of a Pair of
hybrid Birds, obtained from the Union of a Male Pheasant
"with Hens of the Bantam Fond; and an incidental Notice of a
hybrid Dove, — Sir, I send you a ^^vf particulars relating to
the habits of a handsome pair of hybrid birds lately pre-
sented to the Cambridge Philosophical Society by my father,
J. P. Henslow, Esq., who furnished me with these details
from his personal observations. I shall also subjoin a few
anatomical remarks upon them, which were forwarded to me
by Mr. Leadbeater ; who stuffed the specimens for us, and
who had sent the bodies, divested of their skins, to an ana-
tomical friend for examination. I am. Sir, yours, &c. —
J. aS. Henslow, Cambridge, April 8. 1833.

J. P, Henslow^ s Account of their Habits, — After having
been several years disappointed in obtaining hybrids from the
pheasant and common fowl [adults], I procured a brace of
young pheasants, a cock and hen. These were brought up
with four young smooth-legged hen bantams of the same age,
in an enclosure of about 30 ft. by 10 ft. 1 purposely confined
them in this small space, to create familiarity,which was effected;
and the hen pheasant, the succeeding summer, laid many
eggs, about one dozen of which proved good ; the bantams
also laid, and about eighteen of their eggs proved good. The
hybrids produced from these eggs were thriving, when a
thunder-storm destroyed one half, and a cat killed all the
remainder, except the two now sent to the Society. These
were reared, and they proved to be a cock and a hen. In the
succeeding summer (1829), the hen showed inclination to sit;
but as the cock did so likewise, which seemed to disturb her,
I removed her to a separate shed ; and she took to a nest of
eleven eggs, which I put for her in a corner ; but, from what
cause I know not, none of these eggs were hatched. Pre-
viously to the next summer (1830), I provided them a small
enclosure ; and, when I perceived the same inclination to sit.

154 Short Communications : —

I supplied them with straw and eleven bantam's eggs. The
hen sat closely ; as also did the cock at times, which, I sus-
pect, disturbed her. One chicken, however, was hatched,
which they reared with most sedulous attention ; particularly
the cock, who called and accompanied it for some time after
the hen had apparently neglected it. I again put eggs to
them in 1831, and they both sat; but none were hatched.
The hen moulted badly, and drooped till January, 1832,
when she died ; and I then had the cock killed. It is worthy
of remark that these birds evinced at least as strong attach-
ment to the chicken which they reared as the real parent
would have done ; though they never showed any regard for
each other, as most of the hybrids, however, that I have kept
have done. When the chicken was about a month old, I
entered their place ; when they both flew at me violently, the
cock, especially, attempting to attack my face.

Hybrid Dove, — In the same case with these hybrids is
a hybrid dove, from between a cock turtle dove and a hen
ringneck (the common West Indian cream-coloured species).
This hybrid, which is a male, has associated for three years
with a hen ringneck, which has laid many eggs, and regularly
sat on them, and been duly relieved in this office by her
hybrid mate, but without effect.

Extract from the Anatomical Ttemarhs fonxiarded through
Mr, Leadbeater, — " In the examination of the two hybrid
birds which you were so kind as to send me, the following
appearances were observed : — One of them, which proved
to be a male, had the muscles of the body in a healthy,
plump, full condition, with very little fat in the intervening
cellular membrane. The muscles of the other, which was a
female, were extremely emaciated, of an unhealthy character,
and the cellular membrane loaded with fat. In the latter
bird, two small bodies of a dark colour were observed on
each side of the spine, in the situation of the ovarium : they
were smooth, and of a uniform appearance externally, pos-
sessing very few of the characters of the healthy ovarium.
The two oviducts reached nearly the whole length of the
lateral parts of the abdomen, that of the left side being the
longest. On making a small opening into the right oviduct,
and inflating it, this was found to terminate in a cut de sac
by the side of the rectum ; the loose abdominal extremity
being curved upon itself, having an aperture at the end, of
the size of a bristle, which allowed mercury to pass through
it. The abdominal extremity of the other oviduct was simi-
lar ; and the anal also had^ most probably terminated, like
them, in a blind pouch, but an opening had been accidentally

Birds. 155

made into it : it was very clear that it did not open into the
gut or cloaca. A small pyramidal cavity existed at the back
part of the rectum, into which neither of the oviducts opened,
although they passed close to the sides of the gut. The lower
part of the rectum was not at all enlarged, i. e. into the form
of a cloaca ; nor were there any openings into it except those
of the m-eters. The testes of the male bird were small,
white, and of a healthy appearance : a vas deferens was clearly
to be seen running from them over the surface of each kid-
ney. Into one vas deferens a mercurial tube was placed, and
it allowed the quicksilver to pass readily. The margin of the
anus, with some of the rectum, having been removed, the
quicksilver escaped at the cut extremity of the duct, so that
it was impossible to ascertain in what manner it terminated.
Osseous fibres existed in the muscles and tendons of the legs
of both birds."

Habits of the Hoopoe (ITpupa 'E'pops L.), as observed near
Bordeaux, — On the Bordeaux side of the Garonne, and near
the city, are large spaces of marshy ground, intersected by
broad ditches and creeks terminating in the river; where,
from the advantage derived from the water, many poplars
and willows are planted for the sake of the twigs, which are
much used for tying vines. These trees being topped at
about 1 0 ft. or 12 ft. from the ground, so as to induce them
to sprout much, become very thick, and, in the course of a
few years, gradually decaying at the centre, are attacked by
numerous tribes of insects, particularly the jet ant (i^ormica
fuliginosa). In these retired places, which are frequented
only by a few cowherds and country people, the hoopoe,
which is a very shy bird, may be frequently observed examin-
ing the rotten wood, and feeding on the insects with which it
abounds. The hoopoe flies low and seldom, unless when
disturbed, its food being so abundant as to require little
search ; it remains the whole year ; and breeds in a hollow
willow, about the end of May, laying two eggs of a cinereous
or ash colour. The young come out in June ; but I could
not ascertain the exact time required for hatching. This
bird is occasionally, though rarely, met with in England,
generally late in the autumn ; and, I believe, has never been
known to breed in England, though it probably does with
some of our northern neighbours : and its occasional visits to
us may be in the way of its autumnal migrations thence. —
E, H, GreenJiow. Bordeaux, Oct. 23. 1833.

[Instances of the occurrence of the hoopoe in Britain are
registered in II. 395., IV. 163., V. 569., VI. 150. Sir Wm.
Jardine, in his notes to V^hite's Selborne, states that the
figure of the hoopoe, published in Selby's Ilhist. of Orn,, is

156 Short Communications : —

from an individual " taken on the coast, near Bamborough
Castle, Northumberland ; " and adds that " Col. Montagu
mentions that a pair of hoopoes began a nest in Hampshire ;
and Dr. Latham records that a young hoopoe was shot in
the month of June. The species is abundantly met with in
the south of Europe; it also occurs in Holland, Germany,
Denmark, and Sweden. In the winter it retires to Asia and
Africa, where it is also a permanent resident." Mr. Blyth
has recorded, in the Field Natu?'alist for January, ii. 53., that
in the summer of 1833 a pair of hoopoes frequented a garden
in the neighbourhood of Tooting, Surrey. — J. Z).]

The Fern Owl, its time of Migration. (V. 674.) — The fol-
lowing is an extract from a letter from my brother (H. T.
Clarke, VI. 9 4'.) to a relative, dated Kronstadt, 27th June,

1833, English style: — " Tell W that whilst we were in

the North Sea" (the date must have been 9th or 10th June),
*' two fern owls settled on the main-topmast-stay, the only
instance I have ever heard of these birds settling on a vessel.
I shot one ; its crop was empty, and it appeared quite ex-
hausted : the other got away. If I were at home, I would
tell Mr. Loudon about it : he can do as he likes. They were
most likely on their way from Norway to Lincolnshire, as we
were then about 120 miles abreast of that county." I have
followed my directions in communicating the above, as it will
satisfy a correspondent in V. 674. ; but I regret that the tra-
veller should have so cruelly divorced the poor birds. —
W. B. Clarke. Stanley Green, near Poole, Aug. 24. 1833.

One of the Habitats of the Fern Owl, or Night Jar, is a
plantation at Paradise, in Broad Clist, Devonshire, ten miles
from Exeter, the property of Sir Thomas Acland. The
clutter made by these birds during the night is occasionally
heard at an almost incredible distance. I have this on the
authority of a friend, the Rev. C. R. Roper, M.A., of Mount
Radford, Exeter. — W. B. Clarke. Sept. 12. 1833.

[In Water ton's Wanderings in South A7nerica will be found
a delectable description of the night cries of the various
species of goatsucker, or fern owl, which inhabit the wilds of
Demerara.]

The Flaiifnch, and its Nest and Eggs, in Britain. — In
addition to the instances indicated in VI. 520, 521., VII. 53.,
T. F. R.'s detailed description, in II. 404., of the unusual
nest and eggs which had been taken in a hedge of elms, in
July, by a boy in Essex, proves clearly that they were the
nest and eggs of the hawfinch. T. F.'s description, in I.
374, 375., of the nest and eggs of the hawfinch is very accu-
rate : they, with the old female bird, had been taken in Kent.
— J. D. Salmon, Stoke Ferry, Norfolk, Dec, 28. 1833.

Reptiles. 157

A Pair of Redbreasts built a Nest late in November, 1833, in
a ratiier exposed hole in the northern side of a garden wall
in this town. By early in December, five eggs were laid;
but some boys, who had discovered the nest, caused the birds
to forsake it. The nest and eggs were removed on Dec. 20.,
when, of the eggs, two that were accidentally broken, showed
a state of progress towards the formation of young. I have
the three unbroken eggs. A nest of young redbreasts in
winter would be rare indeed, but the past season has been
extraordinarily mild. — T, G. Chipping Noiton, Oxfordshire^
December 26. 1833.

Reptiles. — A Tortoise foreJcnows the relative Coldness of a
coming Winter, and foreshows the Degree by the Depth to
nsohich it buries itself in the Earth. — I have a tortoise; I was
going to say an old tortoise, but I know nothing about his
age. I have had him about nine years. He was given to
me by an old gentleman, who had possessed him at least
twenty years, and who had received him from another old
gentleman who had possessed him for many years previously,
but who gave him away because he used to eat young let-
tuces. Neither this person nor the gentleman who gave
him me knew any thing about his age ; so it is not probable
that I should. Every winter, this tortoise buries himself in
the earth ; and, knowing better than Mr. Squire or Moore's
Almanack what sort of a winter we are going to have, the
colder the winter is going to be, the deeper he goes. Well,
Sir, last winter [1832] the top of his shell was only covered
two inches. There were, if you recollect, only two nights
that could be really called frosty ; and now his shell is only
just level with the earth, the very top of it being visible
through the turf. Argal, we shall have no frost at all. —
E. N. D. Dec. 14. 1833.

This foretelling arrived too late for publication in the
Number for January, 1834. E. N. D. has, on February 2.,
informed us that " the tortoise, on January 17. 1834, emerged
from his hiding-place, and walked about as in summer."

A Tortoise inhabits the Aquarium of the Botanic Garden at
Cambridge ; and as this {it is possible) may eventually be-
come as venerable as the tortoise above, and, like it, the hero
of a tale, a timely registration of some facts in the history
of its younger days may avail its future biographer. This
tortoise was once my father's, who has, at my request, sup-
plied most of the following facts respecting it. — J. D.

The tortoise was given me in the end of May, 1828, by
your aunt, L. Cross, to whom it had been given by her son,
E. Cross, who had brought it, with five other tortoises, from

158 Short Commiinicaticnis : —

the coast of Malaga in Spain, where he picked them up off
the sands. Your aunt must have received it in the autumn of
1826 or ]827, because she says that during the winter it used
to get under the grate. She used to put water or milk, with
soaked bread, in a plate for it ; but it is not certain that she
ever saw it take any thing. When I had received it, I, not
knowing better, treated it as a land tortoise. I put it, in the
day time, into the front garden (which is, from its aspect, the
warmer one), but, contrary to my expectation, I could not
perceive it take any vegetable food. I afterwards put it in
the back yard, whence it several times made its escape ; and
one day we considered we had lost it, until our dog traced it
to the pond in the yard, and assisted in the capture of it. We
then bored a hole in its shell, tied thereto a string, and to the
same string, at about a yard from the shell, fastened a float,
that we might capture the creature at any time. We regu-
larly, in an evening, brought it in-doors and put it in a basket.
When liberated, in the morning, it directly sought the pond :
so that, after we had half-starved it, it had found its element.
It was in the water that we first saw him feed on some
small pieces of lights which your mother threw into the
pond for it. Afterwards it became so familiar as to eat out
of your mother^s and sister's hands (it seemed to show an aver-
sion from men), and by its more healthy appearance, the
quickness of its motions [and it would, when obstructed in
front, travel backwards almost as fast as forwards], and by its
getting frequently out of the water upon a stone at the pond's
edge, to bask there in the heat of the sun, showed that it
enjoyed its existence. When winter approached, it was less
anxious to leave its basket. We then wrapped it up, and
placed it in its basket, in a warm situation, until the spring.
After keeping it through a part of the summer [of 1829], I
made a present of it to Mr. Arthur Biggs, the curator of the
Cambridge Botanic Garden, and took off its float, and put it
into the sheet of water [supplied by a slow stream that passes
through it], in which the aquatic plants are cultivated. Here
it gets its own living, and has remained, to the best of
Mr. Biggs's, and Mr. Scott the foreman's, knowledge, during
four winters. [The length of time which it remains wholly
unapparent (wherever it may hide) is not many weeks. Its
first appearance, in 1833, was on April 2.] In warm weather,
in the heat of the day, it either enjoys itself by sunning itself
on a stone step at one end of the water, or on the grass at
the edge of the water, or, when the water is low, on the
narrow beach which intervenes the water and the grass.
From this place it, on the approach of any one, hastens into

Fishes^ Molluscous Animals, 159

the water, and has convenient hiding-places amongst the
aquatic plants, and especially amongst and under the ample
leaves of the water lilies (iVymphge a alba L, and 2S/'ilphar
advena H, K.), and occasionally it floats stationary on the sur-
face of the water, as it were in the manner in which fishes, in
slow streams, are, in hot sunny weather, said to sleep. It has
increased in size considerably, arta appears very healthy.
Mr. Scott has told me, that once [in April or May, 1832] it
travelled to near the Free School Lane entrance to the
garden; a distance of, perhaps, 150 yards from the water,
— possibly in search of a mate.

These facts prove that this species of tortoise will live in
any reservoir of water, like that in the Cambridge Botanic
Garden ; and they may, especially if the amount of them is not
already well known, promote endeavours to naturalise many
individuals of this and other species of aquatic tortoises in
similar situations, where they could not fail to be interesting
objects to lovers of nature. — X D, sen.

A young hand ToHoise.^ once kept in a cool green-house in
a private garden at Bury St. Edmunds, lost its life by
attempting to ascend a tall stone step placed at the threshold
inside the entrance door. It fell backwards ; and the con-
vexity of its shell was such, or the animal's weakness (for I
suspect that it had been but very negligently fed) was such,
that it could not apply its feet to the floor to lever itself into
its natural position. It was found lying on its back, dead,
and with froth at its mouth. — J". Z).

Fishes. — The Goldfish, mth a double Tail-fin, (VI. 529.)—
Another instance of this variation is now living at Mr. Hope's,
of Deepdene. — W. Fowler, Dec, 17. 1833.

Molluscous Animals. — A List of the more rare Species of
Shells, which were collected in August, 1833, at Aberdovey, in
Merionethshire, — This part of the coast has, I believe, been
but little explored by the conchologist. The following species
of shells were all found on the sand at Aberdovey, or between
that place and Borth. v, r, mean very rare ; r, rare ; f, fre-
quent; c, common.

A^autilus crispus c, umbilicatulus r. ; Rotalia Beccari/ c,
Beccari? perversa c; Lobatula vulgaris^^ ; Vermiculum intor-
tum c, oblongumj^, subrotundumj^ ; Arethusa lactea v,r.',
Orthocera (?) trachea c. ; Patella virginea r, ; Bulla umbili-
catar., cylindracea^^, truncata r., obtusar., aperta r. ; Turri-
tella Terebra c, elegantissima^!, unica, v. r, ; Cingula subcari-
nata r., costata r., reticulata r., striata v., labiosa^^j ventrosa
r., pullay^, cingilla v, r. ; Odostomia unidentata r., plicata,r. spi-
ralis V. r, ; Scalaria clathrusj^, Turton2>. ; Skene« depressar. ;
Natica pallidula v, r., laciina v, r. ; Trochus tumidus r, ; Ian-

1 60 Short Communications : — '

thina communis v. r, ; Tornatella tornatilis r, ; J5uccinum an-
glicanum v. r. ; Terebra reticult4ta c, perversa r. ; Fusus cos-
tatus r,, nebulay', linearis r. ; Pleurotoma gracilis v. r. ; Ros-
tellaria pes-pelecani; Capulus hungaricus v. r»; Fissurella
grae^ca v, r, ; Pecten opercularis r., varius r. ; Pectunculus
pilosus r. ; Nucula niiclea r. ; Modiola discrepans r. ; Cardium
tuberculatum c, ; Corbura striata f, \ Mactra solida c, sub-
truncata r., stultorum c. ; Kellia rubra r. ; Amphidesma con-
vexuni r., compressumc, Boysn'y^; Tellina fabula^^, crassar.;
Cyprina islandicay^ ; Cythere« Chion^y., exoleta r. ; Venus
verrucosa r., ^allina c, undata r. ; »Solen vaginay^, ensisj^, le-
gumen c, ; Lutraria vulgaris c. ; Montacut« bidentatayi, ferru-
ginosay^ The three following are common on the rocks at
Aberystwith : — Turbo petrae^us, Tr5chus umbilicatus and
crassus. Besides the above, I also found at Aberdovey six
or eight species, v^^hich I have not yet ascertained, and some
of which I believe have not been described. — H. E. Strick-
land. November 22. 1833.

The folloisoing Species of British Land and 'Fresh^water Shells
have been collected in the Neighbourhood of Rugby, Warwick-
shire : — In the Oxford and Coventry Canal, Cyclas rivicola.
In the canal and river Avon, Cyclas cornea, pusilla ; A'nodon
cygneus; Mysca pict5rum, ovata. In gardens and hedges,
Helix nemoralis, hortensis, aspersa. In Newbold lime pits,
Helix ericetorum, hispida. The following were found in a
mass of silt and dead leaves, left after a flood, upon the banks
of the Clifton Brook, near Brownsover Mill : — Helix nitens,
lucida, crystallina, pulchella; Bulimus lubricus; Succinea
amphibia; Carychium minimum; Vertigo pygmse^a ; Pla-
norbis carinatus, marginatus, vortex, fontanus, contortus,
^Ibus ; Limneus auricularius, pereger, scaturiginum, stagnalis,
fragilis, palustris, fossarius ; Physa fontinalis, Valvata obtiisa,
Paludina impura, viridis. In the Oxford Canal, Paludina
achatina, vivipara. In the Bilton Brook, A'ncylus fluviatilis,
and a small species of Cyclas, unnamed in Turton's Manual
of the British Land and Freshwater Shells. — A. Bloxam.
Rugby, Warwickshire, January, 1834.

A Portion of Pearly Matter found within a Shell of the
Freshwater Muscle [A'nodon cygneus) ; and the Reason why it
Was formed there, — In the hollow of one of the valves of
a freshwater muscle (A^nodon cygneus), which I lately picked
up by the side of one of the ponds in this neighbourhood,
I found a large irregular-shaped apparently solid mass of
pearly matter, rather more than 1 in. long, | in. broad, and
full \ in. high. It struck me as being an awkward encum-
brance for the animal, and I was puzzled, as neither dint nor

SpideT'like Animals. 161

fracture was observable on the exterior of the shell, to ascer-
tain the cause ; but, on breaking a small portion of the irre-
gular mass, discovered it. The animal had, by some accident,
got a large mass of mud between itself and the shell, and not
having the power of dislodging the mud, and probably finding
the roughness of it disagreeable to the smooth surface of its
own body, had formed a coating of pearly matter entirely over
it, and had thus sagaciously rendered it, though it must have
been a great encumbrance, as little inconvenient to itself as
possible. — Id.

The Limneus elongdtus Turton, Helix octarifracti Montagu,
a7id H. octona Pennant. — Would that some correspondent
would clear up the difficulty which appears to hang over
these ! The figure in Veunsini^s British Zoology
is quite correct, according to many dozens of
specimens which I have found on plants in a pool
near Southampton, where even the youngest
shells have the fractured apex. Will Mr. Kenyon,
who (in his list of land and freshwater shells in II. 273.) men-
tions it under the name of Lymnae^a leucostoma, oblige me
by stating in what degree my drawing (fig. 32.) is like or unlike
his shell? — W. W. Southampton^ Jan. 17. 1834.

SriDER-LiKE Animals. — [_0f Trachean Arachnides^ the
Genus Achlysia, constituted and named by M. Audouin, con-
sists, probably, but of Species, in an immature State, ofHydrach-
nadcE, of the Genus Limnocharis Latr. Individuals of a
Species of Limnocharis Latr. have been found subsisting, in
one of their States, as Parasites, upon the Body of Dytiscus
margindlis L.] — In turning over the leaves of vol. i. of
the Zoological Journal, my attention was attracted by some
figures in the 4th plate, and, on referring to the descriptions
I found, in page 122., " A Memoir on Achlysia, a new Genus
of Trachean Arachnides, by M. J. V. Audouin."

Some years back, I carefully examined a specimen of
i)ytiscus marginalis L., under the wings of which, and
attached to its back, were above a dozen bags, each rather
smaller than a grain of wheat, curved and narrowed at the
end by which they were attached. On opening these sacs,
I found, to my astonishment, that each contained a perfect
animal, which I believe may be a Hydrachna, or rather
Limnocharis Latr. As there is nothing new under the sun,
I did not at the time regard this discovery, and lost my
descriptions and drawings, which I now very much regret,
as it renders my present communication very imperfect ; but,
I hope, even this notice may be the means of calling the
attention of some one to the subject better acquainted with
the Trachearia than I am.

Vol. VIL — No. 38. a

1 62 Short Communications : —

• From the learned observations of M. Audouin on this
class, it must have happened that the animals in the sacs which
he examined, and has called Achlysia, were in an early stage
of growth ; so that he had no opportunity of ascertaining what
I, under more favourable circumstances, discovered.

Whether the metamorphoses of the Hydrachnadae be
known, I am not aware; but it will be very remarkable
should they be parasitic in their different states; and it struck
me, at first, as an extraordinary fact, that these animals
should remain in their sacs attached to the Z)ytiscus by
their rostrum, when they are matured, and have eight per-
fect legs for use. I believe the Limnochares are not uncom-
mon in ponds and ditches, and are supposed to feed upon
animalcula, &c. De Geer mentions, I believe, that the eggs
of a Hydrachna are attached to, and receive nourishment from,
oneof the water fleas {Gyvmus Lin,). — J. Curtis. 57. Upper
Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square, Nov. 16. 1833. [To Achlysia
Z)ytisci Aud. the text and figures in Zool. Journ, ascribe
only six legs.]

Chelifer cancrbides. (V. 754.) — I have often taken this
odd little creature, and other species of Chelifer, attached to
the legs of Musca domestica, M. meteorica, and M. larva-
rum. I have observed them attached to flies, most frequently
in hot weather ; but they are to be found, at almost any time,
under the bark of trees, under stones, and amongst moss in
dryish banks. The C. ^:ancroides is known to live in old
drawers and closets, and amongst old books. It is undoubt-
edly, at times, a parasitical creature ; but not generally.
They attach to the legs of flies by one of their curious pin-
cers ; but I have never seen them so attached as to lead me to
believe that they derived nourishment from the flies. They
feed, no doubt, in their usual habitats, on minute insects. —
W. B. B. W. Nov. 14. 1832.

Chelifer cancroides. (V. 754.) — A fly (Musca domestica)
was yesterday produced to me, to one of whose legs were
affixed four specimens of Chelifer rancroides. If this new
instance can be called accidental, I am at a loss to conceive
how so many enemies (as they doubtless are to its tribe)
had attached themselves to one limb ? If the fly had acci-
dentally placed the limb in a nest of these insects, it seems na-
tural to believe that it would have had sufficient sensibility to
withdraw it ere the whole family had time to attach themselves.
At present, the most probable reason which can be advanced
is, that the fly was asleep at the time. I have to regret that
a tender-hearted and fearful boy in the room should have
stopped all further investigation on this interesting instance.

Geology. 163

by crushing the little tyrants before I had time to complete
my experiments on them. — F, C. Lukzs, Guernsey^ Aug. 7.
1832.

Geology. — Additional Information on the Fucbldes allegha-
nimsis. (p. 27.) — Nov. 11, 12. 1833. Two days' examination
along the slope of the Shade Mountain, in Juniata Valley, has
materially enlarged my knowledge of the geological position of
this fossil. On the banks of the Pennsylvania canal, near Lewis-
town*, the strata consist of numerous seams from 1 in. to
H ft* thick, of argillaceous sandstone, more or less ferruginous,
and varying in colour from dark brown to greenish blue. These
are quarried in large slabs for the purposes of paving and
building. The surfaces of these slabs are covered with i^uci
in relief, whose forms are ill defined, and are smaller than the
Fucoides alleghaniensis ; they are also separated by courses
of soft argillaceous rock, from ^ in. to 1 in. in thickness, con-
sisting almost entirely of similar i^uci. An opening, made
into another part of the series, at a lower position, and at the
distance of half a mile, exhibited no fewer than a hundred suc-
cessive courses of these vegetable deposits upon similar rock,
within a section of only 20 ft. perpendicular. All these fossil
beds comprise the same undefined Fucoides, occasionally tra-
versed by the larger species. I traced a succession of these
beds to upwards of 200 ft. elevation. At the height of full
350 ft., the Fucoides alleghaniensis prevailed in abundance
upon slabs of brown red sandstone, and probably extended
50 ft* higher. The whole series, therefore, which contains
fossil Fuel occupies a thickness of from 250 ft. to 400 ft.

Nov. 21. 1833. In traversing the parallel ridges called the
Seven Mountains, at the distance of 15 miles west of the
Shade Mountain just noticed, the Fucoides alleghaniensis
appears on the surface of white sandstone strata, occupying a
mile in breadth, and rising to the height of 1000 ft.

Dec. 6. 1833. In Murney Ridge, 50 miles north of the
Shade Mountain, and running parallel with, and at the dis-
tance of 15 miles east of, the Alleghany Mountains, I again
observed splendid specimens of F. alleghaniensis.

I notice these localities, the detail of which is only interest-
ing to show that this remarkable fossil is repeated at various
and distant parts of the transition series in this country. —
R. (7. Taylor. Lemstown^ Pennsylvania, Jan, 1. 1834.

* Upon this spot I observed growing that magnificent tree the Catdlpa
syiingce^oWsiy and groups of the medicinal shrub, Acacia marilandica. At
400 ft. higher, the mountain was covered with the common acacia, or
prickly locust tree (Robinfa Pseud-^cacia X.), amongst scrubby chestnuts
and rock oaks and sumachs.

M 2

164?

MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE.

Art. I. Retrospective Criticism,

Remarks in Defence of [Mr. Audubon'] the Authoi' of the
" \_Biography of the] Birds of America " [VII. 66.], hy the
Rev. John Bachman, Charleston, South Carolina, — Although,
from my profession and habits, I feel no disposition to enter
into controversy, yet, having had opportunities which few
others possess of becoming acquainted with the occupations
and literary acquirements of Mr. Audubon, and being
prompted, not alone by feelings of private friendship, but by
a desire that full justice should be awarded him for those ex-
penses, sacrifices, and privations which he has undergone, I
take the liberty of stating what I know on this subject ; and I
have reason to believe, from the characters of the writers who
have doubted his veracity and the authenticity of his works,
that, with the generosity of feeling so distinctive of those who
are engaged in liberal and kindred pursuits, they will be gra-
tified to assign him the meed of praise which he so undoubt-
edly merits.

It appears that exception has been taken to two publica-
tions of Audubon's ; one on the habits of the rattlesnake, and
the other on the habits of the turkey buzzard (Cathartes Aura).
The latter publication is now lying before me ; the former I
have not had an opportunity of seeing; but, from what I
gather from some communications in [this] Journal, it appears
that he ascribed to the rattlesnake some of the habits of the
common black snake (Coluber constrictor Zm.), as ascending
trees in search of game, feeding on squirrels, &c. He also
mentioned the remarkable fact, of their living a considerable
length of time in confinement without food.

[Here follows, in the manuscript, an extract of some length
from Featherstonehaugh's Monthly American Journal of Geo-
logy and the Natural Sciences, Nov. 1831, p. 221. (the commu-
nication to that work to which Mr. Audubon, jun., has, in our
VI. 551., referred), and a variety of evidence from Dr. Cooper,
Dr. Leitner, Dr. Randolph, and Mr. Hockley ; the amount
of which is, that " at least five well-defined species of rattle-
snake are now found in this extensive country;" that rattle-
snakes, of one or other species, climb and have been seen on
fences, and on trees, and on bushes, and that one has been

Retrospective Criticism, 165

seen coiled up and at rest, in the fork of a tree, at about
8ft. from the ground; that " the rattlesnake sometimes
takes to the water, and is found a considerable distance
from the shore in salt water ;" that the rattlesnake, in its native
woods, feeds on squirrels ; even, occasionally, on the largest
American squirrel (5'ciurus t;ulpinus), rabbits (Zepus ameri-
canus), and also rats (Arvicola floridana Ord^ and, from the
wording of the manuscript, probably other species of rat) ;
and that, with regard to the means by which rattlesnakes cap-
ture these animals, it is possible that " rattlesnakes may yet be
discovered to be nocturnal in their habits ; possessing a degree
of activity at night which is not exhibited by day, unless hard
pressed by hunger." As this communication is professedly
in reply to Mr. Waterton, who has, in VII. 67., line 8. and 7.
from the bottom, observed that *' nobody doubts that rattle-
snakes swallow squirrels," it is needless to occupy space to
confirm an assertion which Mr. Waterton has not disputed.
The Rev. J. Bachman states that he had not seen a later
number of this Magazine than the one for Sept. 1833. The
MS. will be returned to the party through which it reached us,
to be published elsewhere, entire, if our elision dissatisfies.]

With regard to the experiments of Audubon on the powers
of smelling, usually ascribed to the turkey buzzard (C. Aura)
[VI. 84. 163.], I acknowledge that he has adopted views op-
posed to the long established opinions of naturalists. But no
one who will read his paper on the subject, containing a full
detail of a number of experiments on the habits of this vulture,
can deny that, if he intended to deceive the world, he cer-
tainly chose a subject where detection was easy and certain.
In our southern cities, these birds, with their kindred species
Cathartes atratus, are so abundant in our streets and on our
house-tops, as to have become a nuisance. It is but due to
Mr. Audubon to state, that, in his frequent visits to this city,
be has fearlessly invited investigation on this subject. During
his absence, he has written to me on several occasions, urging
me to make farther experiments. A number of engagements
prevented me from devoting as much time to the subject as
was necessary to investigate it in such a manner as to prove
satisfactory to my mind, and I postponed it to a more leisure
period. On the recent visit, however, of Mr. Audubon to
this city, I consented to institute these enquiries ; in the pro-
secution of which I was aided by the intelligence and expe-
rience of such disinterested naturalists and men of science as
could be obtained.

On the 16th of December, I commenced a series of expe-
riments on the habits of the vultures (C. Aura and C. atratus);

M 3

166 Retrospective Criticistn.

particularly as regards their powers of smell and sight, which
were continued, with little intermission, till the 31st. Written
invitations were sent to all the professors of the two medical
colleges in this city, to the officers and some of the members
of the Philosophical Society, and such other individuals as we
believed might take an interest in the subject. Although
Mr. Audubon was present during most of this time, and was
wiUing to render any assistance required of him, yet he
desired that we might make the experiments ourselves, that
we might adopt any mode that the ingenuity or experience of
others could suggest in arriving at the most correct conclu-
sions. The manner in which these experiments were made,
together with the result, I now proceed to detail.

There were three points on which the veracity of Mr. Au-
dubon had been assailed : first, whether the vulture is grega-
rious ; secondly, whether he feeds on fresh as well as putrid
flesh; thirdly, whether he is attracted to his food by the eye
or the scent ? To these queries, not only in justice to the
American ornithologist, but to aid the cause of natural science,
our enquiries were directed. First, whether the vultures of
this country are gregarious ? — That vultures, during the
breeding season, and occasionally at other times, fly singly, is
well known ; but such is also the case with all our birds that
usually keep in flocks ; witness the wild pigeon (Columba
migratoria) and the robin (Turdus migratbrius), and many of
our water birds. But that our vultures are gregarious, in the
true sense of the word, is a fact well established. In most
cases, in the interior of our state, as well as in the environs of
this city, considerable numbers are found in company, from
three or four to forty or fifty. They hunt for their prey in
company ; they feed together on the same carrion ; they per-
form their gyrations in great numbers together, and they roost
together. I have visited their roosting-places ; a sight well
worth travelling many miles to observe. In some deep swamp,
or occasionally in high ground, surrounded by a thicket
of vines and thorny shrubs, usually composed of ^lizyphus
volubilis, and several species of 6^milax and JKubus, the
buzzards resort for years together to spend their nights.
Here, on some dead tree, and frequently on several that may
be standing near each other, they are crowded so close to-
gether that one or two hundred may be counted on a tree, and
frequently thirty or forty on a single branch. The ground
and bushes, within a certain extent, are covered with the ex-
crements ; which, by their acridity, htive destroyed the whole
undergrowth of shrubs and plants and every blade of grass ;
so that the surface presents an appearance of having received
several thick coatings of whitewash.

Retrospective Criticism, 167

Secondly, whether our vultures subsist on fresh as well as
putrid food? — On this head it was unnecessary to make
experiments ; it being a subject with which even the most
casual observer amongst us is well acquainted. It is well
known that the roof of our market-house is covered with these
birds early every morning, waiting for any little scrap of
fresh meat that may be thrown to them by the butchers. At
our slaughter-houses, the offal is quickly devoured by our
vultures, whilst it is yet warm from the recent death of the
slaughtered animal. I have seen the Fultur Aura a hundred
miles in the interior of this country, where he may be said to
be altogether in a state of nature, regaling himself on the en-
trails of a deer, which had been killed not an hour before. Two
years ago, Mr. H. Ward, who is now in London, and who
was in the employ of the Philosophical Society of this city,
was in the habit of depositing, at the foot of my garden (in
the suburbs of Charleston) the fresh carcasses of the birds he
had skinned, and in the course of half an hour both species
of vulture, particularly the Cath^rtes Aura, came and devoured
the whole. Nay, we discovered that vultures fed on the
bodies of those of their own species that had been thus
exposed. A few days ago, a vulture that had been killed by
some boys in the neighbourhood, and had fallen near the
place where we were performing our experiments, attracted,
on the following morning, the sight of a Cathartes Aura, which
commenced pulling off its feathers and feeding upon it. This
brought down two of the black vultures, who joined in the
repast. In this instance, the former chased away the two
latter to some distance; an unusual occurrence, as the black
vulture is the stronger bird, and generally keeps off the
other species. We had the dead bird covered with some
rice chaff, where it still remains undiscovered by the vultures.

Thirdly, whether is the vulture attracted to its food by the
sense of smell or of sight ? — A number of experiments were
tried, to satisfy us on this head, and all led to the same re-
sult. A few of these I shall detail.

1. A dead hare (iepus timidus), a pheasant (Phasianus
c61chicus),a kestrel (Falco TinnunculusZ/.), from a recent im-
portation, together with a wheel barrowful of offal from the
slaughter-pens, were deposited on the ground, in a retired
situation at the foot of my garden. A frame was raised above
it, at the distance of twelve inches from the earth. This was
covered with brushwood, allowing the air to pass freely
beneath it, so as to convey the effluvia far and wide; and
although fifteen days have now gone by, and the flesh has
become offensive, not a single vulture appears to have per-

M 4

168 Eetrospectwe Criticism,

ceived it, though hundreds have passed over it, and some
very near it, in search of their daily food. Although the
vultures did not discover this dainty mess, the dogs in the
vicinity, who appeared to have better olfactory nerves, fre-
quently visited the place, and gave us much trouble in the
prosecution of our experiments.

2. I now suggested an experiment which would enable us
to test the enquiry, whether the vulture could be^attracted to
an object by the sight alone. A coarse painting on canvass
was made, representing a sheep skinned and cut open. This
proved very amusing. No sooner was this picture placed on
the ground, than the vultures observed it, alighted near,
walked over it, and some of them commenced tugging at the
painting. They seemed much disappointed and surprised ;
and, after having satisfied their curiosity, flew away. This
experiment was repeated more than fifty times, with the same
result. The painting was then placed within 10 ft. of the spot
where our offal was deposited. They came, as before ; walked
around it, but in no instance evinced the slightest symptom
of their having scented the offal which was so near them.

S. The most offensive portions of the offal were now placed
on the earth ; these were covered over by a thin canvass cloth ;
on this was strewed several small pieces of fresh beef. The
vultures came, ate the flesh that was in sight, and, although
they were standing upon a quantity beneath them, and though
their bills were frequently within the one eighth of an inch of this
putrid matter, they did not discover it. We made a small rent
in the canvass, and they at once perceived the flesh, and began
to devour it. We drove them away, replaced the canvass
with an entire piece, and again they commenced eating the
fresh pieces of flesh exhibited to their view, without disco-
vering the hidden food they were treading upon.

4. The medical gentlemen who were present, now made a
number of experiments, to attest the absurdity of a story,
widely circulated in the United States through the news-
papers, that the eye of a vulture, when perforated, and the
sight extinguished, would, in a few moments, be restored, in
consequence of his placing his head under his wing ; the
down of which was said to restore the sight. The eyes were
perforated : I need not add, that the bird became blind, and
that it was beyond the power of the healing art to restore his
lost sight. His life was, however, preserved by occasionally
putting food in his mouth. In this situation, they placed him
in a small out-house ; hung the flesh of the hare, that had
now become offensive, within his reach ; nay, they frequently
placed it within an inch of his nostrils ; but the bird gave no

Retrospective Criticism, 169

evidence of any knowledge that his favourite food was so near
him. This was repeated for several days in succession, with
the same results.

I did not consider this last experiment as conclusive as
others did who witnessed it. The bird might not have been
wholly free from the pain inflicted by the operation, nor
might he have been so soon reconciled to the new situation
into which he had been thrown by the loss of sight ; but, in
connection with other experiments, it strengthened us in the
opinions we had formed.

After having resorted to the means detailed above, to
satisfy myself of the accuracy of the statements of Audubon
as regards the habits of the turkey buzzard, detailed in Jame-
son's Journal [for October and December, 1826], I once more
carefully read over his remarks on the subject ; and I now
feel bound to declare that every statement contained in that
communication is in accordance with my own experience,
after a residence of twenty years in a country where the vul-
tures are more abundant than any other birds.

We were not aware that any other experiments could be
made to enable us to arrive at more satisfactory results, and,
as we feared, if continued, they might become offensive to the
neighbours, we abandoned them.

As my humble name can scarcely be known in Europe, I
have thought proper to obtain the signatures of some of the
gentlemen who aided me in, or witnessed, these experiments ;
and I must also add that there was not an individual, among
the crowd of persons who came to judge for themselves, who
did not coincide with those who have given their names to
this certificate.

" We, the subscribers, having witnessed several of the
experiments made on the habits of the vultures of Carolina
(Cathartes Aura and Cathartes atratus), commonly called the
turkey buzzard and carrion crow, feel assured that these species
respectively are gregarious ; the individuals of each species
associating and feeding together ; that they devour fresh as
well as putrid food of any kind, and that they are guided to
their food altogether through their sense of sight, and not
that of smell.

" E. F. Leitner, Lecturer on Botany and Nat Hist.
B. B. Strobel, M.D. Martin Strobel.

Robert Henry, A.M., Pres. Coll. of S. Carolina.
John Wagner, M.D., Professor of Surgery, Med.

Coll. of the State of South Carolina.
Henry R. Frost, M.D., Professor of Materia
Medica, Coll. of the State of South Carolina."

170 Retrospective Criticism,

It now remains for naturalists to account for the errors
which have, for so many ages, existed with regard to the
power of scent ascribed to our vultures. Indeed, it is highly
probable that facts elicited from the experiments of Audubon
on our two species of vulture, strengthened by those insti-
tuted on this occasion, may apply to all the rest of the genus.
Without having had many opportunities of observiition, I am
inclined to doubt the extraordinary powers of smell ascribed
to the condor of the Andes (C. Gryphus), and it would be
advisable to make farther experiments on the vultures of
southern Europe and Africa. Perhaps it may yet be dis-
covered that all the birds belonging to this genus are alto-
gether indebted to the eye in their search after food. Indeed,
I am of opinion, that, while to quadrupeds (particularly car-
nivorous ones) the faculty of scent is their peculiar province,
this organ is but imperfectly developed in birds. As it does,
however, exist, although in an inferior degree, I am not dis-
posed to deny to birds the power of smell altogether ; nor
would I wish to advance the opinion that the vulture does not
possess the faculty of smelling in the slightest degree, although
it has not been discovered by our experiments. All that I
contend for is, that he is not assisted by this faculty in pro-
curing his food : that he cannot smell better, for instance,
than hawks or owls, which, it is known, are indebted to their
sight altogether in discovering their prey. If our vultures
had to depend on their olfactory powers alone in procuring
food, what would become of them in cold winters ; in Ken-
tucky, for instance, where they remain all the year, and where
the earth is bound up with frost for months at a time, and
where, consequently, during that period, putrefaction does
not take place : and, if they had to depend alone on tainted
meat for food, how soon would the whole race (at least, in our
temperate climates) die of hunger ?

How easily error may be perpetuated, from age to age, we
may learn from a thousand other visionary notions, which the
more careful observations of recent travellers and naturalists
have exploded. At this day, the belief is very general in this
country, that, immediately after a deer (Cervus virginianus)
has been killed, the vultures, at the distance of many miles,
are seen coming in a direct line against the wind, scenting
the slaughtered animal. This may be accounted for, with a
little observation, upon rational principles. When a deer is
killed, the entrails are immediately taken out : these, or per-
haps the blood which covers the earth to some distance, are
seen by some passing bird. He directly commences sailing
around the neighbourhood ; he is observed by those at a dis-

Retrospective Criticism, I7I

tance ; the peauHar motions of his wings, well known to those
of his own species, communicate to them the intelligence
that something good for them is perceived. These, hastening
to the place, give information to those who are still farther
off; and, in the course of an hour, a very great number are
guided to the spot. But it will scarcely be argued that this
great concourse of vultures has been attracted by the effluvia
of putrid flesh, since the animal has been killed but an hour
before.

I come now to notice the most important enquiry, and one
which has been my principal inducement in taxing the pages
of [this] Journal, and the patience of [its] readers, with this
communication. Whether Audubon is the real author of the
book called Ornithological Biography. Probably this ques-
tion is already settled in Europe ; as his original manuscripts
are there, to which many of his friends have had access.
The September Number of this Magazine is the latest that
has been received in this part of America : perhaps [the]
subsequent Numbers may have shown that this voice from
his native land was unnecessary to establish a fact already
placed beyond the reach of suspicion. [The additional com-
munications on the matter occur in VI. 550., VII. QQJ^ Be
this as it may, I am unwilling that the lukewarmness or
the confidence of his friends should deprive this enterprising
ornithologist of the reputation which he has so laboriously
acquired. No naturalist in this country has ever bestowed
so much of his time, industry, and wealth, or made so many
sacrifices to a favourite pursuit, as he has done. To this he
has devoted the most active portion of his life ; to accomplish
this, he has traversed the whole of this wide-extended country,
from the Atlantic to the very foot of the Rocky Mountains ;
from the swamps of Florida and Louisiana to the snows of
Michigan and the rugged rocks of Labrador.

For the last two years and a half, I have been intimately
acquainted with Audubon : he has resided in my family for
months in succession. From a similarity of disposition and
pursuits, he was my companion in my rambles through the
woods and fields, and the enlivener of my evening hours.
During his absence, we were constant correspondents ; and
his letters, amounting to nearly a hundred, are now lying
before me. His journals have been regularly submitted to
my inspection ; his notes and observations were made in my
presence ; and a considerable portion of the second volume
of his Ornithological Biography was written under my roof.
I have carefully compared his first volume with the forth-
coming one ; and, from all these opportunities which I have

172 Retrospective Criticism,

enjoyed of making a decision, I do not hesitate to state that
Audubon is the author of the book to which his name is
attached ; and that the second volume will not fall short of
the first in purity, vigour, and originality of style ; and that
it will contain the additional experience and observation of
three of the most active years of his life.

Some details of the habits and pursuits of this gentleman
may not be uninteresting to your readers, and will account for
the manner in which he has been enabled successfully to
carry on so large, expensive, and laborious a work as that
which is now in the progress of publication.

He rises with the earliest dawn, and devotes the whole of
the day, in intense industry, to his favourite pursuit. The
specimens from which he makes his drawings are all from
nature ; carefully noting the colours of the eye, bill, and
legs ; measuring, with great accuracy, every part of the bird.
Where differences exist, either in the sexes or young, several
figures are given on the same plate : sparing no labour in
retouching old drawings or in making new ones, in all cases
where he conceives there may be a possibility of making an
improvement. In this way, he has already succeeded in
figuring nearly the whole of the birds necessary to complete
his splendid and important work.

He keeps a journal, and regularly notes down every thing
connected with natural history. This journal is always kept
in English : a language which, it must be acknowledged, he
writes very correctly, when it is taken into consideration that
he spent nearly the first seventeen years of his life in France.
Besides this, he keeps separate journals, in which he notes
every thing that he learns each day on the habits of every
bird. In all his travels, he carries these journals with him;
and he never suffers business, fatigue, or pleasure to prevent
him each evening from noting down every interesting observ-
ation. In this way, a mass of information has been accu-
mulated from year to year. When he sits down to write the
history of a bird (which is usually in the evening), he first
reads over all the memoranda which he has made with
regard to its habits ; and he is generally able to write an inter-
esting paper on the subject in the course of the evening. At
some leisure moment this is again reviewed and corrected :
the scientific details he leaves to the last. In America there
are few private or public libraries that can furnish a writer on
ornithology with all the information he is desirous of obtain-
ing on this subject. Mr. Audubon does not hesitate about
consulting with other naturalists in regard to all that may be
written or known on the birds of America. He wishes to

Retrospective Criticism, 173

render his work as perfect as the experience and knowledge
of man, in the present state of his information, can make it ;
and he endeavours to obtain all the additional light that
industry or enquiry can shed on the subject. In obtaining
this kind of assistance from those whose knowledge of books
enables them to afford it, he does not conceive that he is the
less entitled to the claim of the authorship of a work, the
whole design of which (the most important feature in its
execution), together with the composition, is altogether his
own.

When Wilson, the highly talented American ornithologist,
first commenced his invaluable work, he did not hesitate to
apply to his scientific friends for all the information they were
able to afford him. In his letter to Bartram, dated May 21.
1804, found in the 36th page of his Life, by his friend and
biographer Mr. Ord, we find Wilson using the following
language : — "I send you a few more imitations of birds for
your opinion, which I value beyond that of any body else.
Please to send me the names of the birds."

Now, although Wilson received all the aid which the
observations and reading of his friend could afford him, yet
it would be the height of injustice to his memory and his
well-merited fame, to assert that Bartram was the author of
his work. Let us be as just to Audubon as we are to his
predecessor, and we shall not withhold from him the merit of
being the author of his Ornithological Biography.

If the idea is entertained abroad, that the character and
acquirements of Mr. Audubon are not estimated in his native
land, or that his splendid publication is not appreciated here,
it is most certain that the impression is altogether erroneous.
The United States, although comparatively a new country,
and possessing but few men of very large fortunes, duly
appreciate the value of his work, and the merits of the
individual.

Since his last return to America he has already received
sixty-one subscribers to his work, with very little exertion
on his part. It has been added to the library of Congress,
and the legislatures of many of the states have become sub-
scribers. The government has allowed him and his attend-
ants the free use of all our public vessels in every part of the
United States. Honours have been conferred on him by the
learned societies of our land, and the attentions which have
been bestowed upon him, by the most intelligent men in our
country, are such as have never been conferred upon any
former naturalist.

The additions already made to American ornithology by

174 Retrospective Criticism^

the labours of Audubon are immense : suffice it to say, that
he has added upwards of one hundred species not figured by
Wilson. Some of these have been described in the valuable
continuation of Wilson's work by Bonaparte. Still, with
these deductions, there will be an immense number of new
birds published in the work of Audubon, for a knowledge of
which the public will be solely indebted to his zeal, industry,
and experience. Amongst other interesting discoveries made
by him may be noticed a new heron, and an eagle, the largest
in the United States ; two species of pigeon, a humming-
bird, and a considerable number of the genera of the Musci-
capa, Troglodytes, Sylvia, and jPringilla,

His services alone, in correcting the errors into which his
predecessors had fallen, from the want of opportunities such
as he has enjoyed, are invaluable, and will be duly appre-
ciated by the lovers of natural history. It may be interesting
to your readers to notice a few of these. In his recent visit
to Labrador, to which inhospitable region he was led solely
by his ardent zeal for the advancement of science, he has
ascertained that the iarus marinus and the Zarus argenta-
tmdes are the same bird in different stages of plumage. In
the iarus minutus and L, capistratus, a similar mistake had
occurred. The ^'rdea Peale/ of Bonaparte proves to be the
young of the ^'rdea rufescens, as ascertained by Audubon in
the highly interesting ornithological region of Florida; the
figure of Wilson of the Rallus crepitans, given as the adult
bird, proves to be that of a new species found in the fresh-
water marshes of our southern country, and the Falco iagopus
is only the immature bird of the Sancti Johannis.

In addition to this, the visits of Audubon to the breeding-
places of many other of our rare birds, in the extreme north
and south of our country, have enabled him to investigate
their habits more fully, and to describe them more correctly,
than had ever been done before.

If the enquiry be made, what prospect there will be of the
continuation of this work, in case the author should not live
to complete it, I am happy to say that its publication is secured
beyond the fear of accidents. The drawings of the birds
for the whole work are nearly completed ; the materials for
their history are collected and recorded ; and there exists
sufficient acquirement in the members of his interesting and
talented family to carry on the work.

Let the literary world but award to Audubon the justice
which he merits ; let the public continue to be indulgent and
hberal, and this work cannot fail to prove a very important
acquisition to the natural history of America, nor to reflect the

Retrospective Criticism, 175

highest credit on the liberality of the British public, that has
hitherto so efficiently aided him in the publication of it, nor to
establish an abiding monument to the fame of its author,
whilst it must continue to be selected as the chosen companion
of those who delight in the contemplation and investigation of
the phenomena of nature, in one of the most interesting depart-
ments of her works. — John Bachman, Charleston^ Dec. 31.
1833. [Received Feb. 7.]

The Common Redwing is a resident Species i7i the extreme
North of Scotland and in the Isles. (Mr. Blyth, in VI. 516.) —
I should feel obliged to Mr. Blyth if he would state its
locality, and whether he has had personal opportunities of
examining it in its summer haunts, as, I believe, this bird has
hitherto generally been looked upon in the light of a stranger,
merely paying us a visit during the winter season. I can
assure Mr. Blyth it is not a summer resident on the eastern
coast of Scotland or in the Orkney Islands, although Dr.
Barry says, in his History of the Orhiey Islands, book iii.
p. 316., 2d edit., " it may be seen in Hoy for the most part of
summer, and always in harvest; where it probably builds among
the shrubs in the valleys." At least, I could not discover this
bird, during an extensive excursion through these islands and
a great part of the Highlands in the summer of 1831 ; my prin-
cipal object being that of inspecting the habits and nidification
of the different birds that resort thither. The only instance
recorded of the redwing's breeding in the British Islands is
in Montagu; who says, " Mr. Bullock found a nest in the
Island of Harris in the Hebrides." The solitary instance
here mentioned must invalidate the idea of those heard by
W. L. (VI. 218.) being identical with the redwing, unless
their locality is changed since Mr. Bullock's visit; or, otherwise,
he must have found their nests in greater abundance than he
appears to have done.

I suspect that the young of the missel thrush (Zurdus vis-
civorus) has very often been mistaken for the redwing, as
they congregate towards the end of the summer. I saw,
during the month of August, at least a hundred assembled to-
gether, and at first thought they were a flock of fieldfares or
redwings ; but, on a closer examination, I discovered my mis-
take. They certainly must migrate. The fact of their mi-
grating is mentioned in V. 581.

Montagu says further of the redwing, " It is said to breed
in Norway and Sweden." Bewick says only the latter countr3^
Mr. Hewitson, who visited Norway last summer, did not find
it there, although he saw its congener, the fieldfare ( Turdus
pilaris) ; and in his British Oology, Nos. xiv. and xv., says, " it

176 Retrospective Criticism,

is the most abundant bird in Norway, and is generally diffused
over that part which we visited, breeding (so contrary to the
habits of other species of the genus Turdus with which we
are acquainted) in society ; 200 nests or more being frequently
within a very small space." Possibly some of the readers or
correspondents of the Magazine, who may be personally
acquainted with the Western Islands, will favour us with a
more minute description of the nest, eggs, and general habits
of the redwing. — J. D. Salmon, Stoke Ferry^ Norfolk, [See
p. 144.]

The Black Viper, (VI. 527., VII. 76.) — Mr. Bree's remarks
(in VII. 76.) do not disincline me to repeat my former assertion,
that I believe that there is but one species of poisonous reptile
in England, namely, Fipera Bhrus. The black viper is an
extreme variety, but every intermediate shade exists. — E.N,D.
Feb, 1834.

Criticisms on some Species of Insects published in Wood's " In-
dex Entomologicus" and in Stephens's " Illustrations of British
FntomologT/." — As the correction of errors must be acceptable
to every impartial person, I point out some which occur in
Wood's Index Entomologicus and in Stephens's Illustrations of
British Entomology^ which Mr. Wood takes for his guide;
and as there are many figures which I do not understand, I
shall be glad to have them explained, to prevent my being led
further astray: — Wood, plate 1. fig. 3. Is this the true Eu-
ropom^? or Philodic^? and on what authority does it appear
as British? — Plate 1. fig. 4. Is this the true Chrysothom^?
and in what does it differ from Electro (or Edi\s«) ? — Plate 1.
figs. 8. 10. 12. Charicle«, Metra, and sabeilicae : Why are
these distinct from brassicae, rapae, and napi ? — Plate 2.
fig. 53. spini ? Is this the true spini ? The late Mr. Ha-
worth told me he had one from the cabinet of the late Captain
Lindegret ; but it had no head. Mr. Sparshall has a Thecl«,
quite new, and distinct^from Mr. Ha worth's. — Plate 2. fig. 67.
looks like Alexis (the common blue). Wood gives it as
D6ryla5, and 67. (or 69. ?) $ , and 67. (or 69. ?) $ , as Alexis;
but the $ is figured with a border of black spots in the
second wings, which is not common in Alexis ; 68. Icarius, $
and ? ; and 70. EVos, $ and $ : what is the distinction
between these four ? — Plate 2. fig. 58. $ , and plate 3. fig. 58.
$ : Hippotho^*. Mr. Haworth told me that they came out of
an old cabinet, and were said to have been taken near Fa-
versham. I had $ and $ from the late Mr. Latham, which
were from Captain Lindegret's cabinet ; whence, probably, all
the supposed British specimens also came. — Plate 2. fig. 72.,
plate 3. figs. 73. and 74. Agestis, Salmacis $ and $ , and

Retrospective Criticism, 177

Artaxerxes : Are these three distinct, as species ; or the same,
arising from some local or other cause? — Plate 4. figs. 2, 3,
and 4. meliloti, trifolii, and loti: are these distinct? Ditto,
figs. 5. and 6. filipendulae and hippocrepidis : or only slight
varieties ? Fig. 26. chrysidiformis : what is the authority as
British? Fig. 31. philonthiformis: Is it distinct from 30.
2chneumonif6rmis ; and where, when, and by whom was it
taken, and in whose cabinet is it ? — Mr. Curtis, in his Guide
gen. 790. 9., has given Mghvia stomoxyformis of Stephens as
the ? of his mutillaeformis, for which he has been ridiculed;
Mr. Stephens having subsequently said that the stomoxyf(5rmis
which he has figured is a " ^ , with ciliated ant ennce^* \ In mif
copy of Mr. Stephens's work, the figure of stomoxyformis
(plate 11. fig. 3.) appears to be a female, and has not ciliated
antennae; though culiciformis (plate 10. fig. 3.) is a ^ , with
" ciliated antennce ; '* but Mr. Curtis does not refer to that.
It does not appear that either Mr. Stephens or Mr. Wood
has figured the true Sesia stomoxyformis of Hiib. ; of which
this (Jig, 33.) is a copy. It has two .

orange lines on the thorax ; a band '^a^^Vw/V^rtia
and four spots of the same colour on ^^^^^^^^^^^'
the abdomen ; which agrees with Ste- ^^^^^^^^^
phens's Latin description, as well it ffi^

may, his being copied verbatim from 33 B

Ochsenheimer, with the omission of "

the word in parenthesis ; viz. " Alis (hyalinis) anticarum mar-
ginibus fasciaque nigris; thoracis litieis duabus abdominis
barbati cingulo punctisque later alihus fidvis ; palpis omnino
nigris." But Mr. Stephens, in his English description, says,
" thorax glossy, immaculate ; abdomen with fourth segment
fulvous, orange, interrupted by a dusky black line beneath,"
&c. Whether this (Mr. Stephens's) is a good species, I will
not pretend to say, as I have not had an opportunity o^ seeing
a specimen.

Catocdla elocdta, — Mr. Stephens lias remarked that " this
fine insect presents a conspicuous instance of the baneful
practice of mixing foreign and indigenous productions toge-
ther ; particularly when undistinguished by any memorandum
or label ; as, in consequence of an unticketed specimen having
been detected in the collection of the late Mr. Blunt, this spe-
cies has not only been selected and figured as a British ex-
ample of the genus Catocala, but the error has also been
subsequently copied into Loudon's Magazine [I. 272. fig.
136.]; whereas the specimen in question, which has thus
improperly been introduced into our Fauna, was obtained

Vol. y 11. — No. 38. N

Its Retrospective Criticism,

d\r(ici from Oporto by its late regretted possessor, who, unfor-
tunately, was too prone to admit dubious insects into his col-
lection, and permitted the present, with Deilephila galii, and
some three or four other foreign species, to disfigure his
cabinet." [StepJi, vol. iii. p. 132. n.)

Mr. Stephens is, by this assertion, called upon to prove
that Mr. Blunt's C. elocata came direct from Oporto; and
I should be glad to be at the same time informed what the
" some three or four other foreign species " were that " dis-
figured his [Mr. Blunt's] cabinet. As to the foreign specimen
of D. galii being there, that can easily be explained : — "It
was sold hy Mr. Stephens to the late Mr. ^Xuntjhr a British
insect : '* a baneful practice, which might mislead any one.
This specimen of D. galii is now in Mr. Curtis's cabinet. It
was set like an English insect ; and formed, with two speci-
mens of .Sphinjrligustri, the seventy-third lot at Mr. Stephens's
sale o^ Bntish,\nsQcis in 1825; and, till it came into Mr.Curtis's
possession, no notice was taken of its being a foreign spe-
cimen.— J, C, Dale, Blandford^ Jan, 5. 1834-.

Malachius bipunctdtus Babington, in V. 329. — Mr. Ba-
bington has described this as new. He will find a correct
figure of it in Panzer (pi. 8. fig. 2.), as the male of ruficoUis.
— J. a Dale,

On the Nomenclature of the Thoracic Appendages of Insects,
(VI. 495. notefj VII. 77, 78.) — Sir, I thank your corre-
spondents, Lacon and Discipulus, for giving me an oppor-
tunity of performing an act of justice towards Mr. Newman,
You will recollect that the note (VI. 495. note f) to which
these critics allude (VII. 77, 78.) was added in the hurry of
correcting the press [It was added in the proof — J, D.'\\
and, at the moment, remembering that Mr. Haliday was the
first English author who had employed the compound term
metatarsus, but at the same time thinking he had made a
more extensive application of these names, I considered that
Mr. Newman had merely extended the idea, and that it would
but be doing common justice to Mr. Haliday to mention the
circumstance. Discipulus, however, overlooks (p. 78.) the fact,
that, although the word thorax may be found in the lexicon,
it also occupies a place in the Latin dictionary, and that in
natural-history language, it is constantly used and declined
as a Latin word : hence the terms medithorax and post-
thorax are not so worthy of the mark of ridicule which a
recent reviewer has thought proper to attach to them. More-
over, my observation upon the barbarous compound nature of
these names did not (notwithstanding your editorial paren-
thesis to the contrary) apply to the designation of the thoracic

Reh'ospective Criticism, 179

segments, but to the limbs attached to them. The remedy I
proposed would have this result: medipedes and postpedes,
medicoxae, postcoxae, medifemora, posttibiae, &c. (Latin
compounds), would be introduced, instead of mesopedes,
metapedes, mesofemora, &c, ; all of which are Greek and
Latin compounds.

Setting this objection aside, as well as that of the primary
distribution of the thoracic segments, it is still undeniable,
that this system of nomenclature, although attempted to be
applied, is not applicable, as it ought to be, to all the thoracic
appendages. If applied only to the legs and their various
parts, it is good ; but, when applied to the wings, we have
those organs which are attached not to the ^rothorax, but
to the 7«^50thorax; termed proalse, not 7nesa\ae; whilst, on
the other hand, were the system to be adhered to through-
out, we should be under the necessity of terming the anterior
or mesothoracic wings, middle wings, or mesalae.

I shall only add that Mr. Lacon has again shown [in
p. 77.] his critical abilities, by calling the metatarsus of
Haliday the last, instead of the first or basal joint of the
tarsus. I am, Sir, yours, &c. — J, O. Westwood, The Grove,
Hammersmith, Jan. 14. 1834.

The Persian Iris, the Odour of its Flowers, and the Idiosyn-
a-asies therewith connected, (VI. 280.) — My brother-in-law,
Mr. Mapleton, tells me he lately bought a root of the Persian
iris, and asked the man, at the same time, whether it smelled
sweet? " Sir," said he, " some people cannot smell it at all ;
but, for my part, it knocks me down : I cannot bear it, it
smells so strong." {_Ea:tract from a Letter from the JRexu
W.T. Dree, Oct,l. 1833.]

Cyathocrinite versus Encrinite, (78.) — As Mr. Conway has,
in p. 78 to 80., accused me of error and misrepresentation, in
stating that the pelvis and part of the costals of the cyatho-
crinite, figured in VI. 561., have been covered by the column,
I beg to assure him that it is nevertheless true ; and that,
although he asserts it to be " a physical impossibility," yet it
is a real fact, as several specimens in my cabinet distinctly
34, prove, one of which (a frag-

,^^.^^^,^;;s^^^ ment from the Derbyshire

.-^rC^^^C^C-^^^J^l""' Scapula. limestone) is here figured.

V^^'^V:^^ ^''''^'- {fg. 34.) Although to Mr.

Conway it may appear dif-
ficult to account for the use
of those plates, when so co-
vered by the column, yet no
such difficulty occurred- to
N 2

rdvis.

T.Iark of tljc column.

J80

Metrospective Criticism,

Mark of the column.

the annexed figure

Miller, who says, in a note, p. 67. of
his Crinoidea, " it is not unlikely that
the real joints forming the pelvis are so
much abbreviated as not to be visible ex-
ternally.'* I also send a figure {Jig. 35.)
taken from another specimen, in which
the plates, which Mr. Conway seems to doubt the existence of,
are better developed than in the specimen before mentioned.

Mr. Conway asks, " Does it not always follow, as a matter
of course, that, when the column is enlarged and expanded at
its junction with the pelvis, the pelvis is also widened and
enlarged in the same proportion, as in the genus Apiocrinites ?"
and then says, " This, I think, cannot be denied." But, if he
had examined the genus Platycrinites, in which the column
occupies only a small portion of the centre of the pelvis, as in

(taken of the natural size from
one of my specimens), and
compared it with the genus
Apiocrinites, I feel confident
that he would not have ha-
zarded a speculation for which
there is so little foundation ;
and, in my opinion, there is
much the same chance of suc-
cess for his speculation re-
specting the gradual change
[transition by an intervening
series of affinities] of En-
crinltes into Cyathocrinites ;
for though I have not seen the
specimen in the Geological
Transactions, yet in every specimen of Cyathocrinites that has
come under my observation, the plates of the body are alike in
number and position; and the superior parts, arms, hands, &c.,
are invariably divided by what Miller terms cuneiform joints ;
whereas, in the Encrinites, the only plate which has this form
in the scapula, and the only division which takes place above
it is by a totally different process.

A little further on, Mr. Conway states that it was because
he considered his specimen a nondescript that he communi-
cated it to this Magazine; but he most unaccountably forgets
himself. He did not communicate it as a nondescript, but as
the /% encrinite. He says (VI. ] 25.), — " I had my attention
amply rewarded by being furnished with a specimen of the
lily encrinite, of which 1 here send you a drawing, of the
nMural size : " and at the conclusion (p. 128.), — " If I am right
in supposing it to be the first discovered specimen of the lily

a a. The three plates which form the pelvis
oia Platycrinltci. b, Mark of the column.

Queries and Anders, 181

encrinite, I shall reckon myself singularly fortunate in having
obtained possession of it;" tlie only doubt expressed in the
letter being, whether it had been previously found in England
or not. That it is not what he has there stated it to be, and
what I particularly disputed, Mr. Conway himself now ad-
mits, and the only difference which can yet be found betwixt
his specimen and mine is, that the one is tuberculated and
the other smooth ; but, when it is stated that I possess spe-
cimens of the bodies, both plain and covered with tubercles
of various sizes, yet exactly alike in every other respect, very
few indeed will refuse to concede that they must rank together
till some better distinction can be found, and it is much to
be regretted that a name should have been given to any of
them founded upon so very variable a character.

Having freed myself from the charges brought against me,
I beg to conclude with informing Mr. Conway, that it is pro-
bable that his curiosity will be gratified, before the end of the
year, by the publication of such of my specimens as are of
sufficient interest to be inchided in Mr. Phillips's intended
work on the Geology of the North and West Ridings of York-
shire,— Wm, Gilbertso7U Preston^ Lancashire^ Jan, 20. 1834.

Art. II. Queries and Anstvers*

[Notice of a Species of Mouse, possibly an undescribed one^
^which has abounded in Inverness-shire and Ross-shire.'] —
In the May and June of 1832, over a great extent of moun-
tainous district, including all the western divisions of Inver-
ness-shire and Ross-shire (my enquiries have not extended
into Argyle), the shepherds began to observe that their dogs
were incessantly killing mice, which they naturally concluded
to be what they usually call field mice. They observed that
these mice increased as the summer advanced ; and that the
grassy parts of the mountains were much destroyed by them, as
they seemed, like the cut- worm, or larva of the 71pula graminea
[ ? cornicina], to prefer the blanched part of the herbage, among
the mosses and decayed matter of former years ; so that these
grassy parts became brown. A curious and very interesting fact
took place in consequence of, or rather accompanied, this great
increase of these mice ; namely, the foxes, early in the summer,
finding such a supply of food, which they appear to prefer to
all others *, ceased from that time to destroy any more lambs.

* I have long known that dogs (and, I think, the shepherd's beyond all
others) are particularly fond of the Alpine mouse ; and, although I have
repeatedly tried, in various quarters, to obtain specimens, it has been in
vain, as the shepherds tell me that they only discover them by their dogs,
who instantly swallow them.

N 3

1 8? Qiierics and Ans^acers,

But, some time in the spring of 1833, the mice were observed
to have retired, like the lemmings of Norway ; and the foxes,
in want of their accustomed food, again fell upon the sheep
(the lambs at first) with unwonted fury.

During the time that these mice were most abundant, the
person who manages Mr. Frazer of Eskadale's sheep-farms,
a man of rather superior acuteness and sagacity, paid some
attention to them. He saj^s, that, as near as he could esti-
mate, they devoured about 8 bolls (64 bushels) of his potatoes ;
and that he dug out of one hole no less than seventeen of
them, of various colours, probably young ones. He says that
*' their general colour was brown, with a white ring about
the neck ; and the tail likewise tipped with white ; a light-
coloured stripe down the nose and along the back." As soon
as I heard of this irruption of mice, I sent repeated requests
for specimens, which, I suppose, was put off as a thing that
could be " done any time ; " and now the mice have, it seems,
departed from the land. If any correspondent would inform
me if they have seen or heard of such a species of mouse, it
would be very gratifying to me. I have seen two or three
that I never could find any description or resemblance of in
books. — W, L, Selkirhhire, Dec, 20. 1833.

Has the Animal Le Lerot of Cuvier^s " Regne Animal" been
observed in any English Orchard or Garden P With incidental
Information on the Importation of Apples from Jersey and
Guernsey to the West of England for manifacturing into Cider
in the latter Place, — By a friend who has resided several
years at Havre, I am informed that great destruction of the
best fruit in the gardens takes place by the depredations of
an animal about the size of a common rat, which eats the
fruit as it becomes ripe. The name given to it by the in-
habitants in that part of France is le rat mulot^ or the rat
field-mouse. It resembles a squirrel more than a rat, the
end of its tail being tufted. From the proximity of the
northern coast of France to England, and the great import-
ation of fruit in the autumn, it is rather remarkable that the
animal has not been imported into this country. I do not
recollect ever seeing any animals of this kind in France or
Switzerland, but I understand they are very numerous. On
referring to Le Regne Animal of Cuvier, I find, among Ics
Rongeurs [Animalia rodentia, the gnawing animals], an animal
named le lerot, which must be the animal provincially called
7'at mulot. It is described " as rather smaller than the rat,
of a greyish brown colour above, and white beneath. The
eye is surrounded with black hair, which extends and spreads
to the shoulder. The tail, which is tufted only at the end, is
black ; but the extremity is white. It is common in French

Queries and Answers, 183

gardens, living in holes in walls, and doing much injury to
the espaliers." Perhaps some correspondent can inform us
whether the rat mnlot has ever been seen in English gardens or
orchards, and can tell us something more respecting it than
my meagre description does.

On a late visit to Weymouth I noticed the large import-
ation of apples from Jersey and Guernsey : waggon loads in
sacks were frequently passing my apartments. On enquiry, I
found they were sent inland to make cider. Can there be
any other reason why the cider should not be made in Jersey
and Guernsey, and imported from those islands, except the
difficulty of importing all kinds of liquors, from the caution
necessary to be observed in preventing smuggling of spirits
and wine?-— JS. B, Nov. 26. 1833.

Starlings and Rooks. — In the country, I have very fre-
quently observed that immense flights of starlings attend on
large flocks of rooks : when driven from one field, they fly to
another, in company, though not mingled, but each forming
a separate squadron. Does either species serve as a guide to
any kind of food acceptable to both ? or for what purpose is
this strange association ? — E. N. D. September, 1833.

[Scolopax rusticola, in " Notes on the Starling, V. 284., has
these remarks; — The starlings " are often seen in company
with the rooks, and are in the habit of frequenting pastures
with their larger companions. Their food, possibly, consists
of the same species of worms, slugs, grubs, &c. They will
often build under the rooks* nests in the rookery, and thus
appear something like dependants."]

Has any Correspondent heard the Song of the Water Ouzel f
— My attention was attracted to it during a fishing excursion
in North Wales, on October 8. 1833 ; and I should describe it
as something similar to the faint warbling of the lesser petty-
chaps, but continued a considerable time without cessation,
as that of the stare [starling]. I was some time in ascertain-
ing the fact, as the bird was sitting under a projecting bank ;
and, consequently, the song appeared to come from the water.
I never before had an opportunity of hearing it, which I attri-
bute to the extreme shyness of the bird. — G. B. Oct. 18. 1833.

[In I. 4?94., a correspondent has queried the name of a strange'
bird whose characteristics he gives : one of these is, " its cry
resembled that of the water ouzel."]

Has a Geotrupes possessed of the Jblloxmng Characteristics-

been previously described ? — Ater ; subtus aeneo-purpureus ;

elytris punctato-striatis ; singulis macula ocellata aurantiaca

prope apicem inferiorem. This insect has been captured by,

' and is now in the possession of, my friend J. Bannaii, Esq.,

N 4

181 Qiieries and Answers.

of Plymouth ; in compliment to whom, I propose, if it has
not been previously described, to apply to it the epithet Ban-
nan/. The only distinction which I can find between it and
G. stercorarius is the very striking appearance of two circular
spots, one on each elytron, not far from the apex (tip), of a
dull red or orange colour, with a black spot in the centre ;
the whole exactly resembling, in form and size, the ocelli on
the upper wings of Hipparchi« Janira^, or meadow brown
butterfly, but differing in hue. It is of about 9 lines in length,
and of a somewhat brownish black above, and bronzed with
tints of copper and violet beneath. Mr. Bannan has taken,
in this neighbourhood, two individuals perfectly alike. The
specimen taken secondly has been accidentally destroyed ; but
that taken first is in the highest preservation. Is it an unde-
scribed species, or an undescribed variety only ? — W* A,
Brornfield, Plymouth, July 15. 1832.

Larvce of the Syrphidce, — It is stated in p. 283. oi Insect
Transformations, that the maggots of this family attach them-
selves to a leaf or a plant ; but in p. 5. it is asserted that they
live in common sewers. Which of these two statements is
the correct one ? I incline to believe in the latter. — J, H, F.

[Both statements are correct. The larva of one of the
Syrphidae is found attached to the leaves of the hop plant,
and destroys, for its food, great numbers of the A^phis humuli,
which, in some seasons, commits most serious injury to the
health and welfare of this plant, and consequently to the crop
of hops. All this is taught us by Rusticus of Godalming, in
the Entomological Magazine, vol. i. p. 223., and the editor's
footnote. Off a hop plant in our garden we, in 1 833, bred one
or tw^o of this syrphideous fly; at least we suppose of the very
same species : a competent entomologist has named our spe^
cimen, Syrphus balteatus.

Of the larva or maggot of another of the Syrphidae, the
Eristalis (Musca) tenax, it may safely be said, sewers, and the
filthiest of places. Of this larva and its habits a pleasing de-
scription will be found in Samouelle's Entomological Cabinet,
No. ii. t. 3., where a figure of the fly, and of the cast skin of
its pupa, are given. " In the larva state, when it is called
' the rat-tailed worm,' it breathes through a tail formed of re-
tractile tubes, like a telescope, capable of being contracted or
extended, according to the varying depth of the larva in the
mud below." [Entomologia Edi7iensis, p. 35.)

This fly is an interesting creature, in autumn, on the blos-
soms of ivy, and the Compositae, as starvvorts, sunflowers, &c. ;
and a hundred interesting facts on it, eligible for threading
into a history of its habits, might be noted.]

185

REVIEWS.

Art. L Catalogue of Works on Natural History , lately publisked^
ivith some Notice of those considered the most interesting to British
Naturalists,

SWAINSON, Wm., F.R.S., L.S., A.C.G. : Ornithological Draw-
ings; Part L, The Birds of Brazil* 8vo, 13 plates. Plain,
75.; coloured, 105. 6d.; double plates, ]55>
Mr. Swainson's name stands so deservedly high, both as an
ornithologist and an artist, that, in introducing this splendid
work to the notice of our readers, we shall simply say that we
consider it in every respect worthy of its author. Farther
commendation we feel would be superfluous. Mr. Swainson
has, with great judgment, abandoned the expensive and cum-
brous plan of publishing in folio or quarto, and adopted that
of royal 8vo. He is thus enabled to give plates at a lower
price than has ever previously been done. The numbers are to
be published quarterly ; and four of them, containing toge-
ther fifty exquisitely drawn and beautifully coloured plates,
are to constitute a volume, for which the price is 2/. 2s. The
first series, of which No. I. is before us, is to contain the
birds of Brazil ; and we are delighted to see Mr. Swainson
thus erecting a monument to bear witness of his arduous and
praiseworthy researches in that interesting and beautiful
country. We are but stay-at-homes ; and we delight in that
exquisite art which can thus bring the tropics in all their glo-
rious panoply of charms palpably and visibly before us, with-
out the slightest apprehension from the crushing folds of boa
constrictors, or the savage and insatiable cruelty of jaguars.
— JS.

Wells, Rev. Algernon, of Coggeshall, Essex : On Animal
Instinct : a Lecture delivered before the Members of the
Mechanics' Institute, Colchester, on Monday Evening,
Nov. 25. 1833, and published by their Request. Pam-
phlet, 8vo, 40 pages. Fenton, Colchester; Longman, Lon-
don ; 1834.

This is so succinct and excellent a treatise on the subject,
that an analysis of the lecture would induce the necessity of
reprinting much of it, for which we have not space. Every
naturalist should possess himself of a copy. The price cannot
be great. It may be, that not much that is new is taught us in

186 Siminson^s Exotic Conchology,

the book ; but all we have previously known is adduced con-
nectedly, clearly, eloquently.

Fraser, James B., Esq., author of "Travels in Khorasan;*'
" A Tour through the Himala," &c. : An Histoncal and
Descriptive Account of Persia, from the earliest Ages to
the present Time, &c. Small 8vo, 472 pages, with a
map, and 13 engravings by Jackson. It forms vol. xv. of
the Edinburgh Cabinet Library. Edinburgh, Oliver and
Boyd, 1834.

Fourteen pages, in a chapter at the end, include what is
communicated on the ** natural history of Persia." This is
of the popular and general kind; and although the writer, it
may be seen, has striven to identify the objects spoken of with
the systematised species of naturalists, this is but partly done.
The information on the geology of Persia is richer than that
on its zoology and botany. That which is told, is told most
agreeably. We would that a similar style of narrative were
obvious in all notices of objects of natural history.

Swaznson, Wtn,, F.R.S., &c. : Exotic Conchology; or Figures
and Descriptions of rare, beautiful, or undescribed Shells.
Part I. 4<to, 8 plates, coloured. 105. 6d,
" Many of the most rare and beautiful species of volutes
have been figured by Swainson in the first plates of his Exotic
CoTichologT/y with a verisimilitude that has never been equalled,
and probably never will be excelled, by an artist. This
talent, combined with his scientific knowledge as a naturalist,
must render the above work the most eminent of its kind."
Such was the opinion of the late lamented Lamarck, who,
from his intimate knowledge of the subject, was better qua-
lified to give an opinion on the merits of a work like this
than any writer who has ever existed. Mr. Swainson ob-
serves that a few of the early plates were published some
years ago ; but unavoidable accidents having injured the
remainder, they were withdrawn, and nearly the whole have
since been re-executed. Six parts, one to be published every
alternate month, will complete the work. Nothing can ex-
ceed the delicate, chaste, and exquisite beauty of the figures
in the first part. Plates 3. 5. and 8. are gems to rivet the
attention of the most fastidious connoisseur ; and defy alike
rivalry or copyism. There is a subdued and quiet colouring
in all Mr. Swainson's works that will plead for itself against
the meretricious glare and gaiety now so much in vogue. It
is impossible to make Nature too beautiful ; but it is very easy
to make her too gaudy. — E,

Bulletin de la Societe Lnperiale, SfC. 187

Bulletin de la Society Impdriale des Naturalistes de Moscoii.
Vol. IV., 6 plates; Vol. V., 4 plates. Moscow, 1832.

The papers which are the more interesting to naturalists have
the following titles: — Remarks, by M. de Hedenstrom, in fur-
ther elucidation of some points in his Fragmens sur la Siherie,
Seance publique du 25 Dec. 1832, pour celebrer la Vingt-
cinquieme Annee de I'Existence litteraire de la Societe. The
report read at the meeting goes to show the extent, usefulness,
and consequent importance of the Society's labours in the
25 years. Sur les Mastodons et le Tetracaulodon. This is
a collective essay, in which the essence of what is known on
the osteology, &c., of 7 species of Mastodon is given, and in
which the characteristics of a related new genus, named by its
describer, Mr. Godman, Tetracaulodon (epithet mastodon-
toideum), found in the state of New York, U.S., are detailed,
and compared with those of the Mastodons. Of T. masto-
dontoideum Godman two plates, exhibitive of the structure
of its head and teeth, are given. De nova generis Felis specie.
Considerations sur les principaux Organes des Insectes, par
G. le Comte de Laveau. Observationes in Plantas Rossicas
et Descriptiones specierum novarum : auctore Chr. Steven.
Nova Dipterorum genera offert illustratque Henning Jensen.
Catalogus systematicus (after Meigen's method) Dipterorum
in Livonia observatorum, a B. A. Gimmerthal. Enumeratio
Noctuarum Uralenses Montes inter et Wolgam fluvium habi-
tantium, auctore E. Eversmann. Note sur un Genre de Po-
lypiers nouveau, presente sous le nom de Rhysmotes (epithet
petiolatus), par G. Fischer : figures of the animal and its poly-
pidom, are added. Analecta ad Faunam Insectorum Ros-
sicam, auctore G. Fischer. 16 coloured figures of insects
illustrate this essay. — In vol. v. Enumeratio Coleopterorum
Rossise meridionalis obvenientium, quae annorum 1827 — 1831
spatio observavit I. Krynicki. Coloured figures of 12 of the
species described are added. Decades tres plantarum nova-
rum Chinas Boreali et Mongoliae Chinensi incolarum, auctore
N. Turczaninow. A List of the Butterflies of Volhynia and
Podolia. Catalogue de quelques Lepidopteres des Antilles,
avec la description de plusieurs especes nouvelles, par
M. Menetries. In both volumes there are papers on subjects
of geology, and on fossils.

Fischer-, Gotthelf, de Waldheim : Notice sur le Phlocerus,
Genre Noveau d'Orthopteres de la Russie. 8vo, with a
plate. Moscow, 1833.
- Phlocerus (pklao, to compress; keras, a horn; compressed

antennae) MenetricszV Fischer (M. Menetries, known by his

158 Wilson and Du?ican*s Entomolosia Edinensis

to*

travels in America and in Russia, and by his entomological
researches) is an insect taken by M. Menetries, in July, at
Schadach, to the east of Caucasus, at the height of more than
9000 ft., and near to the region of perpetual snow. In
affinity, its place is between the genera Podisma and Gompho-
cerus, according to the method of M. Audinet-Serville. Its
antennae are so compressed as to form two lanceolate leaves ;
and M. Fischer would have named it Phyllocerus, but that
Dejean has previously used this word as a name to a coleop-
terous genus. The external anatomy of the insect is de-
scribed in detail. A figure of the insect, and others of its
parts magnified, are appended.

Wilson, James,Y.R.S. E.M.W.S.,&c.andZ)Mwc««,Rev.J5;. J.,
M. W.S. : Entomologia Edinensis; or, a Description and
History of the Insects found in the Neighbourhood of
Edinburgh. Coleoptera. 8vo, 352 pages, 2 plates. Black-
wood, Edinburgh ; Cadell, London ; 1 834.

We, of the multitude, have been long enough, ay, far too
long, excluded from the pleasure of making ourselves ac-
quainted with the names and entomological associations con-
nected with insects. How so ? Because insects have been
named, described, and figured, partly in this work, partly
in that, and partly in all the rest of the works ; so that only
those who could buy or make access to the majority of those
which constitute the bibliotheca entomologica could acquaint
themselves with all the names for, and descriptions of, insects
which entomological naturalists, from Aristotle to those of
ISS^, have invented and elaborated. A better state of things
is now dawning upon us. The work whose title is given
above is, as far as we know, the very herald of it. We hail
its appearance with true pleasure, and truly hope that our
insect-loving friends will, as ourselves, " therefore as a
stranger give it welcome ! " Not that it addresses itself to
our regard on its strangerhood alone, but, over and above its
attractiveness on this ground, also on its own (so we think)
most valid merits.

" A whole is greater than a part ; " so the Coleoptera of
the Edinburgh neighbourhood are not tantamount to the
Coleoptera of Britain. No : but they, doubtless, are so in a
good degree, at least in relation to the families and the genera;
but herein, kind fellow students, consists, we think, the value
of the book ; not in enabling us to trace out and ascertain the
7iame of any and every British beetle we may meet with,
** and there an end ; '' but (and far better is this faculty

Gaillon's Apercu (VHistoire Natiirelle* " 189

which it will communicate) in leading us, as well as to the
discrimination and cognizance of our native species, to the
apprehension of principles of universal, delighting, enlight-
ening, empowering application.

The descriptions of the sections, subsections, families,
genera, and species are, in a good degree, detailed ; yet, we
think, lucid. Short, but pleasing, notices of the habits are
interspersed ; the internal anatomy of many species is noticed ;
the derivation and literal meaning of many generic names are
given; the descriptions are all in English, and have been
derived from a familiar, a living acquaintance with the crea-
tures described; or, in the case of the rarer and very rare
species, from a diligent and judicious reading. A very
pleasing and a truly useful introduction of 59 pages is prefixed
to the work.

Gailloti, Benj. Membre de plusieurs Societes savantes:
Aper^u d'Histoire Naturelle, et Observations sur lesLimites
qui separent le Regne Vegetal du Regne Animal. 8vo,
35 pages. Boulogne, 1833.

This is an address read before the Society of Agriculture,
Commerce, and of the Arts, of Boulogne sur Mer, at its
meeting of Sept. 19. 1832. The greater portion is occupied
with a review of the principal classes into which animals and
vegetables have been divided, written in a rather declamatory
style, and of no further interest or use than as serving to
introduce the views of M. Gaillon respecting those sorts of
^'Igae which inhabit the debatable grounds that lie between
the two kingdoms of organised beings. The A'\g8e alluded
to are composed of globular or lenticular granules lying loose
and disconnected, or embedded in a transparent mucus, or
compacted together on a slimy membrane, or enclosed within
capillary tubes which divide and branch away exactly after
the fashion of acknowledged Confervas. They form the fami-
lies Diatomaceae, Gloiocladeae, ^yssoideae, and Oscillatoriae,
and embrace some of the genera of the Conferveae, Siph^ineae,
and t/lvaceae of Dr. Hooker's English Flora, (vol. v.) Now,
all of these, M. Gaillon maintains, are animals, and, under the
name of Nemazoaires, ought to be transferred to the animal
kingdom ; for he has seen, and many others have witnessed
the same phenomena, the granules, both in the separate and
combined state, move from place to place, as if actuated by
volition ; he has seen them, when stationary, perform motions
to and fro on some fixed point ; he has seen them change
their form, dilate, and contract ; and he has seen a globule of
little coloured grains ejected from the interior, which, he main-

1 90 Nees vo?i Esenheck's Florae GermaniccE Genera.

tains, is their spawn. At first, it would appear, the granules
of all of them are separate and free, and move about in a
very lively manner, but after a time they approximate and
unite each after its own nature, and, by their aggregation or
successive evolution, produce forms so similar to those of
confervoid plants that their real nature has been hidden until
these times.

Of the nature of these productions we have now then
tliree opinions: the first, that they are vegetable; the se-
cond, that they possess successively an animal and a ve-
getable existence (see our I. 305.) ; and the third is that
before us, and which believes them to be entirely animal.
Were it necessary to choose between them, we confess our
partiality to the eldest born ; and, admitting all that has been
said of the mobility and contractility of these Nemazoaires as
true, we may still hesitate to admit that they are sufficient for
the annihilation of this opinion; the more especially when
we remember the observations of R. Brown, which prove
that the granules or corpuscles of even unorganised matter
possess all these apparently voluntary motions, both loco-
motive and rotatory. But neither leisure nor space permit us
to enter upon this discussion, nor yet into the question how
far the observations made on these granules support the specu-
lations which have been anew broached on the doctrine of
spontaneous generation.

For information relative to the so called Nemazoaires,
the English reader may consult our I. 305., et seq. ; Gre-
ville's Flora Edinensis, p. 321. ; Greville's Cryptogamic Flora ;
Hooker's EnglisJi Flora (vol. v.) ; Lindley's Introduction to
the Natural System of Botany (p. 339.); and the Rev. Mr.
Berkeley's Minute Aflgce, published as a Supplement to the
English Botany, — N.

Nees Ton Esenheck, Th. Fr, Lud., Phil, et Med. Dre., &c. :
Genera Plantarum Florae Germanicae Iconibus et Descrip-
tionibus illustrata. Fasciculus ii. Bonnae, Henry and
Cohen.

Of this excellent work we have indicated the scope, in
noticing the first fasciculus, in VI. 439. The second fasci-
culus is as good as the first, and describes and illustrates the
characters of the following genera : — Typha, »Sparganium,
^'corus, Calla, ^Vum, Jiincus, Luzula, Triglochin, Scheuch-
zer/«, Feratrum, Tofieldz«, ^Smilax, i^uscus, Asparagus, Con^
vallaria, Polygonatum, Maianthemum Wigg^ Stretopus ikf/c^.,
Paris, Tamus.

BahinofoiUs Flm^a Bathonensis, 191

*t>

Bahington, Charles C, M.A. F.L.S., &c.: Flora Batho-
nensis : or, A Catalogue of the Plants indigenous to the
Vicinity of Bath. 8vo, 70 pages. Collins, Bath ; Trem-
lett, Bristol; Longman, London; 1834.

It is stated, in the preface, that the writer " has been
induced to submit it to the public, in the hope of rendering
some assistance to such of the inhabitants and numerous
visiters of our city [Bath] as take interest in the delightful
study of botany. It may also, perhaps, be serviceable,
although in a very slight degree, by contributing to our know-
ledge of the geographical distribution of British plants. Some
notices of the geology of the district are then added. The
plants are arranged in the natural orders ; the habitat or
habitats are given under the name of each species. Besides
the habitats, a few original remarks on the habits and bota-
nical characters of certain species occur in the manual. This
practice we think excellent : it was Ilelham*s, in every edition
of his Flora Cantabrigiensis ; it has been applied more amply
by Gerarde Edwards Smith, in his Flora of South Kent, than
by any one else that we know of.

Bhind, Wm., M.R.C.S., &c. : — A Catechism of Botany; or
Natural History of the Vegetable Kingdom. 12mo, 76
pages, 7 woodcuts. Edinburgh. 9d. and 1^.

It is far better than Pinnock's Catechism ofBofani/, pub-
lished some half score years ago, but yet is devoid of that
clearness and simplicity which such a book should have. It
is as a man in child's petticoats. Query, Is colloquy the fittest
mode in which to communicate a knowledge of a science ?
We should desire not to have the understanding of a child
insulted with such questions as these : — " Are vegetables
ornamental?" " Are there many different kinds of plants ?"
It is true that these, and such as these, are followed by answers
profound enough and eloquent enough for an adolescent
mind ; but such a mind would not wish them, nor like them
better because they came, " in such a questionable shape."
In p. 4-3., a cut ot" the banana tree or of the plantain tree,
seems given for one of the cabbage palm. The book, how-
ever, with all its faults, if it have more than these we have hit
upon, contains the best and richest stock of botanical know-
ledge ever offered for nine-pence.

Lijcll, Charles, Esq. F.R.S., &c. : Principles of Geology;
being an Attempt to explain the former Changes of the
Earth's Sin-face, by reference to Causes now in operation.

i92 Literary Notices,

In 3 vols. Vol. III. 8vo, 460 pages; with plates and cuts.
I/. London, 1833.

" In. the summer of 1831, I made a geological excursion to
the volcanic district of the Eifel ; and, on my return, I
determined to extend my work to three volumes, the second
of which appeared in January, 1832. The last (the third)
volume has been delayed till now by many interruptions ;
among which I may mention a tour, in the summer of 1832,
up the valley of the Rhine, when I examined the loess
(vol. iii. p. 151.), and a visit, on my way home, through Swit-
zerland, to the Valorsine ; where I had an opportunity of
verifying the observations of M. Necker on the granite veins
and altered stratified rocks of that district." (Preface, page
xviii.)

Art. II. Literary Notices,

The Animals of the Class Mammalia. — The first Part of
a work on these animals, by Henry Woods, F.R.S. A.L.S.,
is announced to appear on the 31st of March. The work
will be completed in thirty monthly parts. It is to "form a
complete concentration of all that is at present known of the
entire class Mammalia, and to include the fossil species. The
illustrations will exceed 500 in number."

Observations on the Stt'iicture of Recent and Fossil Conifercc.
By Wm. Nicol, Esq., Lecturer on Natural Philosophy, &c.,
occur in Jameson's Edinburgh Philosophical Journal for Jan.,
to the extent of twenty-one pages, and three plates, and con-
stitute an essay deemed of great merit.

The late Mr, HaxwrtNs Collection of Specimens of Lisects,
Fishes, Crustacea, Echini, Asterias, and Corallines remain un-
sold. Of insects there are, it is stated, nearly 14,000 species,
British and foreign ; above 35,500 specimens. The British
specimens are distinguished from the foreign ones " by proper
marks."

Phillips's Geology of the North ajid West Ridings of York-
shire is likely to be published before the end of the present
year: see p. 181.

A Magazine of Botany and Flowering Plants, by Joseph
Paxton, F.L.S., has just appeared. It is to be continued in
monthly numbers, at 2s. each. Coloured figures of plants
are to be given.

THE MAGAZINE

OF

NATURAL HISTORY.

MAY, 1834.

ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.

Art. I. On certain recent Meteoric Phenomena, Vicissitudes in the
Seasons, prevalent Disorders, Sfc, contemporaneous, and in sup-
posed connection, with Volcanic Emanations. No. 2. By the
Rev. W. B. Clarke, A.M. F.G.S. &c.

" Quid sit, unde sit, quare sit quod ipsutn explorare et eruere sine

universitatis inquisitione non possumus, cum ita cohaerentia, connexa,
concatenata sint." — M. Minutius Felix, xvii.

[" Together let us beat this ample field.
Try what the open, what the covert yield ;
The latent tracts, the giddy heights explore."

Pofe'5 Essay on Man.}

Having already [in VI. 289. to 308.] developed the prin-
cipal bearings of this obscure topic, upon w^hich I am desirous
of throwing, if possible, a ray of light, there can be no neces-
sity to recapitulate them. I shall, therefore, select from an
abundance of facts in my possession such as appear most
conducive to that end ; and, in order to prevent the confusion
vi^hich arises from embracing too many points of view at once
(although they are, as the motto aptly states them to be,
" cohaerentia, connexa, concatenata," in a way scarcely credible
by a person who has not entered on the enquiry), consider,, in
this and some following papers, the heads of the argument
under distinct and individual illustrations. The present will
have reference to the testimony afforded to my position by

The occasional Increase, Migrations, and Irruptions of Ani-
mals, Birds, Insects, and Fishes, during Epochs of terrestrial and
atmospherical Convulsion, — In p. 1 8 1 . are some observations on
an extraordinary irruption of mice in Selkirkshire and Ross-
shire ; and, though W. L., the author of those observations,
VoL.VIL — No. sg. o

194< Supposed Connection of Meteoric Phenomena,

has enquired only respecting the species of which the mice
ill question may be, 1 adduce his statement on another ground.
He says that the mice did prodigious damage over a wide
extent of country in May and June, 1832; that their increase
was extraordinary; and their disappearance sudden, in the
spring of 1833. Now, in July, 1833, a similar irruption of
mice occurred in the county of Galway, in Ireland, doing
similar damage to the crops of grass and corn ; and, as far as
I have ascertained, the circumstances in both cases are alike.
These irruptions of mice are not without their parallel in
former years ; and every tourist along the Rhine must have
heard of the famous Hatto II., archbishop of Mentz,
who, in time o^ famine, refusing to sell or give corn to his
people, fled for safety to a castle (der Mausethurm) on the
river, where myriads of mice, pursuing the avaricious prelate,
devoured him alive. Notwithstanding the lucubrations of
Leitch Ritchie, Esq.*, we must consider the tradition (even if
derived, as I believe, from a fact relating to the natural his-
tory of the mouse) properly defined, by Klein [Rheinreise vo?i
Mainz vis Koln, p. 57.), a " fantasie," and by Fischer,
(Neueste7' Wegweiser, p. 99.), a " lacherliche monchslegende '*
(a ridiculous monkish legend). Nevertheless, the " Mause-
thurm" has its counterpart in Pliny, if we may trust that au-
thor. " M. Varro," says he, " autor est, a cuniculis suiFossum in
Hispania oppidum, a talpis in Thessalia : ab ranis civitatem
in Gallia pulsam, ab locustis in Africa : ex Gyaro Cycladum
insula incolas a murihus fugatos, in Italia Amyclas a serpen-
tibus deletas. f {Nat. Hist. viii. 29.) The same writer ob-
serves elsewhere : — " Supra cuncta est murium foetus : . . . .
ex una genitos cxx. tradiderunt ; apud Persas vero prsegnantes

et in utero parentis repertas Itaque desinit mirum esse,

unde vis tanta messes populetur murium agrestium: in quibus illud
quoque adhuc latet, quonam modo ilia midtitudo repente occidat.
Nam nee exanimes reperiuntur, iieque extat qui murem liyeme
in agro effoderit. Plurimi ita ad Troadem proveniunt: et
jam inde fiigaverunt incolas. Proventus eorum siccitatihus tra-
dunt."% {Nat. Hist, x.65.) Arnobius, also, who seems to have

* Heath's Picturesque Annual for 1833, p. 95. In this work, the
" heroes," after Schreiber, are converted into " rats ; " but " bolche
nitchevo," as the Russians say, "that's nothing!*'' See Lyell's Geol.
(vol. ii. p. 94.), on migration of rats.

f " M. Varro tells us that a town in Spain had been undermined by rab-
bits ; another, in Thessaly, by moles ; that the inhabitants of a city in
France were driven from it by frogs ; and, by locusts, the people of one
in Africa; that the natives of Gyarus, an island of the Cyclades group,
had been driven out by mice ; and Amyclae, in Italy, destroyed by serpents."

X " The prolificness of mice exceeds every thing : . . . 120 young are said
to have been brought forth by one; but, in Persia, even the unborn young

prevalent Disorders, Sfc, mth Volcanic Emanations. 195

had extensive acquaintance with the natural phenomena of
his times {end of third century), has made distinct mention of
mice as agents of destruction, and in connection with ter-
restrial convulsions and calamities. Amongst a long cata-
logue of hailstorms, drought, scarcity, famine, pestilence,
aerolites, and earthquakes *, are these words : — " Annalium
scripta percurrite linguarum diversitatibus scripta, universal
discetis gentes ssepenumero desolatas et viduatas suis esse
cultoribus. Ab locustis, ab muribus, genus omne acciditur
atque arroditur frugum. Historias ite per vestras, et ab istis
pestibus instruemini quoties prior cetas affecta et paupertatis
ad miserias venerit."f And, as if these two allusions could
not be strong enough, he again introduces mice : " Si in Asia,
Syria, idcirco mures et locustas effervescere prodigal iter J," &c.
{Disp, contra Gentes, i. § 2. et 5.)

I desire to make no more use of these quotations than the
case in point allows. Pliny speaks of the marvellous increase
of mice, and their sudden disappearance, attributing the for-
mer to drought ; and Arnobius couples them with the locusts,
whose history, and connection with diseases and terrestrial
phenomena, are well known. Cuvier (Regne Aiiimal, 1817?
tom. i. p. 193.) says also, the Mus arvalis Liti. " quelquefois
se multiplie excessivement, et cause de grands degats."§ The
" quelquefois " [sometimes] of Cuvier is undefined ; but Ar-
nobius has, I think, indirectly explained its limits.

The history of the world proves that there are certain
epochs, when all nature, animate and inanimate, is excited by
some extraordinary impulse. The locust is associated by all
writers with famine and pestilence, and with heat and eardi-
quakes. Locusts accompanied the black death, in 1337-8

have been found pregnant. It, therefore, ceases to be a wonder, whence
such a power of mice should destroy the harvests. Regarding which, it is
still a secret how these immense numbers so suddenly disappear ; for they
are not found dead, neither is there any person to be met with who, during
the winter, has dug up a mouse in the fields. Many have also made their
appearance in the Troad, and have now driven the inhabitants thence.
Their appearance is attributed to drought."

* " Pestilentias et siccitates, frugum inopiam, locustas, mures,^* &c.
[" Pestilences, droughts, dearth of crops, locusts, mice," &c.]

f " Glance through the various annals, written in different languages, and
you will learn that all countries have frequently been desolated, and aban-
doned by their cultivators. By locusts, by mice, every kind of produce is
attacked and eaten. Pass through your own histories, and you will be
informed how the former age has, by these pests, been affected, and brought
to the miseries of poverty."

:{: " If in Asia, or in Syria, mice and locusts have abounded prodigiously,"
&c.

§ " The Mus arvalis L. sometimes multiplies excessively, and makes
great havoc."

o 3

196 Supposed Connection of Meteoric Phenomena,

( Flecker, p. 31.) ; the sweating-sickness, in 1551 * ; the plague
of Barbury, in 1799-1800 {An. Beg.) i and the plague in
the days of Ethelred and Arthur (Caius). They are the
index of disease in Africa and the East. When they go to
the north, the Arabs always anticipate a general mortality
(Jackson's Marocco). They are always contemporaneous, in
Nubia, with the plague at Cairo (Light's Travels) ; and the
plague ceases when the Nile rises, which it did not in 1833.
In March, 1833, locusts appeared in France, probably
stragglers from a migratory horde, such as those which,
A. D. 593, 852, 1271, 1335-9, 1541-51, 1693, 1732, 1747-8,
1792-9, desolated various countries of Europe, as well as Asia
and Africa. The locusts and mice have not, however, alone dis-
tinguished 1832 and 1833. The mackerel and the mullet, the
quail and the toadf, have been already noticed [VI. 289. 291,
292.] ; the herrings must now be added, as having appeared,
in 1833, earlier, and in greater abundance, than perhaps ever
known. In the summer of 1833, a singular insect, there
before unknown, ravaged the corn fields in Spain, and so
poisoned the wheat, that it could not be eaten. In August,
a black wor?n, as voracious as the locust, appeared in Canada,
devouring the grass and wheat, and destroying the labours of
the colonists. {Quebec Papers.) In the middle of Septem-
ber occurred a great irruption of bears J about Paul's Bay,
in Canada, said to be driven by hunger {Quebec Papers) ; and
at the end of December, wild boars had so much increased at
Finisterre, in France, that dreadful ravages were committed,
and one animal actually entered the town of Huelgoet, {Armori-
cain de Brest.) Livy tells us of a woZ/"which entered and passed
through Rome in the year u.c 556. {Hist, xxxiii. 26.), during
a season of thunder-storms. It is probable that the same
motive impelled both animals, and that the superstitions con-
nected with the wolf saved him from being killed by the
Romans. We have, however, better testimonies to support
the bears, &c. ; for, in 1817, a similar irruption of those ani-
mals occurred in Russia and Kamtschatka, in such numbers as

* Dr. Caius, quoted by Dr. Babington in his translation from Hecker,
p. 192.

f Respecting the toad, whose early appearance in 1833 was remark-
able, I may mention here that toads were seen abroad, in the present year
(1834), on the 18th of January; and that a patriarch of his tribe came
out from his seclusion, in a cellar of my present residence, on the 14th of
that month. Frogs have spawned, and partridges have paired, occasionally,
in the end of January.

\ Mr. Lyell (G^eo/., vol. ii. p. 94.) quotes Dr. Richardson on the migration
of bears in Canada during cold ivinters. — The case here alluded to was
in autumn, and in a hot season.

prevalent Disorders, S^c, mth Volcanic Emanations, 197

had never been remembered, and it was then attributed to want
of fish in the sea [An. Reg.), probably occasioned by some sub-
marine convulsion driving the fish away. In 1799, a black
worm, similar to the one named above, destroyed whole forests
in America, stripping the trees, so as to leave them as bare as
in winter. {An. Reg.)

In 1833, birds increased prodigiously, and, inconsequence
of the drought, were driven to desperate measures. In Sep-
tember the rooks, in Gloucestershire, took to robbing or-
chards. (Public Journals.) A writer in a London journal
says, small birds so much increased in the vicinity of Mar-
low, that two whole crops of corn, besides beans, peas,
and fruit, were devoured by them. (St. James's Chronicle,
Feb. 1. 1834.) After the cessation of the black death, " mar-
riages were almost without exception prolific ; double and
triple births were more common than at other times "
(Hecker, p. 79.); and such was the case after the cholera, in
1833 and 1834, as it is generally remarked. In February,
1834, abundance of mackerel, in innumerable shoals, visited
the coasts of England, as in 1833.*

In September, 1 785, vast numbers of the West India shark
appeared in the British Channel, and many were taken by
the Brighton fishermen. {An. Reg., 1785.) In 1783, jin-
usual numbers of wasps and aphides appeared ; and thousands
of acres of turnips were destroyed by the satv/lj/. (Gilbert
White, Nat. Hist. Selborne.) In 1785, aphides infested the
south of England. {Ibid.) In 1796, damage to the amount
of 100,000/. was done to turnips in Devonshire, by the black
Jly. (Jardine on White, quoting Kirby and Spence.) In
1762 and in 1782, myriads of yellow flies visited the coast of
Norfolk. {Phil, Trans., 1783.) They are described as being seen
to be blown over from the sea, and piled dead on the shore
in heaps. They were parents of a black cankerworm, which
in those years did infinite damage to turnips. They were so
numerous, that, in their search for that plant, they covered
the roads, gates, and hedges. So, at the epoch of the black
death (1333 — 1359), " the insect tribe was wonderfully called
into life, as if animated beings were destined to complete the
destruction." (Hecker, p. 44.)

If we go to the Scriptures, we find the palmerworm, the
caterpillar, the cankerworm, the locust, the frog, &c., de-
scribed as miraculously increased at certain epochs, and

* Mr. Bakewell, in a letter, alludes to this fact in conjunction with the
earthquakes at Chichester, which have occurred between Sept. 1833 and
March, 1834 : a very probable connection. Three of those earthquakes,
those of September, November, and January, were felt here.

o 3

198 Supposed Connection of Meteoric Phenomena^

often introduced, in intimate connection with convulsions of
the elements, as the agents of divine wrath.* In this respect,
the pagan as well as the Jewish historians agree ; for Pliny,
speaking of the locust, says, " T>eorum ircE pestis ea intel-
ligiturr {Nat, Hist.^x. 29.)

The conclusion to be drawn from the foregoing notes is
self-evident, if we consider that the years individually men-
tioned were marked by striking evidences of a disturbed state
of the earth and atmosphere. Without farther reference, it
may suffice to say that every one of those years was dis-
tinguished by earthquakes, meteors, or other phenomena:
and, to pass over 1333 — 1348, the epoch of the black death,
and 1817, that of the cholera, we may take 1783 as an ex-
ample ; a year marked by most surprising convulsions, f
Indeed, it will be found that, at all periods of telluric dis-
turbance, some extraordinary movement takes place in the
kingdoms of animated nature ; and, whenever there is an in-
dication of the kind, it will be discovered that the excitement
occurred at a time when the atmosphere has been unaccount-
ably heated, the seasons affected by some extraneous mo-
difying cause of change, and the volcanic force especially
developed. On this subject, I have not the slightest doubt;
for it is capable of positive demonstration, if we may believe
the testimony of undisputed facts, as they are registered in
the calendars of naturalists. Take the links where we will, in
the chain of terrestrial phenomena, we find them preserving
the character, the consistency, and the order of a series,
which, examined in detail, or viewed in the mass, leads to
the conclusion, that each member has the same governing
law, and that, if followed up, each will be found to centre in
volcanic agency. This position will, in future observations,
be satisfactorily tested and proved: the arguments derived
from that branch of the enquiry affecting animal life being
the first general evidence to its truth. It is anticipating to
say more now, than that, if the other cases bear out the as-
sertion, the irruption of the mice in Scotland and Ireland,
the incursion of the bears and cankerworms in Canada, and
the movement amongst the boars of France, &c., all point
out 1833 as a peculiar year; and to what are we to attribute
these so recent occurrences, but to some result of that great
cause which has shaken the earth, the sea, and the air, and
rendered the last few months more memorable for earth -

* See, amongst other passages, 1 Kings, viii. 37. j Joel, i. 4. ; Psalm
Ixxviii. 43 — 48 ; Exodus, vii. — x., &c.

f See, amongst other writers, Gilbert White, part 2. near the end.

prevalent Disorders, Sfc, Uoith Volcanic Emanations, 199

quakes, floods, meteors, and hurricanes, &c. than perhaps
any previous period on record, since 1348 ?

But I pass on to a ^ew remarks, not actually connected
with the preceding ones, but arising from the subject; re-
serving the full enquiry, as to the claims of 1833, to another
occasion.

I have stated above, that the want qfjlsh, to which the
emigration of the bears in 1817 (that remarkable year) is
attributed, was " probably occasioned by some submarine
convulsion." That fish are frequently affected by the dis-
engagement of some invisible mephitic vapour, sometimes de-
stroying them, and sometimes driving them away from their
natural haunts, is not difficult to be maintained. The British
Channel has, since 1817, experienced two phenomena which,
I believe, have never hitherto been recorded ; and, as bearing
on the topic before us, and exactly, in some points, paralleled
by well-attested facts, it may serve a double purpose to state
the particulars.

A little before Christmas, 1827, immense multitudes offish
were found floating along the coast of Sussex (about Rye
and Hastings) in a stupified and helpless state; and, at low
water, being unable to get back into the sea, were picked up
by thousands at the water's edge. They were chiefly conger
eels, many of enormous size, but several were fish never before
seen by the fishermen. This lasted several days. The period
in question was preceded by a thick fog. The cause assigned
by the common people was, " a heavy fall of snow, with a
south wind, which^ with frost and starlight nights, blinded the
fish " / / / I give these statements as I received them from my
brother-in-law, Mr. Beaumont of Winchelsea, who had them
from Mr. Tilden, of that place, who ate of the fish, as did
hundreds of persons, without any bad effect.

On making enquiries, I have found that, about the end of Ja-
nuary, or the beginning of February, 1830, a similar occurrence
took place along the coasts of Dorset and Hants; and, as far as
my informant* recollects, dog-fish were very numerous. They
were washed ashore, and collected in abundance as food, at
Bourne Mouth, and the Dunes at the entrance to Poole.f

* Lieut.W. B. Stocker, R.N., late signal officer at the flag-head station,
mouth of Poole harbour.

f Poole is one of the worst fish-markets in the kingdom : there is
no dependence upon it for anything. A gossip story is afloat, which
endeavours to account for this barrenness. I give the current version.
It happened, a few years ago, that myriads of very fine mackerel were
taken off the coast ; and so great was the draught of them, that, instead
of realising a fortune, the fishermen were obliged to let the people carry
away as many as they would. In anger, therefore, they cast back the fish,

o 4

200 Supposed Connection of Meteoric Phenomena,

The journals of the Philosophical Society have recorded
an instance equally singular. In November, 1775, after an
unparalleled drought, accompanied by universal and various
sicknesses amongst the natives, a dense fog settled over the
island of Sumatra, the wind being constantly in the 50?/^^,
and, during its prevalence, it was observed that the sea round
the island was covered by innumerable multitudes of dead
and dying fish, of all kinds and sizes, the cat-fish and mullet
being the most frequent. They were driven on the beach,
for more than a month, by the tide, in prodigious numbers,
and were eaten by the natives. Mr. Marsden, who relates
the fact, endeavours to account for it by a want of the usual
supply of fresh water to temper the salt ; an explanation worthy
of the ichthyophagists of Sussex. Had the existence of vol-
canoes and the frequent occurrence of earthquakes in the
island been considered, perhaps the mortality amongst the
fish might have been differently explained, by an excess of
salts rather than an excess of salt. We are not without evi-
dence to bear upon the most probable solution of this and
the two preceding statements, which agree with the latter in
all particulars as to ihefog which prevailed, and the harmless
state of the fish as food. I will not in this place say more of
these^cg-^, nor of the diseases and drought in Sumatra at the
time; but simply put them in countenance by a reference to
what is related of the year 1348, when, according to the
report of the College of Physicians of Paris,yc»^5 during 28
days, in the time of the great mortality, covered Arabia, India,
Crete, Germany, Turkey, Greece, and Italy, corrupting the
waters of the sea, so that thefsh died. *

We will come at once to an elucidation of these circum-
stances. Sir W. Hamilton, in his account of the great earth-
quakes, in Calabria, in 1783, says : — " A circumstance worth

with oaths and imprecations, into the sea : and, ever since, the mackerel
and some others have kept at a respectful distance. I have, in publishing
this anecdote, no desire to offend the Nereids and Tritons of the Brown-
sea Island oyster-beds : I quote it only as a possible instance of the phe-
nomenon alluded to above. I may, however, safely state that there was
scarcely ever a place, on so many waters, where (except a few harbour plaice)
so few piscatory delicacies were to be met with. When the corporation
would fare sumptuously, they must reserve their banquet till the arrival of
a Torquay boat, which occasionally, in bad weather, puts in here. I say
this, though, with all deference to the myriads of salt cods and caplins
from Newfoundland, whose odorous presence proves Poole to be a pisci-
vorous " county." As the corporators are fond of " incorporations," they
might endeavour to put our poissonaille on good terms with the authorities ;
and propose an enactment by which, in future, the flat-fish and their neigh-
bours may be on dining terms with the gastronomists.
• * Vide Hecker on Black Death, translated by Dr. Babington, p. 131.

prevalent Disorders^ Sfc, with Volcanic Emanations. 201

remarking, and which was the same on the whole coast of
Calabria that had been most affected by the earthquakes, is,
that a small fish called cicii^eUi, resembling what we call in
England white bait, but of a greater size, and which umally
lie at the bottom of the sea, buried in the sand, have been, ever
since the commencement of the earthquakes, and continue
still to be, taken near the surface, and in such abundance,
as to be the common food of the poorest sort of people; whereas,
before the earthquakes, this fsh was rare, and reckoned
amongst the greatest delicacies. All fsh, in general, have
been taken in greater abundance, and with much greater faci-
lity, in these parts, sifice they have been afflicted with earth-
quakes, than before. 1 constantly asked every fisherman I
met with on the coast of Sicily and Calabria, if this circum-
stance was true; and was as constantly answered in the
affirmative, but with such emphasis, that it must have been
extraordinary. I suppose that either the sand at the bottom
of the sea may have been heated by the volcanic fire under it,
or that the continual tremor of the earth has driven the fish
out of their strongholds." {Phil. Trans., vol. Ixxiii.)

The same writer, describing the eruption of Vesuvius (in
1 794?), observes : — " A few days ago, a shoal of fish, of several
hundred weight, having been observed by some fishermen,
at Resina, in great agitation at the surface of the sea, near
some rocks of an ancient lava that had run into the sea, they
surrounded them with their nets, and took them all with ease,
and afterwards discovered that they had been stunned by the
mephitic vapour which at that time issued forcibly from under-
neath the ancient lava into the sea. . . . The divers there
(near Portici) likewise told me, that, for the space of a mile
from that shore, since the eruption, they have found all the
fish dead in their shells, as they supposed, either from the
heat of the sand at the bottom of the sea, or from poisonous
vapour:' {Phil. Trans., 1795.)

Mr. Wright of Glasgow visited Graham's Island on the
20th Aug. 1831. He says, in the account published in the
Penny Magazine (No. 1 14. for Jan. 4. 1834, p. 10.), that the
people with him found, on the south-east side of the island, on
a strip of beach, " half dead and stupified, a fine large pesce-
spada, or swordfish. This they secured, and carried back
with them to Sciacca, where they found it weighed upwards
of 60 lbs. English. The fate of the fish," says Mr. W.,
" must have arisen y/'om its coming too near the hot and con-
taminated water, which on all sides surrounded the island to
a greater or less distance." *

* It is forestalling the subject, but it is right to add here, that my con-
jectures respecting the storm of June 11. ayid 12. 1833, were realised y hy the

202 Natural History and Political Impropriation

During the great eruption of Lancerote, in 1731, all the
banks and shores of the island were covered with dead and
dying Jish, many of kinds never before seen there, (Von Buch ;
Lyell, vol. i. p. 381.) The putrid vapours were so great on
the 28th October, that they fell down condensed in drops,
suffocating the cattle, which dropped lifeless to the ground,
(Lyell, i. 38 1.) The eruptions of Iceland have very frequently
slain the fish. (See Henderson and others.)

We may presume, from these effects, that the phenomena
in Sumatra in 1776, and in 1827 and 1830 in the British
Channel, originated in s.ome disengagement of mephitic vapour ;
and though in neither case was an earthquake felt, still it is
more than probable that earthquakes then and there occurred:
and, if it were not out of place now, I could adduce reasons
(which will be stated hereafter) for concluding that the Bri-
tish seas experienced some submarine convulsion in August
and October, 1833. As, however, the object of this paper is
to discuss the evidence from animated nature, we shall merely
conclude it with observing, that, according to the presumptive
proof before us, the want of fish in the Kamtschatkan seas was
occasioned by a disengagement of terrestrial heat ; and, if so,
that the irruption of bears in Canada, considering the con-
ditions of the year 1833, was occasioned by a similar object
and cause.

Whatever be decided, it is, I think, clearly established that
this head of my argument is founded on sufficient evidence :
and thus, for the present, I quit the subject, which will be
resumed in subsequent Numbers. W. B. Clarke.

Stanley Green, near Poole, Dorset, March 4. 1834<.

Art. II. Facts and Considerations on the Natural History and
Political Impropriation of the Salmon Fish. By T. G., of
Clitheroe, Lancashire.

Sir,

Introductorily to the remarks, corresponding to this title,
which I have to communicate, I would give a description of
fish of the genus iSalmo, which we have in the Kibble : it
may enable some of your readers to comprehend more readily
what is said afterwards.

We have, first, the salmon, which, in the Ribble, varies in

appearance of Graham's Island, at that datCyfor the second time, at the sur-
face of the sea, the steam and smoke rising furiously. (See Mag. Nat,
Hist., VI. 307. [and IV. 545—550.])

of the Salmon Fish, 203

weight from 5 lbs. to 30 lbs. We never see the fresh fish
here before May, and then very rarely : a few come in
June, July, and August, if there are high floods in the river ;
and in about the latter end of September they become tolerably
abundant (the fisheries near the mouth of the river have then
ceased for the season), and the salmon run very freely up the
river from that time to the middle or end of December. They
begin to spawn at the latter end of October ; but the greater
part of those that spawn here, do so in December (I believe
nearer the source of the river they are earlier) ; but many fish
are seen on the spawning beds in January, and I have even
seen a pair so late as March ; but this last is a very rare
occurrence. Some of the male kippers (kelts) come down in
December and January, but the greater part of the females
remain in the river until April, and they are occasionally seen,
herding with shoals of smelts, in May. In this state they
will take a worm very greedily, and are, many of them, caught
with the fly in the deeps ; but they are unfit to eat, the flesh
being white, loose, and insipid, although they have lost the
red dingy appearance which they had when about to spawn,
and are almost as bright as the fresh fish : their large heads
and lank bodies, however, render it sufficiently easy to dis-
tinguish them from fish which are only ascending the river,
even if the latter were plentiful at this season ; but this is, un-
fortunately, not the case.

Secondly, We have the mort, I am not sure whether this
fish is what is called the grilse in Scotland, or whether it is
the sea trout of that country. It is a handsome fish, weighing
from 1^ lb. to 3 lbs. We first see the morts in June, and from
that time to the end of September they are plentiful, in favour-
able seasons, in the Hodder (a tributary stream of the Ribble),
although they are never numerous in the Ribble above the
mouth of that river. It is the opinion of the fishermen here
that this is a distinct species. My own opinion is that it
is a young salmon ; and yet, if I were called upon to give
reasons for thinking so, I could not offer any very conclusive
ones : the best I have is, that there is no perceptible differ-
ence in the fry when going down to the sea. It may be said,
" How do you know that one of the three or four varieties of
smelts, which you describe farther on, is not the fry of the
mort ? " To this objection, if made, I say, that these varieties
exist in the Wharfe, where, owing either to natural or to
artificial causes, there is never either a mort or a sprod
(whitling?) seen.

Thirdly, We have the sprod, which is, I believe, syno-
nymous with the whitling, whiting, or berling of Scotland.

204 Natural History and Political Impropriation

It is a beautiful fish, of 6 oz. or 8 oz. in weight, and has more
of the appearance of the sahnon than the mort has. It seldom
ascends the river before July, and, like the mort, is far more
abundant in the Hodder than in the Ribble. This fish some-
times rises pretty freely at the fly, and, when it does so, makes
a very handsome addition to the angler's basket ; but at other
times it is shy and difficult to hook. It disappears, in a great
measure, about September.

Fourthly, We have the pink, or par, which is found of two
or three sizes in the Ribble : the largest are all males, and,
in October, the milt in them is large. They are small fishes ;
varying in weight from 1 oz. to 3 oz. each ; and, as it is well
remarked by the author of that delightful book. Wild Sports
of the West, they have very much the appearance of hybrids
between the salmon and the trout. They rise, very freely, at
the fly and maggot, from July to October, and afford good
sport to the angler who is satisfied with catching small fish.
I trust I shall be able, in the following pages, to give some
information respecting this fish, which will assist in dispelling
the mystery in which its natural history has been enveloped.

I will now mention a few of the opinions respecting the
various species of salmon, and also my own, where they are
at variance with the generally received ones, and give the
facts and reasonings which have induced me to form those
opinions ; and I shall be very glad, if 1 be in error on any of
these points, if some one of your readers, better acquainted
with the subject than I am, will take the trouble to set me
right.

It seems to be the opinion of many, indeed of most, per-
sons, that the salmon spawns from November to February,
and that the young fry, or smelts, go down to the sea in the
April or May following. My own opinion is, that they stay
in the rivers very much longer. The grilse is, by many, be-
lieved to be a distinct species, whilst others stoutly maintain
that it is a young salmon.

The testimony of the witnesses from the Severn, the Wye,
the Lee (near Cork), and the Ness (see the evidence given
before the Select Committees of the House of Commons in
1824 and 1825), would lead one to suppose that the fish were
in the best season from November to March ; whilst the evi-
dence of the witnesses from the other parts of the kingdom
goes to prove that this is the very worst period for catching
them. One maintains that each river has its own variety of
fish, which can be distinguished from the fish of any other
river; another contends that there is no such difference: a
third states that stake nets are exceedingly injurious to the

of the Salmon Fish 205

breed of the fish ; and a fourth attests that stake nets only catch
the fish when they are in the best season, that neither kelts
nor fry are taken in them, and that, if they were prohibited,
it would only be preserving the fish for the grampuses and
seals : in short, the evidence, both regarding their habits and
the best modes of catching them, having in view the pre-
servation and increase of the breed, is so completely contra-
dictory as to leave a doubt in the minds of every one who reads
it, and has no other means of forming an opinion. I will
endeavour to show, in some instances, which of these testi-
monies are correct, and it will be for your readers to judge
how far I succeed ; and I hope they will be so obliging as to
correct any errors I may fall into.

1st, It is my opinion that the fry of salmon are much older,
when they leave the rivers, than seems to be generally sup-
posed, and that the growth of this fish is by no means so rapid
as it is considered to be by those who have written on the
subject. For several years previous to 1816, the salmon were
unable to ascend into the upper parts of the river Wharfe,
being prevented either by the high weirs in the lower parts,
or by some other cause; and, of course, there were no smelts
or par : but in that year, either the incessant rains of that
summer, or rumours of the formation of an association for the
protection of fish, or some other unknown cause, enabled
some salmon to ascend the river 30 or 40 miles, and to
spawn there. In the next spring (1817), there were no
smelts, but about September they began to rise at the very
small flies which the anglers in that river make use of: they
were then a little larger than minnows. In the spring of
1818, there were blue smelts, or what are generally known
as salmon fry, which went down to the sea in the May of that
year : but these were only part of the brood, the females only ;
the males remaining all that summer, being, at the period
when the females went down, very much smaller than they,
and what are called, in the Wharfe, grey smelts, and pinks
or par elsewhere. I have shown that there were two migra-
tions from the spawn of 1816 : but this was not all ; there still
remained a few smelts through the summer of 1819, which by
that time were from 4 oz. to 6 oz. in weight, and are known
by the anglers there as brambling smelts : the blue marks on
their sides are very distinct, and the fish a perfect smelt, ex-
cept that it is considerably larger. It is quite different from the
whitling, or sprod, which is not known in the Wharfe, at
least not in the upper parts of that river, whilst the brambling
is never seen in the Ribble. The brambling is a beautiful
fish, and it rises very freely both at the May fly and the arti-

206 Natural History and Political Impropriation

ficial fly through the summer ; it is also occasionally caught
by anglers with the worm, on the salmon spawning-beds, in the
autumn, with the milt perfectly developed, and in a fluid state.
Although this fish is not found in the Ribble (as far as my
observation and enquiries have gone), I believe that it is
found in the Tweed (and perhaps also in other rivers running
into the German Ocean) ; for a letter, addressed to Mr. Ken-
nedy, who was chairman of the Select Committee appointed to
investigate this subject, by a Mr. George Houy, states that
the smelts are sometimes found there 10 in. long, which he
attributes to their not being able to get down at the proper
period, for want of a flood in the river ; but I know that in
the Ribble smelts will go down to the sea without there being
a flood at all, if that flood does not come within ten days or a
fortnight of the time at which they usually descend to the sea.
I also know that bramblings are found in the Wharfe in
years when there has been no deficiency in that respect ; yet
why they should be common in that river, when they are
never met with in the Ribble, which has ten times as many
salmon and smelts in it, I am unable to comprehend.

It is my opinion that the eggs of the salmon are not hatched
before March or April, Two anglers, who were, in April,
wading in the river Wharfe, came upon a spawning-bed,
which they had the curiosity to examine: they found a num-
ber of eggs, in which they could see the young fry already
alive, and one of them took these eggs home with him. By
regularly and frequently supplying them with fresh water, he
succeeded in hatching them, and kept some of the young
fishes alive for some time; but they died in consequence of
neglect, and were, even then, very diminutive.

The opinion generally received in Scotland seems to be,
if I may judge from the evidence given before the House of
Commons, that smelts go down to the sea in the spring after
they are spawned, and that they return, in the summer and
autumn of the same year, as grilse. When they return, and
what size they are of on their first visit, I have hitherto been
unable to ascertain ; but I think I have succeeded in proving
that they do not go to the sea so soon as is generally believed,
nor do any of the witnesses give their reasons for thinking
that they do. I should very much like to learn what evidence
they have to offer in behalf of this opinion, I remember see-
ing an article in the Scotsman (perhaps about 12 months ago),
in which it was stated that Dr. Knox had made some im-
portant discoveries in the natural history of the salmon and
herring, both in their food and propagation ; and, if I recollect
aright, it stated that he had ascertained that the eggs remained

of the Salmon Fish, 207

several months in the gravel, and that then, in a few days or
weeks after, they [the fishes hatched from them] were so
much grown as to go down to the sea ; but none of the data
which enabled him to arrive at this conclusion were given, and
since then I have heard nothing about the matter. As it is
so long since I read this article, I may have quoted it incor-
rectly, but I believe that its substance was what I have stated.
The only conclusive evidence T can find about the hatching
of salmon fry is that of Mr. Geo. Hogarth {Second Pari. Rep.
p. 92.)} and his account agrees with my own. He states that
he took the salmon spawn from the spawning beds, and, by
keeping it frequently supplied with fresh water, he succeeded
in hatching some of the eggs (he gives drawings of the ap-
pearance of the fry, in three or four different stages, from the
egg to the age of eight days, see Appendix to Second Pari,
Rep,) ; that the young fry, by keeping them well supplied with
fresh water, were very lively and vigorous for three weeks,
but that they, after this time, appeared to grow languid and
uneasy, and, as they would eat nothing, they died when 1 in.
long. Unfortunately, he does not state at what period of the
year they were hatched ; but if this were in March or April,
which I see no reason to doubt, it is sufficient to prove that
they would not reach the size which smelts are when they
leave the rivers for the sea ; for, supposing him to have hatched
them in the last week in March, and that they lived a month,
this would bring us to the time when they are about to mi-
grate, at which time they average more than 6 in. long, many
of them are 8 in. ; and at this period they are fond of feeding
upon worms, flies, maggots, and caddis-worms, as is known
to every schoolboy living on the bank of a river frequented
by salmon.

It is also my opinion that neither salmon nor trout spa*wn
every year ; for salmon ascend the rivers as early as January,
in the highest condition, with I'oe in them no bigger than
mustard seed : these could not have spawned that season, as
the kelts (particularly the females) do not return to the sea
until March or April*, and at that time they are in very bad
condition, and do not appear to have a particle of spawn in
them ; and, in the evidence of Mr. Mackenzie [Second Pari,
Rep,^ p. 21.), we have an account of a grilse kelt, which was
caught, and marked, in March, 1823, and which was again
caught as a salmon, on its return to the river, in March, 1824.
In this case, the fish had evidently required a residence of

* In the evidence of Mr. Geo. Hogarth it is stated, that he saw upwards
of 90 kelt fish in the mill lead of Grandholm, on the Don, on the 6th of
May.

208 Natural History and Political Impropriation

12 months in the sea before it was in a condition to visit the
river a second time ; and, in the Wharfe, it is the constant
practice of the anglers to catch trout through the winter, with
very minute roe in them, and in high season, with the worm
and salmon roe, and also with night lines. In fact, one of the
fishermen has frequently remarked to me, that he occasion-
ally caught dishes of trout with the fly in January, in finer
season than he has found them in April ; which he accounted
for by saying that the spawned fish (kelts) of that season had
not begun to rise freely at the fly at the former periods, but
that they had at the latter, so that his pannier contained as
many kelts as fresh fish. Another reason has just occurred
to me: it is, that, in January, the spawned fish will still be in
the small brooks in which they are so fond of breeding, and
of course, the bulk of the fish remaining in the river at that
period would be fish in good season.

As it is some years since I acquired part of this inform-
ation, I have felt afraid of giving it incorrectly; and I have,
therefore, addressed a letter to a friend living on the banks of
the Wharfe, requesting him to send me all the information
in his possession on this subject, as well that derived from his
own observation as that collected from others. He has, and
since the above was written, sent me the following reply : —

" I have seen R^ (one of the best anglers and fly-makers

between Cornwall and Caithness), and have had some con-
versation with him on the subject of salmon, &c. He is of
opinion that the spawn of the salmon remains five months in
the gravel before hatching. He examined the spawn in April,

and found the young fry alive in the egg; and I m (another

angler) took some home, and kept one of the smelts two or

three months. I have subsequently seen I m, and he has

given me the same account. All the fishermen here are of
opinion that the female smelts remain one year, and the males
two years, before they go down to the sea. The bramblings
are supposed to be smelts which remain a year longer than
the usual time ; they are few in number, and are taken gene-
rally with the May fly. I have no doubt that the above
opinions are correct ; for we have now three distinct sizes of
smelts in the river (exclusive of the bramblings), the largest
of which are nearly 4 oz. in weight, and are all males, as they
contain milt in October and November. The next are the
females of the present year : I have had one since the receipt
of your letter, which weighed 3^ oz., and measured 5 in. in
length (this was a real blue smelt). The third are the males
of the same age, and are much smaller : these are occasion-

of the Salmon Fish, 209

ally taken with the worm, and will rise at the fly all the next
summer.

" We were for several years (but I do not recollect the
dates) entirely without salmon, and, of course, without smelts;
and we invariably found that the smelts made their appear-
ance the year after the salmon, but were very small till the
second year, when we had what we call blue smelts, which
disappeared in May or June ; and what you call pinks, which
remained till the following year ; and brambling smelts, which
remained another year. The fishermen here are also of
opinion, that neither salmon nor trout spawns every year.

R says that one day lately" (the letter is dated Dec. 13.)

*' he caught seven trouts, six of which were in good season,
and he brought me two the other day, one of which contained
roe, and the other was in excellent condition."

My friend states, in a subsequent communication, that one
of the fishermen had told him that he had caught the male
smelts (par) more abundantly on the salmon spawning-beds
than elsewhere ; and my friend adds that the opinion there
is, that, if a female salmon gets up, even if no male accom-
panies her, yet her eggs are fecundated by the male smelts ;
and they allege, in support of this opinion, that a female got
up one season, and spawned, and, though no male was seen
near her, her eggs were prolific. I mention this, although I
apprehend that it is evidence which the unbelievers will con-
sider inadmissible ; for, though no male was seen, still there
may have been one ; or, admitting that one did spawn without
being accompanied by a male, yet another, which contrived to
bring her mate along with her, may have spawned in the same
place the same season : yet, notwithstanding its liability to
these objections, I have no doubt myself that, if a female
were to come alone, her eggs would be impregnated by the
par. It is an excellent maxim that nature makes no useless
provisions ; yet, if we admit that par are young salmon, for
what purpose is the milt, if not to impregnate salmon roe ? and,
if we deny this to be the fact, we must endeavour to show that
there are female par ; but in all my examinations I have never
been able to meet with one that contained roe.

That the Gtilse are Salmon is proved, I think, sufficiently,
by the evidence given before the House of Commons. Mr.
Wm. Stephen states [Second Rep.., p. 52.) that he has known
grilse kept in a saltwater pond until they had become salmon,
and that fry that had been marked came ba.ck that year as
grilse, and the year after as salmon; and Mr. George Ho-
garth states that he has as often seen a salmon and a grilse
working together on the spawning beds, as two salmon or

Vol. VII.— -No. 39. p

210 Nahiral History and Political Impropriatian

two grilse; and Mr. Mackenzie states (p. 21.) that he, in
March, 1823, marked a grilse kelt with brass wire, and
caught it again, in March, 1824, a salmon of 7 lb. weight.
The testimony of the witnesses from the Ness, the Severn,
the Lee, and some other rivers, is too positive, and too well
supported, to admit of any doubt as to the excellent season
[condition] of many of the fish ascending those rivers, in
November, December, and January ; a period when they are
out of season, and full of spawn, generally, and even when
many fish are caught in those rivers in the same unseason-
able condition. The fact, that there are many fish in fine
season in those months, may be, I think, accounted for, if we
admit that salmon only spawn every other year, which I have,
I think, shown to be very probable; but what it is that in-
duces those fish to ascend rivers so many months before the
spawning season I cannot explain. Probably there may be
some quality in the water of these rivers, all the year, which is
congenial to the habits of the fish, while the same quality
may only be found during part of the year in others. It is
certain that the quality of the water in rivers generally varies
very much with the season : thus, the water of the Ribble is,
after a flood, in summer, always of a dark brown colour,
being so coloured by the peat moss over which it passes;
while in winter no such tinge can be observed ; and there
may be other differences, with which we are unacquainted.
However, whether this is the true reason or not, it certainly
cannot be that the fish which spawn in October are impelled
by their desire to propagate their species to ascend the rivers
the January before ; and if this long residence in fresh water
were necessary for the proper developement of the ova
in one river, we might suppose it would be necessary in all ;
yet this is not the case; as the red fish, which ascend the
rivers in November and December, have, at that time, the
spawn nearly ready for exclusion.

On one point, about which there is great difference of
opinion, namely, whether the fish which are bred in a river
generally resort to it, and whether each river has its own
variety of fish, I am not a competent ji'Jge, as I am ac-
quainted with too few rivers to pretend to decide. I may,
however, just remark that the Hodder, though it is a much
smaller river than the Ribble, is always much better stocked
with salmon, morts, sprods, smelts, and par, than is the latter
river ; which I attribute to the fact that more fish spawn in
the Hodder, as it runs for many miles through the Forest of
Bowland (the property of the Duke of Buccleugh) and other
large estates, and the fish are much better protected there

of the Salmon Fish. 21 1

than in the Ribble, where, with one or two exceptions, the
properties are very much divided, and few people think it
worth their while to trouble themselves on the subject.

Dr. Fleming, in his letter to Mr. Kennedy [Appendix to
the First Rep., 1825), seems to doubt that salmon enter rivers
for any other purpose than that of propagation : but, lest I
should misrepresent his opinions, I will quote what he has said
on the subject : — "In the evidence taken before the Select
Committee, during the last session of parliament, and appear-
ing in the Report, there are several statements, of a somewhat
imposing kind, which, as they appear to me to be erroneous
and apt to mislead, I shall here take the liberty of opposing
them." He then enumerates several opinions expressed
before the Select Committee; one of which is, " that salmon
enter and leave rivers for other purposes than those con-
nected with spawning." (See the evidence of Messrs. Little,
Halliday, and Johnstone.)

" 1st. That they enter rivers to rid themselves of sea lice
(Mon6culus j^iscinus). 2dly, that they forsake rivers to save
themselves from being exhausted by residence in fresh water,
and from having their gills devoured by a maggot (Lernae^a
5almonea). The whole natural history of the salmon contra-
dicts this hypothesis." Another of these " errors " is, " that
* it is asserted {Rep,, 1824, p. 145.) that salmon always
return to the same river.' This is not probable, when we
consider the circumstances in which they are placed during
their residence in the sea." On the first of these opinions I
am not a competent judge ; but I think that the fact, that
salmon enter rivers nine or ten months before they are ready
to spawn, is of itself sufficient to show that there are other
reasons for their entering rivers than those connected with
propagation. With respect to the second, I believe that,
after salmon have once entered rivers, at least when they
have ascended into the upper parts of them, they never
offer to descend again until they have spawned. On the
third opinion, I would remark, that although I do not think
that salmon airways come to the same river m which they
were bred, yet I think that they will do so if they can : and I
think that the fact which I have mentioned, of the Hodder (a
smaller and a tributary stream of the Ribble) containing
many more salmon, as well as more morts and sprods, coun-
tenances this supposition : for why should the larger number
of fish ascend the smaller river, except for such a reason ?

I am of opinion that Salmon do not grow so fast in the Sea
as is generally supposed. It is here generally believed that
the smelts which go down in the spring come up again in

p 2

212 Natural History and Political Impropriation

the August and September following, 5 lb. or 6 lb. in weight ;
and George Little, Esq., in his evidence, states this as his
opinion ; but he does not give any other reason for it than
this, that the grilse that ascend the rivers in June, weigh
l^lb. to 2 lb., and that those which come in September
weigh 5 lb. or 6 lb. But opposed to this supposition is the
evidence of Mr. Mackenzie, before referred to {Second Pari,
Rep., p. 21.), who states that he caught, in March, a grilse
kelt which weighed 3jlb. ; that he marked it with a brass
wire, and let it go; and that, in the March following, he
caught it again, a salmon of 7 lb. weight. Now, a fish
which weighed 3j lb. as a kelt, would weigh 5 lb. or 6 lb.
when in high condition the summer before ; and if this
were so, which, I believe, all persons who are acquainted
with salmon will admit, this fish would appear to have gained
only 1 lb. or 2 lb. in fifteen or eighteen months. Besides, if
salmon grow as fast as is stated and believed by many
persons, the breeds of different years would vary very
much in weight; whereas it is known to every body that we
Lave them of all sizes, from 5 lb. to ^0 lb. ; and it is very
contrary to analogy to suppose that a fish, which is two or
three years in arriving at the weight of as many ounces,
should, in two or three months, acquire as many pounds.

There are, however, two or three things, about which all
persons agree in opinion. One of these is, that the breed of
salmon is decreasing every year, and that the great cause of
this decrease is the want of protection, and a consequent de-
struction, of the fish in the spawning season. The complaint
on this head is universal; from north to south, from the Shan-
non to the Tweed, the cry is. Protect the breeding fish, or we
shall very soon have none to protect : and yet, although the
destruction of the fish in the spawning season, and the de-
struction of the fry in the spring, are the chief reasons for this
alarming falling off, yet no one seems able to devise a remedy.
The fact is, no one seems inclined to make the necessary
sacrifices for so desirable an object ; and, without these sacri-
fices, it would be absurd to expect the fish to become plen-
tiful ; and, instead of furnishing an abundant supply of cheap
and wholesome food to all classes, which they certainly would
do if the fisheries were properly regulated, they will become
either wholly extinct, or so rare as to be only found at the
tables of the wealthy. James Gillies, in his evidence, states,
that his brother had, in one night, killed in the Tweed, four
hundred salmon at one landing-place, in close time ; and all the
reports are full of statements showing how unceasing and
universal is the persecution the salmon undergo, not only
when in season, but at all times, and most of all when every

of the Salmon Fish, 213

one should do his utmost to preserve them ; I mean, when
they are spawning. In this neighbourhood, the properties,
generally, are so much divided, and so few good fish are
allowed to ascend the river, that no one has any interest in
protecting them in close time; and the consequence is, as
might be expected, that all sorts of contrivances for taking
them are resorted to. They are speared and netted in the
streams by day and night ; they are caught with the fly ;
they are taken with switch hooks (large hooks fixed to the
ends of staves), or with a triple hook fixed to the end of the
running line attached to a salmon rod. If the river becomes
low, parties of idle fellows go up each side of it in search of
them, and, by stoning the deeps, or dragging a horse's skull,
or large bone of any kind, through them, they compel the fish
to the side, and they there fall an easy prey, in most cases,
where the pool is of small extent. In a river so small as the
Ribble, it will be readily believed that not many fish can
deposit their spawn in safety, when practices of this sort are
followed, almost openly, and where no one feels a sufficient
interest in the matter to endeavour to put a stop to them. A
single party of poachers killed 400 salmon in one spawning
season, near the source of the river, the roe of which, when
potted, they sold for 20/. Need we be surprised, then, if the
breed decreases ? The only wonder is that they have not
been exterminated long ago.

I may, perhaps, be allowed to say what, in my opinion,
would remedy this alarming destruction, particularly as no
one seems hitherto to have devised an efficient preventive. I
believe that, in 1826, there was an act of parliament passed
which legalised the use of stake nets, and either repealed or
modified some of the old laws on the subject ; and I have
also understood that the good effi^cts of this new law are
already perceptible in Scotland, to which it exclusively ap-
plied. There was a bill introduced into parliament, in 1825,
which was intended to apply to the whole kingdom ; but
some of the clauses were so very objectionable, that, if they
had been carried, it could not possibly have been enforced
without stopping and ruining the manufactures which were
carried on by water power ; and the bill was consequently
abandoned. The first thing to be done is, to give the pro-
prietors on the upper parts of the rivers such an interest in the
fisheries as will make them anxious about the preservation of
the fish in the spawning season ; and, to accomplish so desir-
able an object, no one ought to fish or keep a net stretched
across a river for more than twelve hours a day, or from sun-
rise to sunset ; and every mill-owner ought to be compelled

p 3

214 Natural History and Political Impropriation

to facilitate the passage of the fish over his weirs by every
means consistent with the proper supply of water to his
wheels. At present the fisheries at the mouths and lower parts
of rivers so completely prevent the access of the fish to the
upper parts, that, unless there happen to be high floods, which
prevent the fishermen below keeping their nets in, the upper
proprietors comparatively seldom see any until the season is
out. The evidence before the House of Commons on this
point is exceedingly amusing. One person thinks that the
upper proprietors have no right to expect any fish, as they
have never paid any consideration for any when they bought
their estates : another states that he pays 7000/. a year to the
Duke of Gordon ; and that, if he is compelled to observe a
weekli/ (not a daily) close time, he will lose that proportion
of his rent ; another observes the weekly close time, and
opens a passage for the fish, but places a crocodile, painted
in very glaring colours, in the gap, to frighten them back
again ; another sai/s he observes the weekly close time in his
cruive fishing, but no one is allowed to inspect the cruives ;
another sends men to break down stake nets in the estuary^
which reach from high to low water mark, and at the same
time stretches a net completely across the river.^ from March
to August, so that not a fish can pass without his permission.
No wonder if fish are scarce in the upper parts of rivers,
when such samples of disinterestedness are manifested by the
proprietors of the fislieries below. No wonder that the
upper proprietors should be careless about the protection of
fish from which they are not allowed to derive any benefit.
No wonder that they should connive at, and even encourage,
the shameful destruction of the fish in close time, since that is
the only time they are allowed to have any. Let the fisher-
men below make it worth the while of the upper proprietors
to protect fish, and they will receive that protection; but it is
too much to expect from human nature that they will take
all the odium and trouble of preserving them, when other
parties reap all the benefit.

There ought to be conservators employed to see that the
fisheries are properly regulated; and these men should be
paid by an assessment on all the proprietors, in proportion to
the value of their fisheries.

I should also recommend an extension and uniformity of
close time in all the rivers in the kingdom ; for, although it is
an undoubted fact that some clean fish are caught in rivers
early in the season, yet they are comparatively few in number,
and the capture of them involves that of a far greater number
of spawning and kelt fish, which are not only of no value for
the table, but the destruction of which is, in effect, the de-

of the Salmon Fish, 215

struction of the millions of fish which would proceed from
them. Tn the First Par. Rep.^ p. 11., Mr. Walter Jamieson
says, that, in the river Tweed, from January 10. to Fe-
bruary 1., he caught 121 fish, only one of which had
spawned; from February 1. to March 1., he took 44 fish,
25 of which had not spawned, 15 were kelts, and 4 were
clean fish ; from March 1. to March 10. he took 17 fish, 7 of
which had not spawned (4 of them on the 10th), 9 were kelts,
and 1 clean fish. Now, the close time varies in almost every
river, and some have no close time at all. Thus, in the
Ribble, the close time begins on September 15. and ends on
December 31.; and in the Hodder there is no legal close
time : but there is no practical difference between them in
this respect, every one thinking himself entitled to kill every
fish he can, at all times of the year, in both of them.

The observance of the weekly close time (that is, opening
a passage for the fish from sunset on Saturday night to sun-
rise on Monday morning) is a mere farce, even if it could not
be evaded, as it almost invariably is ; for it is well known to
every one conversant with the habits of salmon, that they
only ascend rivers when there are freshes (floods) in them ;
and, in the summer, the ground is generally so dry, and
vegetation absorbs so much moisture, and the evaporation is
so great, that it not only requires twice as much rain to pro-
duce a flood in a river then, as it does in the winter, but,
when rain does come, its effects are only visible in the river
for a short time. I have known a strong fresh in the Ribble
in the morning, and the river low again in the afternoon of
the same day. Now, a fresh coming at the beginning of a
week would disappear long before the close of it, unless the
rainy weather continued ; and thus the strict observance of
the weekly close time would be of little service to the upper
proprietors, unless the fresh came at the right end of the
week.

The smelts and par ought to be protected as strictly as the
salmon ; and there ought to be a penalty attached to the
killing of them, or having them in possession ; and conservators
of rivers ought to have the power of inspecting all mills and
manufactories driven by those rivers, to ascertain that they
have no contrivances for taking the fry on their way to the
sea, as it appears that, in some rivers, they are taken in large
quantities. There ought also to be a penalty attached to the
killing of kelt fish, which, in that state, are not only tasteless
and insipid, but actually unwholesome : yet they are pursued
and destroyed with as much avidity as the fresh fish ; and a
very small number of the very few that spawn in safety qvqx.

V 4

2 1 6 Natural History and Political Impropriation

return to the sea. A penalty ought also to be inflicted for
selling, buying, using, or having in possession salmon roe,
either in a fresh or salted state ; as its excellence as a bait for
trout and eels, and the consequent high price at which it
sells, are sufficient temptations to the poachers to kill the
salmon in the spawning season, even if they could not sell or
use any other part. Yet, destructive as this practice is, there
is an extensive trade in this article, a fishing-tackle maker in
Liverpool having told a friend of mine, that he sold 300 lb.
weight in a season ; which, supposing every ^^^ to hatch,
would produce, perhaps, five times as many salmon as are
caught, in one year, throughout the whole kingdom.*

In concluding this imperfect sketch, I may remark that I
have omitted many things concerning the natural history and
habits of the salmon, fearing that I should trespass too much
on your space and the patience of your readers ; but I have
wished, in addition to the communicating of some facts in the
natural history of this fish, which, I believe, are not generally
known, to call the attention of the public to the present state
of the salmon fisheries in England. Many of the preceding
observations are founded on the evidence of persons connected
with the fisheries in Scotland, and are, perhaps, no longer
applicable to that part of the kingdom, since there has been
an alteration in the laws. Whether this is the case or not,
1 have no present means of ascertaining. I shall be glad if
any one having a knowledge of the subject will say what
benefit (if any) has been derived from the alteration. How-
ever, it is sufficient for my present purpose to show what is
the state of things where there are no laws on the subject, or,
which is the same thing, where there is no attention paid to
them ; a state of things which, instead of promoting an abun-
dant supply of these excellent fish, and rendering the salmon
fisheries nationally important, tends, by the habitual disregard
of the laws by one party, the selfishness of another, and the
neglect of a third, to render these fisheries of little and still
decreasing value; whereas, if the lower proprietors would
allow a tolerable supply of the salmon to come up the rivers

* Salmon are said to produce 18,000 or 20,000 eggs each, and I have
no doubt a large salmon will produce still more ; as one I examined a year
or two ago, of about 10 lb. weight, had a roe which weighed 2 lb. 9 oz. j
and the skin in which the eggs were enveloped (they were not in the loose
state in which they are found just before exclusion) weighed 3oz. after all
the eggs were washed from it ; so that there were 38 oz. of eggs. I weighed
50 of them, and found that they weighed 65 grains. At that rate, 38 oz.
would give 12,788, and 300 lb. 1,615,000; but, as they would be much
lighter when dried and potted, than when taken from the belly of the fish,
we may safely estimate that the 300 lb. would contain 2,000,000 ; a pro-
digious number to pass through the hands of one tackle-maker in a season.

of the Salmon Fish, 217

when they were worth taking, and the upper ones would
preserve them during close time, there would be plenty for
each and for all.

I am aware that it will be difficult to legislate on this
subject, without injury to what is of infinitely greater import-
ance, I mean the manufactures of the country. The absurd
and impracticable clauses which were contained in the bill
for the protection of the fisheries, which was introduced into
parliament in 1825, show this. Yet, notwithstanding this
difficulty, I think it is possible to protect the fish, without
interfering with the interest of the mill-owners ; and to make
such laws on the subject as will be effectual, without calling
forth a single objection from any unprejudiced person. I
shall be glad if what I have said on this subject should in-
duce any gentleman to turn his attention to it. There must
be many whose opportunities of observation will enable them
to determine whatever is doubtful in the natural history of
the salmon tribe ; whose experience will teach them the defects
and absurdities of the present laws on the fisheries; and
whose influence will, if they can be induced to exert it, mate-
rially contribute to the amendment of them.

Clitheroe, Lancashire, Jan, 1834.

[A SERIES of questions, by SirWm. Jardine, designed to elicit
information on certain indicated ideas on the natural history
of the salmon genus, in its species and varieties, is published
in III. 479, 480. Useful information will also be found in
III. 94, 196. In a note on the salmon-fishery reports, which
was supplied to us, under date of May 29. 1850, by our
correspondent, J. C. Farmer, there is this sentence: — "I
believe, however, that the different species of salmon have
different periods of spawning. At Warkworth, where there is
a fishery upon the Coquet, Northumberland, I find that they
appear in numbers at different times, the least valuable kinds
the latest (such as the grey and bull trout), and that they
appear in the same order every year." — March 31.

April 17. — In glancing this day through the Second Series
of Jesse's Gleaiiiyigs in Natural History, we observe pages 305.
to 309. on the salmon, and in p. 305, this remark : " Where
testimony in favour of this fact [the asserted very rapid growth
of the salmon] is very strong, one is, of course, induced to
give credence to it. At the same time I am bound to admit,
from observations made on the large quantity of salmon
which our numerous fishmongers exhibit from March to Sep-
tember, that there is some foundation for an opinion that the
growth of salmon is overrated." The grounds of this opinion
are then given.]

218 Natural History of Molluscous Animals: —

Art. III. An Introduction to the Natural History of Molluscous
Animals. In a Series of Letters. By G. J.

Letter 13. On their Food and Digestive Organs.

In reference to the present subject, I shall divide mollus-
cous animals into three classes : — 1st, those which take their
food in a liquid form, or suspended in water ; 2dly, those which
are more properly carnivorous; and, 3dly, those which feed
on vegetable matters.

To the first class all the MoUusca tunicata belong, and the
tenants of the bivalved shells. There is no one of either of
these extensive tribes which is furnished with any organ
adapted to the capture or arrestment of prey, or with jaws or
teeth to tear and masticate it ; and, as the greater number are
immovably fixed to one spot for life, or are only capable of
such motions as raise or depress them in their furrows, they
are necessarily content to await what moist nutriment is brought
within reach of their lips by the waves and currents of the
circumfluent waters. The Mollusca tunicata have the power
of enlarging the capacity of their large branchial sac ; and it
is probable that, during this action, a portion of water rushes
in, with all its contained animalcules, which serve for the food
of the individual. I have found, in the sac of some of the
compound and smallest species .(^Icy^neae), myriads of very
minute corpuscles, which I believed to be entomostracous
insects ; and Savigny, who has frequently made the same
observation, has found, in the sac of species of the same
tribe, crustaceous insects of a higher order and greatly larger
dimensions. The latter, however, as Cuvier thinks, may have
entered against the will and to the prejudice of the molluscum ;
for he has observed the delicate texture of the viscera torn
and ruptured by such rude ingesta. {Mem., xx. p. 14.)

Of the Mollusca tunicata there are two families : one, Al-
cyoneae, or the social, in which numerous individuals, generally
of very small size, are united together, and, as it were, im-
mersed in a common somewhat gelatinous mass ; and another,
Ascidia?, or the solitary, in which every individual is single
and separate, and of much greater magnitude [see figs. 24. and
25. p. 129, 130. of the preceding Number]. In both of these
families, the mouth is a circular aperture, raised a little above
the surface of the common integument or sac, and is capable
of being shut or opened, more or less widely, at the pleasure
of the animal. The rim of it is sometimes plain, and some-
times cut into four, six, or eight equal segments ; and within
the orifice there is, in very many of them, a fringe formed of
one or two rows of delicate cilia, which I have observed, in
the Ascldia rustica, to be in constant and quick vibration

their Tood and Digestive Organs, 219

when the animal was left undisturbed. I presume them to be
organs of a very delicate irritability, perhaps of taste* ; and
that their purpose is to hinder the ingress of noxious matters,
not altogether mechanically, but because the sudden contrac-
tion of the oral aperture is a necessary sequence of their
unpleasant irritations.f This aperture leads directly into the
branchial sac, which, besides its office of a respiratory organ,
seems to perform in part that also of a stomach ; for that the
process of digestion commences there, seems obvious from the
fact, that numerous animalcules are generally found in it, but
are never to be detected in the viscera of the abdomen. At
the base of this sac there is another aperture (called by Cuvier
the mouth), which conducts us, through the medium of a
narrow membranous tube or oesophagus, into the proper sto-
mach : an organ always much smaller than the branchial sac,
very variable in point of situation and form, generally puckered
into longitudinal plaits internally, and sometimes studded with
some glandular bodies; but its minute structure cannot be
ascertained with any degree of accuracy. It contains, in
general, only a little liquid J ; while the intestinal canal, on
the contrary, is almost, in every instance, filled throughout
with a sufficiently consistent matter, sometimes grumous,
more often homogeneous, of a yellowish grey colour, and
rolled into little round or egg-shaped pellets, which it behoves
us not to mistake for the proper ova. This canal is usually
wide, and has a flexuous course ; at first descending in the
common sac, and then returning upon itself, it winds along
the anterior side of the branchial sac, to open outwardly by a
round aperture placed near the mouth, but distinguished by
its lesser prominence. In the ^Icy^nese, it is otherwise like
the mouth in form and structure ; but, in Ascidise, there is no
filamentous fringe at this orifice ; which is furnished, instead,
either with two valvular folds, or with a simple circular plait.
In many of the solitary Ascidiae, the stomach is enveloped
in a large liver §, which pours the bile directly into it through

* " The disposition of the alimentary canal determines, in a manner
perfectly absolute, the kind of food by which the animal is nourished; but
if the animal did not possess, in its senses and organs of motion, the means
of distinguishing the kinds of aliment suited to its nature, it is obvious it
could not exist." (Cuvier, Comp. Anat.y vol.i. p. 55. trans.)

f " II est garni d'une rangee de filamens charnus, ou de tentacules tres-
fins, qui servent sans doute a I'animal pour Pavertir des objets nuisables
qui pourroient se presenter et qu'il doit repousser." (Cuvier, Mem., xx.
p. 10.)

J From this circumstance Savigny infers that the more gross and indi-
gestible parts of the food are regurgitated, as they are in some nocturnal
birds of prey. (^Mem. sur les Animaiix sans Vert., vol.ii. p. 8.)

§ In Boltenia there is no liver. (Savigny's Mem., vol. ii. p. 88.)

220 Natural History of Molluscous Animals : —

several orifices ; and, in others, the parietes of the intestine
are also thickened by a gland ulous tissue, which probably
secretes some liquor essential to proper digestion : but there
is no liver in the social y^lcyoneae, or only some obscure traces
of it in a few species, as in Diazona violacea ; to the intestine
of which, a little underneath the pylorus, are appended some
little greenish tubes, simple, bifid, or trifid, which, Savigny
conjectures, may be hepatic. {Mem., vol. ii. p. 37.) There is
also an essential difference in the position of the viscera in the
two families : the Ascidiae have the abdominal viscera applied
entirely against one of the sides of the branchial sac, beyond
the base of which they do not project ; on the contrary, the
abdominal viscera of the ^Icyoneae are without and under the
sac from which they are dependent, and often separated by a
distinct pedicle, the terminal portion of the intestine being the
only part which is connected with the thorax. There are,
however, some intermediate species to show that this dis-
tinction is one of inconsiderable importance in their economy.
The Bivalved Mollusca present some material differences in
the structure of their alimentary canal. The mouth is always
separate from the branchial aperture, and leads only to the
proper stomach ; it is very wide, never cut into starlike seg-
ments, nor guarded interiorly with ciliary segments, but, on
the outside, is furnished with four compressed lobes, which
seem to perform the office of lips rather than of tentacula * ;
and serve, by their constant play, to force the nutrient fluids
into the mouth ; for these are not sucked in with the current,
but swallowed by the muscular efforts of the gullet. These
labial appendages are triangular in shape, and very variable
in size; they are scored, particularly on the inner surface, in
the manner of the branchiae, with which their connection is
often very intimate; and they are almost always very soft, and
directed backwards ; but, in the Niicula, they are rigid, and
pointed towards the mouth, simulating a sort of jaws. (Blain-
ville, Man., p. 121.) The anal aperture, unlike that of the
Tunicata, is situated on the side of the body opposite to the
mouth, and opens into a common excrementitious tube, the
external orifice of which is often surrounded with a fringe of
numerous short tubercles or fleshy filaments. The liver is
always present, and closely invests the stomach, into which
the bile is poured through several large pores; and, in the

* Cuvier expresses a different opinion. " Aux cotes de la bouche sont
quatre autres feuillets triangulaires, qui sont les extremites des deux levres,
et servent de tentacules." (Beg. Anim.^ vol. iii. p. 117.) [" At the sides of
the mouth are four triangular leaves, which form the extremities of the
two lips, and serve for tentacula."]

their- Food and Digestive Organs,

221

latter, we find a stylet or cylinder of firm gelatine lying loosely
detached, but of a size which seems more than equal to plug
up the passage. Of the use of this body, as well as of the
mode of its formation, Blainville acknowledges his total

Ignorance

To give you a clearer idea of the course of the alimentary
canal in this class of animals, I will copy, on a reduced scale,
Sir E. Home's figure of it, taken from the freshwater muscle.
(Ji^g, 37'), a is the mouth, into which a bristle

In this figure

o

has been introduced, b the stomach, after which you will ob-
serve that the intestine makes five turns in the foot amidst the
ovary, and then, as rectum, runs posteriorly along the back
of the animal beneath the hinge and above the respiratory
organs, passing through the midst of the heart at c, and open-
ing at d above the posterior muscle closing the shells, beneath
the small tube of the cloak. This description applies gene-
rally to most bivalves, but in the oyster the rectum does not
pass through the heart. (Cams, Comp. Anat., trans, vol. ii. p. 7.)
Our knowledge of the food of bivalves may be considered
as almost entirely conjectural. It seems, however, to have
been ascertained, that oysters feed upon infusory animalcules;
and, as it has been asserted, that while various species of these
are beneficial, others are actually injurious, it seems to follow
that oysters must be able to distinguish and reject the latter.
(Zool. Jou7'n., vol. i. p. 581.) Other bivalves are probably
nourished by similar animalcules ; for, when we reflect on
their apparently helpless and inert condition, hampered with
their shells, or even bound to the rock, we cannot but per-
ceive that they are all unfit for the capture of any other prey
than what floats about and within them. And how abun-
dantly is this furnished ! There are everywhere scattered on

222 Natural History of Molluscotis Atiimals : —

the bed of the wide ocean extensive beds of oysters, clams,
muscles, &c., containing millions of individuals, which are
hourly devouring, each of them, crowds of animalcules (em-
bracing in the terra the infusory, microscopic, crustaceous
and gelatinous medusae), which, from their vast numbers and
rapid reproduction, never fail them. At some seasons
of the year I have seen the waters of our shores literally
in a move with Entomostraca ; and I am fully satisfied
that, when Scoresby calculated a cubical mile to contain
23,888,000,000,000,000, he was not exaggerating the actual
fact. * In one family of bivalves furnished with a byssus, we
frequently find entangled amid its fibres, or concealed within
the valves, one or more small crabs (Pinnoteres), of which
the older naturalists, who never left an observation to stand,
like truth, all naked, but ever clothed it with some pretty
vestment, tell us a tale not to be passed over in this place,
and which I present you in the words of Dr. Philemon Hol-
land, the laborious translator of Pliny. " The Nacre, also
called Pinnae, is of the kind of shell fishes. It is alwaies
found and caught in muddie places, but never without a
companion, which they cal Pinnoter, or Pinnophylax. And
it is no other but a little shrimpe, or, in some places, the
smallest crab, which beareth the Nacre companie, and waites
vpon him for to get some victuals. The nature of the Nacre
is to gape wide, and sheweth vnto the little fishes her seelie
body, without any eie at all. They come leaping by & by
close vnto her; and seeing they haue good leaue, grow so
bardie & bold, as to skip into her shel and fill it ful. The

• " The number of medusae in the olive-green sea was found to be im-
mense. They were about one fourth of an inch asunder. In this propor-
tion, a cubic inch of water must contain 64; a cubic foot, 110,392; a
cubic fathom, 23,887,872; and a cubical mile about 23,888,000,000,000,000!
From soundings made in the situation where these animals were found, it
is probable the sea is upwards of a mile in depth ; but whether these sub-
stances occup3' the whole depth is uncertain. Provided, however, the
depth to which they extend be but 250 fathoms, the above unmense number
of one species may occur in a space of two miles square. It may give a
better conception of the amount of medusae in this extent, if we calculate
the length of time that would be requisite, with a certain number of persons,
for counting this number. Allowing that one person could count 1,000,000
in seven days, which is barely possible, it would have required that 80,000
persons should have started at the creation of the world, to complete the
enumeration at the present time! — What a stupendous idea this 4ct gives
of the immensity of creation, and of the bounty of Divine Providence, in
furnishing such a profusion of life in a region so remote from the habitations
of men ! But if the number of animals in a space of two miles square be
so great, what must be the amount requisite for the discoloration of the sea,
through an extent of perhaps 20,000 or 30,000 square miles ! " ( Scoresby's
Arctic RegionSy vol.i. p. 179.)

their Food and Digestive Organs.

223

38

i

shrimp lying in spiall, seeing this good time
& opportunitie, giueth token thereof to the
Nacre, secretly with a little pinch. She hath
no sooner this signall, but she shuts her
mouth, & whatsoever was within, crushes
& kills it presently; & then she deuides
the bootie with the little crab or shrimp,
her sentinell and companion. I maruell
therefore so much the more at them who
are of opinion, that fishes and beasts in
the water haue no sense." (Vol. i. p. 261.)
Of bivalves there are some which, as I
have told you, bore into wood and rocks ;
but I need scarcely guard you against en-
tertaining the supposition that they eat the
material on which they work, although
there are authors who have attributed to
them " a stone-eating power and appe-
tite." The Teredines, however, really eat
the wood destroyed by them ; for Mr. Hat-
chett proved the pulp in their intestine
to be vegetable sawdust ; but I agree with
Sir E. Home in thinking that the saw-
dust serves only as a substance in which
the real food procured from the sea is
entangled and prevented from escaping too
readily from the stomach. I will give you
Sir Everard's description of the digestive
organs {Jig. 38.) of these animals, which a
comparison will prove to be altogether
different from those of the more typical bi-
valved Mollusca {Jig. 31.). The oesophagus
{Jig. 38.* a) is now very short, and lies
on the left side of the neck : the canal
swells out, and becomes stomach (Z>), which,
in its external appearance, is a large bag,
extending the whole length of the cavity
of the abdomen, but, when laid open, it is
found to have a septum {c) dividing it

* This figure represents the course of the sto-
mach and intestines of T^eredo navalis, removed
from the body, a, The oesophagus ; b, the stomach ;
c, the septum, dividing it into two cavities ; d, the
aperture by which the two cavities of the stomach
communicate j e, the course of the intestine to its
termination. (Comp. Anat.y t. 80.)

224

Characteristics and Habits of a Testacellus

longitudinally into two equal portions, except at the lowest
part, where they communicate (rf), the septum being wanting.
The intestine has its origin close to the termination of the
oesophagus, is extremely small, dilates into a cavity containing
a hard white spherical body the size of a pin's head, and then
makes a turn upon itself. The course it follows is shown by
the letters e in the cut. (Home's Comp, A?iat., vol. i. p. 373.)

Art. IV. A Notification of the Occurrence^ in the Island of Guern-
sey, of a Species of Testacellus, and of some of its Characteristics
and HabitSi as observed there. By Frederick C. Lukis, Esq.

A SPECIES of Testacellus is rather abundant in certain lo-
calities in this island (Guernsey); and I send drawings of it
{fg, 39.) for comparison with the characteristics of T. scutu-

lum Sowerbi/, as exhibited in the individuals of that species
found, as stated in VI. 43. to 46., at Stamford Hill, Lambeth,
Kensington, Bayswater, and on the side of the road from
London to Hampstead; and with the characteristics of T.
Mauge/, as figured in VI. 45. I avoid, purposely, applying
a specific name to the species which occurs here, because 1
have never been able to ascertain, correctly* the distinctive
differences of the few species which have been published ;
namely, T. haliotideus \_Faure Biguef], sciitulum Sowerbi/,
Mauge/ Ferussac, and ambiguus FerussaCi with corneus and
costatus of M. de Roissy. Besides, therefore, the identifica-
tion of the species represented in my drawing, information
on the differential characteristics of any of the species will be
very acceptable.

I had hoped that the late Mr. Miller of Bristol would have
made some enquiries about the species which occurs here ; for

*w7iich occurs in the Island of Gtiernsey. 225

a friend of his promised, several years ago, to inform him of
its inhabiting this island. In 1827, a gentleman of the
Island of Jersey kindly furnished me with a shell, said to have
been found in the neighbourhood of Bristol : it bore, when
sent to me, a label inscribed " Bulla haliotidea." On my
examining this shell, I found it to be that of a Testacellus ;
and, as I had not seen the T. haliotideus, which is a native of
France and Spain, I imagined that some error had crept in,
and that the specimen had been received from the Continent.

As far back as 1801, the Testacellus which is represented
in my drawing (Jig, 39.) was known to me, as it was then
plentiful in my own garden ; since which period it has disap-
peared from it ; but, at the end of the valley near which my
garden is situate, the ground is plentifully supplied with indi-
viduals of it.

[Characteristics and Habits,'] The colour of the animal {a)
is, generally, a sickly yellow spotted with brownish specks,
mixed with pale orange along the lower parts. The figure,
in VI. 45., of T. Mauge? [repeated here {Jig, 40. c, d)] has

the lateral furrow
^^ ^^^^ passing under the

side of the caudal
shell [erroneous-
ly: seeinp.229.].
In the animal
here, the furrow,
as is shown in my
figure (39. &, c),
commences near
the top or ante-
rior edge of the shell, by a double nearly united line, which
diverges in a sort of erratic direction on both sides of the ani-
mal, dividing the sides into imequal portions, until it terminates
near the head. This line is better seen when the animal is
extended, as are also the granulations or shagreen which are
spread over the skin. It will be observed that I have shown
six, instead of four, tentacula [our engraver has omitted the
sixth]. The fact is, that the animal can, at its pleasure,
expand and convert the corners of the lip into a subsidiary
retractile pair, in place immediately beneath the anterior pair,
to which they are equal in dimensions and similar in appear-
ance. This fact may account for the difference of opinion
which has obtained on the number of these organs.

The eggs are perfectly oval, hard, and opaque ; when fresh,
white and covered with a clear viscous juice ; when older,
they assume a deeper tinge, much like that of the egg of our
Vol. VII. — No. 39. q

226 Some of the Habits of

game fowl, or that of the eggs of some fowls of the Bantam
breed. They are not elastic, but have, like the eggs of the
common fowl, a regular shell of lime, which effervesces
strongly in acids. These eggs, if taken from the ground,
and cleaned and brought into the warmer atmosphere of a
room, will, in a few minutes, burst with a loud crack, and
disperse their shell and contents to a considerable distance.
Whilst I have been writing these remarks, one of the Testa-
celli before me has, in the space of twenty minutes, laid two
eggs (fg. 39. d), I sketch the animal as it presented itself
while engaged in the operation, during which the head and
tentacula were drawn in, to the degree shown in c.

The mildness of the climate of Guernsey during the winter
is, doubtless, the cause of the Testacellus being to be found at
this period of the year. I should, however, state that those
which I found in 1801 were, as in the cases remarked in VI.
43. and 45., usually in the neighbourhood of a green-house.

Guernsey, Jan, 18. 1833.

[Of Testacellus scutulum Sowerby, Mr.Thomas Blair, Stam-
ford Hill (VI. 43.)j obligingly sent me, on March 21. 1834,
a supply of specimens ; nine living individuals, one dead
one, and five eggs. These I carefully compared with the
characteristics of the Guernsey Testacellus, as noted in Mr.
Lukis's description, and shown in his admirable drawing. I
could not perceive any mentionable difference between them,
except that in the Stamford Hill animals the lateral furrow
was less obvious, though still perceptible, than Mr. Lukis's
drawing represents it to be in the Guernsey ones. I placed
one of the eggs close beside the fire : it exploded, just as Mr.
Lukis's had done. Most, or each, of the slugs themselves,
exhibited, as it were, three pairs of tentacula, but I think that
the pair produced by the protrusion of the corners of the lip
were scarcely so long as the pair above them.

On holding one or more of the slugs by the body, between
my finger and thumb, I felt and saw my flesh struck with
some white organ projected from the mouth of the slug.
This, and a recollection of the worm-eating (vermivorous)
habits of this species, instigated me to capture a smallish
earthworm, and place it against the mouth of first one slug,
then another. One endeavoured to take it, and its first
act in the effort was darting out the organ I have mentioned,
affixing it to the worm, and drawing the worm into its mouth.
The worm, by its writhing, twisted itself out again, and this
more than once, during the (about six) times which I, in the

Testacellus sciitulum Sowerby. 227

course of about a quarter of an hour, excited the slug to pro-
ject the peculiar organ noted. By observing this organ as
accurately as I could during the slug's brief exposures of it,
and by cutting open the one dead slug, I satisfied myself, in a
good degree, that this organ is white, horny, of the figure of
the longitudinal half of a hollow cone, with the hollow up-
Avards (so as to resemble a deep spoon), and that the slug,
when informed of a worm's presence by the contact of its own
head with a worm's body, projects this organ under the worm,
to the flesh of which it adheres by a tenacious viscum, and
perhaps, also, as the organ is hollow, by the aid of suction.
It is projected and applied in an instant, and when applied,
the action of a muscular structure, connected with its origin,
draws it, and with it the worm, into the slug's mouth. The
skin and parts of the head of the slug are then gradually
turned in, as one would turn in the finger of a glove, or in
the manner shown in Mr. Lukis's figure {Jig, 39. c), Mr. Blair
informs us, in VI. 43., that the T. scutulum swallows worms
(and occasionally a small slug) whole, and the introversive
process mentioned (although the testacellus may not be able
to employ introversively any very considerable portion of the
upper part of its body) must avail it in swallowing worms
which it happens to catch by either extremity. Mr. Blair has,
however, seen (VI. 43.) " one firmly fixed to the middle of a
large worm, the head of the slug being so buried in it that it
appeared to be nearly cut in two." In the worm that had, as
I have observed above, twisted itself out of the slug's mouth,
I noticed, after it had twisted itself out, a piece of its flesh
absent close beside the tip of the front extremity, and blood
apparent there; and this, as I had not observed any defect in
the worm when I applied it to the slug, I take to have been
bitten out by the slug. This assumed fact, that quoted before
it from Mr. Blair, and the likelihood that it is impracticable
for the testacellus, whose body is somewhat slender, to swal-
low a large worm doubled, suggest that, although this slug
may usually swallow earthworms, &c., whole, it occasionally,
also, partakes of the earthworms piecemeal.

Mr. Blair thinks (VI. 44.) that the Testacellus usually gets
hold of the worms underground. However this may be, the
animal seems to insinuate its head and neck easily, and not
very slowly, into loose broken soil ; and the slender attenuated
form of the body, when extended, is not unfavourable to
Mr. Blair's idea ; and as the orifice, in the Testacellus, for the
admission of air, is at the posterior extremity, just under
the outward edge of the shell, protected, as it were, by the
eaves of the shell, fancy may imagine the shell designed to

Q 2

228

Characteristics and Habits of Testacdlus

keep the orifice clear of soil, while the animal progresses
through this pulverulent material. [I have since seen that
M. de Ferussac has expressed, and more positively, both
these ideas ; and Mr. G. 13. Sowerby, also, that on the remark-
able power of extension and attenuation of body given to the
Testacelli. Fig.4<\. h shows their great power of contraction.]

Mr. Blair's remarks, in VI. 43., intimate that the Testa-
cellus does not hibernate ; Mr. Lukis's facts, above, teach
the same thing; and a couple of facts known to me point to
the same conclusion. The Testacelli (of the species T. scutu-
lum, at least) seem to be, with regard to hybernation, in
precisely the condition of the naked slugs, whose case has
been so accurately described by G. J. in p. 116, 117. The
fact told of a T. scutulum, in VI. 44., from Mr. J. Sowerby,
jun.* ; and that related above by Mr. Lukis, of a Testacellus
laying its eggs after being twenty minutes in a warm room,
suggest that the Testacelli are, indeed, especially sensitive of
variations in temperature.

Since the above remarks were w^ritten, we have striven to
meet Mr. Lukis's wish for a statement of the diagnostics of
the species of Testacellus. Mr. J. D. C. Sowerby has, in
relation to this object, supplied the following figures (j^.^l.) ;

J S h i

and we have transcribed, with his permission, from his copy
of Baron de Ferussac's Histoire Naturelle Generate et Parti-
culiere des Mollusques Terrestres Fluviatiles, the diagnostics
there given of T. haliotideus, Mauge?, and ambiguus; and
from Mr. G. B. Sowerby's Genera of Recent and Fossil Shells,
the one there given for T. scutulum, which is a species that
was unknown to Ferussac at the time that he published those
here quoted from him.

T. haliotideus Faure Biguet. Animal : Flavidum, rufum, vel griseum, ma-
CLilatum aut immaculatum ; tentaculis cylindricis. Testa : Ovata postice
acuminata, cornea, crassa, extus rugosa, intus nitida; clavicuia [inner
lip G. B. Sowerby] alba lata et plana.

♦ Since removed from among us by death. This most amiable and most
promising young man died of a tubercular consumption, on February 7.
1834, aged 18 years. His loss to us all, and to science, is feelingly regretted
by every one whom his uncommon modesty allowed to know him.

haliotideus, scutulum^ Maugeiy and amhiguiis, 229

[a pallide lutescens, iramaculatum Fer. Hist vol. i. p. 94. t. viii. fig. 5.
to 9.]

[It is this last condition of the species which is figured by Ferussac,
whose figures are copied in our Jig, 41. «, A, c : a, seen from behind ; b, as
seen when contracted ; c, the shell, as seen on the inside. In Sowerby's
Gen.y No. i., two views of the shell of this species are given, to contrast
with those of T. scutulum and Maugei, there also exhibited. " T. halio-
tldeus is not uncommon in France." (G. B. Sowerb^y in Gen.) It is
a native of France and Spain. (Mr.Lukis, in p. 225.)]

T. scutulum G. B. Sowerby. Testa ovata, antice paulum acuminata, extus
plana, clavicula arcuata, elevata. The animal bears a near resemblance
to that of T. haliotideus, not having the double row of tubercles running
from the head to the anterior part of the shell, so conspicuous in T.
Maugei. G. B. Sowerby, in Gen.y No. i., fig. 3, 4, 5, 6. [Of these figures
of T. scutulum, derived from an animal or animals taken in the neigh-
bourhood of London, fig. 3. represents a front view of the animal ;
fig. 4., a view of the same animal when extended; fig. 3. (copied in our
Jig. 41. e)y an outside view of the shell magnified; fig. 6. (copied in our
Jig. 41. d)y an inside view of the shell magnified. If the Guernsey Testa-
cellus i^Jig' 39.) be, as I have, in p. 226., conjectured it to be, of the
species T. scutulum, then j%. 39. farther exhibits the animal, the shell, and
the eggs of this species, and all of the natural size ; and Guernsey may be
added to the habitats of this species already noted in p. 224.]

T. Maugei Ferussac. Animal: Rufescens; maculis brunneis sparsis or-
natis; tentaculis filiformibus; ora corporis aurantia. Testa: Ovato-
elongata, fulva, exilis, striatula ; spira elevata ; clavicula angusta. Fer.
Hist, vol.i. p. 94. t.viii. fig. 10. 12., Sowerby Gen. No. i. fig. 7. to 10.]

[The synonymes exhibited by Ferussac, under T. haliotideus and
T. Maugei, teach that these two species had been more than once con-
founded. Our^g. 40. Cy (repeated in VI. 45., and VII. 225., from
the Encyc. of Agriculture y ed. 2. § 7706.), is wholly erroneous, as com-
pared with Ferussac's figures, in the matter of the part of the animal in
which the lateral furrow is commenced. In Ferussac's figures, the
furrow is represented as commenced in this species (T. Maugei) just in
front of the shell, and as carried thence to each of the two sides of the
animal's body. Fig. 40. c? is a view of the shell of this species, taken
(as well as that of the animal c, though this too inaccurately) from an
individual derived from Bristol; oxxdjig. ^\.f,g are views of the shell
copied from Ferussac's figure. " T. Maugei is a native of Teneriffe ;
but [is] naturalised in a garden at Bristol." — G. B. Sowerby y in Gen.]

T. ambiguus Ferussac, Animal [unknown]. Testa : Depressiuscula, fra-
gilis, subtiliter striata ; pallide viridis ; spira indistincta ; apice occultata ;
apertura amplissima, simplici.

[Ferussac has (in ^i^^. vol.i. p. 95. t.viii.) given two views of the
shell, which are copied in ouvjig. 41. A, i. " We cannot consider De
Ferussac's ambiguus as a species, inasmuch as it has every appearance
of being an internal shell [of some species of the family of slugs]." — .
G. B. Sowerby y in Genera, under T. scutulum.]

Ferussac has consigned eight folio pages, and twelve figures
besides, to the elucidation of the three species quoted from
him : but the greater portion of the descriptive matter is an
exposition, in a generic manner, of the anatomy, faculties,
habits, and manners of the Testacelli; that is, of the two
species (haliotideus and Mauge/), with the animals of which
he is acquainted. He has, besides, in another part of his

Q 3

230 Illustrations in British Zoology : —

work, namely, in his " Observations Generales sur l*Organis-
ation et les Facultes des Pulmones sans Opercule," in generalis-
ing on the conditions of the tentacula in various genera, spoken
and analogised on the tentacular function of the lips in the
genus Testacellus. It is hence apparent that a rich store
of facts and observations is already on record on these in-
teresting animals ; and, had we been earlier aware of this, we
could scarcely have resisted quoting several of the more
instructive of them. As it is, we can only thus refer to
them *, and express our sincere regret that Ferussac's ex-
cellent work is so rare in Britain ; or, at least, in London.
See V. 192.] — J. D.

Art. V. Illustrations in British Zoology. By George John-
ston, M.D., Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edin-
burgh.

19. Lyco^ri5 margarita'cea. (^g. 42.)

The body of this worm is from 4 in. to 6 in. long, con-
tractile, semicylindrical, of the thickness of a large quill, and
tapered towards the tail : it is of a brown colour, more or less
deeply tinted with metallic green, particularly near the head
and on the anterior margins or sides of the segments, and, in
certain lights, is finely iridescent. A red vessel runs down
the middle of the back, giving off to each foot a small branch,
which is again slightly ramified ; and a similar vessel may be
traced along the flat ventral surface, which is marked with a
central furrow, and stained in some degree with the opaque
internal viscera. The head is square, with four small eyes ;
two placed on each side at the base of a conical projection, on

♦ We must just notice the following : — M. de Ferussac, in his ** Ob-
servations Generales sur T Organisation et les Facultes des Pulmones sans
Opercule," in speaking of the means given to various animals of this class
for defending themselves from the heating and drying effects of the solar
rays, mentions a manteau particulier which is given to the Testacelli. This,
in his generic character of the Testacelli, is thus described : — ** Manteau :
simple, gelatineux, contractile, cache habituellement sous le test, divise en
plusieurs lobes susceptibles d'envelopper tout le corps par un developpe-
ment extraordinaire, lorsque I'animal eprouve le besoin de se garantir de
la secheresse." Mr. J. D. C. Sowerby has seen one or more animals enve-
loped in this " manteau : " the body is then in its most contracted state.
In the dead testacellus, of which we have spoken above, we perceived
a starlike scar at a little distance from the front extremity of the body,
which we avoided mentioning, for fear of being found in some error. On
the organs of generation, however, Ferussac has remarked, " Reunis ;
orifice en arriere du grand tentacule droit : '* and this remark, and the
subsequent inspection of a preserved specimen at Mr. J. D. C. Sowerby's,
assure us that the scar we had seen was this orifice.

Lj/cbris margarildcea.
42

231

o, L. margariUicea, natural size; 6, the head, magnified ; c, a view of the proboscis from below ;<
dy the feet, with the filaments and bristles. ;

which are articulated two longish papillae : and beneath these,'
and exterior to them, there are two much larger papillary!
processes, terminated with a small knob-like point, which is
entirely retractile within the lower portion. On each side of
the head, originating from a common swollen base, there are
four setaceous tentacula of unequal lengths. The moiith is
somewhat inferior, wide and terminal, furnished with, a short
thick proboscis, divided into two portions by a circular fold,
and capable of being extruded at pleasure : its point is armed
with two curved serrated horny mandibles ; and around these
there are placed, on as many swellings, six distinct patches of
small black horny prickles, the side patches larger than the
others ; two still smaller patches, on mammillary swellings, are
situated just under the projecting lobe of the head ; while, at
the very base of the proboscis, we find a band of similar
prickles, some larger than others, arranged in several irre-
gular series. The whole surface of the proboscis is marked
with pale longitudinal lines (muscles?), frequently anasto-
mosing. The segment immediately behind the head is footless,
and scored with faint whitish lines, or sometimes spotted ; and
oblique lines of the same kind may be seen, with a magnifier,
on the sides of the other segments. These are very numerous,
shorter than their breadth, smooth, and furnished with papil-
lary feet, filaments, and setae. The feet of the first two
segments consist of only two fleshy papillse, but all the rest
have three arranged transversely : the papillae are short,
obtuse, and equal ; and, at the base of the superior one, as
well as under the inferior one, there is a tentacular non-
retractile filament; while a small brush of setae issues from the
inner side, and near the root of each. These brushes are
made up of a single strong black bristle and a considerable
number of slender straight hairs, and can be pushed out or
withdrawn at will. The tail is terminated with two short
filaments.

Q 4

232 Illustrations in British Zoology : —

Lyc6ri5 margaritacea is common in our bay, where it
lurks under stones, between tide-marks. It is evidently car-
nivorous ; and, between the mandibles of the specimen which
served for our figure, a small Gammarus was found in a fatal
grasp. Fresh water is an instant poison to it.

I have been induced to select this worm for illustration in
preference to many others, since it gives me an opportunity
of correcting several errors which I have committed when
describing the same species in the fourth volume of the
Zoological Journal, It is there stated that I had not observed
the proboscis to be divided into two joints, which, however,
is the case ; and the patches of prickles round the base of the
mandibles are described as being four instead of six in num-
ber. I have there also constituted a species under the name
of Lyc6ri5 vlridis, which, a longer acquaintance with this
family satisfies me, is merely a variety of the present, of a
deeper and more uniform green than usual ; for the character
on which I mainly rested the distinction between them
(namely, the first segment being striated longitudinally in
one, and spotted in the other) is, as I now find, one of no
value. To acknowledge errors of this kind is a paramount
duty *, although it may prove him who commits them to be
one of little tact and experience.

The following synonymes are, I think, referable to this
species : —

N^ei* caerulea, Pen. Brit. Zool. vol. iv. p. 93. t.27. fig. sup., Turt. Lin.
vol. iv. p. 88., Turt. Brit. Faun. p. 135,, Stew. Elem. vol.i. p. 390., Bosc
Vers, vol. i. p. 170. Nerei* margaritacea, Leach in Supp. Encyc. Brit,
vol. i. p. 451 . t. 26. Lycori* margaritacea, Lamarck Anim. s. Vert. vol. v.
p. 312., Johnston in Zool. Journ. vol. iv. p. 420. [and now in Mag. Nat.
Hist. vol. vii. p. 233.], Stark, Elem. vol. ii. p. 139. L. viridis, Johnston
in Zool. Journ. vol. iv. p. 419.

Berwick, Dec. 4. 1833.

* Entertaining this opinion, I could have wished that the correction of
one or two similar, but more gross, errors of mine had been made, long
before this time, in the same journal in which they originally appeared ;
and as it is now apparently discontinued, I may here be permitted to state
that the Galba marina of Zoo/. Journ.y vol. iii. p. 321., is the larva of a dip-
terous fly, whose ova are frequently deposited and hatched amidst the
roots of sea-weed that has been cast ashore ; as Mr. MacLeay proved, in an
unpublished letter to the editor of the journal just referred to^ very shortly
after the publication of the error.

Mr. MacLeay is of opinion that my Campontia eruciformis (Zool. Jotcm.,
vol. iii. p. 325.) is a similar larva; but I am still unsatisfied on this point,
for I find it at all seasons at the roots of Confervas in pure sea water.

Z/umbricus pellucidus (Zool. Journ., vol. iii. p. 327.) is a larva, as I long
ago stated.

Palmyra ocellata (Zool. Journ., vol. iii. p. 329.^ is a young individual of
the Polynoe imbricata, accidentally deprived of its dorsal scales.

jE^gSL mo7iqphihdlma.

233

20. iE^G^ monophtiia'lma. (^gAS.)
CI. Crustacea, Ord. Isopoda, Fam. Cymothdades.

43

Description, — Body oval ; pale brown, approaching to
flesh-red, and, when alive, tinged with purple ; dotted all over
with numerous punctures. Antennae, white, setaceous: the
superior very short, with the two basilar joints much dilated,
and forming a broad, movable, coloured plate before the eyes ;
the third joint small and cylindrical ; the ultimate one, multi-
articulate : inferior antennae more than twice the length of the
superior, the three basilar joints short, unequal ; the fourth,
longer and cylindrical ; the ultimate longer than the whole,
and multiarticulate : the bases of the antennae approximate,
but do not meet; and the superior just reach to the origin of
the last joint of the inferior. Head small, almost entirely
occupied by the large oblong eyes, which meet, and, as it
were, coalesce in front : eyes reticulated, compound, dark
brown, anterior and marginal, extending obliquely backwards,
occupying all the cranial segment except a small point pro-
jecting between the bases of the antennae, and a small tri-
angular space behind. Underneath and between the inferior
antennae there is an oblong concave small plate ; below which

2S4« ^^g^ monophthdlma,

the mouth is situated, armed with a pair of jaws, and fur-
nished with two filiform palpi, one on each side, quadriar-
ticulate ; the last joint unguiculate. Segments of the body
seven, subequal, marked with a faint line across the middle,
the margin pale; segments of the tail six, the first five
narrow, equal, transverse ; the terminal one broad, oblong,
roughish, depressed, with a strong keel down the centre,
ending in a short point or mucro : the margins of these seg-
ments are minutely spinous. On each side of the segments
of the body there is a strong movable process, pointed pos-
teriorly, and with two slight ridges down the middle : these
processes or coxae cover and serve for the insertion of the
legs, of which there are seven pairs. Legs white; the first
three pairs unlike the others, and directed forwards ; the
thigh thick, elongate, with a circular curved head moving in
an acetabulum; the tibia short, and smaller; the tarsus
3-jointed, with a strong curved claw : thigh of the posterior
pairs elongate, thickish ; the four succeeding joints much
more slender, almost equal, spinous, and terminated with a
curved claw. The legs are all punctured in the manner of
the body ; but the ventral surface of the segments is smooth.
Each caudal segment is furnished on each side with a pair of
broad oval membranous plates, ciliated on the margins, and
articulated, by twos, to a compressed stalk ; and there is, on
each side of the last segment, an additional pair of foliaceous
plates jointed to a movable, acutely-pointed, somewhat trian-
gular process. Of these plates, the inner is wedge-shaped,
the other oblong; and both are densely ciliated round the
edge.

This description is taken from the larger specimen figured
(flr, dorsal aspect; b, ventral aspect) ; the smaller one {c) differs
in having the two inferior joints of the superior antennae not
disproportionately enlarged ; and the large segment of the
tail is emarginate, truncate, with a shallow furrow down the
centre, and two obtuse raised keels at its sides. In other
respects, I perceive no difference. The figures are of the
natural size.

JE'ga monophthalma swims with rapidity by the aid of its
caudal fins ; and, when it comes in contact with a solid body,
it claps against it, and adheres tenaciously. Our specimens
were taken adhering to large codfish, of which, it is pro-
bable, they are the " pedicular " parasites ; but, unlike some
of their race, they seem to be very rare, at least in our bay,
for I could only procure three specimens ; and our fishermen
had never observed them before.

Structure afid Economic of the Annulate Animals. 235

I have described this as a new species, the more confidently
that I have the authority of my friend Mr. J. E. Gray for
doing so. In general form and size it resembles ^^g« emar-
ginata ; but very obviously differs from that species by the
remarkable proximity of the eyes, which, in the emarginata,
are separated by a considerable interval. The smaller spe-
cimen seems to possess the specific characters of the ^^ga
bicarinata of Leach ; and I should mention that this specimen
had not been seen by Mr. Gray when he gave me his opi-
nion : but Dr. Leach would scarcely have left the peculiarity
in the position of the eyes without some notice, had his species
exhibited it. If I am right in deciding that it is of the same
species as the larger individual, and probably the male of it
(and, surely, the differences are not sufficient to warrant a
belief that they are distinct species), then it would seem to
follow, first, that the great dilatation of the basilar joints of
the antennae is a sexual character, or one dependent on age,
and of insufficient value, therefore, to be ranked among cha-
racters which are seized upon to divide tribes or families
from each other ; and, secondly, that the conformation of the
extreme caudal segment is not sufficient to discriminate spe-
cies, as Dr. Leach seems to have believed, for his specific
characters embrace no other part.

Berwick upon Tweed, Jan, 20. 1834.

Art. VI. On the Structure of the Annulate Animals, and its Re-
lation to their Economy, [Continued from p. 125.] By CI.

There is nothing more unaccountable than the tenacity with
which we cling to old opinions, simply because they are old ;
nor than the pompous and solemn gravity with which we tell
the most palpable and absurd untruths, simply because our
forefathers told them. Wherefore can this be ? The pro-
blem we will, however, leave, for solution, to the meta-
physicians. One of these established fallacies has descended,
with all its pomp, from the time of Aristotle to within a few
years of the present day ; namely, that insects are without
blood. When, however, the great discovery of the cir-
culation of blood in the higher animals was made, insects
were designated as being without a circulating blood. This
distinction was considered perfect, until one or two enquiring
minds, wishing to ascertain why this difference should exist,
examined for themselves, and found it did not exist.

The circulation of blood in annulates appears to have been
generally doubted in this country, until Mr. Bowerbank, one

236 Relations of the Structure of

of our most successful microscopists, published, in the Ento-
mological Magazine [vol. i. p. 239.1 ^ minute and most inter-
esting account of it as observed by him in the larva of
an jEphemera. Mr. Bowerbank's observations corresponded
very closely with those of Professor Carus, a Continental
naturalist, who had published his discoveries a short time
previously, but whose descriptions Mr. Bowerbank had never
perused.

The circulation in annulates is not, as it is in vertebrates,
entirely confined to limited and well-defined vessels ; neither
is there any heart for the reception and expulsion of the
blood ; but there is a large wide channel, extending the whole
length of the animal, through which the blood is constantly
rushing upwards from the posterior towards the anterior ex-
tremity. This current is kept in motion by the alternate
opening and closing of double valves, distributed at regular
intervals throughout its extent : this operation causing a mo-
tion, as each portion is afresh impelled upwards, which is
precisely equivalent to the pulsations of a heart. The valves
open upwards only, and between them, on both sides, are
other valves in the great channel, which as regularly open
inwards to admit fresh supplies of blood from the lateral
portions of the body. On each side of the animal there is a
downward current, confined to no distinct or ascertainable
channel, but permeating indifferently all parts in the neigh-
bourhood of its progress : portions, however, part off from
the main current at intervals, and flow through the side
valves of the central channel already described. The pulsa-
tions in this downward current are more faint, and its pro-
gress is somewhat more slow, than that in the upward central
current. On the opening of a side valve, the blood may be
seen rushing towards it from every part in the neighbourhood,
as though it were in a state of freedom among the transparent
and muscular parts, and not limited to any vessel. No blood
ever leaves the main channel, but through the aperture at the
anterior extremity, where it turns inwards towards the oeso-
phagus, and cannot be traced, by the microscope, any farther.
In the antennae, legs, and nervures of the wings a similar
double current is observable. Such is the usual circulation
of blood in an insect.

In the lobster, and other large marine annulates, a some-
what more perfect system is observable ; that is, the limits
of all the vessels are perfectly well defined, and may be
ascertained and figured with confidence and even ease. In
these, there is a manifest approach to the circulation of
fishes, which possess it in the most simple state of all the

Annulate Animals to their Economy, 237

vertebrates. The marine annulates farther resemble fishes
in breathing by gills ; a most beautiful and wonderful con-
trivance, which enables them to extract from water a suf-
ficient quantity of air to aerate the blood, and thus pre-
cludes the necessity, so obviously attendant on all other
modes of respiration, namely, a constantly repeated ascent to
the surface for fresh supplies of atmospheric air. In these
animals, consequently, the blood must ascend to the gills, in
order to be brought into contact with the air so produced ;
but in the hexapod or true insects, which constitute by far
the greater portion of the annulate kingdom, the respiration
and aeration of the blood are managed on an entirely different
principle.

The circulation of blood in hexapod insects we have
already examined ; let us now turn to the circulation of air.
This is not confined to a single region, as the gills in fishes,
or the lungs in man ; but seems to be almost universal : it
consists of an infinity of tubes ramifying through the body in
every direction, from one end to the other. These air-tubes,
termed tracheae, have generally nine nearly equidistant ex-
ternal openings, termed spiracula, on each side of an insect.
From each spiraculum a main trachea seems to enter the
body, and immediately divides into two, three, four, or five
minor tubes, one of which usually unites with the next spira-
culum ; thus forming a principal trachea, which extends the
whole length of the body, on each side of the great dorsal
channel for the blood already spoken of. From the main
spiracular tracheae minor transverse tracheae frequently arise,
and, passing above and below the great dorsal channel, unite
with similar minor tracheae, twigging off from the opposite
side ; and thus the whole system of tubes becomes connected,
and acts by a common impulse.

To a casual observer, it may seem, perhaps, somewhat
strange that a system of respiratory organs so apparently
complicated should have been given to a race of beings which
we consider of so very little importance in the universe : but
an examination, however cursory, will show that here, as in
every other of the Almighty's works, there is nothing super-
fluous ; that there has been no labour in vain.

Respiration and circulation are so intimately connected,
that the operation of each depends on the operation of the
other. Now, in insects the blood is cold ; and for this excel-
lent reason, that, in so small a bulk as that of an insect's body,
so large a portion of the blood is exposed to the air, that a
heat superior to that of the atmosphere could not be main-
tained. This being the case, circulation of the simplest pos-

238 Structiire and Economy of the Anmilate Antmals,

sible kind was all that was required, and is all that has
been given. It is well known that the blood of animals, when
deprived of all communion with atmospheric air, stays in its
course, and ceases to perform its functions. Now, by the
simple system of circulation above described, it is evident that
the blood could not be brought, with any regularity, to one
particular spot, there to communicate with and receive air
sufficient to renew and maintain its vital power. It becomes,
therefore, a matter of necessity, that, as the blood does not
go to the air to receive revivification, the air must be intro-
duced to the blood for effecting that purpose. The most
simple, the most direct, way of accomplishing this was by
piercing the sides of the animal at regular intervals through-
out its length, and inserting tubes through which the atmo-
spheric air should pass with perfect freedom into the system,
and mingle with the blood in any quantity that nature might
demand. This is the very plan that we find has been adopted.

To this, the breathing of the marine annulates, already
noticed, may be cited as an exception ; it may be said that
their blood is cold, and yet they breathe by gills. This is
true ; but it is also true that their residence in the depths of
the ocean precludes the possibility of their using spiracula ;
we therefore find the system of their circulation raised, to
cooperate with their improved respiration. It was quite
needless that their blood should, farther, be warmed; for we
find that even in fishes the blood is perfectly cold, for the
same reason as in insects, because their bodies are (when
young) too small to resist the temperature of the surrounding
medium.

There are numerous aquatic annulates which belong to the
hexapod or true insects, which are provided with a system of
respiratory organs precisely similar to that of the terrestrial
insects ; these have the power of enveloping, with a bladder
of atmospheric air, those parts of the body in which their
spiracles are situated ; thus not only protecting the spiracles
from receiving any injury from the ingress of the water, but
keeping up the necessary supply of air to the blood. The
bladder of air is renewable at pleasure by rising to the sur-
face, *

( To be continued.)

* Do not the sacs, within which trachean ^rachnides have been found pa-
rasitic upon the aquatic i>ytlscus marginalis (see p. 161.) serve the same
purpose as this " bladder of atmospheric air" serves to the aquatic hexapod
insects ? and, farther, all the cysts, with which a variety of animals pa-
rasitic upon aquatic animals are found covered ? See VI. 94., for a notice
of some parasites found encysted. — J.D.

Qimntity of Rain dicn?ig the last Ten Winter's. 239

Art. VII. A Statement of the Quantity of Rain xvhich has Jallen
at High Wycombe, Bucks, during the last Ten Winters, with
Remarks. By James G. Tatem, Esq.

The table beneath shows the quantity of rain which has
fallen in this place, in the months November, December,
and January, during the last ten winters. It may serve to
correct the general impression, that more rain fell during last
winter, than had fallen in any winter of several preceding years.

Years.

Number
of days

«TS°'

Thermometer.

Number of days in
which the wind

decimals.

Maximum.

Day.

Minimum.

Day.

Mean.

Eastwrd.

Westwrd.

1824-25

50

9-12495

55-50

Nov. 18.

24-

Dec. 5.

39-63666

12

80

1825-26

54

8-6825

55-50

Nov. 1.

9-50

Jan. 1.

35-67333

35

57

1826-27

50

6-45625

52-

Nov. 11

12-50

Jan. 3.

36-82959

30

62

1827-28

55

11-435

56-

Nov. 13.

15-50

Nov. 22.

40-10819

32

60

1828-29

44

4-9675

55-15

Nov. 28.

8-75

Jan. 24.

34-98127

48

44

1829-30

31

4-495

53-15

Nov. 12.

4- iJan. 18

32-17486

43

49

1830-31

48

7-42875

56-15

Nov. 1.

9-75 Dec. 24.

35-53344

50

42

1831-^2

44

7-445

56-

Nov. 22

20-50 Nov. 28.

37-60604

30

62

1832-33

40

7-40625

56-50

Nov. 2.

21-50 Jan. 21.

37-58872

45

47

1833-34

m

10-925

58-

Nov. 1.

24-50 (Nov. 2.5.

41-87835

20

72

From this table it appears, that, in the winter embracing
1827-28, rain fell to the amount of 11*435 in. ; while, in the
winter which is just closed, only 10*925 in. of rain have
fallen : giving an excess of upwards of half an inch to the
former period. The great difference has been, that rain has
fallen more frequently in the last winter (namely, on 63 days) ;
while, in that of 1827-28, rain fell only on 55 days: and to
this circumstance may be attributed the prevalent opinion.

That great humidity of atmosphere is constantly attended
by a high degree of temperature, is well known to every
meteorologist; but the mildness of the last three months,
or brumal quarter, was most extraordinary. In the brumal
quarter of 1827-28, the mean temperature was 40*10819°,
which was very much above the average ; and the extremes
were 56° and 15*50°. In the recent one, the extremes were
58° and 24° ; and the mean 41*87835° : the extremes occurred
in November in both instances. Out of 92 days comprising
the quarter lately expired, the wind blew from the westward
on 72 days ; but, in the brumal quarter of 1827-28, only on 60.

It is curious to observe, that the greatest quantity of rain
fell when the extreme of cold was experienced in the month
of November ; and it is only by the record of observations
like these, that the meteorologist can hope to promote a science
(of the greatest importance to mankind) as yet in its infancy ;
and possessing but few of the charms which captivate and
allure the student in other sciences, cheer him in his course,
and reward his toils.

240 Short Communications: —

Art. VIII. Short Communications.

The Fox and the Dog have been known to feed upon Fish. —
That foxes feed on fish is, I believe, a fact hitherto unknown
to naturalists ; at least, speaking for myself, during a life of
many years devoted to the study of natural history, I have
never heard of it. That it was not impossible, however, I
should never have doubted, from a curious corroboration of
its possibility, which happened more than once under my own
observation. I occasionally took out with me in a boat, when
fishing, a small terrier of the Scotch breed. One day, having
caught three or four dace, after some minutes I turned round
to examine them, when, lo ! they had disappeared ; and I
could in no way discover the cause. Shortly I caught another,
and threw it down, when, to my great surprise, the dog quietly
took it up, and (after very composedly craunching its bones)
swallowed it with apparent satisfaction, and then looked up
with a hungry eye, as if to request a farther supply. As far
as I can recollect, the dog ate about half a dozen before any
symptoms of " hold, enough, " were manifested.

Now for the fox ; whose case, though it depends upon cir-
cumstantial rather than positive evidence, I have no hesitation
in believing to be perfectly true. In the course of last
autumn, I believe, in October or November, a gentleman's
keeper in my parish, in passing a pond very early, after a
moonlight night, found upon the bank the remains of a pike
which had weighed about 5 lbs. The flesh was consumed,
with the exception of what adhered to the head and tail.
The fish he was well acquainted with, having often noticed it
before, and during the preceding summer had as often, in vain,
endeavoured to take it by night lines, &c. Of course, his
first thought was, " how got it there, so strangely out of its
element?" A poacher would certainly not have left it. Fishing
eagles had never been seen or heard of in this part of the
country ; and otters had long been an extinct race in the
neighbourhood. But, on closely examining the mud and soil,
he soon discovered a clue to solve the mystery ; the adjacent
parts being padded with footmarks, which his long and prac-
tical experience convinced him were those of a fox. It is
probable, too, that, like himself, the fox had long had an eye
to this well-fed pike, as it then occurred to him, that he had
often before seen similar footmarks about the pit side banks.
To have witnessed the capture would have been an interesting
scene indeed. It is most likely that the wily animal, on ex-
amining the water, discovered the pike near the surface,
prowling about for food, and, availing himself of its approach-

Mammifeivus Animals^ Bird^. 241

ing within reach, pounced upon his prey, and succeeded in
grasping it with his teeth ; this, however, he could not have
done without considerable tact and difficulty, as the floundering
resistance of a five-pounds'-weight pike must have lasted some
time, and been very powerful. — E. S., F.L.S. [For notes
on other habits of the fox, see p. 1 34.]

Birds. — The small dar^ brown Thrush notijiedby I^.Z^. (p. 1 44.,
and previously) ; with some Remarks on the British Thrushes, —
" It is much to be wished," as the Rev.W.T. Bree has observed
(p. 75.), " that W. L. had procured a specimen of his thrush,
in order to put the point beyond dispute ; " for, until this is
done, it seems somewhat premature to pronounce it a distinct
species. The common song thrush varies in size very con-
siderably, and in the number of black spots upon the breast.
Of two males now before me, both in tolerably good condition,
one weighs 2 J oz., and the other but 2 oz. The former of
these has remarkably few black spots on the under parts ;
whereas, some that I have seen have been so thickly studded
that the ear -coverts have appeared wholly black. Lewin and
others have even described, as a distinct species, what they
call " the heath thrush ; " which now is, I believe, universally
admitted to be merely a small variety of the Turdus musicus.
I must be pardoned, therefore, for still entertaining doubts as
to W. L.'s thrush being an undescribed species ; first, because
I know that the common song thrush (to which it seems so
closely to approximate) varies in size very much ; secondly,
because the song thrush may often be observed upon the
wildest heaths, and, in .such situations, is generally small;
and, thirdly, because so common a bird as that of W. L.
appears to be, if really distinct, could not well have escaped
the ken of the many experienced practical naturalists who
have visited the parts it inhabits, seemingly so plentifully.
However, I hope that W. L. will soon succeed in obtaining
some specimens of his thrush, that he will actually compare
it with the song thrush, and favour Mr. Loudon's readers with
a minute description of its characters, that the matter may at
once be satisfactorily set at rest, without farther cavil.

That the first notice of it (VI. 218.) referred merely to the
redwing, was the opinion of many persons besides myself (VI,
516.), and was strengthened by the fact of no allusion having
been made to this species ; although its manners, as observed
in the south of England, were pretty accurately portrayed :
and which bird it further seemed to resemble in size. The
redwing, it may be remarked, resembles much more the song
thrush, in colour and general appearance, than it does thg
Vol. VII, — No. 39. r

242 Short Commimkations : —

fieldfare (as stated in VII. 144.); and it would be often mistaken
for the song thrush (which sometimes associates in flocks), and
vice versa, were it not for its frequently repeated alarm cry
(resembling powk), and the characteristic large pale streak
over the eye, similar to that — not of the stonechat, as stated
at p. 145., but — of the whinchat.

In reply to Mr. Salmon (p. 175.), I can state, upon good
authority, that both the redwing and the fieldfare have been
repeatedly seen, throughout the summer, in a wood called the
Wood of Logie, upon the estate of Sir .John Forbes, at Fin-
try, in Aberdeenshire ; but I am sorry, still, to be unable to
furnish any description of their nidification. My informant,
an experienced observer, is quite positive with regard to the
species; but has never searched for their nests, not being
aware, at the time, that they were so little known. He
has heard the fieldfare sing, and as described by Dr.
Booker, (p. 151.) I may remark here, in corroboration of
Mr. Salmon's observation (p. 175.), that a flock of about forty
missel thrushes, which frequented this neighbourhood about
the latter end of last August, were very generally mistaken
for fieldfares ; although the great difference in their notes
rendered them easily distinguishable. That these were about
to migrate, I have hardly a doubt ; though a few solitary
missel thrushes have been singing about this place all the
winter.

The flocks of redwings and fieldfares in these parts some-
times associate, and, occasionally, a few song thrushes may
be observed among them; but they more frequently keep
separate, the fieldfares remaining mostly in small parties of
five or six (probably families) ; three or four of which some-
times unite, but often separate again : in this, as in other
respects, closely resembling the missel thrush, which, in win-
ter, is generally seen in small flocks of five or six. The field-
fare farther resembles the missel thrush, in feeding more upon
berries than the redwing and mavis ; which latter birds, espe-
cially the mavis, appear to prefer snails to any other kind of
food ; knocking off their shells in a very expert manner, and
gulping them down whole. The blackbird is very partial to
snails ; but neither it nor the missel thrush (which latter is,
however, rather indifferent to them) understand how to shell
them like the redwing and song thrush ; but (at least in con-
finement, if the shell is not broken beforehand) generally
make a sad bungle, besmearing themselves all over with slime.
Instead of commencing operations by knocking off the shell,
they try to pull the snail out of it ; which, of course, they find

Birds, 243

to be a very awkward matter. A song thrush will devour
five or six snails before a blackbird can swallow one.*

Though the fieldfare remains plentiful here until late in
April, I do not think it ever sings in these parts. Its usual
note, sue, sue, sue, is all that I have ever heard from this
species ; and though a little singing may appear sometimes to

* [ We looked out, and saw a thrush, with its beak thrust into

a snail shell, standing by a garden pot, which was sunk in the ground to its
rim. The bird had ceased for a minute from its labour; and now again
began whacking the unhappy snail against the flower-pot, in order to break
the shell ; which, with the greater portion of its inhabitant, hung dangling
from his beak. The exertions of the thrush were surprising ; his whole
body shook with the vigour with which he carried on the assault and bat-
tery ; and it soon enabled him to draw forth another shred of the snail :
this he ate, and again returned to the attack, beating it for at least a dozen
times, when more of the mangled wretch was dragged out, and despatched.
The next essay of the bird did not appear to please him ; for he left the
garden pot, and carried his prey to a sharp stone, against which he recom-
menced beating it. The stone was, perhaps, loose, and did not afford the
required resistance : instinct, therefore, (was it not reason ?) induced him
to return to his first resisting medium. Again, then, were we amused by
the sagacity of the bird ; and our sympathies excited by the sufferings of
the lacerated snail, which was thus drawn out bit by bit, and ultimately
devoured. — Campanella. Berkshire. Received Jan. 9. 1834. — All the spe-
cies of T'urdus, or thrush, the blackbird (7'. ikferula) included, collectively
destroy a great quantity (Mr. Biyth has, above, stated which of the species
destroys the most) of the shelled snails. The periods in which they most
destroy them are, I think, during the frosts of winter, and through July
and August. In winter, after a night or two sharply frosty, with just a
sprinkling of snow on the ground, it is pleasing to stroll beside hedge-
rows, and see the Turdi starting in and out, on the face of the hedge-
banks, and between the base of the stems of the hedges, in search of
the snails. If you proceed slowly, a smart reiterated tapping, not loud,
but obvious, is heard at uncertain intervals, as the Turdi may find their
prey. This they break, not wherever found, but on some stone fixed firmly
with one face exposed in the bank's side, and, I think, station themselves
below the stone : I have, in my own vocabulary, called such stones, chosen
of the thrushes, the thrushes' chopping-blocks. These birds, through July
and August, explore hedgerows, orchards, and gardens with great diligence
for snails, and kill vast numbers of them. The hard texture^ at this season^
of paths and roadways, makes these sufficient chopping-blocks for the birds,
whose havoc is shown by the many empty shells then met with in every
path ; for they at this time do not usually break the shell into pieces, but
peck a hole through the last and larger coil. I have, to myself, sought to ac-
count for the Turdi consuming more snails in July and August than at other
times. Their doing it in frosty weather is clearly from necessity ; but in
July and August this cause might seem not to obtain. I have, however,
thought it does. The face of the earth is then invested with crops of herb-
age, which, I have conceived, lessen rather than enlarge these birds' scope
of forage ; while, of fruits, the gooseberry and the cherry are past, and the
autumnal fruits not ripe. The Turdi will, when need prompts, eat the
earthworm, when they meet with it (in part) exposed within their range.
For previous mentions of the agency of thrushes in consuming snails and
other molluscous animals, see in II. 151.; III. 193. ; 238., and notef in
the same page ; VI. 218. ; VII. 242.

R 2

244 Short Commimkatioiis : —

proceed from a flock of them, it may generally be traced to
a few accompanying redwings. The thrushes generally, I
think, form rather an exception to the Rev. W. T. Bree's
observation (p. 75.), of birds acquiring, each season, their full
song by degrees. Most of the smaller kinds certainly do
acquire their song gradually ; but the missel thrush and the
mavis sing as loudly and clearly in November as in March ;
and the deep-toned voice of the blackbird is as rich and as
full when he first bursts forth into melody, in early spring, as
in April, when the practice of many weeks should have
matured his vocal powers. From analogy with these, there-
fore, I am inclined to question whether the redwing's voice
improves from the time it first begins to sing; for it is the
same in May as in January. A day or two ago, I think, I
heard one in its full perfection ; it did not see me ; and was
alone, away from its companions, and piping forth with the
utmost glee and spirit. Its notes were low and soft, some of
them very sweet ; and it now and then introduced a few that
were loud and pleasing : but, altogether, its song by no means
equalled that of the mavis. The redwing, in short, is not a
bird worth confining for the mere sake of its music, —
E. Blytlu Tooting^ Surrey, March 26. 1834.

The Solitary Thrush, or Brown Starling (IV. 2 IS.) — I have
twice shot this species in the neighbourhood of London ; and,
until I had read Rennie's description, in Montagu's Diet.,
p. 56., did not know of what species the birds were. — O.
Clapton, March, 1834.

The Rook, (148.) — Will the idea (in 243. note *), that the
soil's being covered up, in summer and autumn, with ground
crops, prevents access to it for ground grubs and insects,
account for the rook's then feeding on grain, nuts, fruits, &c.
(whence the epithet frugilegus has been applied to it) ? Some
will rather refer the latter habit of rooks to their sympathy
in the sentiment, " nos numerus sumus, et fruges consumere
nati ; " and I, for one, think that the rooks do quite rightly
in acting on it. Mr. Saul of Lancaster has just informed Mr.
Loudon that the Rev. Mr. Ridley had found that the husk of
grain taken by the rook is separated, in the rook's stomach,
from the grain itself, and is afterwards discharged from the
moutli of the rook in masses of the size of a pigeon's egg.
Mr. Saul has sent a specimen. The husks appear those of
oats. — J. D,

A Second Brood of Waterhens adopted and catered for by the
Individuals of the First Brood. [From a letter to the Rev.
W.T. Bree, by J. M. Boultbee, Esq. ; dated Kineton, Aug. 20.
1833.] — At the bottom of the walk between the house and

Birds. 245

our garden in winter runs a brook, but in summer there is
only still water, which is inhabited by waterhens, &c. The
waterhens have become quite tame, from persons constantly
passing and repassing. This year, in the spring, a pair of them
hatched some young ones ; and, as soon as they were feathered,
made another nest, and hatched some more. The young
ones of the second hatch left the old birds, and have been
adopted by the young ones of the first hatch, who have each
taken one, and seem to take as much care of them as the old
ones could have done : they feed them, and never leave them.
Only one young one has remained with the old hen. — J. M. B,

[Facts on other points in the history of the waterhen may
be found in IV. 517. 519., V. 381. 601. 730., VII. 73.; and
in the Field Naturalist., i. ^QQ."]

A Male Redstart has aided in sustaining and protecting the
Offspring of another Pair of Redstarts, — 1 discovered the nest
of a pair of redstarts (Sylvia Phoenicurus), called here fire-tails,
in a hole in a wall in my garden, from the male bird's constantly
sitting on a particular tree near the place where the nest was,
and from his continually uttering his plaintive and garrulous
note while any object to excite alarm was in sight. I mention
this, because, from his attention to his mate, I was particularly
interested in the pair, and watched them with great care. In
about two or three days after I had discovered them {the hen
was then sitting), the male bird, while on his usual station,
was, to my great grief, killed by a stone which his familiarity
had tempted an idle boy to throw. I saw him killed myself.
On my going by the place the next day, I was excessively
surprised to see a male redstart sitting on the very same tree
from which, the day before, the other had been knocked
down. On my going near the nest, it flew away with evident
tokens of alarm ; and on my putting my hand to the nest, the
hen bird flew off". All I need say in addition is, that the eggs
were hatched, and the foster-father (for such he certainly was)
assisted, as the cock birds usually do, the hen in bringing up
the young brood. The circumstance has puzzled me extremely,
both then and since. How could the redstart be possibly
acquainted that the hen was without a mate ? She could not
have been off the nest long ; for, if the eggs had once got cold,
they could never have been hatched ; and the redstart is a
solitary bird, and by no means common here. — Subrusticus,

The Origin of the Songs of Birds. — A person known to
me put some goldfinches' eggs under a canary ; and although
the young goldfinches hatched by the canary from these eggs
learned the song of the canary, yet they by no means lost
their own innate note : their song was, consequently, a mix^

R 3

246 Short Communications : —

ture of the two. — A, Clifford. Near Stamford. [See III. 1 45.
447., IV. 420.]

Saurian? Reptiles. — Recent Appearance of the Great
American Sea Serpent. — In the last edition of my Introduction
to Geology^ chap. xvi. p. 312., I stated an opinion that the
great sea serpent, which had been frequently seen near the
coast in the United States of America, might probably belong
to some species of saurian animal of a genus analogous to the
fossil ichthyosaurus ; and that the description of it as having
paddles like those of a turtle, and immense jaws like those of
the crocodile, agreed rather with that of a saurian animal than
a serpent. The body was said, by some who had seen it, to
be of great length, and equal in bulk to a large water cask.
In a note to the American reprint, just published, of that
edition of my Introduction to Geology, Professor Silliman states
that " Dr. Jacob Baglew of Boston has published a collec-
tion of documents on the subject of the sea serpent, which
presents a mass of evidence sufficient to establish any fact that
can be established by human testimony. See his account in
the American Journal of Science, vol. ii. p. 147 — 164. Almost
every year since has added to the amount of evidence; and
the present year, 1 SoS, has been particidarly fruitful in such
testimony^ He adds, " Attempts to capture or kill these
extraordinary animals have proved hitherto abortive ; but, in
some more fortunate conjuncture, our eastern seamen, pro-
verbial for their intrepidity and dexterity in hunting the
whale, "mill yet bring in the sea serpent or animal, whatever it
may be, that has borne that name. Mr. Bakewell's ingenious
conjecture, that it may be a saurian, agrees, however, much
better with the supposition that it is a plesiosaurus than an
ichthyosaurus, as the short neck of the latter does not cor-
respond with the ordinary appearance of the sea serpent. —
B. Silliman." Believing that this farther confirmation of the
present existence of the sea serpent may be interesting, I
communicate it. — B. Bake'aoell. Hampstead, April, 1834.

Insects. — Extreme Cold does not destroy the Life in Lisects*
Eggs; and some Facts on the early Appearance in Switzer-
land, during the cold Weather of early Springs, of Gonepteryx
rhamni, Vanessa urticce and V. To, and Amphidasis pilosdria.
— Kirby and Spence, in their Intr., vol. ii. p. 446., and Pro-
fessor Rennie, in Insect Transformations, p. 95., speaks of
the little effect produced on the eggs of insects by intense
cold; and the winter of 1829 afforded full evidence of the
fact. During the night of the 2d of February, 1830, the
index of my self-registering thermometer fell to 1 8° Reaumur,
pr 8 J° below zero of Fahr. ; at eight o'clock in the morning

Saurian ? Reptiles^ Insects. 247

of the Sd it was still 16° Reaum., or 4° Fahr.; and at the
same hour several thermometers in the neighbourhood of
Berne marked 24° Reaum., or 22° Fahr. The succeeding
summer was as productive as usual of insects ; not only of
those which are hatched from the eggy but also of those which
hibernate in the pupa state. I have, however, remarked a
singular fact, namely, that, during the year 1832, a sharp
look-out only enabled me to find one, and that a feeble
individual, of Melolontha vulgaris, usually very abundant,
and having a marked inclination for a particular plum tree in
my orchard ; a vigilant search failed to procure me a single
Zucanus Cervus. A neighbour and myself, aided by a troop
of young foragers, were not able to obtain more than seven
full-grown larvae of Cossus ligniperda ; and Cetonia aurata,
and some other species which pass three years in the larva
state, were, although not quite so deficient as the ikTelolontha
vulgaris, the iucanus Cervus, and the Cossus ligniperda, deci-
dedly far less numerous than usual. Are we to conclude from
this, that, although intense cold fails to destroy the eggs, full-
grown larvae, or pupae, it is fatal to the young larvae of such
species as pass three winters in their first state of existence ?

I should be glad to know whether this circumstance has
been noticed elsewhere : but the observations, to be conclusive,
must have been made in a district which was exposed during
some time to a temperature not higher than zero of Fahr., as
our experience of our ordinary winters proves that a degree
of cold occasionally only equal to zero is but little fatal to
the insect world. On the 25th of February, 1830, Fahrenheit's
thermometer being at 60°, Vanessa urtlcae and Gonepteryx
rh^mni were on the wing ; having, I presume, safely passed
the winter term in the pupa state. Writers on entomology
generally speak of these early visiters as unimpregnated fe-
males, which, having issued from the chrysalis in autumn, after
the disappearance of the males, have lived through the win-
ter in the perfect state ; and the circumstance is adduced as a
wonderful instance of an extraordinary prolongation of life,
granted, by an omnipotent and beneficent Providence, to indi-
viduals produced at a season when the purpose for which
that life was bestowed could not be accomplished in its ac-
customed period. I by no means call in question the cor-
rectness of this opinion in its general application, not having
particularly noticed the subject, except during the last few
years ; and I consider that observations made in one place, or
in one climate, are insufficient either to establish or refute a
general fact. In most parts of Switzerland the rule certainly
does not apply ; and I would caution young entomologists

V. 4

248 Short Communications : —

not to assume as a matter of course, and without examination,
that the first butterflies they see in spring have hibernated
in the perfect state. Here, notwithstanding the rigour of
our winters, a sudden elevation of temperature usually brings
out Vanessa urticae and Gonepteryx rhamni from the 10th
to the 15th of February, which seems to be much earlier than
their customary first appearance in England. During some
years I have invariably noticed the first of both the above
species on the same day; and on the 11th of February last
[183S], after a week of warm weather, the thermometer being
at 5t°, many dozens of each kind were on the wing: I was
struck with the freshness of their colours, and as V. urticae
will allow you to approach pretty close while it is fanning
its wings as it basks in the sunshine on some rounded
pebble, I marked down several, and satisfied myself that they
were as bright and unsullied as when reared in the breeding
cage; none appeared torn, or in any way injured. Their in-
dependent manner of flight, and bearing towards each other,
seemed to indicate that there was no admixture of the two
sexes, and I should imagine, from their appearance, that they
were mostly or entirely males, but, not being prepared with a
net, I was not able to capture any for close inspection. With
respect to Gonepteryx rhamni there can be no difficulty ; the
difference of colour in the two sexes being so great that a
male must be most wofully weatherbeaten to be mistaken at
any distance for a female. In our neighbourhood is a place
which swarms with this species, and in summer the females
greatly exceed the males, probably from their congregating
for the purpose of laying their eggs. I frequently visit this
spot in the early spring; and can safely assert that neither
there, nor on the sunny slopes at the edges of our forests,
have I ever seen a single female among many hundreds of
males which have been on the wing as early as February.
I have caught numbers expressly to examine their condition ;
and, having always found them peculiarly bright and perfect,
I am compelled to draw the conclusion that, in this climate
at least, the early flight of Gonepteryx rhamni consists en-
tirely of newly excluded males, and that probably the same
is the case with Vanessa urticse. Usually after a fortnight or
three weeks of almost summer weather in February, a blus-
tering north-easter brings a return of sleet, snow, and frost in
March, and it has always been after these have passed that
I have seen the first female butterflies. The first female Go-
nepteryx I have seen this year was a solitary individual, on
the 29th of March.

Two circumstances occurred this year confirmatory of the
above opinion. On the evening of the 10th of February

Insects* 249

a stranger tapped at my window for admittance, which was
instantly granted : he proved to be a male Amphldasis pilo-
saria Fr. whose perfect condition left no doubt of his having
burst from his chrysalis since the morning. It is true his near
affinity to Hibernia and other brumal phalaenas might induce
us to look for him in cold weather ; but Duponchel assigns
March and April for the period of his appearance in the
climate of Paris, certainly not earlier than Gonepteryx and
Vanessa are admitted to quit their pupae. The second case
was the exclusion of a male Vanessa To on the 23d February,
from a chrysalis which had undergone its transformation in a
loft on my premises, and which had been left completely un-
disturbed and untouched, to proceed in its regular course.
. In Vol. III. p. 243., Mr. Bree speaks of the 18th March as
the earliest date at which he ever knew a Papilio issue from
the chrysalis, [for dates of early appearances, though not from
the chrysalis, see V. 595., VI. 88. 176.]; and I attribute their
precocity in Switzerland to the increased excitability which
seems to be the common result of severe and long-continued
cold, occasioning the almost magic transition from " thick-
ribbed ice" to verdure and flowers, which is represented to
take place in Lapland, Russia, and America. Every writer
on Switzerland has noticed

The Proximity of the Alpine Flowers to the eternal Snows and
Glaciers ; and as the snow next to the ground most usually
melts the first, at least when the bed is of considerable thick-
ness, it is not rare to see some of the hardiest and earliest
blowing plants in full bloom, under a projecting canopy of
frozen snow which constantly drenches them with an icy
shower. The most beautiful effect I remember to have seen,
was upon the Faulhorn, in the month of July, 1824. Between
the spot where visiters who ascend on horseback quit their
saddles, and the foot of the highest slope, was a bed of snow
of about a quarter of an acre, quite hard, but not more than
half a foot thick; a few days before my visit, a horse had
crossed this bed, and on each spot where he had stepped, the
snow had disappeared, leaving a succession of circles about
6 in. in diameter, which were literally filled with flowers of
all hues, but scarcely one reaching to the level of the surface
of the surrounding snow. — J. P, Brown. Thun, Switzerland,
April 5. 1833.

Had not some of these been in flower actually under, and
while covered by, the snow ? Mr. Dennis, nurseryman,
Chelsea, has found that the species of Primula, of Cyclamen,
of Orchideae, of Pelargonium of the Ciconium or horse-shoe
group, and a yellow-coroUaed Pingulcula from the United

250 Short Commimicatioiis : —

States, produce their corollas, and those of, or nearly of, the
colours respectively proper to each species, in an obscured
condition of light almost equal in obscurity to that of a cover-
ing of snow. It is notable that the flowers and herbage of
each of the plants indicated above turn black in the course of
being dried for specimens. — J, D.

The Vitality of the Eggs of some Species of Insect is very
persistent, — Some years since, I had in my bedroom a glazed
case containing two stuffed blackbirds. To my knowledge, it
had been in the house twenty-three years, and at least half
that time in my room. I often used to examine the case, as
thinking it curious that the birds should remain so long in a
state so perfect as that they were in. One morning, as I was
rising, I was much surprised to see the case full of innumer-
able small winged insects, all come to life, as it were, at the
same moment. I again examined the case, and nothing
seemed to indicate the least decay in any one part of it. The
thought that the vitality of these eggs had remained so long
preserved is an almost incredible one. The whole plumage
of the two birds fell off at the time of the appearance of the
insects. — /7. B, Blois, Nov. 16. 1833.

Coleopterous Insects. — Certain Localities of the Glow^
worm (Lampyris noctiluca L.) {fig. 44.), a7id the Conditions of

them. (I. 155. 299., V. 368.
764.) — In reference to the
remarks on the " Luminous
Appearance on the Ears of
a Horse" (V. 764.), I have
merely to observe that I can
hardly think the glowworm
has ever been found in the
lowland districts of Somerset-
shire; at least, I have never
found it there. This I know,
that, some years ago I brought
a small live colony of glow-
worms, I forget the number,
from West Harptree, in the
neighbourhood of Mendip, where they abound, and deposited
them in my garden at Huntspill ; but I could never see one
of them afterwards. I conclude, therefore, that the climate,
or soil, or both, did not agree with them, and that they
perished. I may just add that I have seen the glowworm in
great splendour at Redbrook, near Monmouth, on the banks of
the Wye. — James Jennings. 14. Gostsoell Road^ Nov. 12. 1832.
In the villages north of Cambridge, to the extent of six

Zainpyris noctililca : a, female ; b, male.

Coleopterous Insects. 25 1

miles from the town, and just within which distance the fens
of the county may be said to begin, I have never seen a
Zampyris noctiluca, or heard of one's being seen. " The
glowworm" of these parts is the iScolopendra electrica, which
is by no means rare there. I have, however, been told that
the jLampyris does occur at Cherryhinton, a village in which
chalk abounds, situate three miles south by east of Cambridge.
In Suffolk, a county in which land in general is high and dry,
and chalk comparatively abundant, the Zampyris is not unfre-
quently met with. It occurs in the villages of Whepstead,
Horningsheath (pronounced Horringer), Hawstead, and Now-
ton, all near Bury St. Edmunds. The Rev. H. Hasted, of
this town, once remarked to me, that, on travelling by coach
at night, he observed, a little past Newark, clusters of the
iampyris beside the road ; and he also expressed to me his
opinion that it is an insect confined to, or at least most pre-
valent on, chalky soils. — J, Z).

T/ie Glowworm is plentiful in many Parts of the Kingdom.
— They affect damp woods and hedgerows. The females
exhibit their light most in showery weather, and are by no
means a pleasant spark to the farmer, whose hay is lying on
the field. They are seen most frequently from midsummer
to the end of August. Their light is " the torch of Hymen;"
for the winged males fly to any other luminous body ; to the
lantern of the benighted traveller ; or to a lighted candle,
if a window happens to be open, as is often the case in
warm summer evenings. I have .caught half a dozen at a
time of these " gay Lotharios" from off the supper table,
and turned them adrift to seek their " flames" farther afield.
The males have lamps also, but very faint even in the dark :
of course they are invisible during their flight in the open
air [Albert seems of a different opinion, see V. 764-.]. When
the nymph is in full glory, she has the power of dimming her
lamps, if disturbed by an unwelcome visitor, but can soon re-
kindle them when her fears are over. This I have often proved
in passing and repassing a marked individual. These insects
hide themselves by day; as then their enemies (some of the
warblers, it is supposed) are on the alert. — J. Main. Dec, 24^
18S3.

What is the Difference in the Appearance of the Lay^va and
Imago of the common Glowworm {hamper is noctiltica 'L.) F —
On Sept. 2. 1833, I took many glowworms, near Keswick,
Cumberland, having been attracted to them by their light.
The light was much paler than that seen in July. I collected
them of all sizes. If the larva emits light, can it be called the
torch of Hymen ? — Edward Wilson, jun. Chapel Allerton,
near Leeds, April 15. 1833.

252 Short Communications : —

[We believe, but are not certain, that the differences of ap-
pearance in the larva and imago of the glowworm will be found
exhibited in one of Professor Rennie's volumes on insects. —
Albert has, in our V. 764., supplied useful information on
the conditions of the Zvampyris in both its sexes, and " through
all its stages : " he has not, however, provided a full answer
to the above question. In the Entomologia Edinensis, Cole-
optera, a rich store of facts, delightingly told, on the structure,
changes, and habits of the iampyris, is supplied, in p. 202
—207.]

The Eggs of the Glowworm (Lampyris noctiluca L.) are
luminous, — A young lady lately showed me some eggs of the
glowworm (Zampyris noctiluca Z/.), which emitted a pale green-
ish light in the dark, and continued to do so for three or four
days after they had been deposited. I am not aware that this
fact has been before noticed. The eggs are globular, of a pale
yellow colour, and about one twentieth part of an inch in dia-
meter.— Hugh E. Strickland, Worcestershire, July 21, 1833.

[Mr. Main marks from " midsummer to the end of August,"
for the usual period of glowworms being seen in a luminous
state. Mr. Bree has seen a luminous glowworm as early as
June 14. (see VI. 491.), and as late as the end of October
(V. 367, 368.); Mr. Wilson has seen some (see above) as late
as Sept. 2.]

Interesting Facts in relation to a Species of Beetle [Silpha P)
and the Scolopendra electrica L. (II. 406., V. 368. 400.) — As
I was passing through the ornamental grounds of a friend, on
an evening in September, 1832, my attention was directed to a
luminous appearance on one of the flower-beds. The accu-
mulation of light seeming too great to proceed from the taper
of a glowworm, or from any other insect, I approached for
the purpose of examination, and I had the gratification of
witnessing the following curious and beautiful exhibition : —
A spot of ground, nearly a square in form, and not less than
six or seven inches across, was totally suffused with luminous
matter ; within this spot was a beetle, which I should say, judg-
ing from its shape, was a Silpha. This was also covered with
the fiery fluid, and seemed to be bewildered by it ; for its
proceedings were most irregular and extraordinary. Now it
traversed the illuminated space in a manner the most rapid
and confused ; now it suddenly stopped, and thrust its head
against the soil, to rub off the matter with which it was sur-
charged, and again it resumed its headlong course in a series
of perpetually decreasing circles. This practice was con-
tinually repeated ; and, in short, the poor insect seemed so
stupified that it was incapable of pursuing a rectilinear course
sufficiently long to extricate itself from the enlightened area.

Coleopterous Injects. 253

While the beetle was entertaining me with this singular scene,
a ^Scolopendra electrica, a perfect line of silvery light, was, at
the same time, at the distance of three or four inches from the
exterior of the illuminated spot, slowly, but gracefully, wind-
ing its way, without leaving the least mark or vestige by which
its course could be discovered. The whole spectacle was
most splendid; and I deem it worthy of communication,
because, in my humble judgment, it serves to corroborate the
suggestion of those admirable observers of nature, Messrs.
Kirby and Spence, " that the luminous substance is probably
given to some insects as a means of defence." In the case
before us, the beetle probably attacked the 6^colopendra, and
a severe struggle ensued, in the course of which the latter
discharged the luminous fluid, and, by so doing, stupified its
enemy and preserved itself. There is one circumstance
equally worthy our observation and admiration. Admitting
that the AS'colopendra is furnished [with a large reservoir of
luminous matter, still must that matter be of an extraordinary
and surprising nature to allow of such attenuation and expan-
sion as I have described, without suffering any diminution of
splendour and refulgence. It would have been a gratification
to have been able to say what became of the beetle; whether
it ultimately extricated itself, or fell a victim to the powerful
substance in which it was enveloped ; but I was unfortunately
driven from my station by a heavy fall of rain, and was desti-
tute of all means by which an insect can be secured. — J, S. T.
April 29. 1833.

On walking with a friend, one evening after dark, at
Michaelmas time, in the village of Horningsheath, Suffolk,
named above, we were attracted by a patch of brilliant light,
the size of the palm of my hand, or larger, on the side of the
hedgebank which skirted our path ; and within the extent of
this light we could perceive an insect of considerable size
moving about. A glowworm (Z^ampyris), no doubt, thought I,
and secured the moving insect by putting it into my hat ; and
this done, we returned to a party we had left at the cottage
from which we had taken our stroll. We had hoped to gra-
tify the party with a sight of our glowworm, when, on taking
off' my hat before the candle, my insect proved devoid of
luminousness, and, to my horror, no glowworm, but Goerius
olens. Then, since, and now, I could and can only account
for finding this wolf of insects within the broad patch of light,
by supposing that it, in its evening foraging, had met with a
glowworm, and that this, in its resistance of the grasp oi', and
struggles against, the Goerius, had suffused the earth with the
patch of light which we had seen. See also in I. 299. — J, Z).

254 Short Conimunications : —

The Goerius {^taphylimis) blens, or Great Rove Beetle^ has,
in some places, the complimentary title of the devil's coach-
horse ; and, by the children in Cambridgeshire, is called
cocktail, from its habit of turning up, when irritated, its ab-
domen, armed at the extremity, over its body or thorax.
This creature kills and devours beetles small and large, ear-
wigs, woodlice (Oniscus ^sellus), earthworms, perhaps glow-
worms (see before), and I have known it eat of the putrid
remains of the great snail of gardens [Hh\vK aspersa). To
the earthworm the Goerius is a dire enemy. It fixes its
piercing cutting mandibles into the soft flesh of the worm, and
almost buries its head within it, and becomes too fastly fixed
for all the writhing and contortions of the worm to produce
the effect of dislodging it. In the course of gardening prac-
tice, I have seen several earthworms under this painful inflic-
tion from individuals of the Goerius. The instance of its
eating of the putrid remains of a garden snail, I witnessed on
July 8. 1829. My memorandum says, " this might be
because that, in consequence of the heat now, no dewworms
occur near the earth's surface." On October 16. 1831, I
met with a G. 51ens, accompanied by the following circum-
stances : — it lay dead in a bye footpath ; it had been partially
crushed, and had in its mandibles a dead earwig, while the
earwig had within its forceps a tarsus of, and off the left
fore leg of, the Goerius. Near the Goerius lay a pearly egg,
about two tenths of an inch long, and more than one tenth of
an inch in diameter. The shell of the egg was of the con-
sistence of parchment, and the yolk it enclosed was viscous
and of a yellowish white colour. This, doubtless, was the
egg of the Goerius which the same passing foot that had par-
tially crushed its body, and thus destroyed the destroyer,
had, perhaps, prematurely forced out of it. I dissected the
remains of the Goerius, but did not perceive another egg, or
the rudiments of one, within them.

In Kirby and Spence's Introd, ed. 1818, vol. ii. p. 237.»
5taphylinus (Goerius) olens F. and the Forficula gigantea F,
are mentioned as insects which brandish their armed ab-
domens as a " means of defence." It may be right to add to
these the common earwig (Forficula auricularia), which, in a
moment, if molested about the head, endeavours to punish
the molester with the forceps at its tail : so also, doubtless,
the F. minor (on whose flight I have recorded a fact in
IV. p. 436.) In Kirby and S^ence^s Introd., ed. 1818, vol. iii.
p. 33., iStaphylinus olens is set down at one twelfth of an inch
in length : is not this a misprint for 1x2 ii"** ? — J- ^•

The Wasp Beetle {Clyius Arietis), when impaled, produces an

Coleopterous Insects, 9,55

obvious Noise, and in thejblloixing Man7ier. — Upon my pierc-
ing a specimen of this insect, through the elytron with a pin,
I was surprised to hear it emit a very curious noise, of which
I will endeavour to convey an idea; for although I observe
that this fact has been noticed in another quarter, yet the de-
scription there given is, in my opinion, too vague to allow a
reader to form any notion of it. The noise is more like bark-
ing than any other noise to which I can compare it ; the voice,
if I may be allowed that term, being acute and distinct, yet
not audible at a great distance. It is not heard except when
the insect moves its head and thorax up and down, and it ap-
pears to be caused by the latter rubbing against the juncture
which exists between that part and the elytra and abdomen.
If the insect be held by the body, or the finger be pressed
upon its elytra, so as to detain it underneath, the noise is im-
mediately produced in its endeavours to release itself. Whe-
ther it produces this noise when at liberty, I know not, having
never seen but this one specimen. I may remark that it is a
considerable time in dying upon the pin ; my specimen, although
impaled and exposed to strong spirits of ammonia, survived
this treatment four days. — James FennelL Paddington, ^^g'
1833.

[Three individuals of C. yirietis have been known to oc-
cupy three years in attaining maturity : this after they had in
one of their earlier stages, probably in that of the egg state,
been subjected to the action of a very high temperature. See
the Entomological Magazine, vol. ii. p. 114.]

Notes on some Species of Insects isohich consume Pulse, Grain,
Biscuits, S^c, — I remember that the beans, and, I believe,
other corn, of the Cambridgeshire farmers, when thrashed,
dressed, and laid by, used to be, in the days of my boyhood
(and, doubtless, is still), infested with a small insect, which my
fellow boys used to call a mule or *wule. Perhaps this is but a
corruption of the word weevil ; but, if my recollection is accu-
rate, the insect itself, which was very common, and very abun-
dant, was one of the Ptinidae, not of the Curculionidse. — J.D»

In relation to this remark, which was written anterior to
Christmas time, 1832, I then sought for specimens of the
expected ptinideous insects among some few old peas and old
beans, which had lain by for two years or so at my father's
(Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire); and, although some of the
peas were strung together, and some of the beans also, by the
matted webs and excrement of insects that had gnawed them,
I could then find but very few larvae, and only one perfect and
live insect, an elegant curculionideous one, whose presence
there, my prejudice inclined me to suppose, might be accidental.

256 Short Communications : —

On returning, I submitted the insect and the amount of my
notion, to Mr. Westwood, who was so kind as to reply as
follows.

March, 1833. Respecting your impression that the Cam-
bridge mules, or wules, which attack the dried peas and beans,
are not curculionideous, but rather ptinideous, I can give you no
information from direct observation. The insect which you have
enclosed found alive at Christmas, among the peas, is certainly
the corn weevil, Curculio [Calandra) granaria. For my own
part, I think its occurrence in this situation, at that period, and
in company with larvae, was not accidental ; because insects of
this kind are found in the larva, pupa, and imago state, at the
same time. The date of your capturing the specimen of the
weevil, therefore, affords no clue to the decision of the ques-
tion ; for these kinds of indoor insects seem to take but little
notice of the seasons. Moreover, the Calandra does not con-
fine itself to the wheat in an undressed state ; since your valued
correspondent, C. A. Babington, Esq., has kindly supplied
me with specimens of the insect which were found in the de-
cayed floors, and under heaps of malt, in a malt-house in
Cambridge, the grains of which they devoured. In company
with this insect were also found in profusion the following
beetles : — Trogositacaraboides, Cucujus monilicornis, Alphito-
phagus quadripustulatus, and Tenebrio molitor. The ship
biscuit is also equally attacked hyXhQCalaiidra ; and Sparrmann
(vol. i. p. 103., quoted by Kirby and Spence, vol. i. p. 228.)
mentions that it infests ground peas used on board of ship.
Thus the chances are that the occurrence of your single
specimen of Calandra among the peas was not accidental.
On the other hand, it is by no means improbable that your
supposition that one of the Ptinidae, belonging to the genus
Anobium, may, by the Cambridge farmers, be termed the
weevil or mule, or wule ; and, in fact, that the larvae which you
found were those of a species of Anobium, the term weevil
being employed (as it appears to me) . in a generic sense to
designate any insect found feeding upon grain, in the manner of
the Calandra,vf\x\\o\\.t reference to its possession or want of a ros-
trum [by the possession of which the Curculionidae are cha-
racterised]. Hence the term weevil would be at once applied
to an Anobium, or any one, or all, of the other insects found by
Mr. Babington, if it, or they, were caught preying upon grain :
and it happens that an insect decribed by Linnaeus under the
name of />)ermestes paniceus is stated by Sparrmann to attack
the biscuit and ground peas, in conjunction with the true weevil
[Calandra granaria). This insect Messrs. Kirby and Spence
consider to belong to the genus Cryptophagus, from having
observed that a beetle of that genus (thus making a farther

Coleopterous Insects. 257

addition to the number of misnamed weevils) often swarmed
in the ship biscuit. Gyllenhall, Fabricius, &€., followed by
our recent English entomologists, consider, however, the
Z)ermestes paniceus to be an Anobium ; and the observations •
of Mr. Stephens upon the habits of the Anobium paniceum
seem to prove the correctness of such opinion. This author,
in his invaluable descriptions of British insects, states that its
larva " feeds upon farinaceous substances, and is particularly
attached to old bread and wafers, the latter of which it fastens
together in masses of three or four, within which it undergoes
its metamorphosis, the insect appearing in plenty in June : it
will also attack neglected collections of insects." (Illustr,
Coleoptera, vol. iii. p. 34^1.) This, however, is the only species
of Anobium which is recorded as being attached to such sub-
stances.— J,0. Westwood. Marchi 1833.

On April 16. 1833, I obtained (at my father's), from among
peas and beans, a larva, on which Mr. Westwood, on my send-
ing it to him, favoured me with the following remarks, on

May 22. In addition to what I have stated respecting the
various insects which attack grain and pulse, and which thence
appear to have received, in common, the name of weevils or
wules, or mules, it may be stated of the dried peas or beans of
which you have recently forwarded me a small boxful, that
they were infested by a small grub which eats through and
attaches together, by silken ties, several of them, filling up the
interstices of the web with its own excrement, so as to form a
gallery, from which it occasionally protrudes its head, some-
what like the grubs of the caddis flies (Phryganeae). It is
evidently the larva of the little moth. Tinea granella, which
appears to have occasioned much alarm on the Continent.
This, therefore, is another insect to which the name of wule
would, in common parlance, be applicable.

The seeds of other leguminous plants, or, as they are com-
monly termed, pulse, are subject, in different parts of the world,
to the attacks of other insect depredators, especially the vari-
ous species of ^ruchus, numerous instances of which are re-
corded by Messrs. Kirby and Spence, vol. i. p. 1 78. 3d edit,
[p. 175. of the 4th edit.]. Another instance has recently
occurred of the depredation committed by another species of
this genus. Dr. Hamilton of Plymouth having recently
transmitted to Mr. Loudon seeds of the Caesalpin/« Cbriaria,
or dividivi, " the legumes of which are so valuable as a substi-
tute both for oak bark and galls, some of the seeds contained
the insect caught ^^o^r«w/^ delicto'' [in the very act of eating
them]. These seeds are about a quarter of an inch in length,
and of an oval flattened form, like small beans ; and in the in-

Vol. VII. — No. 39. s

258 Short Communications: —

jured specimens, on the upper side, at one end, is a circular
aperture, sufficiently large to show that the interior of the seed
has been entirely eaten, and the space is occupied by a small
beetle, which, upon extraction, proves to be a species of
^rilchus (somewhat smaller than the common J5ruchus grana-
rius which infests our peas), with the wing cases of a dark
reddish brown colour, with several dull greyish lines along the
upper surface. Its history is doubtless similar to that of the
common pea ^ruchus, the female of which deposits her eggs
in the seed, whilst the pod is in a comparatively small and
young state. When hatched, the grub feeds upon the seed in
which it was deposited, and which is amply sufficient for its
nourishment. There seems, however, to be this difference in
the economy of the two species : 7?ruchus granarius leaves the
pea, and eats through the pod, whilst in the larva state, so as
to undergo its transformations in the earth ; whilst it would
seem that the jBriichus of the seeds of the Caesalpinm Coriaria
passes its pupa state in the seed, in the inside of which it
assumes the perfect state. Dr. Hamilton adds, " I have fre-
quently received the insects in a living state, when seeds of
the Caesalpin/a Coriaria have arrived from Carthagena in July
and August. In these cases, on the parcels being opened,
they have expanded their little wings, and flown about in all
directions." — J. O. Westxwod. May 22. 1833.

'Melolontha fullo, — A most perfect specimen of this rare
insect was taken, some time last summer, at Sandwich, Kent,
and is now in the cabinet of Miss Harvey of Upper Deal. —
W, T. Bree. Allesley Rectory, Oct. 11. 1833.

Hemipterous Insects. — Notonectce, the Boatflies. — These
are very curious insects. In August last, I caught three in a
small piece of water in my garden ; two of which turned out
to be the N. furcata, and the other N. glauca ; and, having
put them in a large tumbler of water, I kept them for several
weeks. These individuals were about three quarters of an
inch long, having six legs (or, more properly speaking, four
legs, and two other appendages), which they use as oars ;
much longer than the others, three-jointed, and fringed with
hairs. The eyes are large and prominent. On each side of
the abdomen are tufts of hair. The elytra, or wing-cases,
are hard ; and, on removing this covering, the wings are found
beautifully folded up. Although the water appears to be their
natural element, yet they are able to live a long time out of
it, as I had an opportunity of experiencing. One of my
specimens I discovered one morning lying motionless on the
water, to all appearance dead. I took it up, and put it in a
box, intending to dissect it the first convenient opportunity.

- Hemipterous Insects, 259:

The following day, I was about to commence my operations,
and was not a little surprised to find it alive ; and, on restor-
ing it to the water, it swam away as merrily as ever : it having,
like spiders and many other insects, feigned death. Their
position in the water is on the back [?idtos, the back ; nekies, a
swimmer] ; and, by means of their oars, they cut along and
through the water with surprising rapidity. By occasionally
changing the water, and always keeping the fragment of a
leaf (a water-lily leaf is the best, because it is porous and will
float) on the surface, they may be kept for a long time in this
confinement. They usually keep by the edge of the leaf;
and, whenever a fly or any other small insect falls or is thrown
on the water, one or other of them will seize it in an instant ;
clasping it with its legs, and sucking its juices through the
proboscis, which, when not feeding, lies along the thorax.
Though not so voracious as the large water beetle (Dytiscus
marginalis), which, as Mr. Knapp says, " riots the Polyphe-
mus of the pool," they are bold and greedy, and will attack
both spiders and earwigs, and devour several of them in quick
succession. The oars (if they may be so called) of this insect
are admirably adapted to its mode of life while in the water ;
but, when they have occasion to change the element, they
apparently are greatly embarrassed with them from their
length, which causes them to walk in an awkward and ridi-
culous manner ; and their progress is, consequently, slow and
laboured. Where and when they deposit their eggs, or how
long they remain in their larva state, I have not been able to
observe, nor to find recorded, anywhere. The only mention
of the insect that I can find in Mr. Rennie's three volumes on
insects, in the Library of Entertaining Knowledge, is the brief
one in Insect Miscellanies, p. 187. (erroneously referred to in
the index as "p. 178."): — "Ray tells us that his friend
Willughby had suffered severe temporary pain, in the same
way [that is, from the sting], from a water bug (Notonecta
glauca Lin.). — Hist, Insect., p. 58." As Ray's entire de-
scription is very short, and admirably accurate, I beg to give
it : — " Unciae f longa est ; elytra fusca sunt ; scapulae vi-
rescunt ; posterius par pedum valde longum remorum instar ;
antennis caret ; proboscis brevis est, qua in cutem intrusa
acerrimum dolorem excitat qui tamen brevi cessat." A figure,
beautifully drawn and coloured, is given in the first volume,
pi. 10., of Curtis's British Entomology, — O, Clapton, Feb.^
1833.

A Notice of the Eggs of the Glaucous Boatfy (Notonecta
glaiica ; a7id Facts on Species of T>ytiscus. — On the 26th of
Februarv, 1832, I put into a basin, filled with mixed marsh

s 2

260 Short Communicatioris : —

and spring water, three specimens of Z)5'ticus (or Dytiscus)
glaber, two of D. minutus, two of Notonecta glauca, and one
of N. striata. On the 1st of March, one specimen of Z).
glaber had disappeared ; and another had its head severed
from its body, and a Z). miniitus feeding on its entrails ; the
N. striata was also dead. On the 3d of March, the other, D.
glaber, had also disappeared : whether it had taken wing
during the night, I cannot determine. The N. glauca, from
time to time, deposited its eggs : they are about one six-
teenth of an inch in length, as thick as a pin, of a whitish
yellow colour, and so heavy that they fall to the bottom of
the water. — Willimn Gardiner^ jim, Dundee, April 6, 1833.

For a notice of the parasites to which Z)ytiscus marginalis L,
is subject, see Mr. Curtis's communication in p. 161. — J. D,

Lepidopterous Insects. — iQf Sphinx {Deilephila P) nerii.
(V. 154.) " a fine larva was taken in a lady's garden at Teign-
mouth, Devon, in August, 1832. . . . The periwinkle [Finca,
probably major, perhaps minor] is abundant in the garden."
(C Blamer, in Ent, Mag., vol. ii. p. 116.) Early in Sep-
tember, 1833, a lady residing in Dover captured Deilephila
nerii. " From the state of the specimen, which I have ex-
amined, it must have been very recently disclosed." {J, F,
Stephens, in Ent. Mag., vol. i. p. 525.) These two facts ad-
mirably elucidate the excellence of the arguments of W. A. B.,
in our V. 149 — 156.; and more particularly that of those
touching the S. n^rii, in 154, 155. In V. 155., line 16., for
" birdweeds," read " bindweeds ; " the British species of
Convolvulus and of Calystegia are meant.]

Deilephila linedta Stephens. ( V. 1 5 1 . ) — Of this extremely
rare and beautiful moth a fine individual was captured in July,
183 J, in the garden of T. Wells, Esq., of Bromley, Kent.
Its sex I have not determined ; but I am satisfied of the iden-
tity of the species, from a comparison of the specimen with
the figure in Stephens's Entomology, and with a specimen in
the collection of Mr. Ward of Wellclose Square. — George
Penny, lA.L.S. Milford Nursery, near Godalming, Surrey."}

Colias Hijale. \_C. Edusa, Vanessa, Antiopa, and CynthiB.
cardui. — The appearance, in more than usual abundance, of
Colias Edus«, in particular seasons, is a fact well known to
entomologists, and has often been made the subject of remark.
Our other native species *, C. Hyal^, seems also to be subject
to the like irregularities. This is justly esteemed a very rare
insect ; its principal, if not its only, habitat in this country being

* I venture to speak of the native species of the genus Collar as being
two only. C. Europome, it is now pretty generally admitted, has been
introduced into the list on more than questionable authority. C. Chry-

Lepidopterous Insect's. 261

the sea coast of Kent and Sussex. During the last two sea-
sons (1832 and 1833), however, it has made its appearance and
has been captured, in comparative abundance, near Deal and
Wahner, and in the vicinity of Dover. The following notices,
which have been communicated to me by Miss Harvey of
Upper Deal, a lady whose taste has made her conversant
with all branches of natural history, may not be without
interest to your entomological readers. Towards the end of
July, or beginning of August, 1832, no less than fourteen
specimens of C. Hyak were taken near Deal, by a young ento-
mologist, who at the time was not aware of the rarity of the
insect ; two others were likewise taken, by different persons,
about the same time and place ; and three also by Mr. Le
Plastrier, in the neighbourhood of Dover : in all, nineteen
specimens in the season of 1832. In the beginning of August,
1833, four specimens were taken by the above-mentioned
young entomologist, near Deal, and nine by my kind in-
formant. Miss Harvey herself, on August 19, 20, and 22.;
besides three others, which were seen, but not captured : Mr.
Le Plastrier also succeeded in procuring four near Dover ;
making twenty specimens in the summer of 1833.

The occasional, yet indeterminate, appearance of these and
some other Papilionidae, especially Vanessa Antiopa* and

sotheme, if we may judge from the British specimens so called, appears to
be scarcely distinguishable from Edus« ; and C. Helic<? is no other than
a white variety of the female Edusa. Thus the well-ascertained British
species will be reduced to Edusa and Hjale.

* " There is something very extraordinary in the periodical but irre-
gular appearances of this species (Antiopa), Edus«, and cardui. They are
plentiful all over the kingdom in some years, after which, Antiopa, in
particular, cannot be seen by any one for eight or ten or more years, and
then appear again as plentiful as before. To suppose they come from the
Continent is an idle conjecture, because the English specimens are easily
distinguished from all others l3y the superior whiteness of their borders.
Perhaps their eggs, in this climate, like the seeds of some vegetables, may
occasionally lie dormant for several seasons, and not hatch, until some
extraordinary but undiscovered coincidences awaken them into active life."
[On the relation of the eggs of certain insects to seasons, see Mr. Brown
in p. 246.]

My lamented friend the late Mr. Haworth, from whose work (Lepi-
doptera Britannica, p. 28.) the above remark is quoted, once suggested to
me, that it might probably require two or more extraordinarily fine seasons
in succession to produce a British Antiopa. The theory, however, as he
afterwards candidly admitted, was not found to be borne out by experience.
Many years ago, this fine insect was so plentiful in Norfolk, that, as Mr.
Haworth assured me, a friend of his was able to capture it during the
season, even on wet or cloudy days, as it sat in a quiescent state among
the foliage of the oak, &c. About fourteen or sixteen years ago, the species
made its appearance in the neighbourhood of Coomb, near Coventry, and
attracted the attention even of non-entomological observers.

8 3

262 Shoi't Communications : —

Cynthia cardui, is a point which entomologists have hitherto
been unable to account for. Experience shows that it does
not depend on the warmth and fineness of the summer, nor
on the mildness of the preceding winter ; nor can it be satis-
factorily attributed to any known cause. As, however, these
two allied species, C. Edusa and Hyal^, are both subject (as
already said) to similar irregularities in their appearances, it
might be expected that the same circumstances (whatever
they may be) which prove favourable to a copious flight of
the one, should also be alike favourable to that of the other.
This, however, appears not to be the case. In the year
1831, when I happened to be resident at Dover, in August
and September [see V. 330.], C. Edusa was to be met with
in tolerable abundance ; very many specimens were seen and
captured ; in short, it was considered (as I was informed)
a more than usually good season for the insect in that neigh-
bourhood. No specimens, however, of C. Hyal^ (so far as I
am aware) were taken or seen in the district that year, save one
in the possession of Miss Harvey, captured in the month of
June. Again, the seasons of 1832 and 1133, in which so
many specimens of C. Hyak were met with, did not (as I am
informed) produce a corresponding abundant supply of
C. Edus«. Miss Harvey speaks of having seen only two
examples of this insect in 1833, and of Mr. Le Plastrier
having taken several between Dover and St. Margaret's in the
end of September. She also mentions that Cynthi« cardui
appeared at Deal in the first week of October, in greater
abundance than she had seen it for five years. This insect
was also plentiful about Dover in the autumn of 1831. In
Warwickshire I have not seen a single specimen of C. cardui
during the present autumn.

These periodical appearances of particular insects are cer-
tainly curious. Should the above remarks attract the attention
of your readers, some may, perhaps, be able to throw more
light upon the subject. All that I have to offer is a bare
statement of the facts. — W, T, Bree. Allesley Rectory, Octch-
berll, 1833.

A Profile of the Human Form is observable upon the upper
Side of the Primary Wings ofCblias Edusa^ female. A Profile of
Chancellor Brougham is observable on the Reverse of Hipparchivi
Janlra, — It is observed, in vol. i. p. 518. of the Entomological
Magazine, " that on the reverse of Hipparchia Janir« may be
traced a very tolerably defined profile, in some specimens no
very bad likeness, of the Lord Chancellor Brougham." This
is not very evident in the specimens I have examined. A
much stronger resemblance of the human profile (I do not

Lepidopterous Insects, 263

say portrait of the chancellor) is exhibited on the upper side
of the primary wings of the female of CcMia^ Edus«. In some
specimens, which, I need hardly observe, vary very much, the
face is so conspicuous, as at once to catch the eye of the
beholder on the first inspection of the insect. The black spot
towards the centre of the wing forms the eye of the profile ;
the profile itself being yellow upon a black ground, and
fronting the tip of the wing. — W. T. Bree. Allesley Hectory^
Bee, 4. 1833.

Vanessa urtlc^e, a singular Variety of, captured near Lei-
cester, in June, 1833. — The ground colour of the upper
wings is, as usual, red ; in each wing two of the abbreviate
bands of black, and the intermediate one of pale orange,
coalesce into a dark blotch ; and two of the smaller spots are
wanting. The band on the posterior margin is less distinct
than in ordinary specimens ; the blue, and yellow edging
entirely wanting. The inferior wings are brown, with a
lighter tinge towards the base, and very indistinct markings
at the edgings. The individual was captured by my brother,
Mr. J. G. Glossop, and myself, in one of our entomological
rambles. — F. H. N, Glossop. Eiiderby, near Leicester, Nov.
21. 1833.

A specimen of a variety of V. urticae, very similar to that
captured by Mr. Glossop, was exhibited at the November
meeting (1833) of the Entomological Society. — E. N. D.
[to whom we have shown Mr. Glossop's drawing.]

Notes on Pterophori, with a Description of P. similiddctylus
Curt. — I may announce the discovery of a new Pterophorus,
under the name of P. similidactylus Curt. Guide, gen. 104-0. 1 7.
" Cinereous-ochre or grey ; base of head and collar dark brown,
superior wdngs partially dotted with black, deeply cleft at the
apex, and falcated, the costa and inferior margin a little darker,
terminating suddenly, forming at the cleft an oblique and
darker line partially edged with white, cilia fuscous; inferior
wings trilobed, but simple ; legs white, anterior tibiae with the
inside and apex fuscous, intermediate with a bunch of fuscous
scales at the middle and another at the apex, the posterior
fuscous outside ; the tips of the joints of the tarsi fuscous. It
resembles, in size and appearance, the P. megadactylus of
Hlib. ; but the falcated apex to the lower lobe of the superior
wings will at once distinguish it : and the legs are spotted and
very similar to those of P. trigonodactylus Ha*w. ,- but it does
not belong to the same section." (Ctirt. MSS.) It was first
taken by Mr. Curtis at Niton, Isle of Wight, and afterwards
by Mr. Cocks and myself at Braunton Burrows in Devon,
where we found a fine variety of a dark lead colour, which we

s 4

26^ Shoi't Communicatiotis :-^

thought at first to be another species. Mr. Morris and I have
also found it, about the end of July, at Charmouth.

P. spilodactylus Curtis^ Br. Ent, PL — I found a larva of
this moth at Blackgang Chine, Isle of Wight, on some worm-
wood, June 10. 1832, which produced the moth in July 11.
following. The larva is rather darker, but very similar to that
of galactodactylus (which is light green, with a white pubes-
cence), and is found on the underside of burdock leaves, close
to the fibres, which it so much resembles that it requires
some care to discover it. I found it in Clapham Park
Wood, Beds., on May 30. 1820, and bred it on June 29. fol-
lowing ; since which I have found it in plenty in a wood near
Andover, Reading, and at Glanville's Wootton.

P. carphodactylus Hiih,^ or citridactylus Haw, I took two
specimens at Glanville's Wootton, May 15. and June 1. 1818 ;
and Mr. B. Standish sent me one from Whittleseamere,
August 4. 1821 ; since which time I have not found it. Mr.
Curtis took P. tephradactylus Hiib., in the Isle of Arran,
which is the only one I have ever seen alive. P. trigono-
dactylus I generally take in plenty, where the coltsfoot grows,
at Barton Cliff, Hants ; one also at Glanville's Wootton, and
another at Loch Rannoch, in constant succession, from May 20.
to October 4. What I have seen in cabinets as P. calodac-
tylus, tesseradactylus, and punctidactylus, appear to me to be
varieties only of one species : they all appear here from April
to October, and are by no means rare ; and the P. calodac-
tylus I found in the Isle of Arran, and near Arrochar and
Loch Katrine, in Scotland. This last seems the most distinct
of the three, being of a reddish colour ; but I see no character
that can be called specific which will not comprehend the other
two ; and it is perhaps doubtful if more than one be synony-
mous with the Continental species. Mr. Curtis gave me a
pair of Adactylus BennetzV Br. Ent. PL, a species which has
the wings undivided ; and Mr. Haworth had one allied to
hexadactylus, taken by Mr. Stone, and to which he gave the
name of ptilodactylus. — J. C. Dale. Blamlford, Jan. 5. 1 834.

Hymenopterous Insects. — Yespa hritdnnica (VI. 538.)
occasionally builds underground, as *well as in Beehives, I have
by me some specimens of this insect taken in 1828 from a
nest in a bank. I have also some nests similar to figs. 69,
70. (VI. 537.), taken from beehives, but I cannot say to what
species they belong, not having captured the architects.
Three years ago, a beautiful globular nest, about 8 in. in
diameter, was shown to me, suspended from a branch of a
fir tree in a shrubbery ; and a few nights after, I cut down
the branch, and made preparations for suffocating the in-

Hymenopterous Insects, 265

habitants, when I found, to my surprise, that they had spon-
taneously deserted their nest, and left it me, an uncontested
prize. This was probably formed by the Fdspa holsatica,
as it agrees with a correspondent's description (VI. 539.) of
the nest which he had obtained of that species.-— i/. E. Strick-
land. Nov. 22, 1833.

Wasps (Vespa vulgar is) their Relative Abundance or Rarity
in 1833. (VI. 490. note f.) — Wasps were unusually numerous
here last summer. Half a dozen or more might always be
seen buzzing about in every window in the house. The
garden was full of them, and they devoured nearly the whole
of the latest ripe red gooseberries. Eight or ten nests were
destroyed within 50 yards of the house. — A Subscriber. Vale
ofAlford, Aberdeenshire^ Nov. 20. 1 833.

Wasps will partake of the extravasated sap which drains
down the exterior of trunks of diseased elm trees ; at least, I
witnessed two doing this, on July 27. 1833, in Kensington
Gardens : with them, and also partaking of the sap, were a
blow fly and blue flies. — J. D.

[Nematus ribesii Stephens (III. 245., *with ajigure in 246.;
but under the erroneous name of Tenthredo cdprece L.]. — In
this neighbourhood we had, last summer, two, and, in some
gardens, three, visits of the gooseberry caterpillar. The first
was a very destructive one ; the second was about the end of
August, or beginning of September; and the third about a
month later. This is quite unusual here, though apparently
not so in some other places (see III. 245.) A colony of
wood ants (jPormica rufa?) in a garden is found here of great
effect in keeping it clear of this pest. — A Subscriber. Vale
ofAlford, Aberdeenshire, Nov. 20. 1833.

[" The caterpillars of the Nematus capreae are never fourid
on the gooseberry bush, but feed on the leaves of the sallow
[c>alix caprea />.], and of several species of willow and osier,
to which they are said to be sometimes very destructive. The
Nematus of the gooseberry and currant bushes, though it
nearly resembles N. capreae, and has been confounded with it
by Fabricius and other naturalists, has been clearly shown to
be a distinct species ; it has been named Nem.atus ribesii by
Stephens." (Scotus, in the Horticultural Register, iii. 188.)]

Trichiosbma lucbrum Leach (V. 85. 748.; VI. 1 57.)? the Larva*'
of, ejects from the Pores of its Body a *i<ohite Liquid, in thin
fountain-like Columns. — This interesting fact, and the de-
tails of it, mistakingly ascribed, in VI. 157.j to the larva of
Tenthredo amerinae Lin., belong to the larva of the Trichio-
soma lucorum Leach. Our correspondent was led into
the mistake by identifying the larva with that figured by

2^6 Short Communications : —

Shaw, in his Zoology (vol. vi. p. 274. pi. 90. fig. 1.), as the larva
of the Tenthredo amerinae of Linnaeus, with which it *' cor-
responded in every particular." A larva, however, which he
took has since developed an imago ; and this, with the cocoon,
has been submitted to an eminent entomologist, who has pro-
nounced them of Trichiosoma lucorum; and also added : —

" Tenthredo amerince Lin. is a very scarce insect; and,
although it is said to occur in Britain, I doubt the fact. One
mutilated specimen, of doubtful origin, is in one of the London
cabinets."

Our correspondent thinks that the larva of Trichiosoma
lucorum, which displayed the facts described, might be a dis-
eased individual. If so, its acts may not be usual to the
species. Additional observation, which, as the insect is not
rare in Britain, many can give, is necessary to determine this.

Ichneumons and other Hxjmenopterous Insects ; their Habit,
*when in a winged State, of devouring the Larvcc of other In-
sects, (VL 414- — 447.) In September, 1833, Mr. Newman
sent us a warm commendation of Mr. Lewis's interesting
discovery of this habit, as described, in a communication by
Mr. Westwood, in VL 414 — 419. Mr. Newman added:
" In saying that I have observed this larva-devouring pro-
perty in ichneumons, I would only wish to corroborate Mr.
Lewis's statement, not to claim the discovery." Of the
species of hymenopterous insects, carnivorous in a winged
state, Mr. Westwood has, in VL 417., instanced the Pimpla
stercorator (the species whose acts Mr. Lewis has there de-
scribed), wasps, and ants ; probably the Sphex sabulosa may
be added to these (see VL 477., and Gill's Technicolo-
gical Repository, for Oct. 1828); and possibly the species of
ichneumon which Mr. Newman has observed, in a winged
state, to devour larvae, are farther additions to the list of
hymenopterous insects which are, in the winged state, car-
nivorous.— J, D.

Ichneumons; their Power of stinging (VI. 417. and note *), -—
To the facts and instances adduced there by Mr. Westwood,
two facts are given in Kirby and Spence's Introd., i. 121.
note *, which prove the same thing. — J, H, F. Dec. 1833.

Ants conroeying in their Mouths other Ants of their own Spe-
cies (VI. 287. and 476.) ; and the Courage of the Wood or Fallow
Ant (Formica riifa). — On the habits of ants, I would parti-
cularly recommend to the reader the Natural History of Ants,
by M. P. Huber (translated by J. R. Johnson, MID., Lon-
don, 1820), as exceedingly interesting. According to my own
observations, the practice of ants carrying each other is very

Hymenopterom Insects. 267

frequent among the wood ants ( J^ormica rufa) ; but I have not
been fortunate enough to observe it among the other species.
Whether, however, this carrying process be for the purpose
assigned by Huber, that of removing to a new habitation, I
much doubt. I have never been able to trace the carriers to
their destination : but, I think, it cannot be for the purpose
of removing to a new place of habitation ; for the old habi-
tations, to which my observations have been directed, still
remain in the same place from year to year, inhabited as usual.
I would ask, is not this operation confined to particular sea-
sons? Has any one observed it at all times during the sum-
mer ? We want more facts on the subject. That the ants
thus carried are " prisoners taken in a conflict with some
neighbouring enemy," as supposed by Mr. Hill (VI. 476.), is,
I think, improbable. I have always observed, if the carrier
be deprived of its prey, it will run about confusedly ; but, the
moment the prey is restored, the carrier immediately takes it
up again, and there is no resistance offered by the prisoner.
If they were captives taken in battle, I presume they would
resist a second capture, or be anxious to make their escape
when removed from the grasp of the enemy ; but I have never
seen any disposition of the kind manifested. I have often
been amused by the courage exhibited by these little beings,
when disturbed or annoyed. They erect their bodies, fixing
and balancing themselves by their hind and middle legs, in
most formidable attitude ; whilst their mandibles and first
pair of legs are used for defence. When provoked to this,
they eject a liquid from the mouth with great violence: in
one instance, I am sure, it was thrown to the distance of three
inches. The operation is repeated two or three times if the
provocation be continued, but with less force each time ; and
they then appear exhausted, and disinclined to continue the
contest, and decamp with all possible alacrity. — C. Corvwai/,
Sept. 21. 1833.

A Battle between Ants of the Species Myrmica riibra^ and
Ants of the Species Myrmica cce'spitum, — On Sept. 4. 1832,
I was walking beside a wall a foot or so taller than myself;
off the upper part of which, in one place, I, in passing, ob-
served small insects to be descending, as it were, by a flying
leap. This led my eye to the pathway along which I was
walking at the foot of the walk, where, for the length of five
yards, and the width of three, the ground was sprinkled, and,
as it were, in part animated, with winged ants ; most of them
in pairs, but some single ones, which seemed to be earnestly
seeking partners. The pairs were severally composed of a
red ant and a dark-coloured one, which strenuously combated

268 Short Commimications : —

each other ; but I did not at this time feel certain whether
in the feeling of love or of war, as the imperfect examin-
ation I then gave them, and the actions of the single ones,
left me undecided. The next day, however, cleared up the
question, by exhibiting numerous dead ants, of both the red
and dark kinds, on the site of the previous day's activity. I
picked up dead specimens, which I have since submitted to
Mr. Westwood ; who has kindly informed me that (as far as
it is determinable from bad specimens) " the red ones are of
Myrmica rubra, the dark ones of M. cae'spitum." — J. D,

Instances of determined Resistance of Detention in the large
black Wood Afit, (VI. 287.) — A few days since, I caught
one, and held it by the legs [? leg], but so as not to hurt it.
After it had made various fruitless efforts to escape, it de-
liberately and without cessation began to bite off the leg
[? legs], which it did in about a minute. I caught another,
which was beginning to do the same thing ; but I let it (^o, —
H, B. Bids, Nov. 16. 1833.

Ants and their carnivorous Habits, as noticed by Mr. West-
wood, in VI. 417. — In one of the volumes of Gill's Techni-
cological Repository (the number for June, p. 335, 336.), an
interesting account is given, by Mr. Carpenter, in amount as
follows : — In walking across a field, he observed the footpath
covered, for many yards in length, with the wing-cases of nu-
merous cockchafers, with a number of the heads of the insects
still alive, though separated from the rest of their bodies, and the
bodies of others actually crawling about without heads. The
cockchafers had been left in that state by the birds, who were
succeeded in the work of destruction by numerous small black
ants. These " had crawled up the sides of the chafers, and
had taken possession of the interior of their bodies, and were
devouring them alive. Many of the heads, I observed, were
also being carried away by the ants to their nests. If the
sense of feeling in these insects was as acute as in the higher
order of animals, the pain they endured must have been
dreadful. I had, indeed, before frequently seen an individual
of one species of insect making a meal from another species ;
but never before did I witness such a host of cannibals engaged
in their work of eating up, alive, insects that were actually
crawling away with their devourers within their bodies I "
Be it remembered, that the bodies of the cockchafers, although
not dead, had been mutilated and mangled by the birds.
The ants, like the dogs in the city of Constantinople, were
removing the animal remains, and, by so doing, pieventing
the contribution to miasma which the putrescence of them
might occasion. I have witnessed several ants engaged in

Hymenopterous Insects. 269

removing the dead and partly dried body of an earthworm of
moderate size. In the kitchen of a house known to me, in
Kensington Gravel Pits, ants of a very minute species were
very abundant during the summer of 1833: they would par-
take of the meat, and of the butter, &c., when they could get
to it. — J. Z).

A Mode of destroying Ants in gardens is asked for by G. T.,
in lE,nt. Mag., i. 521. These modes for destroying them, or
attracting them to the end of their being destroyed, have been
published in the Gard. Mag. v., 730., vii. 315.: — Baits: the
refuse part of melons, slices of raw turnip rubbed over with
honey, recently cooked bones of roast or boiled meat or fish.
Poisons : a well-compounded mixture of equal parts of loaf
sugar, oxide of arsenic, and well-pulverised white bread,
strewed, as occasion may require, both as to time and quan-
tity, in the haunts of the ants. The mixture to be kept in a
bottle dry for use. Ants, however, it seems, by the remarks
under Nematus ribesii, in p. 265., may be useful in a garden.
— J.D.

Remarks and Facts on Ants. — My children have just finished
reading a few interesting anecdotes respecting the natural
history of the ant. I have read in books, and heard from the
lips of learned teachers, many such anecdotes, chiefly taken
from the statements of Solomon, that " she (the ant) pro-
videth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the
harvest." The gentleman who wrote the book which my
children have been reading [We presume, a paper in the
Spectator; as we remember a tantamount paper in that work.]
says that he had two commonwealths of ants in a flower-box,
in his window, two stories high, which he thought of planting
tulips in : but, seeing the ants, he was sorry to disturb them ;
and was more amused with the ants than he could have been
with the tulips. This may be true : every one to his taste.
I am no great admirer of tulips ; but I detest a nest of ants.
However, then follow the anecdotes, many of which are truly-
marvellous. He says that wheat is their favourite food ; but
that they are also fond of rye and oats- He observed one
ant bring in its paws [? jaws] a full-sized grain of wheat up to
the window from the ground ; but, being so tired, it dropped
it from top to bottom. The ant went down the wall a second
time, and found its grain of wheat, and brought it back up
the wall ; but, just as it was getting it into the box, it dropped
a second time. The ant again descended the wall, and again
found its favourite grain; but, being then so very much
fatigued, another ant assisted it to scale the wall, and deposit
the precious grain in their storehouse ! If the above account

270 Short Communications I --^

be true, it is very interesting ; but, if it be false, it is very
wrong to put such books into the hands of children. I have
had as much to do with ants and ant-hills as most men ; and
never yet could find their winter store of provision, any more
than I could find honey in a wasp's nest. I have had men
[levelling down and] spreading ant-hills for days together,
and have offered them a quart of ale for a thimbleful of the
ants' winter food, of either wheat, rye, or oats ; but never
could attain my object, nor the men theirs. I have strewed
rice and wheat about an ant-hill, and seen them lugging it
away ; but I firmly believe the stupid creatures only mistook
it for their own eggs. The ants, like the wasp, and most
[many] other insects, live entirely upon fluids, or suction;
and lie quite dormant in the winter : their stomachs could no
more digest wheat or rye, than my stomach could digest horse-
nails. The wasp is seen to eat rotten wood, &c. ; but it is
only for the purpose of forming its comb-cells. The cater-
pillar and silkworm eat green food ; but this is only for the
purpose of preparing them for their change. The butterfly
and moth live only by suction. The ant is nothing more
than a biennial, or, at most, a triennial insect : when it comes
to perfection, it becomes a winged insect, propagates its spe-
cies, and then dies. What sorry naturalists must those, then,
be who hold up the ant as a pattern for improvident man ?
Truly, such writers should be looked upon by modern readers
as quite «w/iquated.

They are still less acquainted with the history of the ant,
who say she " hath no guide, overseer, or ruler." I shall
never forget the first time I saw a nest of the large black ant ;
it was in a large forest in the south of England. I saw some-
thing alive lying right across my footpath : I took it for some
monstrous serpent ; but, on looking more attentively, I per-
ceived it to be a thoroughfare of black ants : it actually re-
sembled one of the crowded streets of London, I traced it
to both ends : the one terminated at a huge ant-hill, as large
as a heaped-up bushel ; the other end went up a huge oak
tree, and there dispersed all over the limbs, branches, and
twigs of the tree. Is it to be thought that they were " pre-
paring the acorns as food in the summer, to be gathered by
them as meat in the harvest?" Really, these large ants
might lug away small acorns, on level ground, as easily as the
small red ant could carry a large grain of wheat up a brick
wall two stories high. But, no ; they were merely sucking
the honey-dews, and excretions proceeding from smaller in-
sects. Neither would they all have kept one track if they had
not had a guide ; nor brought home their full bellies, if they

Dipterous Insects, Plants, 271

had not had a governor, or, what is more likely, some self-

interest I wish my homely remarks may prevent the

telling again of any untrue statements of the foresight, &c.,
of the ant, to children. — John Howden,

Dipterous Insects, with others. — A Mode of deterring
House-Flies from entering Apartments, — A paper, by W.
Spence, Esq., was read at the last Meeting (April 1.) of the
Entomological Society, on the mode successfully adopted, in
Italy, of excluding these pests of hot climates, in the au-
tumnal months, from apartments. The mode is, simply,
keeping constantly nailed on the outside of the windows
thread nets, with meshes of an inch or more in diameter ;
through which, though the windows (French) are wide open,
the flies (either taking the nets for spiders' webs, or from
some inexplicable dread) never attempt to pass : and thus, in
a room so defended, not a fly is to be found, while they
swarm elsewhere. Mr. Spence concluded his paper by ad-
verting to an unexpected coincidence, which had occurred to
his eldest son, between this practice and a similar one men-
tioned by Herodotus (lib. ii. cap. 95.), as having been practised
by the Egyptian fishermen, 2300 years ago, of securing them-
selves from the attacks of gnats. [See Mr. Sells's notice of
the use of the mosquito net, in V. 480.]

Plants.' — Malcbmm maritima Brown a British Plant, —
The merit of having first added this lively little annual to the
British Flora, I believe, is due to Miss Harvey of Upper
Deal, a lady zealously devoted to natural history, who has
kindly supplied me with specimens gathered by herself, in
April last, " under the cliff about half way between St. Mar-
garet's and Dover, in various places, for a quarter of a mile,
where the banks were grassy. The specimens exactly resem-
ble the garden ones, save that the leaves and plant are alto-
gether smaller." Of the specimens sent me, few exceed two
inches in height, and some scarcely one.

The sea coast, it may be remarked, must always be con-
sidered, more or less, a somewhat suspicious habitat for any
plant of exotic aspect, there being so many chances of foreign
seeds, or even roots, having been accidentally thrown on
shore, and deposited in such situations.

The Guernsey Lily (Amaryllis sarnimsis L. fil.), a native of
Japan, owes its establishment, as a species indigenous to
European soil, to the melancholy circumstance of a Dutch or
English ship, coming from Japan, having been cast away on
the island, from which the plant has acquired its ordinary
English appellation.

Nevertheless, we ought not any longer to deny the Mediter-

272 Short Commu7iicatio?is : —

ranean stock a place in the list of natives, since, at the very
least, it now appears to have become naturalised on our shore,
and at any rate may, with as much propriety, be considered
a British plant, as many others whose claims have been ad-
mitted. My intelligent informant very justly remarks that
" there are no gardens or houses under the cliff between
St. Margaret's and Dover, nor are there any in that direction
above near the cliff;" so that it is not likely the stock in
this situation should have been the mere outcast of a garden.

While on the subject of Kentish botany, I take the oppor-
tunity of stating that Miss Harvey finds the beautiful

(Sphrys fucifera in great ]yrqfiision at particular spots be-
tween Walmer and St. Margaret's. In a letter accompanying
some fresh specimens in flower, received in May last, she
remarks : — " Two years ago I found five specimens, and
thought myself fortunate : within the last week I have gathered
three hundred, and yet have left an abundance. They seem
more prolific than any of the orchis tribe. The specimens vary
very much in the number and colour of the flowers, and in
the size of the leaves." (See Catalogue of rare or remarhahle
Phcenogamous Plants collected in South Kent^ by G. E. Smith.) —
W* T, Bree. Mesley Rectory, Oct, 11. 1833.

Alyssum maritimum Lam. is another plant abundant on the
shores of the Mediterranean Sea, and supposed to have arisen
on the shores of Britain from seeds borne hither, on the waves,
from the former place. Mr. Winch has, in some one of his
published works, enumerated all those species of the plants
called British which he conceives to be not aboriginally so,
and has traced the first appearance here of some of them to
the importation of ballast, and to other adventitious sources.

Trichonema BulhocMium Ker grows wild, in great abund-
ance, among turf, in a dry sandy soil, on the Warren (a
sandy tract) between Dawlish and Exmouth, Devonshire.
The exact spot is on the left of the old road from Exeter to
Dawlish, before you ascend the hill to Mount Pleasant, and
almost in front of the small cottages there : it extends, at
intervals, to the ferry. My friend W. C. Trevelyan, Esq.,
of Wallington, Northumberland, and myself, found it there,
on March 24. 1834, in full flower: its ribbed corolla, of a
purplish blue colour, is strikingly beautiful. Trichonema
(/xia) Bulbocodium has never before been found wild in
England. It is well figured, in English Botany, as a native
of Guernsey; and it abounds in the south of Europe. — Mm
Milford. Coaver House, near Exeter,

Asperula arvensis L. was not, in the summer of 1832, dis-

Plants, 273

coverable in its only known British habitat, near Plymouth,
to which I was directed by Mr. Banks himself, and which I
diligently explored. I have gathered A. arv^nsis wild on the
Continent, where its habitats differ in condition from that
at Plymouth. From all I could learn, I was led to conclude
that the appearance of this plant, in the Plymouth habitat,
was purely adventitious ; and that it must, until new habitats
shall have been discovered, be expunged from the list of
native British vegetables. — W. A, Bromfeld^ M.D. Hastings^
Feb. 8. 1834.

Doronicum Vardalianches L. grows, in comparative abund-
ance, at Saling, near Great Bardfield, in Essex ; but it may,
from its situation on the bank of an old enclosure, where
there is an ancient mansion, have escaped from a garden
[either by the wind's disseminating some of the winged fruits
(seeds) of its discoid florets (those of its rayed florets are not
winged), or from some of its abundantly produced stolones
having been removed from the garden as rubbish]. — 17. G.
Lexden, M of Uh Month {April), 1834.

Sisymbrium polycerdtium L. grows wild at the base of the walls
of certain streets of Bury St. Edmunds. I have forgotten its
origin there ; but I think that it emanated from the garden of
the late Sir Thomas G. Cullum, Bart. The streets in which
I have seen most of it are, Northgate Street, Garland Street,
Short Brackland, &c. ; but the cleaning efforts of the sur-
veyor's men do not allow so many plants as could be wished
to bear seeds. — J. D.

Drosera rotundifblia L. occasionally exhibits its Flowers in an
expanded State, (VI. 469.) — ^Drosera rotundifolia must, un-
questionably, be considered a shy and capricious plant as
regards the expansion of its blossoms ; and we have yet to
learn the laws by which its motions in this respect are regu-
lated. That they do not depend solely on the presence or
absence of sunshine is quite clear; for, though I have known
the plant from my early boyhood, I am not quite certain that
I ever saw its blossoms fairly expanded till this summer.
Botanising, the 27th of July last, on the shores of Coleshill
Pool, where the Drosera grows in great profusion, I was sur-
prised and delighted at beholding the flowers on every plant
fully and beautifully expanded. The day was warm and bright,
but the sunshine at intervals interrupted by passing clouds :
the hour of the day, I think, must have been from a Httle
before twelve to one. In the preceding summer, about
July 24. to 26., I happened to have paid two visits to the
same spot, when the weather was equally fine and bright;
and on both these occasions gathered many specimens of
Drosera, but not a single one was to be found with its flowers
Vol. VII. — No. 39. t

274? Short Commtmications : —

expanded. When this lovely little plant fairly unfolds its
charms, its dewy leaves glistening in the sun, it may truly be
regarded as one of the brightest gems of Flora. Your cor-
respondent, Mr. Brown, appears duly to appreciate its " love-
liness." (VI. 469.) May I be allowed to add, that I should have
much pleasure in shaking that gentleman by the hand, and,
did circumstances permit, in accompanying him to the native
marshes of Scheuchzerm palustris, Carex helionastes, and
other rarities. Yours, &c. — W, T. Bree, Allesley Rectory,
Sept, 9. 1833. [Mr. Brown will please to observe the date.]

The Sap of the Sycamore {A>cer Pseudo-Vlatanus L.) is sweet,
(V. 346.) — I used, when a boy, to cut notches in the syca-
more trees which used to shelter my father's kailyard (they
grew in two clumps, nine in one, seven in the other), and
sip the sap as it dropped from the wounds. — John Howden,
[Sugar is manufactured from the sap of several acers.]

Affinities between Plants and S2ibjacent Rocks, (VI. 335. 424.)
— Neither the foxglove (Digitalis purpurea L,) nor the bil-
berry [Faccinium Myrtillus L."] ever, I believe, grow upon
limestone. The hills of limestone and gritstone in this neigh-
bourhood are of nearly the same altitude, and dip into each
other in a most singular manner. We have also large tracts
of uncultivated land, both of limestone and gritstone. Now,
the Digitalis grows so abundantly on the gritstone, from the
summit of the hills to the bottom, that I have, for years, been
in the habit of noticing that the different substrata may be
determined by the presence or absence of this plant; for I
have never seen a single plant on limestone, even where it has
grown abundantly, within a few hundred yards, upon the
sandstone. — TV, Cautrell, Wirksworth^ Derbyshire, Sept, 26*
]833.

Geology. — For Lacustrine Formations, among the Tertiary
Beds of this Part of the Country, but little search has been
hitherto made ; although there is every reason to believe that
they exist in several parts of Essex. Mr. Edward Charlesworth
of Ipswich lately pointed out to me a very interesting section of
one of these formations at Stutton, by the side of the river Stour,
about six miles south of Ipswich. It consists of a tenacious
grey-coloured clay in one part, and a greenish sand in another,
extending along the margin of the Stour to the distance of
about 1 00 yards. The tide, at high water, reaches the foot of
the cliff, which it occasionally undermines ; and it appears to
have made great encroachment upon the land, from the extent
of ooze in that part of the river. Some of the shells are
coloured by the red oxide of iron ; and the clay, in patches,
has a ferruginous appearance. It appears a locality that
would well reward an elaborate research. I have paid it but

Plants^ Geology,

275

a single visit ; and the following list of organic remains is the
result of that day's labour : —

Conchifera bimusculbsa : Conchacea fluviatUia ; Cyclas ob-
licjua, cornea, and pusilla ; Cyrena trigonula ITVood^, Naiada :
Anodonta sp. ? ; U^nio sp. ? Trachelipoda : Colimacea ; Suc-
cinea amphibia and oblonga ; Helix hortensis, lucida, fusca,
rufescens, and palud5sa {Montagu); Carychium minimum,
Pupa marginata, Bulimus lubricus. Lymnceana: Lymnse'a
auricularia, peregra, fossaria, and palustris; Planorbis cari-
natus, corneus, vortex, contortus, imbricatus. Peristomidna :
Paludina impura, Valvata piscinalis and cristata. Crustacea :
Branchiopoda ; one Cypris. Some fragments of bones, and
the lower jaw of one of the gnawers, a species of Arvicola.

Cyrena trigonula [Wood]. — The accompanying shell {fig,
45. fir, h) is very abundant at Stutton. I have ventured to name it

b

trig6nula until some more appropriate epithet be given to it.
The shell may be thus characterised : — Testa ovato-trigona,
subaequilatera, crassa, subimbricata, dentibus cardinalibus
tribus in utraque valva, dentibus lateralibus magnis serratis.
It approaches near to C trigona of Deshayes, Paris Foss,
pi. 19. fig. 16, 17.; from which, however, it is easily distin-
guished, by its being nearly equilateral and subimbricated.
The generality of the specimens are much eroded externally ;
but one or two which I have distinctly show the depressed
imbrications.

All the other species of shells I have been able to identify
with recent analogues ; the ITnio and Anodonta are scarcely
perfect enough to decide upon. I have received a ^qw spe-
cimens of the Valvata piscinalis, from a freshwater formation
at Copford, about five miles west of Colchester. But this is
a spot I have not yet visited : perhaps some correspondent in
that neighbourhood may make us better acquainted with its
contents. — S. V. Wood. Woodbridge, March 27. 1834.

[Mr. J. D. C. Sowerby has drawn the figures a and b
from some of the specimens obligingly forwarded by Mr.
Wood. Mr. Sowerby remarked that the Cyrena trigonula
Wood assimilates closely to the Cyrena deperdita Sowerby in
Mineral Conchology, fig. 162. and our.y^. 45. c, but differs
from it in its posterior side being less angular, and in its newer
geological position.]

T 2

276

MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE.

Art. I. Retrospective Criticism.

The Vulture's Nose. [p. 165 — 169.] — The American phi-
losophers have signed a solemn certificate that they feel
assured that the two species of vultures which inhabit the
United States " are guided to their food altogether through
their sense of sight, and not that of smell" [p. 169.] : I, on
the contrary [V. 233—241., VI. 163 — 171.], that all vultures
can find their food through the medium of their olfactory
nerves, though it be imperceptible to their eye.

I cannot consent to deprive the vultures of their noses
merely on the strength of experiments which, from circum-
stances, may prove fallacious, notwithstanding every possible
precaution ; and, in the cases before us, I find myself con-
strained to dispute the legitimacy of the deductions at which
these gentlemen calculate they have arrived. The effluvium
from the dead hare and the offal which they had procured
might have been prevented from ascending by the covering of
brushwood ; or it might have been depressed to the earth by
humidity, or by a current of wind. Either of these sug-
gestions may be adopted in the present instance, because the
dogs, which had no tainted footsteps to guide them, still
found that which insured their discovery of the carrion.

The sad experiment of putting out the poor vulture's eyes
fills me with distressing emotions. The supposed fact of the
tortured captive not smelling his favourite food, when placed
within an inch of his nostrils, forces us to conclude, either
that Nature had not intended that his beautifully developed
organs of scent should be of the least service to him, or that
the intensity of pain totally incapacitated the lone prisoner
from touching food. 1 am of the latter opinion. Un-
questionably the pain caused by the dreadful operation ren-
dered the miserable sufferer indifferent to all kind of
sustenance. I myself have been unable to eat when in the
gripes; and I once knew an old owl which died of sheer
want, rather than swallow any thing in captivity. What
would the American philosophers think of me, had I got this
ow?s demise well authenticated by the signatures of divers
scientific men, and then despatched it across the Atlantic, in
order to prove that owls do not secure their prey by means

Retrospective Criticism, 277

of their feet, because, forsooth, the incarcerated owl in ques-
tion never once struck her talons into the food which had
been placed within an inch of them.

Nothing can show more forcibly the utter fallacy of the
American experiments, than the attack of the vultures on the
coarse painting which represented a " sheep skinned and cut
up/' Till I had read the account of it, I had always imagined
that the vulture had a remarkably keen and penetrating eye.
I must now alter my opinion. If the American gentlemen
do not mind what they are about, they will ultimately prove
too much (" quod nimium probat, nihil probat " [who proves
too much, proves nothing]), and at last compel us English-
men to conclude that the vultures of the United States can
neither see nor smell. They assure us that these birds are
not guided to their food by their scent, but by their sight
alone ; and then, to give us a clear idea how defective that
sight is, they show us that their vultures cannot distinguish
the coarsely painted carcass of a sheep on canvass from that
of a real sheep. They " commenced tugging at the paint-
ing," and " seemed much disappointed and surprised " that
they had mistaken canvass for mutton. Sad blunder ! Piti-
able, indeed, is the lot of the American vulture ! His nose
is declared useless in procuring food, at the same time that
his eyesight is proved to be lamentably defective. Unless
something be done for him, \ is ten to one but that he '11
come to the parish at last, pellis et ossa, a bag of bones.

The American philosophers having fully established the
fact, that their vultures are prone to mistake a piece of
coarsely painted canvass for the carcass of a real sheep
" skinned and cut up," I am now quite prepared to receive
accounts from Charleston of vultures attacking every shoul-
der-of-mutton sign in the streets, or attempting to gobble
down the painted sausages over the shop doors, or tugging
with might and main at the dim and faded eyes in some
decaying portrait of the immortal Doctor Franklin.

The absurdity of all this must be evident to everybody.
1, in my turn, hope to prove satisfactorily, by inference,
that which the American philosophers have failed to demon-
strate by EXPERIMENTS. I State that effluvium from putrid
matter, being lighter than common air, necessarily ascends in
the atmosphere, unless artificially impeded (as probably was
the case in the first experiment of the American philosophers),
or prevented from mounting by superincumbent humidity.
Now, the organ of scent, which is strongly developed in the
vulture, coming in contact with this effluvium, when it is
allowed to float in the atmosphere, enables the bird to trace

T 3

278 Retrospective Criticism.

the carrion down to its source. Hence I infer that vultures
can find their food through the medium of their olfactory-
nerves : and, this being the case, I am of opinion that there
ought to be no great mystery attached to the act of the
vulture's finding putrid bodies, when those bodies are out of
sight, either on account of distance, or of interfering objects.
When the American philosophers shall have proved to
me, that effluvium from putrid substances does not ascend in
the air, and that the organisation of the vulture's nose is im-
perfect, then I will consider myself vanquished ; " efficaci do
manus scientiae." After those gentlemen shall have accom-
plished this, should their vultures pine in famine, by con-
tinuing to mistake canvass for carcass, why, rot 'em, they
may die, for aught I care to the contrary. — Charles Waterton,
Walton Hall, March 6. 1834-.

AuduhorHs Claim to the Authorship of the Biography of
Birds, [p. 171.] — I feel myself imperatively called upon by
the statement which the Rev. Mr. Bachman has given us of
" the purity, vigour, and originality " of Audubon's style of
writing the English language, to bring into one view the
contradictory testimonies of many pens. Young Audubon
tells us [in VI. 369.] that he has " the authority of a gentle-
man," whom we cannot mistake, I mean Mr. Swainson, to state
that it is " his firm conviction " that Audubon is the " bond
fde author " of the Biography. Swainson himself dc'clares
[p. 550.] that he has " read Mr. Audubon's original manu-
scripts," and that " the English " is as good as the English
of the Wanderings. Audubon himself informs us that a
friend aided him " in smoothing down the asperities of his
ornithological biographies." The Rev. Mr. Bachman does
not " hesitate to state that Audubon is the author of the
book." R. B., after telling us that Audubon, at the age of
seventeen, " could not speak the English language," remarks
that " it cannot, therefore, be the least disparagement to
Mr. Audubon, if, when he had a valuable work to publish
in English, he should wish to receive the assistance and
correction of a native." He adds that " Mrs. Audubon
is well qualified to correct her husband's manuscripts." I
know that Audubon was engaged, before his marriage, to
teach French in St. Francisville ; and, for a small consider-
ation, he undertook to teach the elements of drawing in
Philadelphia. Audubon states, in his introductory address,
that, " for a period of nearly twenty years, his life was a
succession of vicissitudes," and that he " tried various
branches of commerce, but they all proved itnprofitable."
Professor Jameson informs us that Mr. Audubon " devoted

Beirospective Criticism, 279

twenty-two years of his life to the study of the natural history
of the birds of North America. During the greater part of
that long period, he lived principally, and nearly alone, in
the woods." Audubon tells us, in his introductory address,
that he left the village of Henderson, where he had " resided
for several years." He also tells us of his " residence at
Louisville," where he had a " partner " in business, and " a
counting-room." On returning to Louisville, he remarks
that his thoughts were, " for once, at least, in the course of
his life, entirely engaged in commercial speculation." In p. 58.
of the Biography he says, " We were on a trading voyage as-
cending the Upper Mississippi;" where, by the by, he shot
his bird of Washington, which is considered no other bird
than the bald-headed eagle. In another place, we are informed
that " years were spent away from his family, with no other
object in view than simply to enjoy the sight of nature." We
know, from Audubon himself, that he had abandoned all
commercial pursuits at the time that he first fell in with
Charles Bonaparte, which is now about ten years ago. Pray,
how old is Mr. Audubon ? Powers of genius ! amid such
avocations of shop and wood, where did this Frenchman gain
his surprising knowledge of our language? I respectfully
request the Rev. Mr. Bachman to pay attention to the testi-
monies here advanced.

Audubon and his Ornithology, [p. 174.] — The account
which the Rev. Mr. Bachman gives of the recent ornitho-
logical labours of Mr. Audubon is quite uninteresting to me,
because I can put no trust in what Mr. Audubon published
on natural history, prior to his departure from this country.
Charles Bonaparte, with whom Audubon had " accidentally
formed an acquaintance " (see his introductory address), peti-
tioned the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia that
Audubon might be admitted a member. The necessary
measures were adopted, and Audubon was blackballed. I
am aware that he has since been elected : but thereby hangs
a tale. Will the reverend eulogist have the goodness to
enquire, why that respectable and learned society of gentle-
men deemed it incumbent upon them to refuse the application
of Charles Bonaparte ?

I here beg to draw the attention of the reverend gentle-
man to the two following extracts. The first is from Au-
dubon's Biography of Birds ; the second from Ord's Life of
Wilson,

" I rose, took down a large portfolio, laid it on the table,
and showed him (Wilson), as I would show you, kind
reader, or any other person fond of such subjects, the whole

T 4

280 Retrospective Criticism,

of its contents." Again : " Mr. Wilson asked if I should
have any objections to lending him a few (drawings) during
his stay ; to which I replied, that I had none. He then
bade me good morning, not, however, until I had made an
arrangement to explore the woods in the vicinity along with
him, and had promised to procure for him some birds, of
\vhich I had drawings in my collection, but which he had
never seen." This, indeed, was truly polite and friendly on
the part of Mr. Audubon. Again : " I presented him to my
wife and friends, and, seeing that he was all enthusiasm,
exerted myself as much as was in my power to procure for
him the specimens which he wanted. We hunted together,
and obtained birds" (mind, reader!) "which he had never
before seen."

Now for Wilson. I myself have seen, in Alexander Wil-
son's own handwriting, the following extracts: — "March 17.
Groped my way to Louisville, and put up at the Indian
Queen tavern." — "March 19. Rambled round the town

with my gun. Examined Mr. 's drawings in crayons.

Very good. Saw two new birds he had. Both Motacillce"
— " March 20. Set out this afternoon with the gun. Killed
nothing new. People in taverns here devour their meals.
Many shopkeepers board in taverns ; also boatmen, land
speculators, merchants, &c. No naturalist to keep me com-
pany,^* Mr. and Mrs. Audubon and family boarded at this
tavern. " March 21. Went out this afternoon, shooting,
with Mr. A. Saw a number of sandhill cranes. Pigeons
numerous." — " March 23. Packed up my things." — "I
bade adieu to Louisville, to which place I had four letters of
recommendation, and was taught to expect much of every
thing there; but neither received one act of civility from those
to whom I was recommended, one subscriber, nor one new
bird; although I delivered my letters, ransacked the woods
repeatedly, and visited all the characters" (mind this, reader !)
" likely to subscribe. Science or literature has not one friend
in this place. Every one is so intent on making money, that
they can talk of nothing else ; and they absolutely devour
their meals, that they may return sooner to their business.
Their manners correspond with their features."

Here we have two statements as opposite " as the anti-
podes are to us, or as the south to the septentrion." In
whicli of these two statements are we to put faith ?

In Ord's beautiful Life of Alexander Wilso7i, I follow the
poor Scottish wanderer across the Atlantic wave ; I peruse,
with deep interest, his many letters to his friends ; I grieve
with him in his sorrows and disappointments ; I bear him

Retrospective Criticism. 281

company in his astonishing expeditions ; and am enraptured
with his unrivalled Ornithology. In it I find no contra-
dictions to distract me ; no extravagances to astound me ; no
statements to awaken my suspicion. His descriptions are
consistent, his observations instructive, his plans heroic, and
his exertions unequalled. I admire him in life, and mourn,
with unfeigned sorrow, over his untimely end.

In looking into Audubon's writings, I fully agree in Dr.
Jones's opinion [VI. 550.1 of the account of the rattlesnake
swallowing a large grey squirrel, tail foremost; I condemn the
narrative of the passenger pigeon ; I find Audubon's account
of himself at variance with itself, and at variance with the
account which his friends give of him ; and I pronounce his
Biography of Birds to contain errors which any moderate
ornithologist may easily detect. — Charles Waterton,

The Passenger Pigeon, — " Towards the approach of day,
the noise in some measure subsided ; long before objects were
distinguishable, the pigeons began to move off in a direction
quite different from that in which they had arrived the evening
before ; and, at sunrise, all that were able to fly had disap-
peared. The bowlings of the wolves now reached our ears,
and the foxes, lynxes, cougars, bears, raccoons, opossums
and polecats were seen sneaking off." [Biography of Birds,
by Audubon, p. 325.)

" Variarum monstra ferarum ! " Virgil.

A prodigious variety of wild beasts.

Mr. Audubon may boast of a sight never before seen by
mortal eyes under similar circumstances. Great indeed must
have been the yearning for pigeon flesh, to have caused such
a variety of wild animals to assemble there ; and irresistible
the flavour which induced them to tarry so long beyond their
wonted time of prowling. Their very nature seems to have
been changed. Their remaining at the pigeon-slaughter till
the time of sunrise is a most wonderful circumstance, which
demands investigation on the part of naturalists; for, hitherto,
all these wild beasts which Mr. Audubon has introduced into
his description have only been known as animals of nocturnal
movements, and of very skulking and suspecting habits. In
general, the flash of a gun, the crackling of a flame, or the
shout of a huntsman, will scare any one of them, even when
concealed in the lonely retreat; but, on this ever-memor-
able occasion, the nerves of the animals, both large and small,
were strung up to an astonishing degree of intensity. The
day had already dawned unheeded by them ; and it was only
at sunrise that they seemed aware of being in dangerous com-
pany, and found that it was high time to sneak off" from a

282 Retrospective Criticism,

place where, Mr. Audubon tells us, " there was little under-
wood;" where " the uproar continued the whole of the night;"
where men had assembled "with iron pots containing sulphur;"
and " with torches of pine-knots, with poles and with guns;"
where " fires were lighted, and a magnificent as well as won-
derful and almost terrifying sight presented itself;" where, in
fine, the auditory faculties of Mr. Audubon himself became so
completely useless, on account of the stunning noise, that,
absolutely, he was "only aware of the firing by seeing the
shooters reloading." " O judgment ! thou art fled to brutish
beasts, and men have lost their reason," if they can bring
themselves to believe that into this sulphureous, torch-lighted,
detonating, yelling, roaring, and terrific attack on the pas-
senger pigeons, there came up a motley herd of wolves, foxes,
cougars, lynxes, bears, raccoons, opossums, and polecats, to
share the plunder, and actually tarried there till the rising of
the sun ; " at which time, Mr. Audubon informs us, they were
seen sneaking off. He himself saw what he relates.

But let us pass on. " The pigeons," continues Mr. Audu-
bon, " arriving by thousands, alighted everywhere, one above
another, until solid masses as large as hogsheads were formed
on the branches all around." Solid masses ! Our European
pigeons, in a similar situation, would have been all smothered
in less than three minutes. Mr. Audubon informs us, towards
the end of his narrative, that the feathers of this pigeon " fall
off at the least touch." From this, we may infer to a cer-
tainty that every pigeon which was unlucky enough to be
undermost in the solid masses would lose every feather from
its uppermost parts, through the pressure of the feet of those
above it. Now, I would fain believe that instinct taught these
pigeons to resort to a certain part of the forest, solely for the
purpose of repose, and not to undergo a process of inevitable
suffocation ; and, at the same time, to have their backs de-
prived of every feather, while they were voluntarily submitting
to this self-inflicted method of ending their days.

" Many trees," says Mr. Audubon, " two feet in diameter,
I observed, were broken off at no great distance from the
ground ; and the branches of many of the largest and tallest
had given way, as if the forest had been swept by a tornado.
Every thing proved to me that the number of birds resorting
to this part of the forest must be immense beyond conception."
I know that the force of a tornado will break the trunk of a
tree two feet in diameter, because its force acts horizontally
against the upright stem ; but how is it possible that a multitude
of pigeons, alighting upon a tree, could cause its upright bole,
two feet in diameter, to break off at no great distance from

Retrospective Criticism. 283

the ground ? The branches of the tree, which took their lead
diagonally from the bole, might possibly have given way under
a heavy pressure, because they were inclined more or less
from their perpendicular ; but the upright bole itself would
stand uninjured, and defy for ever any weight that could be
brought to bear upon it from above.

I now leave the assemblage of wild beasts, the solid masses
of pigeons as large as hogsheads, and the broken trunk of the
tree two feet in diameter, to the consideration of those British
naturalists who have volunteered to support a foreigner in his
exertions to teach Mr. Bull ornithology in the nineteenth
century.

The passages upon which I have just commented form part
of " the facts" on which R. B., in Vol. VI. of this Magazine,
[p. 371.] tells us that the value of Mr. Audubon's Biography
of Birds solely rests. No wonder that, ruit alto a culmine.
By the way, I observe, at the end of that Biography, a most
laudatory notice by Mr. Swainson. He tells us that Audubon
contemplated Nature as she really is, not as she is represented
in books ; he sought her in her sanctuaries. Well, be it so ;
I do not dispute his word : still I suspect, that, during the
search and contemplation, either the dame herself was in
liquor, or her wooer in hallucination. — Charles Waterton,
Walton Hall, Jan. 19. 1834..

2^he British Species of Eel, their Mode of Propagation (V,
313. 744. )j and their Habits. — In the just-published Second
Series of Jesse's Gleanings in Natural History, Mr. Yarrell,
Dr. William Roots, and Mr. Jesse have supplied thirty-eight
pages of information on the economy of eels. Mr. Yarrell
has there given a synopsis of all that had been, and now is,
known on this subject, and into this synopsis has digested the
result of all the facts which the research of Dr. Roots, of
Mr. Jesse, and of himself has acquired ; and he has referred
with commendation to the discoveries of Mr. Couch registered
in our V. 313., and to those of W. B. in V. 744. This trea-
tise on the economy of eels is, therefore, the most perfect one
which has appeared.

The Goldfish mth a double Tail Fin. (159.) — Dr. Han-
cock has conjectured {Quart. Journ. of Science, No. xvi. 290.)
that, as the bones composing the rays are, in this, as in other
fishes, double, the lusus of a double fin may arise from some
casual defect of the cohesive substance and investing mem-
brane of the rays, whence it may be that the bones probably
diverge, and constitute the double fin. — James Fennell.

284

REVIEWS.

Art. I. Catalogue of Works on Natural History , lately published^
tvith some Notice of those considered the most interesting to British
Naturalists,

Jesse, Edward, Surveyor of his Majesty's Parks, Palaces, &c. :
Gleanings in Natural History. Second Series. To which
are added some extracts from the unpublished MSS. of
the late Mr. White of Selborne. 8vo, 321 pages. Murray,
London, 1834).

" I am completely ignorant of the scientific part of na-
tural history. Filling, as I do, an arduous and responsible
situation, I have only the means of making very cursory ob-
servations in my favourite amusement. These observations
have, indeed, been made during my various rides in His
Majesty's parks, in the fulfilment of official duties ; and my
chief relaxation has been in the tranquil and agreeable occu-
pation of writing down in the evening whatever [had] inter-
ested me in the course of the day." {Preface.) The subjects
treated of in the volume are rather many, and each is ren-
dered, by a delectable habit of amiable feeling, with which the
author is gifted, the centre of a circle of sweet associations. We
would instance the observations and reflections in Richmond
Park, with which the volume is begun ; the " economy of
nature," in p. 127.; and an " autumnal evening," in p. 211.
There is a chapter on " the sagacity of dogs," which is rich
in illustrative anecdotes ; and there are fifty pages of " mis-
cellaneous observations selected from the manuscripts of the
late Gilbert White of Selborne." An important contribution
to the science of natural history is supplied in a treatise on
eels, of which we have spoken in p. 283.

Mudie, Bohert : The Feathered Tribes of the British Islands.
2 vols. 8vo. Nearly 800 pages, and about 60 figures of
birds and parts of birds; those of the birds coloured.
London, 1834<. ll. 8s,

Indispensable to every studier and every lover of the birds
of Britain. This, like the rest of Mr. Mudie's works, is cha-
racterised by evidences of much original observation ; of a
combinative habit of reflection on things observed ; of clear-
ness of narration ; and of a capacity for discursive exciting

Pritcliard^s Animalcules^ Royle^s Illusfralions. 285

speculation. There is much of the poet in him. All that is
spirit-stirring must proceed from the last two faculties of
mind : but, perhaps, in no branch of human knowledge is there
more need that they be strongly reined than in natural his-
tory. The fault of Mr. Mudie's present work may be, that
he therein has not reined them sufficiently. A profound
ornithologist has advised that the author certainly has not, in
his remarks on the wind-resisting powers of the plumage of
the mountain eagle.

Pritchard^ Andrew, Author of the " Microscopic Cabinet*: "
The Natural History of Animalcules, containing descriptions
of all the known species of Infusoria; with instructions for
procuring and viewing them, &c. Illustrated by upwards
of 300 magnified figures on steel. 8 vo, 196 pages. Lon-
don, 1834<. 85. 6d.

We are very glad to see this work. It is, or at least we
presume that it is, a clear indication of the latest state of the
knowledge of animalcules which has been attained in Britain.
There are six plates crowded with figures of these creatures,
whose forms are very varied, and those of some of them are
very extraordinary. The exhibited species, and many more
besides, are described generically and specifically, and " in
good set terms," in the text of the book ; where their system-
atic affinities, correlations of structure, &c., are treated of.
The classifications followed in the general arrangement are
derived from those by MUller and Ehrenberg. The last-
named author's arrangement of the Phytozoa is given, dis-
tinctly, towards the end of the book ; and to it are appended
some remarks by Mr. Pritchard, who observes, at the close,
that, " In a supplementary treatise, it is purposed to give a
more enlarged systematic arrangement of the Phytoz5a, ac-
cording to their organisation, together with the result of such
further observations as the author shall make or be favoured
with." A plate, exhibiting Pritchard's achromatic micro-
scope in different modes of adjustment, is prefixed to the
volume.

Moyle, J, P., F.L.S., &c. ; late Superintendent of the East India
Company's Botanic Garden at Saharunpore, &c. : Illustra-
tions of the Botany and other Branches of the Natural
History of the Himalayan Mountains, and of the Flora of
Cashmere. 4to. In 10 parts, IZ. each. London, 1834.

An interesting and superior work, richly deserving the
patronage of wealthy naturalists. Its foremost features are
botanical ; but with them are associated those of the geology,

286 Hooker's Journal of Botany,

geography, meteorology, and zoology of the range of country
treated of. So limited and partial have been our knowledge
and means of knowledge of this range of country, that an
authentic and almost official book, in express contribution to
an extension of our information, must be welcome, must be
valued, must be taken into possession.

Parts i. and ii. are published. Part i. contains 40 pages
of " Observations respecting the geographical description of
the Flora of Northern India," and 10 lithographs, which bear
coloured figures of the animal Lagomys alpinus Desm.y and
of 15 species of plants. Part ii. contains coloured figures of
19 species of plants ; a plate of geological sections; descriptive
and general notices of numerous Himalayan plants of the orders
/^anunculaceae, Dilleni«V^<^, Magnoh'^c^*^, Anondcece, Meni-
spermaceae, Berberidece, Podophylleae, iS/ymphaeaceae, Papa-
veraceae, JPumariaceae, and Cruciferae. In some general
observations prefixed to the descriptions, it is stated, that
" the great diversity of soil and climate to be found in
the British possessions in India is capable of supporting
almost all the natural productions of every region of the
globe. . . . Many, also, of the useful and ornamental produc-
tions of the hill provinces may, no doubt, be introduced into
England and the rest of Europe; the principal of these will
be pointed out."

Hooker, W. J., LL.D., &c. : The Journal of Botany, being
a Second Series of the Botanical Miscellany. In quarterly
8vo parts, containing 9Q pages, and several plates, some
of them coloured. 7s, 6d. each part.

The two parts published contain papers of equal interest
and merit with those which used to gratify us in the Botanical
Miscellany ; and we hope that the less price of the Jour7ial
will enlarge its sphere of service (for the kind of its service is
valuable) in the republic of botany.

Ainsvuorth, William, M.R.S.L., Member of the Royal Geo-
graphical Society, &c. An Account of the Caves of Bal-
lybunian, in the County of Kerry, with some Mineralogical
Details. Svo, 96 pages, with several woodcuts. Dublin,
Curry and Co. 1834.

To many English readers it may be necessary to state that
Ballybunian is so named from an old castle on the coast of the
county of Kerry, north of the junction of the river Cashin
with the embouchure of the Shannon.

Our information respecting the geology and mineralogy of
Ireland has remained so defective, that we gladly hail any
endeavours to make us better acquainted with particular parts

Ainsworth*s Caves of Ballyhuniaru 287

of that island; and we should have been much pleased to
find, in the present volume, such a clear description of the
district in which the caves are situated, as might be intelli-
gible to the general reader; and the scientific details in ac-
cordance with the present state of geology. That our author
has failed in these respects is, we think, rather owing to the
want of proper arrangement, than of ability. There appears
a desire of display, by a parade of new names, " to amaze
the unlearned, and make the learned stare;" while the ex-
ploded terms " geognosy," and " geognostic," are still re-
tained, and the reader left in doubt whether he is among
strata equivalent to the lias and alum slate of England, or to
slates and limestones of the transition series, or whether the
older and newer strata are here in juxtaposition. Only one
fossil is named to elucidate the subject. From the form in
which the book is published, and the woodcuts that accom-
pany it, the author evidently intended the work to be popular.
To have insured this, the physical structure and scenery
should have been under one head ; the geology under another ;
and the mineralogy and natural history under a third : in
place of which arrangement, the parts are so intermixed as
to prevent the reader from obtaining a clear connected notion
either of the parts or of the whole.

The caves of Ballybunian are excavations in the cliffs,
formed by the action of water impelled by winds and tides
into fissures, or excavating softer portions of strata in the
cliffs. These caves, arches, and excavations are not of great
magnitude, when compared with those in Scotland and the
Hebrides, but they present many grotesque forms, and are
well represented in the woodcuts in the present small volume.
From the nearly horizontal form of the stratification, as re-
presented in the cuts, and the description of the alum slate,
and from its spontaneous combustion, we should rather have
inferred that the strata belong to the lias group, than to the
soft slates of the transition series ; but the mineral characters
of the limestones identify them with the mountain limestone
so extensively spread over many of the Irish counties. The
principal metallic substances are iron pyrites and copper
pyrites. The latter mineral is, however, so much intermixed
with extraneous matter as to offer little prospect of its being
advantageously worked. Our author says that " the rich-
ness of the ore at Ballybunian, the abundance of the veins,
and the facilities of working them, from their geognostic
position and association, do not hold out any sanguine hopes
of their ever being turned to very lucrative purposes." From
the former part of this sentence, the reader would have in-

288 Liter ay^y Notices,

ferred a different conclusion ; the author evidently means from
the poormess of the ore, and the 'want of facilities of working
the veins ; the sentence would then be intelligible to English
readers.

We have given a fuller account of this small volume, and
offered our remarks more freely, than we should have done,
had not the author informed us that he is engaged in more
important researches on the mineralogy of Ireland. Should
he publish the result of his labours, we hope he will not, as
in the present volume, disguise every well-known mineral
under the pedantic names given to them by some Continental
mineralogists. This absurd jargon is justly falling into con-
tempt among the best informed geologists and mineralogists
of South Britain. The writer who would be a successful
author, in any science, should recollect that his object ought
not to be to make a parade of his own learning, but to con-
vey information in a form which shall be the most generally
Intel ligiblco ^

Art. II. Literary Notices.

A SERIES of Lives of celebrated Naturalists is in preparation
for the Edinburgh Cabinet lAbrary. The series is to be in the
order of time, and to embrace the promoters of all branches
of natural history ; and is to estimate the relative effects of
the influence of each naturalist on the science.

A Prodromus of the Characters of the Plants of the Peninsula
of India is in preparation by Dr. Wight and Mr. Arnott.
The work will be written in English.

UListitut ; Journal General des Societes et Travaux Scienti-
fiques de la Prance et de VPtr anger. — From No. 41 ., sent to us,
published at Paris on Feb. 22. 1834, we learn that Ulnstitut
is published every Saturday; and is designed to include, in its
eight pages quarto, notices of the titles and gist of papers
read at all institutions, in France and out of France, on sub-
jects of science; together with notices of newly published
works on science. Messrs. Richter and Co., and M. Bail-
liere, are the London agents for this work.

A P(ypular Introduction to the Modern Classification of
Insects is in preparation, by J. O. Westwood, F.L.S., &c.
It is to serve also as a sequel to the Litroduction to Lnto-
mology of the Rev. W. Kirby and W. Spence Esq., and to
comprise an account of the habits and transformations of the
different families ; and a synopsis of the British, and a notice
of the more remarkable exotic, genera ; and is to be illustrated
with several hundred figures, some of them coloured.

THE MAGAZINE

OF

NATURAL HISTORY.

JULY, 1834,

ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.

Art. I. On certain recent Meteoric Phenomena, Vicissitudes in
the Seasons, prevalent Disorders, S^c, contemporaneous, and in
supposed connection, tvith Volcanic Emanations. No. 3. By the
Rev. W. B, Clarke, A.M. F.G.S. &c.

" Quid sit, unde sit, quare sit quod ipsum explorare et eruere sine

universitatis inquisitione non possumus, cum ita cohaerentia, connexa,
concatenata sint." — M. Minutius Felix, xvii.

Meteoric phenomena have been exhibited, during the last
few years, on a scale of unusual magnitude, and more fre-
quently than at many previous epochs. We will endeavour,
in the present Number, to exhibit some prominent examples,
and to trace their connection with corresponding derange-
ments of the earth ; illustrating their occurrences by reference
to more ancient events of similar complexion and character,
and in conjunction, at the same time, with the other subjects
which these papers [VI. 289., VII. 193.] profess to discuss.

The most extraordinary instance, perhaps, on record is
that given in Silliman^s American Journal of Science and Arts,
XXV. 354 — 411. From the statements there published, of
more than fifty credible observers, it appears that the whole
of that part of the United States which is comprehended
between the latitudes of 23° and 43° n., and the longitudes
of 61° and 94° w., was visited by a most extraordinary dis-
play of falling and shooting stars, for nine hours (from 9 p.m.
to daylight), on the night of November 12-13. 1833. The
phenomenon was also visible to the passengers on board the
Hilah from Liverpool, then on St. George's Bank, 300 miles
from the coast, (p. 388.) It is impossible to compress into
a reasonable bulk analyses of the separate accounts : I shall,
Vol. VII. — No. 40. u

290 Supposed Connection of Meteoric Phenomena^

therefore, merely give the general description as collected
from them all, the parallel cases, and the accompanying
phenomena.

Nothing will express the remarkable appearance displayed,
so well as comparing it to the most brilliant exhibition of
rockets and fireworks. One observer calculates (Ame7\ Jour.,
p. 389.) that at least 207,84'0 meteors were seen at Boston !
They varied in size from that of the full moon (p. 379.) to
that of a teacup (p. 384<.), and even a point (p. 389.). Some of
them were followed by a train of pale or bluish and reddish
light, which, in one particular case, seemed acted upon by
the wind. Phosphoric lines also marked the display. In
some cases an explosion was heard * ; and a gelatinous sub-
stance was found, in three instances, where balls had struck
the earth, (p. 396.) The height of these phenomena varied
from a short distance from the surface of the earth to a con-
siderable elevation (as calculated by the editor) above the
atmosphere : in one case, clouds obscured the cause, though
the light was seen through. But the immense arcs traversed,
the parallaxes, and the perspective, proved that the height
must have been immense, where they first appeared; though,
in descending through the atmosphere, they exploded, in
some few instances, within 10 ft. of the earth ; and, in others,
struck it.

The weather, it seems, throughout the whole extent of the
region visited, was suddenly changed, immediately before the
display, from "uoarm to f:oM, accompanied by extraordinary trans-
parency of the atmosphere. Calmness and frosts succeeded to
storms and intense heat. (p. 386.) The wind had changed from
s.E. to N.W., and, during the display, to n.e. ; upon which
the meteors increased in brightness and number, (p. 384-.)
The direction was generally to the west ; but they appeared,
to different observers, differently directed. " They fell,'* says
one, " in every direction, resembling a fall of snow " (p. 394.)
The air was excessively electric during the display : clothes,
hair, &c., were visibly affected. The declination of the needle
is also, on good authority, supposed to have been increased,
(p. 397.) The aurora borealis preceded, accompanied, and
succeeded the meteors, as seen in different localities, (p. 397.)
All the observers seem to agree in one fact, that the radiant

* One observer, Mr. Palmer (Newhaven), mentions a peculiar odour,
which was compared by the whole company to a smetl of sulphur or onions.
(p. 384.) Mr. Trevelyan states, that, during the display of the aurora in
the Island of Faroe, he has observed the peculiar odour present during
electrical discharges from the earth. {Encyc. Brit., viii. 623., 7th ed.)
This, again, serves to connect these phenomena.

prevalent Disorders^ ^c, with Volcanic Emanations, 291

point was in the constellation of Leo; and that it agreed
exactly with the point to which the magnetic " needle would
point when left free to move both vertically and horizontally^^
(p. 356.) * From this and other circumstances, it is concluded
that this phenomenon was of similar character to that of the
aurora borealis.f The " concurrent phenomena " are, the sink-
ing down of an acre and a half of wood at Hudson, New
York, full 30 ft. below the surface ; the occurrence of a
trembling of the earthy previously observed there, at Lynch-
burg; a fall ofrain^ on Nov. 13., a.m., at Harvard, when not
a cloud was to be seen [and a luminous appearance, like the
zodiacal light, on Dec. 3., at Newhaven] ; and terrible gales
of wind, on Nov. 13., between lat. 40° and 50°, and long. 30°
and 50° W.

These are the principal particulars of the statements in
Silliman's Journah The authors mention, that it is their
intention to consider, in a future number, previous examples
of like phenomena ; and to collect farther information, from
distant parts of the west, before coming to any distinct con-
clusion. They dwell, however, on the fact of the appearances
corresponding with the aurora, and on the light seen in the
west on Dec. 3. ; which, they state, was again visible on
Dec. 29.t

A similar phenomenon is also quoted (that of Nov. 12.
1799), seen by Humboldt and Bonpland, in Cumana; the
particulars of which agree in all respects with those above
mentioned. This was ascertained to have been observed
through 60° of latitude and 91° of longitude (p. 369.); and
the wind, as in 1833, changed its direction^ and the weather
became suddenly cold, a well-known condition of the aurora,
(p. 360.) § It is also mentioned, that a similar occurrence
took place about eighty years since ; when so many falling

* Maskelyne states the same fact of the aurora of Oct. 24. 1769 j and
Humboldt of the meteor of 1799. The aurora of Sept., 1828, corre-
sponded in this and in all the above-mentioned particulars.

\ This opinion has been held by some, and disputed by others. Ho/,
Celsius, and Gisler are for the connection ; but Bergman, BernstofF, and
Blagden are not inclined to admit it.

J "That the other luminous phenomena of the atmosphere have their

origin in its electricity, cannot be doubted Falling and shooting stars

are only the same phenomena on a smaller scale ; they appear at all sea-
sons, but most frequently during the prevalence of the northern lights, and
generally in the lower regions of the atmosphere." {Encyc. Brit.,\m. 623.,
7th ed.)

§ That the aurora itself gives out heaty in high latitudes, is equally con-
cluded from facts. It raises the thermometer, and affects the magnetic
needle. (See Q. R., xvi. 171.) Cold may be produced by the restoration
of the equilibrium, though the heat must be electric.

u 2 -

292 Supposed Connection of Meteoric Phenomena,

stars appeared over tlie volcano of Gayamho, in QuitOt that that
mountain was supposed to be in flames, (p. 368.) The great
earthquake of Cumana, in 1766, was also preceded by similar
phenomena, (p. 368.)

Thus far I have followed the American Journal; nor can we
dispute the apparent resemblance to the aurora which these
meteors assumed. There are some facts which would still
more strengthen that idea. The light spoken of on Dec. 3.
1833, and again on Dec. 29., was, perhaps, the aurora itself,
as that meteor was seen here on the latter day. On Nov. 13.,
at 4 morning; during the display of meteors in America,
occurred an earthquake at Chichester in Sussex.* Vesuvius
was in eruption on the 24th; and, a short time before the 13th
(the date 1 do not exactly know), Arica and Tecno, in South
America, had been destroyed by an earthquake of great
intensity. These facts, taken in connection with the stated
sinking and trembling of the earth, and with the fall of rain at
Harvard, may, perhaps, be allowed to bear considerably on
the point at issue. I would also add, that, with reference
to the meteors of Nov. 12. 1799, Humboldt has stated (ii.
512.) that the sky at Cumana was covered, from Oct. 10.
to Nov. 3., with a reddish vapour, through which the stars
shone. The heat was excessive before the meteors, though
the thermometer was not higher than 26°. The usual breeze
did not spring up, the air burnt, the earth cracked ; on Nov. 4.,

* I add here a memorandum relating to this earthquake, which may be
of use elsewhere : —

The 12th of November was (in this place) a very clear bright day : rain
had fallen in the early part of the morning, but the afternoon was par-
ticularly brilliant. About ^\ p.m., I happened to go up to Wimborne on
the London mail. About that time, I observed a fog, of singular character
for the season, rapidly rising, and forming in clouds along the surface of
the country ; and its progress was evidently from the east to the west,
i. e. the fog rose continually later to the west : it was not a sea fog, nor
was it in motion from any wind. It rose exactly as steam rises from linen
held before a fire \ as I have occasionally seen mists formed among moun-
tains, after rain, in very hot weather. By the time we reached Wimborne
(not more than an hour), the fog was so intense that one could scarcely
see ; and it continued so till about 8 a.m. on the 13th, when it completely
dispersed. I observed, at the time, that it seemed as if the ground had
been suddenly heated; and others coincided in the remarlc. We heard, a few
days afterwards, that the earthquake had occurred at Chichester at 4 a.m.
on the 13th: and I could not refrain from connecting the two occurrences,
as a similar thick fog preceded the earthquakes at Lisbon, on June 6.
1807, and on Feb. L and 2. 1816. [On Nov. 18. 1833, a thick fog extended
all over France.]

It may be as well to subjoin, that the earthquakes which occurred at
Chichester, on Sept. 18. 1833, and on Jan. 23. 1834, were felt in this
place. I have already communicated the contents of this note to the
Chichester Philosophical Society.

prevalent Disorder s, Sfc, *with Volcanic Emanations, 293

thick black clouds extended to the zenith ; at 4 p.m., loud
thunder was heard ; and, a few minutes after, in the midst of
the loudest thunder, two shocks of earthquake occurred ; the
direction of which, from north to south, was unusual for that
country. Add to this, also, the occurrences of 1 766, and those
of 1753 or 1754, in Quito, and a connexion is apparent
between the meteors and the earth.* It is somewhat singular,
that, on Nov. 14. 1832, a phenomenon of like character with
that of 1833 was witnessed in this country. A short time
after midnight, on that occasion, a similar display of meteors,
resembling the most brilliant fireworks, was seen all over the
south of England, and in many parts of the Continent ; and
much alarm was occasioned in this neighbourhood in con-
sequence. At that time occurred the earthquake at Bermuda,
the eruption of Etna, and, closely afterwards, that of Vesuvius.
(VI. 302, 303.) At Brunck, in the Tyrol, the meteors were
preceded by the appearance of an intense light in the sky,
which, about 6 a.m., descended from the sky, and was then
drawn up into a globular mass ; it then expanded, and from
it issued numerous meteoric stones. The sky was clear,
not ruddy. (Austrian Journal.) A letter from Brunn, in
Moravia, dated at the beginning of Jan. 1834, states that,
just before, an extraordinary meteor was seen there. Imme-
diately after nightfall, a very vivid streak of light was suddenly
seen, giving the idea of houses on fire. A noise as loud as
thunder was heard, and the heavens appeared in a blaze. A
round body of fire was seen at Poscowitsch, Austerlitz,
Raitz, and many other places. Gradually it attained the size
and appearance of the moon, increasing till it was as big as a
house : it created great alarm. Rays of light, as bright as the
sun, came from it ; so that the naked eye could not endure it.
There were no meteoric stones seen there ; but Dr. Reichen-
bach found some, a few days after, near Blansko. {French
Journal.) There was an earthquake in Baden about this time;

* Hecker has recorded the occurrence of extraordinary meteors in
many places, as at Avignon, Paris, and in the East ; where, Mezeray states,
a globe of fire destroyed the vegetation [like that, I suppose, which, in the
year 1737, fell on the Guaytecas Islands] : and these meteors were con-
temporary with the frightful earthquakes and universal fogs which carried
such terror all over Europe and the East. {Black Deaths p. 35. 40.)

During the earthquakes in Scotland, on Aug. 13. 1816, at the time of
the shock at Dunkeid, a meteor was seen from east to west ; contrary to
the shock, which was from south-west to north-east. At Aberdeen, also,
after the second shock, a thin white vapour settled on the mountains,
though the air was clear.

The year 1764 offers several grounds for conjecture respecting this con-
nexion : its phenomena were, frequent meteors, thunder storms, inunda-
tions, hurricanes, and earthquakes.

u 3

294 Supposed Connection of Meteoric Phenomena^

and, on Jan. 1., all the wells at Bienne threw out a quantity
of silvery matter with a foaming torrent, that made the streets
like milk. {Gazette Universelle de Suisse.) It was just the
same during the earthquake at Lisbon, in 1755. [See Ebel^
ii. 20.) Vesuvius was in eruption in January, also.

It is observable, that the shocks of earthquake* in Cu-
mana, in 1799, were coincident in direction with that of the
meteors ; and, as a parallel case, I quote another : — While
the coast of Chile was being elevated by earthquakes, on
Nov. 20. 1822, meteors were observed 7'unning along in the
same direction as the shocks^ viz., from north-east to south-
west; the preceding day (19th) being remarkable for the
extreme rarefaction of the air. (A, R.) During the same
month and year (on the 7th), luminous balls of fire were seen
at Bourges, in France, of the size of the moon ; followed by
earthquakes at Heidelberg, Stutgard, &c., from the 25th to
the 29th. The aurora was seen, on the night of the 7th, by
Captain Parry. [Second Voyage, p. 381.)

That the aurora is connected with shooting stars, I had
evidence, on the evening of Sept. 17. 1833 ; when, about the
time that the beam of light appeared (9 p.m.) in the clear
sky, several stars shot off from it to the southwards, con-
tinuing in sight, and leaving a slight train, for several seconds.
Rain followed next day from the south, with wind. On the
same day occurred a fall of snow at Caithness, with un-
usual cold; and, on the 18th5 an earthquake was felt at Chi-
chester, at 10 A.M. ; the aurora and the zodiacal light being
both visible in the evening of that day. On the 26th, Pro-
fessor Parish observed, at Cambridge, a large meteor, tra-

* The years 1716, 1717, and 1718 are remarkable for meteoric phe-
nomena. In 1716, on March 6., occurred an aurora of extreme brilliance ;
which was seen from Iceland to the east of Poland, and all over the
north of Europe, from 50° lat. [Gall, Nature ^ iv. 394.); and, at that
time, Grimvatn in Iceland broke out into eruption (Scrope, p. 248.). On
Aug. 18. 1716, meteors were seen all over Europe, from 8 p.bi. to 3 a.m.
On Jan. 4. 1717, there was a shower of fire at Quesnoy. On March 17.
there was an appearance of imperfect lightning ; attributed to the aurora,
but considered of the same character as that of 1737. (VI. 296.) On
June 6., Vesuvius erupted, and continued in activity till 1718. Eyafilla
Yokul was also in eruption this year. On March 6. and 7. 1718, occurred
an eruption and a tremendous earthquake at St. Vincent. The mountain,
whence issued clouds of dust, &c., disappeared, attended by a hurricane.
(Scrope, quoting Moreau de Jonnes, p. 163, 164., and p. 255.) On
March 19. 1718, an extraordinary blazing meteor was seen all over Eng-
land and France. The account of it, by Dr. Halley, in Phil. Trans., 1719,
will bear comparison with that of the American meteors in Silliman's Jour-
nal. El Pico was also in eruption in 1718. On April 6. 1719, a shower
of ashes fell in the Atlantic for 18 hours, so that volcanic action was con-
tinued.

prevalent Disorders^ ^c, wil/i Volcanic Emanations, 295

versing the sky to the magnetic norths as large as the moon ;
though, in the horizon, it was no bigger than a thread.

On July 21. 1833, also, while an aurora illuminated the
north, I saw a brilliant meteor travelling from east to west, as
the moon was setting. Clouds were seen in the south ; whence,
next day, came wind and rain.

On Feb. 20. 1834, occurred a fourth shock of earthquake
at Chichester, at a quarter before 2 a.m., attended by a
rumbling noise ending in slight explosion ; and, at one hour
after noon of the same day, the aurora borealis was seen at
Kendal in Westmoreland. It was described, in the journal
whence I extracted the observation, as consisting of three pale
stripes of light, which rose from a cluster of fleecy clouds a
few degrees above the horizon, one point east of north, shoot-
ing to the zenith, still in contact with the clouds ; one cloud in
mid-heaven, the rest to the eastward. At IJp.m., a beautiful
stream of pale light was seen, extending in width as it shot
upwards, like a plume of feathers : its progress to the zenith
was rapid; but, as it passed this point, it melted in ether.
(Westmoreland Gazette.) On Aug. 18. 1783, a great meteor
passed all over England {Phil. Tr. abd. vol. xv.) ; and, on the
same night, Vesuvius was in eruption, as well as a volcano
in Greenland. Another meteor appeared on Oct. 4., at
S A. M. ; and, again, a third on the same day, at 6J p. m.
[P. T. 1784.) On March 21. and 26., and April 12. and
26., there were also great displays of the aurora borealis.
(P. T. abd. 1790.) Now, from March 20. to 26., there were
earthquakes at Zante, Cephalonia, and Santa Maura [probably
including the sea]. (Lyell, i. 414.)

It is also well known, that there were earthquakes all over
the globe in 1783; and, from Feb. 5. to the end of 1786,
Calabria was shaken. The volcanoes of Iceland were also in
action at the period of some of these meteors. Thunder
storms were also frequent, and hurricanes. On March 17.j
a thunder storm destroyed the castle of Montaignac, in
France ; on April 1 1., there was a hurricane at Venice ; and,
on May 13., the city of Kremnitz in Hungary was destroyed
by lightning : and, on July 2., a dreadful thunder storm visited
the whole of England; while, on Aug. 3., a similar storm
destroyed twenty parishes in Orleans, France.

The meteor of Aug. 18. 1783 was observed to come from
the north ; and was actually seen by different observers,
between the Orkney Islands and Rome, throughout its course.
It might be debated, whether or not this meteor was gene-
rated by electrical forces, traversing a certain line, connecting
Vesuvius, then in action, with other volcanic agents at the

u 4

296 Supposed Co7i7iection of Meieoric Phenomena,

extremities of the earth. Such a supposition might account
for the velocity and force of attraction of these bodies ; and
would receive encouraorement from what is known of magnetic
curves surrounding the earth, and from the researches of
M. de Bylandt. (VIL 83—88.)

In all probability, the great meteor which Krusenstern
{Reise um die Welt) saw, in Oct. 1803, in lat. 37° 40' N. and
long. 14?° 5' E., was of similar character. It took the shape
of a fireball ; and left a luminous belt in the heavens for an
hour, a quarter of a degree wide through its whole track ;
it was 15° high. {Q, R., vi. S62.) On April 26. of that
year, a fall of aerolites took place at L'Aigle, in Norman-
dy* ; and the celebrated hurricane at Lucknow occurred on
May 31. On May 21. 1834, a large meteor, leaving a train,
and exploding, passed over Hanley, in Worcestershire, at IJ
A.M., in a clear sky, in the direction of the wind, viz., n.e.
It travelled with great velocity, and was very high. ( Wolver-
hampton Chronicle.) On May 18., a tremendous hail storm,
covering eight miles by three, occurred in Tyrone : not melted
till next day. On the 25th, a heavy gale from n.e. did great
damage at Dublin. During March and April earthquakes
have been universal.

Captain Parry has stated that, on Dec. 14. 1824, he saw
several very bright meteors, between 5 and 6 o'clock, p. M.,
" at which time the wind freshened from the N. w. by w., in
a very remarkable manner.f On this occasion," he says, " as
on the 12th of December, there appeared to be an evident
connexion between the occurrence of the meteors and the
changes of the weather at the time." {Third Voyage, p. QQ.)
This is exactly confirmed by the following extract from Silli-
man's Journal (p. 402.), where the writer says, " It is hardly
possible to persuade ourselves that two concurrent pheno-
mena, both as remarkable as the change of weather and the
falling stars, were independent of each other ; but it may prove
a difficult point to decide what was the nature of their con-
nexion : whether, as some have hinted, in observations already
before the public, the meteors were occasioned by the change

* The analysis of these aerolites, as given by Vauquelin and Fourcroy,
is as follows (Phil. Magi, xvi. 302.): — Silica, 54; oxide of iron, 36;
magnesia, 9 ; oxide of nickel, 3 ; sulphur, 2 ; lime 1 : in all, 105.

•f Captain Parry is borne out in this by what is related in the Acta
Litteraria Suecice, 1734, p. 78. ; and by Chladni, in the Gothaisches Magazin,
xi. 712.; and by Forster, who observed that a violent wind succeeded
each fireball which he saw. And Sir W. Hamilton observed that the
smoke from Vesuvius, in the year 1764, was uniformly increased at the
time of " bad weather." (P.T., 1767.) The same freshening of the wind
attended and increased the aurora on September 25. 1827.

prevalent Disorders, Sfc, with Volcanic Emanations. 297

of weather, in consequence of the highly electrical state ot
the atmosphere, which frequently follows such a change ; or
whether higher portions of the atmosphere descended, bringing
the meteors along with them ; or whether the meteors them-
selves, by disturbing the equilibrium of the atmosphere, caused
air from colder regions to flow into the parts where they
prevailed ; or, finally, whether some common and remote cause
is to he sought for, that gave origin to both the change of weather
and the meteors,^^ The present undertaking may, perhaps,
elucidate and explain this more probable solution of the diffi-
culty. Two particulars are mentioned in Silliman's Journal^ on
which stress is there laid, viz., the occurrence o^ tremendous gales
of wind between the lat. of 40° and 50° n., at the time of the
meteors, and the sudden change of the air from warm to cold.
I shall illustrate the former by powerful examples of violent
winds in the course of these researches ; but, for the present,
shall only attempt to show that cold is a common effect of
meteors, and also of volcanic action, I must, however, first
prove that the aurora is almost always succeeded by a change
in the direction and intensity of the wind, and of the atmo-
sphere.

On the 12th October, 1833, a most brilliant aurora illu-
mined the atmosphere (see Mr. Fielding's paper, VII. 50.),
which Professor Airey has computed to have been from 50
to 60 miles above the surface of the earth. [Camh. Phil.
Trans.) Mr. Fielding has registered the remarkable changes
in the weather which followed this meteor, especially the
sudden decrease of temjperature. (VII. 51.) On the same day
occurred a furious gale at Madeira, and all along the coast
of British America. On the 13th and 14th we had, in Eng-
land, a very heavy gale attended with rain. Being called up
about 3 A.M., on the 14th, to go into Poole for a medical
attendant, I had the opportunity of witnessing another display
of auroral light, of a most interesting character. The moon
was but one day old, and consequently did not shine ;
and the sky was covered with thick masses of clouds, which
rushed rapidly across from the s.w. to n.e. But these clouds
(which would have occasioned pitchy darkness) were illumi-
nated by bright flashes of light, which traversed them in the
direction of the magnetic meridian, communicating a general
brightness equal to that of a clouded full moon. The night
was, during this display, very warm, and a soft misty rain
was falling; which was, however, during the darkness which
preceded, and all the next day, extremely violent. Captain
Parry [Third Voyage, p. 172.) mentions a similar phenomenon
seen by him in crossing the Atlantic, and names Oct. 5. 1825,

298 Supposed Connection of Meteoric Phenomena^

when, he says, " the weather was dark and gloomy, but the
sky, at times, so brightly illuminated, almost in an instant, as
to give quite as much light as the full moon similarly clouded,"
&c. On Oct. 1 5. 1 833, Brighton Chain Pier was struck by light-
ning; and on that day, also, there fell, most unexpectedly, a
tremendous rain in the Val di Noto, on Etna, during eighteen
hours, occasioning such a torrent, that the river Acellaro
destroyed several houses, bridges, palaces, &c., drowning 100
persons.* (Sicilian Journal.) Either on the 12th or 13th
(the date is lost) there was an earthquake at Antigua. The
height of the aurora, on this occasion, tallies with the wide
extent, including the localities of the gales, rain, and earth-
quake.f

Mr. Scoresby, in his Account of the Arctic Regions (1.
417.), considers the aurora, "under certain circumstances,
as portentous," and says, " one of the most tremendous storms
I was ever exposed to, succeeded a splendid exhibition of
the northern lights." He has also mentioned the following
dates of the aurora succeeded by storms, variable in pr'oportion
to the intensity of the meteor: viz. April 15. 1807; April 4.
]810; March 28. 1811; April 7. 1815; April 8. 1818; April
22. and 23. 1818. The foregoing examples are sufficient to
connect the occurrences of the American meteors with the

* This rain, like that at Harvard (Silliman's Joiirn?)y seems to have been
the effect of some developement of electricity. The Italian papers call it
unexpected,

f The ancient authors who speak of the destruction of Helice and
Bura, cities of Greece (b. c. 372 or 373), mention a column of fire ^ which
ascended very high into the air, during the time of the earthquake at Delos
which preceded the ruin of the cities ; but it is impossible to say whether
this was or was not a meteoric phenomenon. (Seneca, Nat. Qucsst.y vi. 26.)

In St. Isidore's History of the GothSy we find the following prognostics of
the approach of Attila : — " Multa eodem tempore coeli et terrae signa
praecesserunt, quorum prodigiis tam crudele bellum significaretur. Nam
assiduis terra; motibus factis, a parte orientis luna fuscata est, a solis
occasu stellae cometes apparuit, atque ingenti magnitudine aliquandiu fulsit.
Ab Aquilo7iis plaga ccBlum rubensy sicut ignis aut sanguis y effectus est, per-
mistis perigneum ruborem linteis clarioribus m speciem hastarum rutilan-
tium deformatis." Here we have the aurora concurrentwith the earthquakes
in the fifth century. It is curious to observe the expression " speciem
hastarum" as descriptive of the same phenomenon which Pliny alludes to
under " armorum crepitus ; " and Gemma (a. d. 1575) under " spears and
cities and waves, of clouds and battles." As an exception to the general
character which the aurora bears in the minds of the uninformed, we are
told by Malte-Brun, quoting Stein's Geography, that, in the first quarter of
1817, 12,000 persons emigrated from Wurtemberg, and that religious ideas
influenced a great number ; while the aurora, which appeared on Feb. 9.,
was regarded by many as a sign that their emigratio?i was favoured by heaven.^'
(Liv. 141. tom. iv. p. 127., Brux. ed.) This aurora was seen in England,
and was followed by deluges of rain.

prevalent Disorders^ Sj-c.y with Volcanic Emanations, 299

aurora, if not with earthquakes, which certainly seem to
correspond with appearances of both. Even the change from
warmth to cold, which I will now allude to, evidences the same;
as cold is produced by volcanic action, as well as by atmo-
spheric phenomena. A writer in the New York Advertiser,
who was riding in the stage, in St. Lawrence County, New
England, informs us that he encountered a snow storm during
the exhibition of the meteors of Nov. 1833 ; and that frequent
flashes of light were seen, which were mistaken for lightning,
but the meteors they did not see otherwise. (Silliman's Journal,
p. 386.) This solitary exception to the general features of
the phenomena is very valuable : and the following facts will
bear out the narrator. During a snow stm^m at Treves, on
Feb. 29. 1817, St. Paul's Church, in that town, was struck
by lightning, accompanied by loud thunder. The year 1823
was commenced with a frost of unusual intensity and duration* ;
yet, even up to the end of Dec. 1822, the volcanic operations
of that remarkable year were continued ; and while the frost
lasted, and during falls of snow, an earthquake, on Jan. 30.,
shook the Island of Oeland and other places ; and these con-
vulsions succeeded those at Aleppo, which lasted till the 13th
of that month. In Hungary, on August 4. 1833, a globe of
fire, as large as a carriage wheel, broke against the mountains
with a tremendous explosion. The atmosphere immediately
became cold, and on the 6th the Alps were covered with snow ;
(Courier, Sept. 5. 1833); while, on the 11th of August, there
was a considerable fall at Rottenberg, near Nuremberg. After
the hurricane of Aug. 31. 1833 (of which hereafter), the
thermometer, on Sept. 3., fell at Macon, in France, to zero,
and snow fell on the neighbouring hills ; on the 6th, the snow
fell fast at Mortagne, in Charente Inferieure; and, on the
hills near Dijon, was 2 in. deep. (The snow at Caithness,
a few days later, I have mentioned in p. 294.) Hail fell
in England on the 28th Jan. 1834, immediately before the
sudden change of the long prevalent and violent s. w. gales
to the north. This, like the rains which fell so abundantly
during the last winter, as well as the snow\ in France, Ger-
many, and Scotland, in 1833, was, no doubt, electrical. But
volcanic action has produced similar effects. Mr Kelsall, who
was an eye-witness of the great eruption of Etna in 1809,
writes thus: — " At 15 minutes past 9 a.m., April 1., a quantity

* The water-pipes under Cornhill, London, were found frozen, 3 ft.
below the surface of the pavement. (^A, JR.)

f Some Englishmen on Etna, in 1814, and Dr. Hooker on Ben Nevis,
in July, 1825, were aifected by electricity very sensibly, during snow storms
without thunder. {Encyc. Brit., viii. 620., 7th ed.)

300 Supposed Connection of Meteoric Phenomena,

of dense smoke proceeded from the two rents specified above
[in his account], which, raised to a considerable height in the
atmosphere, before serene, was dilated, and formed a black
cloud above 2000 paces in diameter, which presently dis-
charged a copious shower of large hailstones upon the red-hot
lava." The noise occasioned by the contact is described to
have been " as violent as that from the discharge of a cannon
of large calibre ; " and an English officer, stationed at La Sea-
letta, 30 miles from Etna, " compared it there to a brisk
fire from numerous batteries." (Notes to the First Part of
Two last Pleadings of Cicero against Verres, p. 143, 14<4.)

During the eruption of Scaptaar Yokul in Iceland, in 1793,
not only did rain fall in torrents, but also hail in showers, and
snow in great abundance. Sir W. Hamilton informs us, " that
during the earthquakes at Naples, on July 19. 1794, cold was
sensibly felt, and ascribed to the electrical phenomena in
activity. His servant, he tells us, felt an exceeding cold wind
issue from a fissure very near the hot fumaroli ; " but it did
not surprise me, as before, on Mount Vesuvius, on the moun-
tain of Somma, on Mount Etna, and in the Island of Ischia,
I had met with, in particular spots, the like currents of ex-
tremely cold air issuing from beneath the ancient lavas ; and,
which, being constant to those spots, are known by the name
of ventaroli." {Phil. Trans., 1795.)

It is not now my intention to pursue the enquiry respecting
cold, suddenly or permanently produced, on a large scale;
as I intend to consider, in the next Number, together with
hurricanes, some remarkable cases of unseasonable cold in
certain years, with a view of showing that the terrestrial heat,
affecting the ice of the polar regions, indirectly produces
cold, as in the years 1816 to 1818 [see Q. 22.]: but I shall
state here, on the authority of Malte-Brun (liv. 107.)> that
in 1797, on Feb. 4., the whole province of Quito was over-
thrown by earthquakes, since which time, earthquakes have
been continual, the sky is dull and heavy, the temperature
altogether altered, and the cold excessive.

I have now to state some other cases of meteoric phenomena
equally interesting with those of Nov. 12. 1833.

The year 1750 is celebrated for shocks of earthquakes
throughout the earth. The Rev. Mr. Sedden of Warrington
has recorded that, at the moment of the shock there (April 2.),
he saw an infinite number of rays of light, proceeding from
all parts of the shy, to one point near the zenith. The rays
were at first yellow, afterwards blood-red, and were visible for
twenty minutes. Dr. Doddridge of Northampton relates
that, at 4 a.m. of Sept. 30 {the day of the shock at that place),

prevalent Disorders^ S^c^ with Volcanic Emanations, 301

a ball of fire was reported to have been seen ; that on the fol-
lowing night the sky was red as blood, and on the night after
appeared the finest aurora he ever saw. (P. T., vol. xlvi.)
Several days before the shock at London (March 2.), there
were reddish bows in the air, which took the same direction as
the shock, {Ibid.) The aurora also accompanied the earthquake
of Aug. 23. at Spalding. {Ibid.) Sir W. Hamilton mentions
that for many hours after the eruption of Vesuvius, in 1799,
the air " was Jilled with meteors^ such as are vulgarly called
falling stars : they shot generally in a horizontal direction,
leaving a luminous trace behind them, but which quickly dis-
appeared. The night was remarkably fine, starlight, and
without a cloud." Ashes fell that night at Manfredonia, 100
miles from Vesuvius, two hours after the eruption. (P. J*., 1780.)
The volcanic lightning and electrical phenomena, on that
occasion, are mentioned as truly astonishing. Mr. Poulett
Scrope has a similar remark respecting the eruption of 1822.
{Considerations on Volcanoes^ p. 81.) During the eruption of
1794, it is stated that "out of these gigantic and volcanic
clouds, besides the lightning, both during this eruption and
that of 1779, I have, says Sir W. Hamilton, with many others,
seen balls of fire issue, and some of a considerable magnitude,
which, bursting in the air, produced nearly the same effect as
that from the air-balloons in fireworks, the electric fire that
came out having the appearance of the serpents with which
those firework balloons are filled." (P. T., 1795.) Sir D.
Brewster witnessed an aurora in combination with a thunder
storm at Belleville, Inverness-shire, on Aug. 29. 1821, 9J p.m.
(Encyc. Brit.^ viii. 623., 7th ed.)

On July 13. 1833, occurred an earthquake at Sutton Ash-
field, Staffordshire, and it was followed on the 14th by one of
the most frightful thunder storms ever known there. That
electrical phenomena are connected with earthquakes may be
supposed from the fact that, on July 19. 1785, there happened
a thunder storm without lightning at Coldstream, which killed
a man and some horses ; being followed, on August 1 1., by a
severe shock of earthquake. (P. T., 1787.) Count Hippo-
lito has recorded (see Phil. Trans.^ vol.lxxiii.) that, on March
28. 1783, at the time of the earthquake in Calabria, flames
rose from the ground, and, after the great concussion, towards
the east a whitish flame rose, in a slanting direction, and had
the appearance of electric fire. It was seen for two hours.

Hitherto, we have not considered the case of meteorites,
but by almost all writers they are considered to have the
same origin as meteors. The coincidences are the same
in both cases. In 1812, on April 26., a meteor, accom-

302 Supposed Connection o/Metemic Phenomena,

panied by a fireball, and from 2000 to 3000 meteoric stones,
fell in Normandy. On the 27th, St. Vincent's was in erup-
tion, and on March 26. occurred the earthquake at Caraccas.
M. Biot says that *' the direction which the meteor must have
followed is exactly that of the magnetic 7neridian ; which is a
remarkable result." (Nicholson's JonrnaL)

Professor Santi of Pisa, who at that time resided at Pienza,
related to Mrs. Starke {Information for Travellers, 6th edit,
p. 310. note x), that, on the 16th of June, 1794, just before
the destruction of Torre del Greco, a " dark and dense cloud,
at a great height, was seen from s. e., coming in the direction
of Vesuvius, which is about 200 miles horizontally from
Pienza. At this height, the cloud was heard to discharge
noises like the sound of several batteries of cannon; it
then burst into flames ; at which moment fell a shower of
stones for seven or eight miles round, when the cloud gra-
dually vanished. These stones are volcanic, being composed
of grey lava, resembling what is found on Vesuvius ; and Pro-
fessor Santi, who took infinite pains to investigate this pheno-
menon, felt confident that the cloud rose from Vesuvius,
which was at that moment disgorging fires, whose force and
effects cannot be calculated," &c. The Earl of Bristol (Bishop
of Derry) also wrote to Sir W. Hamilton, that on July 12.
1794, just eighteen hours after the eruption, stones fell at
Sienna, 250 miles off, in the midst of a violent thunder storm.
(P. 1\, 1795.) See VI. 297.

On August 29. 1833, the whole province of Nepal, and
neighbouring parts of India, were desolated by continued
shocks of earthquakes. Monghyr, Patna, Lucknow, Pur-
neah, Katmandoo, &c., suffered dreadfully; 10,000 houses
being overturned, and from 600 to 800 lives lost. A few days
after, there occurred a fall of aerolites at Candahar, which
broke in the windows, roofs, walls, &c., killing a child, and
attended by lightning and meteors, and followed by o-fog for
six days.* The earth at this time was shaken throughout :

* It is stated, that, during the earthquake at Lisbon, in Nov. 1755,
London, and, in fact, the greater part of England, was visited by one of
the greatest fogs ever known. {A. R.y 1813.) The occurrence of fogs on
these occasions is an additional link in my argument. M. Falda has stated
that, on July 13. 1797, at 9 J p.m., he witnessed a meteor in the south-west,
of the form of a globe, almost as large as the moon at full; its course
being marked by a perpendicular streak of dazzling white light. The
weather was hot. The thermometer varied from 18° to 20° Reaumur ;
and, between 4 and 5 p.m., there had been a storm in the same quarter of
the heavens. At the time of this phenomenon, the earth was overspread
by a pale mist, through which no stars could be perceived ; and which,
the following night, became a thick fog. (Polekampton, iv. 461.) During

preDalent Disorders, ^r., 'with Volcanic Emaiiations, 303

for on Aug. 13. Vesuvius was in eruption ; SSd, there was an
earthquake at Hulst, and on the Axel in Holland ; 27th there
were earthquakes in Maryland, Virginia, doing great damage ;
and besides those in India on 29th, Jamaica was also shaken
at the end of the month. I shall adduce these hereafter, as
the cause of the dreadful hurricanes of August in general,
especially of that of August 30. and 31. Drought and the
cholera attended these earthquakes as they occurred. That
the air must have been exceedingly electrical at this time may
be inferred from a striking fact, that on September 1., in the
midst of a long and afterwards protracted drought at Antigua,
rain suddenly fell for twenty-four hours in that island ; and I
can only attribute it to the same cause which had produced
the hurricane of the two preceding days in Europe.

On July 19. 1816, during the storms, inundations, and
hurricanes of that month and the next, there fell at Sternen-
berg, near Bonn, a number of aerolites, one of which weighed
100 lbs., others from 20 to 40 lbs. : their specific gravity was
that of marble, and their appearance was like iron scoriae.
The analysis I know not. On August 7. Vesuvius was in erup-
tion, and on the 13th all Scotland was shaken by earthquakes.
On February 1. and 2. there were earthquakes at Lisbon; on
March 27. the midland parts of England were shaken. On
September 24. there was a rare exhibition of the aurora in the
N. w., attended by an arch of light in the east.

A singular circumstance occurred on October 20. 1824,
when hail, enclosing mineral stones {der mineralische kerne),
which Chladni took for sulphur, but which were discovered to
be a new meteorite, fell at Sterlitamanck, government of Oren-
burg, in Russia. (See Eversmann, in Kastner's ArcJiiv, v. 2.
196. ; Chladni, in Poggendorf'sAnnalen, vi. 1. 30. ; fully treated
of in Bulletin de la Societe des Naturalistes de Moscou for 1832,
V. 45.*)

At the end of March, 1832 {Moscow Russian Gazette, April
11. 1832), there fell, with snow at the same time, in the plain
of Kirianova, 13 versts from Wolokolansk, an inflammable
yellowish matter like snow or wool, over an extent of 80 to 1 00
square rothen (600 or 700 feet), and from 1 in. to 2 in. deep.f

fogs, the air is most electric. The air is, however, represented as par-
ticularly clear during the occurrence of various meteors alluded to in this
paper.

* The same journal records that there was an earthquake at Symphero-
pol, on Jan. 17. (29.) 1832, at IIIa.m., also at Sevastopol (60 versts
off), which did great damage. Barometer fell all day. Thermometer, 3^^
Reaumur; winds.w.; sky covered with light clouds. (Cons. Steven, in
Bulletin de MoscoUy iv. 207.)

t On March 14. 1813, there fell in a heavy snow storm, at 4 p.m., a

804? Supposed Connection of Meteoric Phenomena^

This substance was analysed by M. V. MariawiefF of Asta-
schava, near Wolokolansk ; and it appears that the matter in
question contains a new meteoric substance, which Dr. Her-
mann calls uranelain ; from ouranos, heaven, and elaion, oil.
Dr. Hermann asks how it came in the air, and suggests that it
must be resolvable from the elements of the atmosphere, since
it could not come from storm or electrical attraction, as there
is none on the earth's surface. He also notices the coinci-
dence of this phenomenon with the outbreak of the cholera at
Paris ; " die die Cholera in der Hauptstadt Frankreichs an-
richtete, die Aufmarksamkeit der Naturforscher in arhohten
Grade auf Erscheinungen hinzulenken geignet sind, die auf
Verijnderungen in dem gewohnlichen Mischangs- Verbal tnisse
der Atmosphare deuten." {Bulletin de la Societe des Natu-
ralistes de Moscou, v. 45.)

An occurrence similar to that of October 20. 1824, took
place on July 4. 1833, when a cloud from the west passed
over Nakratchine in Tobolsk, at about 3^ p. m., discharging
at the same time cubical aerolites and hailstones as large as a
goose's egg.* The windows of the village were broken, and
vegetation destroyed. [Petersburgh Journal.)

red powder, at Idria in Carniola, which coloured the snow for several
hours, after which the usual tint remained ; but, a few hours afterwards,
the powder, which was in a stratum from 1 to 2 in. thick, was obtained by
melting the snow. This powder was extremely fine, and of a reddish
yellow : it contained some specks like mica. Boiling water separated a
yellow vegetable gummy matter. By calcination it became black, and lost
0'20 of its weight; it was dissoluble by muriatic acid, and contained
silica 0'3675, alumine 01 175, carbonate of lime 0'1750, oxide of iron
0-00125, oxide of titanium 00875, organic matter 0*2400 = I'OOOO. The
extraordinary part of this is the occurrence of titanium, a very rare metal
at the surface of the earth, {Annates des Mines y v. 282.)

While writing the above, my attention was drawn to the following ex-
tract of a letter from Rodelheim, near Frankfort, dated May 3. 1834: — " We
had, yesterday and to-day, a most extraordinary phenomenon of nature.
During very heavy showers of rain, which fell, yesterday from half-past
eleven till twelve, and to-day between twelve and one o'clock, the water
contained so great a mixture of sulphur, that, as it ran down the streets,
it was covered with a yellow crust, and quantities of sulphur might be
scraped off the pavement." {St. James's Chron.y May 15. 1834.)

The only solution of this is, that sulphuric fumes, from some volcano in
action, were condensed and mingled with the steam, which probably
ascended at the same time. Sulphur, however, is carried up frequently in
storms, as proved by Fusinieri, by its deposit by lightning on a house at
Vicenza, in 1829; as well as iron, in 1827, and 1831, at Vicenza and
Padua. {Encyc. But., viii. 620, 621., 7th ed.)

* Three days previous (July 1.), hail storms of unusual fury desolated
the whole province of Liege, doing incalculable damage, and ruining the
crops. (Journat de la Belgique.) See the account of the hail storm at
Tussi, July 24. 1832 (which, by the way, was contemporaneous with
volcanic action), in Encyc. Brit., viii. 622., 7th ed.

prevalent Disorders, Sfc, mth Volcanic Emanations. 305

Dr. Hermann relates that, in May, 1 728, a stone fell in
the presence of General Prince Peter Gortschakoff at Tscheroy,
between Kraiovo and Widdin, accompanied with hail and
a furious hurricane. Dr. Hermann analysed a specimen of
it, given him by M. A. V. Bachmetieff, which was received
by him from the prince. The result was, that it was found
to contain sulphate of lime, with traces of common salt, *isoater,
and an inflammable substance ; consequently it was muriacite
or anhydrite.* Hermann says it was surprising to see a by no
means common mineral as anhydrite, fall from the air at
Widdin, the nearest locality of that mineral being at the salt
mines of Wieliczka in Poland. The storm, therefore, he
thinks, must have brought it from Wieliczka.f The author
justly remarks, that this circumstance may elucidate the form-
ation of meteoric stones, especially as there are other ex-
amples, of which he quotes the meteorite of Juvenas, which
corresponds with the dolerite of Meissner, or lava from Ve-
suvius, and Stromeyer's discovery of nickel in the olivine
of the Vogelsgebirge, which is verified as the olivine of Ve-
suvius.J He says also, that, though no one can properly
say that iron is a regular compound of meteoric stones, yet
it may be introduced by electric polarity, through the friction
of the falling and projected stone. He quotes a volcanic
bomb from Vesuvius in 1830, which very readily attracted
the needle from its meridian, when 40 grains of it were mingled
with one third part of hydrogen gas and sulphuric acid, the
bomb containing traces of fused iron. {Bulletin de la Hoc, des
Natur, de Moscou, vol. v. p. 59 — 63.) The title of Dr. Her-
mann's paper in the Bulletin is, " Untersuchungen verschie-
dener in Russland gefallener meteorischer Substanzen von R.
Hermann." In addition to those here recorded, we may men-
tion that an aerolite fell at Bjelostock, in Russia, on Oct. 8.
1827, at 9-10 A. M. {Gaz. Geog., p. 238.) In the same year
fell a meteorite at Drake's Creek, 18 miles from Nashville,
Tennessee.

The views of Dr. Hermann are borne out by the analysis
of an aerolite which fell near Richmond, in Virginia, on
June 4f. 1828. Both microscopic and chemical examination
proved it to be composed of mineral substances well known.
It contained the chrysolite, feldspar, phosphate of lime, me-

* " Dass es auss schwefelsauren Kalke nij^t Spuren von Kochsalz,
Wasser und einer brennbaren Substanz bestand, mithin dichter Muriazit
oder Anhydrit war." Phillips gives Kiaproth's analysis : — lime 42, sulphuric
acid 56*5, muriate of soda 0*25.

+ The height of Wieliczka above the sea is 102 feet. (Gruithuisen.)

J: Olivine was found in the meteorite of Krasno-ougol, together with
oxidulated iron, and native iron. (See VI. 301., Sept. 9. 1829.)

Vol. VII. —No. 40. x

306 Supposed Connection of Meteoric Phenomena,

leoric iron, and protosulphuret of iron, in distinct crystals.
The two former substances made up the greater part of the
mass. Every thing gave reason to suppose that this stone
was volcanic. {Amer, Jour., xvi. 194.) *

It now remains for me to offer a few remarks respecting
the origin of the extraordinary phenomena which have been
the subject of my present ol3servations. Various hypo-
theses have been brought forward to solve the difficulty.
Some have contended that meteors are independent bodies,
revolving like comets, and occasionally brought within the
earth's atmosphere. Others, with the celebrated Halley at
their head, considered them to be combustible vapours sud-
denly ignited on the verge of our atmosphere. Dr. Blagden
{Phil, Trans., 1784.) regarded them as electrical. M.
Izarn and others believed them to be volcanic materials pro-
jected in eruptions. Chladni considers them as unconnected
substances afloat in free space, suddenly inflamed. Olbers
and the editors of the Phil. Trans, abridged have regarded
them as projectiles from the moon. This, however, is giving
to the man in the moon a skill in rifle-shooting which we
have no authority for. Surely Dr. Herschel, who has
brought the volcanoes of the moon within forty miles of
Hounslow, would have seen an eruption before now, if they
be so frequent f as these supposed selenitic bodies would in-
fer, in that hypothesis. The latest notions on the subject are,
those of Mrs. Somerville {Connection of the Physical Sciences),
whose hypothesis is that of Olbers ; and that pf Dr. Brewster,
quoting the experiments, &c., of Fusinieri (in the Encyclopcedia
Britannica, vol. viii. p. 585. 7th ed. ; which latter has engaged
the notice of the Edinburgh Review, April, 1834, p. 170.
The opinions of Fusinieri are entitled to the highest con-
sideration. J He shows that, in electrical experiments, and

* The meteoric iron of Louisiana, and of Santa Rosa, in South America,
each contain the same proportions ; namely, iron, 90*02 parts; nickel, 9*674.
Mr. Sheppard considers them portions of one aerolite, which traversed the
atmosphere in a direction parallel to the extent of America. (Silliraan's
Journaly xvi. 217.) Berzelius has given the analysis of a meteorite which
fell in Macedonia (date unknown), which is principally composed of nickel,
iron, magnetic pyrites, and olivine, (-^rc^zw Kastner.y xvii. 228.)

-}• " The fall of meteoric stones is much more frequent than is generally
believed; hardly a year passes without some instances occurring," &c.
( Somei'vtlle, p . 40 1 . )

\ Injustice to him, as well as to my own reasonings, I must here quote
a passage from the article on Electricity, in the Encyc. Brit. : —

" M. Fusinieri has collected and detailed many interesting observations
respecting the substances deposited by lightning upon the various parts of
houses which have been struck by it; but we regret that our limits will not
permit us to pursue any farther this most important subject. These and

prevalent Disorders, Sfc, with Volcanic Ernanations, 807

in thunder storms, mineral substances are evaporated by the
heat evolved, and that portions of metals, &c., are actually
carried off by the electric action, and deposited upon other
bodies, by precipitation, in a state of ignition and fusion.
Now, allowing this to be the case, and the evidence adduced
in this paper strengthens the idea, we need not, 1 think, go
beyond the earth for a solution of the enigma. The whole
mass of testimony, without an exception, involves the notion
of intense heat, and the developement of electric force.

We have seen, in what has gone before, that meteors and
meteorites must have a similar origin ; that they are con-
nected with electric phenomena ; that they produce or are
followed by electrical changes in the atmosphere ; that snow,
rain, hail, lightning, the aurora boreal is, shooting stars, and
aerolites are frequently contemporaneous and connected with
each other, and with earthquakes and volcanic emanations
and explosions; that, about the time when the earth is in
particular excitement from the latter phenomena, the former
are more numerous and most intense ; and that very fre-
quently direct evidence has been afforded of a volcanic origin.
Analysis has proved that there is no substance in meteorites
not found in the earth, except in one or two particular cases,
as in that of Sterlitamanck and Kirianova ; that nickel, long
supposed to be a meteoric metal, is found in mineral masses
of terrestrial origin ; and that there are frequently traces of

many other facts seem to prove that iron exists in the air and in clouds,
and it is well known that the same metal mixed with manganese, nitrous
salts, and organic substances, is found in rain water. M. Fusinieri is of
opinion, that the iron has been drawn from the earth, and chiefly from
mountains, where the mines are most frequented, and where storms com-
monly begin to form. [This by the way agrees perfectly with the idea of
Dr. Hermann.] The colouring matter of snow and rain, and the existence
of meteoric stones, prove the existence in our atmosphere of dry and ferru-
ginous vapours, the molecules of which are moi*e or less rarefied or con-
densed, according to the causes which may generate them. The fact that
meteoric stones fall during the prevalence of storms and other electric
phenomena, and especially the fact that hailstones have sometimes a
nucleus of small pieces of sulphuret of iron, appear to M. Fusinieri to
afford the true origin of these remarkable bodies. It has been already
proved that electricity does transport matter; and when we consider, as
Ampere has shown, that magnetic currents surround our globe, that matter
in an extreme state of subdivision spontaneously expands itself, and that
radiating heat, like electricity, transports ponderable substances, we may
obtain a very simple explanation of the origin of meteoric stones. As the
temperature of the surface of the globe is not high enough to detach from
it the material bodies which exist in the atmosphere, M. Fusinieri concludes
that we ought to attribute this action to other causes, which are yet to be
discovered, rather than deny a fact so completely demonstrated.^^ (p. 621.)
May not my illustrations in this paper justify me in considering a sufficient
cause already discovered ?

X 2

308 Supposed Connection of Met em' ic Phenomena^ S^c.

positive volcanic matter in stones that have fallen at a time
when no volcano has been in the immediate vicinity. We
know, also, that volcanic ejections have been carried even
from Vesuvius and Etna as far as Constantinople; and that
there must be thousands of earthquakes and volcanic erup-
tions, of which we can know neither the character nor the
existence.

How volcanic agents are primarily called into action, I
do not profess to understand : the object of these researches
(if such they may be called) is not to speculate on the origin,
but the supposed effects, of terrestrial derangement. That
electricity is intimately connected with certain states of the
earth, and that those states or those effects do modify the
variations of the atmosphere, there is no question : but whe-
ther electricity be itself a first cause of earthquakes, or, like
magnetism (to which it appears to be akin, if not identically
the same thing under another form), merely a secondary
cause, produced by volcanic action, itself reproducing corre-
sponding phenomena, I do not intend to moot. It is suf-
ficient for my purpose, to endeavour to show, as I think I
have satisfactorily shown, that the meteors which have been
such extraordinary objects of interest during the last few
years, especially during 1832, 1833, 1834, are, as far as the
produced examples warrant us in believing, more likely to
have arisen in consequence of the increased action in the
interior of the earth, as developed by earthquakes and vol-
canic emanations, than from any other cause with which we
are acquainted. Should it ever happen that we actually
ascertain every substance contained in the earth, the interior
of which may be of different construction to its crust, which
appears to be a huge galvanic and electrical apparatus, it will
then be time to speculate on the moon or the planets, should
a substance which the chemists of that day may not actually
know, come within the reach of their crucibles and tests.

Stanley Green, May 16. 1834. W. B. Clarke.

Facts supplementary to Essay No. 2. p. 1 93. to 202. — Locusts,
p. 195. By recent letters and the Canto7i Register it appears
that locusts, in 1833, infested several provinces in China,
especially the northern. In 1834, they appeared, of immense
size and in vast hordes, and were exhibited in the shops at
Canton. Hecker (p. 29, 30.) relates the same thing of the
same provinces of China respecting the years 1336 and 1337,
at the commencement of the Black Death.

Shakspeare a Naturalist, 309

Wasps and other Insects, A Subscriber, Vale of Alford, in -
p. 265., confirms my remarks on wasps, in p. 197. Perhaps
Mr. Bree will allow me to make use of his observations, in
p. 262., as illustrative of my position, although he may not be
inclined to accept that as a solution of his enquiry.

A writer in the Hereford Jourfial (May, 1834) says that
insects have wonderfully increased in that county this season.
He mentions cockchafers especially; and says, that at Cal-
dicott and BuUingham, two fields, with the gates, &c., were
covered by a black caterpillar, with white spots on the side
of the body. They were collected in heaps and burned. This
corresponds with what is mentioned of the years 1762 and
1782, at p. 197. The gout in wheat is also very common at
this time in Dorsetshire, a complaint known to be the effect
of insects.— ^. B. C,

\_Wasps. (p. 265.) — I observed the same abundance to pre-
vail, in the same season (the summer of 1833), in all places in
the neighbourhood of London. — James Fennell, Templey
May, 1834.

'M.elolontha vulgaris, (p. 247.) — In 1833 I observed only
one, and could not help noting its general scarcity about
London. — Id,

Locusts in France, in 1833. (p. 196.) — They have appeared
in such swarms in some departments in the west of France,
and have become so destructive to vegetation, that the council
general of the Sarthe have assigned a sum of 6,000 francs for
the destruction of them, at the rate of ten sous a bushel.
{Sun, May 23. 1833.) — /^.]

Art. II. Shakspeare a Naturalist, By S. H.

** He was an exact surveyor of the inanimate world ; his descriptions
have always some peculiarities, gathered by contemplating things as they
really exist." — Johnson's Preface to Shakspeare* s Plays,

If it be possible to add a charm to the pursuit of natural
history, I think it would be done by associating it with the
study of poetry, to which it seems so strongly allied, that
one might be surprised how it ever got separated, did one
not consider how many men there are whose whole wish and
endeavour seem to be to render knowledge unpopular and
exclusive, and to make harsh and crabbed " what is musical
as Apollo's lute." Every lover of nature, that is of the fields,
the woods, the rocks, the mountains, and the things that are
therein, must, necessarily, be of a poetical temperament, for in

X 3

310 Shakspeare a Naturalist.

all these objects is the soul of poetry contained, and it is to
these the poet must look for inspiration ; for in nature is the
" only fund of great ideas." To such a one as this, the author
whom I propose to illustrate must be a favourite, as being of
a kindred spirit, and to him the instances I quote, and the
illustrations I may make will be familiar ; but there are many
who read this great author who are not naturalists, but feel
the greatest admiration of his writings from other sources ;
and, for these, I shall endeavour to open a new channel of
gratification and, it may be, lead them to investigate more
narrowly what they read so happily touched on.

Shakspeare, though, I suspect, little acquainted with books,
and certainly not with systems, for in his day they did not
exist, was an excellent naturalist ; for he had studied, doubt-
less, where all who wish to become really and truly acquainted
with nature must study, in the open air, in the fields, and in
the woods. In the truant occupations of childhood, in bird-
nesting, nutting, &c., we may fancy that his knowledge was
attained ; and, doubtless, it is in these wanderings that many
of us acquire our first taste for the things of nature, and be-
come acquainted with the habits of the beings that cross our
path.* But in Shakspeare these truancies continued in man-
hood, and to these we owe, in particular, those many beautiful,

[* " Shepherd. Do you ken, Mr. North, that every thocht, every feeling,
every image, every description, that it is possible for a poet to pour out
frae within the sanctuary o' his spirit, seems to be brought frae a hidden
store, that was gathered and girnell'd, and heaped up by himsell uncon-
sciously during the heavenly era o' early life ?

" North. True, James, true. O call not the little laddie idle that is
strolling by some trotting burn's meander, all in aimless joy by his happy
self — or angling, perhaps, as if angling were the sole end of life, and all
the world a world of clear running waters — or bird-nesting by bank and
brae, and hedge-row and forest-side, with more imaginative passion than
ever irapelled^men of old to voyage to golden lands — or stringing blae-
berries on a thread, far in the bosom of woods, where sometimes to his
quaking heart and his startled eyes, the stems of the aged mossy trees
seemed to glimmer like ghosts, and then in a sudden gust of the young
emotion of beauty, that small wild fruitage blushed with deeper and deeper
purple, as if indeed and verily gathered in Paradise — or pulling up by the
roots, — that the sky-blue flowers might not droop their dewy clusters,
when gently the stalk should be replanted in the rich mould of the nook
of the garden, beside the murmuring hives, — the lovely Hare-bells, the
Blue Bells of Scotland — or tearing a rainbow branch of broom from the
Hesperides — or purer, softer, brighter far than any pearls ever dived for in
Indian seas, with fingers trembling in eagerest passion, yet half-restrained by
a reverential wonder of their surpassing loveliness, plucking from the
mossy stones primroses and violets ! And almost sick with the scent of
their blended balm, faint, faint, faint as an odour in a dream — and with
the sight of their blended beauty, the bright burnished yellow, — yes, at
once both bright and pale, — and the dim celestial blue, — yes, at once
both celestial and sullen, — unable to determine in the rapt spirit within
him, whether primrose or violet be the most heavenly flower of the wilder-
ness! "(^Blackwood's Magazine y" Noctes Ambrosianae," Nov. 1828.)]

Shakspeare a Naturalist, 311

and one pathetic, notices of the antlered race, whose habits
he had studied in the park at Charlecote, near Stratford.

The object of the present paper will be, to show what a
wonderful acquaintance Shakspeare possessed with the objects
of nature, far beyond any dramatist or poetic writer of his age ;
how accurate and just bis descriptions of the habits and
appearance of these objects are ; and to give an account of
the fabulous animals, and fanciful suppositions regarding those
that actually exist. By this latter division of the subject will
be exhibited the popular notions upon natural history, of the
days of our author ; for, when he relates any of those super-
stitious ideas, we may rely, I think, upon their being those
entertained by the people of his day, since his small acquaint-
ance with the classical and other writings of Rome and Greece,
precludes the chance of his having drawn them from those
sources : nevertheless, he mentions many animals of this class,
with which his school reading, and the translations of the
writers of antiquity then existing, must have supplied him. To
illustrate these divisions will be my aim, by passages confirm-
atory or explanatory, drawn from ancient and modern authors.

Before entering upon the more systematic part of this essay,
it will not be uninteresting to observe with what comparisons
he portrays the beauty, excellence, and general character of
the fairest part of the creation, and of her lord and master.
If his female is beautiful, he gives her " doves' eyes," and
** roses in her cheeks," with lips like " kissing cherries," and
face of " lily tincture." She is " straight as a wand;" her
fingers are white as fralk, and soft as Jlowers ; her embraces
like the encircling of woodbine and honeysuckle ; and her supe-
riority over her fellows is compared to a " snowy dove trooping
with crows,'* Her voice is melodious,

" More tunable, than lark to shepherd's ear
When wheat is green, when hawthorn buds appear."

If she be angry, which I have heard the sex sometimes is,
she is like a " fountain troubled ; " if she be deceitful, her tears
prove crocodiles. After all, when time and beauty is over,
from her " fair and unpolluted flesh" the *' violets spring."

If he describes the dignity of man, it is thus, in a passage
which needs no comment : — " What a piece of work is
man ! how noble in reason ! how infinite in faculties ! in form
and moving, how express and admirable ! in action, how like
an angel ! in apprehension, how like a god ! the beauty of
the world ! the paragon of animals !" If he describes him
angry, he is like an " empty eagle" or a " lion wanting prey ;"
if still and imperturbable, his visage

" Does cream and mantle like a standing pool;"
X 4-

312 ShaJcspeare a Naturalist,

if a lover,

" He may bestride the gossamers
That idle in the wanton summer air,
And yet not fall ; "

if a villain with a smiling cheek, he compares him to " a
goodly apple rotten at the lieart ;" and, when old, his arms are

" Like to a wither'd pine
That drops its sapless branches to the ground."

When Warwick dies, in what a fine strain of metaphor,
drawn from natural objects, he makes him lament :

" Thus yields the cedar to the axe's edge,
Whose arms gave shelter to the princely eagle,
Under whose shade the ramping lion slept ;
Whose top branch overpeer'd Jove's spreading tree.
And kept low shrubs from winter's powerful wind.
These eyes, that now are dimm'd with death's black veil.
Have been as piercing as the mid-day sun.
To search the secret treasons of the world.'*

When Wolsey falls from his high state, how beautifully he
moralises ; comparing man to a tree that puts forth leaves,,
blossoms, and then is killed by frost when its fruit is ripening.
These lines are too well known to present them here. In
another passage he likens his fall to " a bright exhalation in
the evening," which passes swiftly away and is no more seen ;
another phenomenon of nature, equally well selected with the
former, to express the suddenness with which worldly glory
and prosperity frequently disappear.

There are a few more passages regarding man which must
yet be noticed ; such as the accurate description of the appear-
ances presented by one who had been strangled, and the
sensations of one poisoned. They both contain that which,
if all the rest were wanting, would prove Shakspeare to have
been a most accurate and intense observer of nature, whether
human or external.

" See ! his face is black, and full of blood ;
His eye-balls further out than when he lived;
Staring full ghastly like a strangled man:
His hair uprear'd, his nostrils stretch'd with struggling.
His hands abroad displayed, as one that grasp'd
And tugg'd for life, and was by strength subdued^"

Henry Vf., Part ii., act 3. sc. 3.

" Poisoned

And none of you will bid the winter come

To thrust his icy fingers in my maw ;

Nor let my kingdom's rivers take their course

Through my burn'd bosom ; nor entreat the North

To make his bleak winds kiss my parched lips.

And comfort me with cold." JCing John, act 5. sc. 7.

Shakspeare a Naturalist, 313

The next quotations I shall insert, show that the existence
of the goitre, incident to mountaineers, was known in this
country in Shakspeare's time ; and that credit was given to
the inventions of travellers, too fertile in that age, concerning
the human race. From these inventions we must except the
cannibals, or anthropophagi, which, to the infamy of our
nature, did some few years ago exist in New Zealand. See
Pliny's Nat. Hist., lib. vii. cap. ii., for the fabulous varieties
of the human race.

" When we were boys^

Who would believe that there were mountaineers,

Dewlap'd like bulls, whose throats had hanging at them

Wallets of flesh ? or that there were such men,

Whose heads stood in their hearts." Tempesty act 3. sc. 3.

" The cannibals that each other eat,
The anthropophagiy and men whose heads
Do grow beneath their shoulders." OthellOy act 1 * sC. 3.

I now proceed with a more regular distribution of my
subject. [" Unicorns " are the subject next treated of; but
these we pass, and take that which succeeds them : the stag.]

STAG.

" The wretched animal [a stag] heaved forth such groans,
That their discharge did stretch his leathern coat
Almost to bursting ; and the big round tears
Coursed one another down his innocent nose i

In piteous chase." As you like ity act 2. sc. 1. •)

" Left and abandon'd of his velvet friends." Ibid, >

" If we be English deer, be then in blood :
Not rascal-like to fall down with a pinch ;
But rather moody mad, and desperate stags.
Turn on the bloody hounds with heads of steel.
And make the cowards stand aloof at bay."

Henry VL, Part i. act 4. sc. 2* ;
" Like the stag when snow the pasture sheets, ;

The barks of trees thou browsedst." ,

Antony and Cleopatrtty act 1 . sc. 4.

The teafs of the wounded stag, so pathetically described
above, I find thus mentioned by Sir Philip Sydney {Arcadiay
b. 1.) Kalander, " with a crossbow^ sent a death to the poor
beast [a deer], *who mth tears showed the unkindness he
took of man's cruelty :" and Herrick makes apartofOberon's
feast to consist of " slain stag's tears."

In Jesse's Gleanings, p. 187., the fact of a wounded stag
being abandoned by the herd is thus confirmed. " It is well
known, that, when a hard-pressed deer tries to rejoin his com-
panions, they endeavour to avoid and get away from him as
much as possible, or try to drive him away with their horns."
And in the same author it is, I believe, mentioned, that deer

314f Shakspeare a Naturalist

feed upon the barks of trees in severe winters, unless fodder
is supplied them, as is usual at that season.
iBecetved on Feb, 26. 1834.]

[The subjects of the remainder of our correspondent's long
essay are the following, and are disposed in the following
order : —

Lioness, mermaid, horse, bears, ass, weasel, ferret, monkey,
Irish rat, squirrel, fox, dogs, mole, conies, mouse ; phoenix,
nightingale, wren, swan, swallow, starling, harpy, pigeon,
kingfisher, cuckoo, barnacle, goose, osprey, quails, pelican,
lapwing, raven, crow, parrot; basilisk, toad, dragon and
griffin, eels, serpents, blindworm, viper, crocodile; bees,
breezefly, glowworm, silkworm, locust, insect generation by
the sun, flies, insect transformation, spider, beetle, wasps ;
pansy, cowslip, fairy rings, ivy, plantain, willow, yew, rose-
mary, oak, flowers of spring, flowers of summer, flag, pine,
mandrake, fern seed ; morning, evening, night.

The citations and remarks relative to the horse, the ass,
the lioness, and the dog, we have taken the liberty to append
in the form of notes, to the following communication by Dr.
Turton upon these and kindred subjects, as its spirit is so
congenial with that of our present correspondent's communi-
cation as to make the association, we think, congruous, and
hope pardonable. To print, at once, the whole of the citations
and remarks upon all the subjects named above would give
us, in our own feeling, much pleasure ; but the pressure of
more technical matter forbids the doing of this at present,
and may prevent our recurring to it. The portion given
above, with the four notes, identified as our author's, to the
communication placed after this, is an indication of his in-
genious intentions, and a specimen, though scarcely a just
one, of his plan of fulfilling them. His object and plan must
be viewed with the welcome of sympathy by every student of
natural history who is, at the same time, a lover of poetry ;
and who can there be, as our correspondent has, in effect,
asked above, that, loving the one, loves not the other also ?
Of the lovers of nature, and these must be all who love their
" intellectual being," those who are most intimate with the
qualities and wonders discoverable in nature, will be those
•who will most concur in the delighting sentiment (delighting
because true, and justly complimentary to the object of our
pursuit), that " in nature is the ' only fund of great ideas ; ' "
and we know riot any subject nearer our heart than the one

Zoological Recollections. 315

which these words bespeak, or one which could form a fitter
theme for the thoughts, and essay in proof, of every naturalist.
It is one upon which we have long, ourselves, cherished hopes
of attempting something, as we had purposed instancing on
the present occasion ; but we find ourselves precluded by the
want of time, of space of page, and, more than all, by the
want of the requisite power of comprehension to grasp such a
subject. We have found ourselves quite in the case of Si-
monides, when he strove' to answer the question of Hiero ;
and the two attempted objects are, truly may it be said, so
similar as to be almost identical. We would, however, not-
withstanding our own inability, cherish the hope that some
accomplished correspondent will attempt it. In V. 114, 115,
there are "samples and a taste" of the fruits of this land of
promise.

In connection with our correspondent S. H.'s elucidation
of Shakspeare's mentions of objects of nature and natural
history, we may cite a reference to IV. 425, note f ; and may
add, for we have obtained permission to do so, that Mr.
James Fennell, a correspondent of this Magazine, has been,
as we had known, " for some time occupied in collecting and
arranging all Shakspeare*s dramatic and poetical mentions of
objects in natural history, with a view to the publication of
them [in a separate work], together with such explanatory
and descriptive notes as " he may deem " requisite." Mr.
Fennell has informed us that he purposes adding " an essay
on Shakspeare's knowledge of science in general, including
chemistry, medicine, phrenology, &c. " ; his object, like that
of our correspondent S. H., " will not only be to explain and
illustrate Shakspeare's allusions and mentions, but also to
diffuse a taste for the study of natural history, and to show
the importance and advantage of such study to poets, drama-
tists, and others who write from imagination."]

Art. III. Origines Zoologicce, or Zoological Recollections*
By William Turton, M.D. &c.

THE HORSE.

This majestic quadruped, whose prowess and might, fami-
liarly known to us all, are poetically stated in the book of
Job (xxxix. 19 — 25.), gives his name to many circumstances
charged with more than common force and strength ; as horse-
radish, horse-chestnut, horse-play, horse-kiss, horse-laugh.
His age is known by the teeth; whence the saying, as applied

316 Origines Zoologicce,

to green old age, or elder gaiety, that he has still a colt*s
tooth in his head : and, of a present which may not exactly
meet the wishes of the receiver, it is observed, that we must
not look a gift horse in the mouth. The common term
course, as the first course or match, second course, &c., may
be taken from the sport of racing ; and so the course, or bent
of a man's studies, whence stud. Formerly, in horseraces,
the prize was a gold or silver bell ; whence we say of any
successful adventurer, that he bears the bell ; and of a haughty
person, we observe, that he rides a high horse, or the fore
horse. Small bells were, anciently, an essential part of the
gaudy trappings of a horse, both from their musical jingle,
and that notice might be given of his approach in narrow
lanes. " A horse trapped with silver bells," says Stowe,
" was given by the citizens of London to King Richard the
Second, on his entrance into the city." At the coronation of
one of the Edwards, five hundred horses were turned loose,
as a largess to such as could catch them. The horseshoe
was of old considered as the emblem of good luck, and as
having power to avert witchcraft, and drive off evil spirits ;
and it is still sometimes seen on the threshold of the peasant,
and nailed against the masts of vessels. To ride the wooden
horse, or the horse that is foaled of an acorn, was once a
severe mode of military punishment, called picketing ; inflicted
by placing the miserable culprit across some oaken planks,
brought to a sharp edge or angle, with a carbine or heavy
weight fastened to each foot, to render his seat more exqui-
sitely painful : and from this circumstance may have origin-
ated the expression of horsing a boy in a public school.

Darius was chosen king by the neighing of his horse ; and
Caligula made his horse a senator. One of Hector's horses,
called Xanthus, was a conjuror, whose prophecies are recorded
in Homer ; and Troy was taken by a horse. Pliny relates
that the chariot of Nero was drawn by four hermaphroditical
mares. In derision of conjugal pusillanimity, we say, that
the grey mare is the better horse ; and, as a joke upon
preposterous mirth, it is said that a mare's nest is found.

The phrase of a man's hobbyhorse originates from the cir-
cumstance of boys riding upon sticks, or cock-horses.

By Aristotle, and the older writers on comparative anatomy,
he is said, in common with all those quadrupeds which have
solid hoofs, to have no gall. Accurate enquiry, nevertheless,
will demonstrate that, although there will be found no distinct
gall bladder, there is a thin membranous substance, under
which is contained the gall, branching itself into the lobes of
the liver, and diflfusing itself into the intestines ; and this

or Zoological Recollections, 317

may reconcile a contradiction of words in Pliny, who in one
place affirms that the horse has no gall, and in another, that
the gall of a horse is poisonous, and forbidden to be touched
by the priests in the sacrifices of horses at Rome.* Sports-
men formerly hid themselves behind a figure made to resemble
a horse, and called a stalking-horse, to get unperceived near
their prey ; so to make another person entirely subservient to
your own purposes, is said to make a stalking-horse of him.
From the various methods of trimming and ornamenting the
tails of horses, have arisen the expressions of cut and long
tail, rag, tag, and bobtail.

Our Saxon ancestors venerated the horse; whence the
figure of the white horse, in the vale of that name, in Berk-
shire ; and near Calne in Wiltshire. From his Saxon origin,
the king bears a white horse in his arms : and Hengist, or
Hengst, the founder of the Saxon dynasty, means an entire
horse. The white horse of death is an emblem of pure and

* Shakspeare has said, in his character of Hamlet,

" I am pigeon-liver' d, and lack gall

To make oppression bitter,"

and Mr. James Fennell was, some time ago, wishing to know, in relation
to his projected notes on Shakspeare's mentions of natural objects, of
which I have spoken in p. 313., whether the pigeon is devoid of gall, as
the above lines intimate, or not ? I referred the query, not long after
receiving it, to Mr. Yarrell, who was so kind as to communicate the
following

List of Animals which have not a gallbladder. — "Sir, Your enquiry,
What species, among Mammalia and birds, have, or have not, a gall-blad-
der ? will, at this late period of the month, pnly admit of, and must be
my excuse for, a short and hastily written reply. Among Mammalia, the
Quadrumana, Carnivora, and Marsupialia have a gall-bladder, I believe,
universally. In the Rodentia, there are some exceptions. Of the genus
ilf us, the black rat, the Norway rat, the common mouse, and some others,
have no gall-bladder ; but iliyoxus and Arvlcola, have gall-bladders ; the
porcupine is said to have a gall-bladder, but it is very small; and the
American species, //ystrix dorsata, has none. The sloths have no gall-
bladder, but I am not aware of any other instances among the Edentata.
In the Pachydermata there are several exceptions. The elephant, peccary,
rhinoceros, ^irax capensis, tapir, and all the species of the genus -E^quus,
are without the gall-bladder. Among the Ruminantia, the camel, the
giraffe, and the deer generally with solid deciduous horns, have no gall-
bladder ; but the hollow-horned ruminants, as sheep, goats, antelopes ; and
the species of the genus BoSy have a gall-bladder. In birds, the excep-
tions are much less frequent, considering the extent of the class. Those
without the gall-bladder are, as far as I am aware, the toucans and parrots,
pigeons, grouse, peafowl, and ostrich. In the gall-bladder the watery part
of the bile is aborbed, it becomes thicker, and its powers probably more
energetic. — Wm. Yarrell. Dec. 24. 1833.

As, however, the pigeon, and all the animals noticed above, as devoid of
a gall-bladder, have, as I have understood from Mr. Yarrell, a biliary system,
not one of them can be said to " lack gall." — J. D.

318 Origines Zoologicce,

speedy transition from the corruptions of life to happy
eternity.

After his death, the skin is made into a coarse and very
tough leather, mostly used for collars and harness ; rehearsing,
as it were, in the trammels of his life, his future destinies after
death. The hair of the mane makes wigs, and of the tail, the
stuffing of mattresses, and the bottoms of sieves and chairs,
clothes, and anglers' lines.*

THE ASS.

This patient and hardy quadruped seems to have been of
late importation into these islands, as he was unknown in the
time of Holinshed, His original destination, in this king-
dom, appears to have been the carriage of ore from the mines,
in mountainous countries, as being more firm and sure-footed

* Wigs from the hair of the mane. Query, from that of the tail ? Horace
Smith, in his pretty satire beginning with

" Since mortals are all, both great and small,
Created by their dresses j"

has these lines : —

" For the judge's nob, may its wisdom rob
From the tail of a four-legg'd mother ;
V And the grandeur's germ of the human worm

May spring from its silken brother,"

We have been told that the long side curls of a judge's wig are derived
from the terminal hairs of cows' tails ; these hairs are of some length.
We may exercise the spirit of the poet's satire without arraigning the
judges, — J.B.

[The following mentions by Shakespeare, appertaining to the horse, are
taken from the unpublished part of the communication by S, H., which
precedes the present one by Dr. Turton.

• " Then I beat my tabor,

At which, like unback'd coltSy they prick'd their ears.

Advanced their eyelids, lifted up their noses.

As they smelt music," Tempest^ act 4. sc, 1.

Their \ioor jades

Lob down their heads, dropping the hide and hips :
The gum down roping from their pale dead eyes j
And in their pale dead mouths, the jymold bitt
Lies foul with chaw'd grass, still and motionless."

Henri/ V., act 4, sc. 7,

" Horses hot at hand

Make gallant show and promise of their mettle :
*" But when they should endure the bloody spur.

They fall their crests, and, like deceitful jades.
Sink in the trial." Julius Ccesar, act 4. sc, 2.

Young colts disturb'd by music, worn-out hacks, and " bad-bottomed
uns," as a Yorkshireman would say, are here admirably depicted. — S. H]

or Zoolosaical Recollectio7is, 319

'to

than the horse. He is now much deteriorated, for want of
care, since the introduction of canals and railroads.

Low as this useful animal may be held in estimation, by the
natives of the colder regions of the north, where he is pro-
verbial for his stupidity and obstinacy; yet, in the genial
warmth of his native plains, where the horse is enfeebled,
and unfit for laborious services, he is of large size, active,
and vigorous. In Asia he is worshiped for his patience
and humility; and, for these virtues, has a festival to his
honour. The city of Jerusalem (Isaiah, xxxii. 14*.), in its
desolation, was compared, by the prophet, to a joy of wild
asses. And in Job, xxxix. 5 — 8., his native and untame-
able wildness is beautifully described : — " Who hath sent out
the wild ass free ? or, who hath loosed the bands of the wild
ass ? whose house I have made the wilderness, and the barren
land for his dwelling. He scorneth the multitude of the
city, neither regardeth he the crying of the driver. The
range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searcheth after
every green thing." The wild ass of the mountains, here so
exquisitely portrayed, may be, in all probability, the zebra.

The ass is .said to be extremely curious in the selection of
his food ; whence an irresolute person is compared to the ass
who perished for want between two pottles of hay, not having
courage to determine which to fasten upon first,* As a
domestic quadruped he is of early record ; for Anak, the de-
scendant of Esau, is said to have found the mules in the wilder-
ness, as he fed the asses of Zebim, his father. Horace has
said, that only the hoof of the mule could contain the waters
of the Styx.

To this quadruped alone, of all those which are under the
dominion of man, was once bestowed the powers of the
human voice and reasoning, for the purpose of rebuking
Balaam ; who, not perceiving the angel which stood before
and interrupted him in his passage, smote the ass in anger.
The animal, who had seen the angel stand before him in a
narrow pass, and had attempted to escape, appealed to the
justice and feelings of his master as an excuse for his conduct: — -
" What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me
these three times ? Am not I thine ass, upon which thou
hast ridden, ever since I was thine, unto this day ? and was
I ever wont to do so unto thee ?" (Numbers, xxii. 30.)

The ass was honoured by bearing upon his back the

* " Would the fountain of your mind were clear again, that I might water
an ass at it." ( Troilus and Cressidtty act 3. sc. 5.)

The nicety of this animal, with regard to the water it drinks, is well
known. It will refuse to touch what a horse would drink greedily. — S. H,

820 Origines %oologica,

Son of God, in his entry into Jerusalem. With the jaw-
bone of an ass Samson slew a thousand of the Philistines ;
from the hollow part of which a miraculous stream of water
was made to flow, wherewith to quench his thirst. (Judges,
XV. 15 — 19.) And when the prophet was returning from
a feast, where he had been in disobedience to the commands
of the Lord, he was slain by a lion ; and his ass, on which
he rode, was found standing, together with the lion, by the
side of the carcass, uninjured and undismayed. (1 Kings, xiii.)
He has, nevertheless, been considered as the emblem of
stupidity and folly. Midas, of old, for his scurvy decree
between Pan and Apollo, was rewarded with the ears of an
ass. FalstafF, when his eyes were first opened to the tricks
played upon him by the Merry Wives of Windsor, exclaims,
" I do begin to perceive that I am made an ass." And honest
Dogberry, in indignant vindication of his office, says, " O
that he were here, to write me down an ass ! But, masters,
remember that I am an ass : though it be not written down,
yet forget not that I am an ass."

The milk of the ass is much esteemed, and is of valued
efficacy, in cases of pulmonary affection. In the days of
Augustus, the flesh of young asses was considered as the
greatest delicacy of the table, more especially the shoulder.
The first-born of man, and those animals which were pro-
nounced to be clean, or fit for food, were ordered to be de-
dicated to the Lord : but the ass, as unclean, was directed to
be redeemed with a lamb ; and in default of such redemption,
his neck was ordered to be broken. The skin is manufactured
into a thick and polished material, used principally for tablets.

THE LION.

The emblem of courage and majesty : bold as a lion. In
heraldry, the symbol of nobleness of birth, valour, and
generosity ; and borne on the banners of the tribe of Judah.
He is said to sleep with the eyes open, probably because
they are furnished with a nictitant membrane, or cover-
ing, distinct from the lids; and, like most beasts of prey,
as dogs and cats, the female brings forth the young blind.
The kings of Persia, at this day, punish criminals with death,
by casting the victims into the dens of lions ; and have a pair
chained at the entrance to the palace for the purposes of state.
So we read in the Chronicles, that the entrance to the audience
chamber of King Solomon was guarded by two lions; and the
six steps to his throne, by twelve golden lions, one on each
side to each step. In the legends of romance, this noble
animal was thought to be able to distinguish a true maiden.

or Zoological Recollections, 321

especially of the blood royal, to crouch at her feet, and defend
her from the assaults of ravishers and giants. Formerly, he
was supposed to be cowed by the crowing of a cock only ; and
Plin}^ says, that whosoever is anointed with cock-broth, espe-
cially if garlick be boiled with it, no lion nor panther will
touch him.

In the carcass of the young lion which Samson slew in
his journey to Timnath, he found upon his return a swarm
of bees and their honey ; and upon this circumstance founded
the riddle with which he challenged the Egyptians : — '' Out of
the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth
sweetness !" (Judges, xiv. 14.)

The lion was a peculiar object of veneration and regard
among the Egyptians : for, when the sun enters the astrono-
mical sign of Leo, the river Nile begins to flow, and promises
its fertilising waters to the dry and parched plains of the
Delta: hence we see in ancient structures imitative of the
architecture of the East, as in many of the public buildings
at Oxford, the water-spouts are ornamented with the heads
of lions, dogs, and other figurative and fantastic semblances.

This noble animal has hitherto been considered as of the
cat genus, i^elis Leo, but is certainly worthy of generic dis-
tinction ; not merely as containing several species of its own
family, but as possessing characters peculiar to itself. It has
no collar bones, and therefore cannot, like the cat and the
tiger, climb nor strike its prey with a sidelong blow, but
brings it down by a straight-forward pawing. From the dog
it differs in having a nictitant membrane ; and in its inward
pur of pleasure and confidence.*

DOG.

It is remarkable that from this faithful animal, the com-
panion of man, and the guardian of his person and property,
should originate all the terms of vile reproach and low com-
parison ; as, you dog, you cur, you hound, you whelp, you
puppy : so, dog's trick, dog cheap, dog trot, dog sick, dog
weary, doggrel rhymes, to lead the life of a dog, or to use
like a dog ; and Homer represents Jupiter, in his anger,

[* " A lioness

Lay crouching, head on ground, with catlike watch,
When that the sleeping man should stir ; for 'tis
The royal disposition of that beast,
To prey on nothing that doth seem as dead."

As you like it, act 4. sc. 3.
The correctness of the attitude of the feline tribe needs no comment.
The latter observation, I believe, also correct, though, 1 fear, not to be
referred to any " royal disposition " in that tribe." — >S'. H, See p. 5. 139.]
Vol. VII. — No. 40. y

822 Origines %oologic(S^

calling his wife a brazen-faced b , huoyi adees. This may

have originated in the East, where the dog is held in abhorrence,
as the common scavenger of the streets. " Him that dieth in
the city, the dogs shall eat; and him thf^t dieth in the fields,
shall the fowls of the air eat;" was said of Jeroboam and
his family (1 Kings, xiv. 11.), of Baasha, (1 Kings xvi. 4.), a
people about to be punished for their offences by famine and
pestilence. A ravenous desire for food is called a canine
appetite : and of a foul and gluttonous feeder it is said, that
hungry dogs will eat dirty pudding. By the Israelites he was
accounted so abominable, that, in the Levitical law, the price
of a dog was forbidden to be' offered in sacrifice. He has
also been ever the miserable victim of most cruel experiments,
by the anatomist and the philosopher : and when a tax was
laid on his head, a general massacre of the species took place.
By the Egyptians he was an object of adoration, as the repre-
sentative of one of the celestial signs ; and by the Indians, as
one of the sacred forms of their deities.

" The Egyptians worshipp'd dogs, and for

Their faith made internecine war." Hudibras. *

The canicular or dog days are so called, not because dogs
are at that season apt to run mad, but from the heliacal
rising of Sirius, or the dogstar, as typical of the season of
greatest heat, or wane of the summer.

In moonlight nights dogs, as the emblems of vigilance, are
said to be more than usually watchful, and to " bay the moon ;"
and are supposed to have a sense of the odour of mortal dis-
solution, and to howl before the death of one of the family.
They perspire by the tongue ; and in hot countries, as in Africa,
die if they be suddenly plunged into cold water. The young,
or whelps, of the dog, as is the case with all quadrupeds which
bring forth litters, and have the feet divided into many seg-
ments or toes, are born blind, and so continue for ten or
twelve days ; and at this time are probably deaf, as the valves
of the ears are closed till the eyes are opened.

Among other useful purposes, he is harnessed, and draws
a peculiar kind of carriage, called a sledge, over the snow in
the colder regions of the north. In Holland he is fastened
in pairs to a small waggon [in Canada to carts, see VI. 511.],
and draws vegetables and other light substances to the market.
In Amsterdam there are regular dog ordinaries, where, as
soon as he is unharnessed after his journey, he receives a
small coin from his master, which he takes in his mouth to a
well known establishment of this kind, and in exchange for
his money is provided with a certain portion of meat. And

or Zoological Recollections, 323

in many country places he is taught to turn the spit and roast
the meat, by continued exercise in a kind of tread wheel.

" But as a dog that turns the spit
Bestirs himself, and plies his feet
To climb the wheel ; but all in vain.
His own weight brings him back again,
And still he 's in the self-same place
Where, at his setting out, he was." Hudihras,

According to Horace, the sight of a bitch with young was
considered as an unlucky omen ; and of a sullen discontented
person we say, that the black dog has walked over him. A
certain German empiric, when his patient was surfeited by
eating too much hare, directed him, upon the principles of
antipathy and contrast, to take greyhound broth. And at
the time when the place of resort for recreation to the citizens
of London was at the sign of the Dog and Duck, a learned
traveller, in portraying the manners of the British capital,
relates that the inhabitants flocked to a certain place of en-
tertainment to feed on dog and duck.

Although in China and Tartary his flesh is used for food,
and a living dog is said to be better than a dead lion, in
Europe, his carcass is considered so utterly worthless, that
even his skin is now of little value. The skins, however, of
young puppies were formerly tanned, and formed a soft kind
of leather which was manufactured into gloves. The hair of
a dog, when burnt, was formerly prescribed as an antidote
against the effects of intoxication: hence a man too much
excited by drink at night, is recommended to take a hair of
the same dog the next morning, as a means of gradually coun-
teracting his state of debility.

The greyhound is so called, not from any allusion to colour,
but because he came originally from Greece, Canis Grains^
and therefore should be written graihound.

[For anecdotes on the sagacity of dogs, see the second
series of Jesse's Gleanings in Natural History ; and in the
Field Naturalisfs Magazine, I. 485., there is an interesting
communication " on the Fidelity and Attachment of Dogs to
their Masters," by Miss Hunter.*]

* [" My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind.
So flew'd, so sanded ; and their heads are hung
With ears that sweep away the morning dew ;
Crook-knee'd and dew-lap'd like Thessalian bulls ;
Slow in pursuit, but match'd in mouth like bells.
Each under each." Midsummer Nighfs Dreamy act 4. sc. 1.

" »S/)aw?V/-like, the more she spurns my love,
The more it grows and fawneth on her still."

Two Gentlemen of Verona, act 4. sc. 2.
Y 2 " That

S24 Origines ZoologiccUy

WOLF.

Ravenous, and of insatiable voracity ; the most abject
poverty is represented by him who has nothing to keep the
wolf from the door. So inauspicious was his appearance
considered, that he, upon whom a wolf first fixed his eyes, was
said to lose his voice suddenly : and, upon any abrupt pause
in a discourse, it was said there was a wolf in the story, lupus
est infabula. This originated from one Lycus, which in the
Greek language means a wolf; of whom, during his absence,
many extravagant tales were related, which, by his sudden
appearance, were immediately refuted and put to silence.

So utterly worthless was this animal considered, that a
price was always set upon his head : and, in the ancient law,
an excommunicated person was said cap^d gerere lupinum ;
and it was thought meritorious to destroy him, as a wretch
thrust from the most common offices of social benevolence
and humanity.

One who has a ravenous or canine appetite is said to have
a wolf in his belly. And a furious kind of insanity, in which
the unhappy object went howling about, and believed him-
self, and was believed by others, to be turned into a wolf, or
some other beast, was called lycanthropy. This might give
occasion to that bold assertion of Pliny, " That some men

" That island of England breeds very valiant creatures, their mastiffs are
of unmatchable courage." {Henry V., act 3. sc. 9.)

" A dog, and bay the moon." Julius CcEsar, act 4. sc. 3.

** Oft have I seen a hot overweening cur

Run back and bite, because he was withheld ;
Who being suffer'd with the bear's fell paw,
Hath clapp'd his tail between his legs, and cried."

Henry VI., Part ii., act 5. sc. I.
The above description of the hound is highl}^ picturesque. The obse-
quiousness of the spaniel is proverbial. For the following observation
upon the British mastiff's celebrity, I am indebted to Dr. Fleming, Brit.
An.y p. 11. " The Roman emperors held the British dogs of this kind in
high estimation for combats in the amphitheatre, and, according to Strabo,
they were trained by the Gauls for battle." Every one who ever possessed
a dog, knows that they " bay the moon," and that most piteously, sitting
upon their haunches when the moon shines clear and frosty. To the
former part of the last quotation, Ben Jonson has some lines of similar
purport, which may confirm the truth of the remark : —

" The eager, but the generous greyhound.
Who ne'er so little from his game withheld.
Turns head, and leaps up at his holder's throat."

Every Man in his Humour.

The conflict of dogs with bears, Shakespeare may have seen at the Paris
Garden, and frequently, 1 dare say, the very occurrence he here so graphi-
cally notices. — S. H.] [I have known a dog, and not a young one, that
standing, in moonlight nights, on the shadow side of trees in an orchard,
would bark at their stems for a long time together. — J. D.]

or Zoological Recollections, 325

were turned into wolves in his time, and from wolves to men
again ;" and to that fable of Pausanias, of a man that was ten
years a wolf, and afterwards turned to his former shape ; or
to the tale of Ovid, who describes Lycaon as taking the shape
of a wolf. And some commentators on the Bible have con-
sidered Nebuchadnezzar's punishment as this kind of madness.
(Daniel, iv. 33.) Hippocrates, in his treatise on insanity,
supposes that the daughters of king Priaetus, who thought
themselves heifers, were afflicted with this malady.

That Romulus and Remus were suckled by a wolf, was a
figurative fiction, from the circumstance of the name of their
nurse, who was called Lupa. We learn also from Horace,
that a part of the incantations of disappointed women con-
sisted in secretly burying at night the beard, or probably
the mane, of a wolf, and the teeth of a serpent.

" Lupi barbam, variae cum dente colubrae
Abdiderint furtim terris."

In Puck's delightful imagery of midnight, at the end of
Midsummer Nigkfs Dream^ all the printed editions represent
the wolf as looking on the moon : —

" Now the hungry lion roars.
And the wolf beholds the moon."

This is probably an error, and might be easily corrected —
" And the wolf behowls the moon,"
as Shakespeare in another place expresses the same idea.

CAT,

Originally came from Persia, and was unknown to Pliny
and the Roman writers ; whence the term puss, probably a
corruption of Pers. Soon after her introduction into these
islands, she was considered of such value, that by the laws
of Howel Dha, whosoever killed the king's cat, for his fine
and atonement was to hold her up by the tip of the tail, so
that her nose touched the ground, and heap up wheat till the
body, to the tail's tip, was covered.

The cat is a fixed and settled domestic animal, attached
to the premises, and unwilling to remove; while the dog
follows the master : and such is the natural antipathy and
discordance between these two animals, that, of persons living
in no very social harmony, it is said, they lead the life of cat
and dog. She has a more voluminous and expressive vocabu-
lary than any other known brute : the short twitter of com-
placency and affection to her kittens ; the pur of tranquillity
and pleasure, when seated on the knee of her master; the
spit of defiance ; the mew of distress ; the growl of anger :

Y 3

326 Origines Zoologicce,

and the horrible wailings of pain or fighting, which give name
to the noisy and discordant instrument of disapprobation, the
catcall.

She is the emblem of the moon, from the great change-
ableness of the pupil of the eye, which in the daytime is a
mere narrow line, dilatable in the dark to a luminous globe ;
and she can, for this reason, like most animals of prey, see
best by night.

It was formerly the trick of the countrymen to substitute a
cat for a sucking pig, and bring it to market in a bag : so
that he who, without careful examination, made a hasty bar-
gain, was said to buy a pig in a poke, and might get a cat
in a bag; and a discovery of this cheat gave origin to the
expression of letting the cat out of the bag, as a premature
and unlucky disclosure.

The fur of the cat was formerly used in the ornamental
trimming of coats and cloaks : and in allusion to the unfitness
of her flesh for food, it is said of any thing confined to one
purpose only, What can you have of a cat but her skin ? The
catgut used by ladies, and for rackets, and also the finer
strings for violins, are made from the dried intestines of the
cat ; and a smaller kind of fiddle is called a kit : the larger
strings are from the intestines of sheep and lambs. Her
claws are retractile, and can be protruded with great violence
in anger. Her scratch is supposed to be venomous, because
a lacerated wound is more apt to fester than a definite cut
with a sharp instrument. The tenacity of her hold gave
origin to many metaphorical expressions and appellations ;
as the cat, or tackle, for drawing up the anchor of a ship ; and
a cat-o'-nine tails, or scourge, so called from the scratches it
leaves on the skin like the clawings of a cat. A domestic
implement for holding a plate before the fire, with six spokes
or radii, three of which rest on the ground in whatever
position it is placed, is called a cat, from the belief that, how-
ever a cat may be thrown, she always falls on her legs. From
her great powers of resistance, she is said to have nine lives.
" 'Tis a pity you had not ten lives, a cat's and your own,"
says Ben Jonson, in Everj/ Man in his Humour. The well-
known tale of the monkey seizing hold of the paw of the cat,
to get the roasted chestnuts from the hot embers, gave origin
to the proverb, " to make a cat's paw of one," or to make
another subservient to one's own purposes.*

* This expression is of greater antiquity than many suppose ; for we find
the story of the cat and the monkey thus related, as an original anecdote,
in the Voyage round the World, by Dr. John Francis Gemilli Careri, in 1695.
The Doctor, treating of the kingdom of Canara, in Hindostan, after reciting

or Zoological Recollections, S27

-^ The cat is very subject to vomitings: and every one too
much addicted to excess of wine knows what is meant by
shooting a cat. She has been supposed to be particularly
fond of fish, giving rise to the poetical simile, —

" What female heart can gold despise ?
What cat's averse to fish ?"
i r Gray, Ode on the Death of a favourite Cat.

But this is not a probable fact : for if a plate of fish, and a
plate of meat, either raw or dressed, be placed before her,
she will generally prefer the meat. And it would be a pro-
pensity not very natural, as she abhors water, and can in a
great measure live without it; and is extremely cautious of
wetting her feet. [For well-authenticated instances of cats
voluntarily entering water to catch fish, see IV, 430. ; V. 471.
716., and the Field Naturalist's Magazine, I. 511.] It is
equally erroneous that she is subject to fleas : the small insect
which infests the half-grown kitten being a totally different
animal, exceedingly swift in running, but not salient, or leaping,
like the flea. She is, however, especially the black kind,
highly charged with electricity, visible in the dark, when
irritated.

Her attitudes and motions are all of great elegance, in
consequence of her being furnished with collar bones; she
can, therefore, convey food to her mouth by the paw*, like
the monkey, can climb and clasp, strike sidewise, toss her
prey upwards, and seat herself on an eminence of very con-
fined and narrow surface, as the arm of an elbow chair, or
her favourite position, the knee of her master. She is

three anecdotes of monkeys, not distinguished for their delicacy, proceeds
as follows: — " D. Antony Machado de Brito, admiral of the Portuguese
fleet in India, told me, that one of these creatures continually troubling
him, and breaking all it found in the kitchen, he once, to be even with it,
ordered a cocoa nut to be put upon the fire, which sort of fruit the mon-
keys are most greedy of, and hid himself to see how that beast would
take it without burning his paws. The cunning creature, coming at the
usual hour, and finding its beloved food on the fire, looked about, and
seeing a cat by the chimney, held her head in his mouth, and made use of
her paws to take off the cocoa-nut, and, then cooling it in water, eat it ; the
Portuguese laughing to see the cat mewing about all day with the pain it
had beenj put to." {Gem. Hindostan, b. ii. chap. 1.) An ancient Latin
author, in allusion to this, says : — " Simia quam similis turpissima bestia
nobis."— W. T.

* A cat oVice kept by my father would jump upon one of his shoulders,
pass behind his head, and along the arm on the other side, extended, with
the milk jug dangling between the finger and thumb, into which puss,
standing upon the hand, would dip his paw, get it suffused with milk, and
then lick it for his pains.^ — J. D.

Y 4

328 Habits of the Ringdove,

fond of looking out of a window, and gazing with com-
placency on the passers by; whence the child's puzzle of,
what is most like a cat looking out of a window ? but a cat
looking in.

The favourite and most usual transformation of witches
was into a cat : and as all old or deformed women, particu-
larly single or solitary ones, were suspected for witches, old
maids are still called cats or tabbies.

(^To be continued.^

Art. IV. A Description of the Habits of the Ringdove,
By Charles Waterton, Esq.

The supposed purity of the dove is a common topic with
many writers ; and their readers are apt to imagine that this
bird has been more favoured by nature than the rest of the
feathered tribe. What may be allowed to romantic and sen-
timental composers cannot by any means be conceded to
writers on natural history. Genuine ornithology would be
offended at the attempt to introduce unwarrantable matter
into her pages ; while her true votaries would always grieve
on seeing it admitted into them.

All wild birds which go in pairs are invariably attached to
each other by Nature's strongest ties ; and they can expe-
rience no feelings of what maybe called mistrust or suspicions
of unfaithfulness : otherwise we should witness scenes of
ornithological assault and battery in every hedge and wood,
during the entire process of their incubation. The soot-
black crow is just as chaste, affectionate, and constant as the
snow-white dove itself. The movements of both these birds,
at a certain time of the year, tend exactly to the same mark.
They are inherent and unalterable in them, and, of course,
are not to be repressed or changed. At the interesting period
of incubation. Nature knows no distinction betwixt the cooing
of the dove and the cackling of the goose. Both sounds ex-
press the same emotions, and are perfectly understood by the
parties. They have only one plain and obvious meaning.
Audubon's description of his lovesick turtle-dove, which
listened with delight to her mate's " assurances of devoted
affection," and was " still coy and undetermined, and seemed
fearful of the truth of her lover," and, " virgin-like, resolved
to put his sincerity to the test," is lovesome nonsense, as far
as regards the feathered tribe ; and is a burlesque upon the

Habits of the Ringdove* 329

undeviating tenor of Nature's course. Those who approve of
such absurd aberrations from the line of instinct allotted to
birds, would do well to confine their studies to the romances
on their drawing-room tables. Let us hope that better days
are in store for ornithology ; and that when the ardent novice
shall turn over the pages which may be really intended for
his improvement in this fascinating study, he will find their
contents in unison with what he will observe afterwards in
Nature's boundless range.

If size and beauty give a claim to priority, the ringdove
will hold the first place in the scanty catalogue of the wild
pigeons of Europe. It stays with us in Yorkshire the whole
of the year ; and, in the winter months, it resorts chiefly to
the turnip fields for sustenance, where it feeds voraciously on
the leaves, and not on the body, of the turnip. The leaves
are said to impart a rank and disagreeable taste to the flesh
of the bird ; but this is easily prevented by cutting open the
crop, as soon as the pigeon is killed, and discharging the
contents. White of Selborne recommends this process.
Towards evening the form of the ringdove becomes consider-
ably changed. Having fed on the turnip tops during the
course of the day, its crop gets so distended with food, that it
gives to the fore part of the pigeon's body a very full appear-
ance ; and this is easily discerned as the bird passes over your
head to its evening retreat. The contents of the stomach
having been digested during the night, we observe that the
body has regained its ordinary proportions at the break of day.
There has been a great increase of ringdoves during the
winter season, in this part of the country, since the farmers
have paid so much attention to the cultivation of turnips. On
seeing the congregated numbers of these birds, one is led to
imagine that there must be an annual influx of them, at the
close of autumn, from some far distant part. As the ringdove
is an unprotected bird, and much sought after on account of
the delicacy of its flesh, I have strong doubts whether our
breeding season can produce a sufficient supply to make up
the flocks which are seen here in winter. At all events, in
this quarter of Yorkshire very few young ringdoves are
allowed to escape. Farmers and gamekeepers are ever on
the look-out to transfer them from the nest to the kitchen.
These marauders are so perpetually upon the watch that it
has never yet been my lot to find a ringdove's nest in our
neighbouring woods with full-fledged young ones in it;
although I am continually in the habit of straying into them,
and looking for the nests with a careful and unwearied eye.

330 Habits of the Ringdove,

Wherefore, I conclude that our winter flocks receive mi-
gratory individuals from distant regions.

The ringdove, by not feeding on insects, renders no service
to man while visiting his fields. On the contrary, it is known
to injure him considerably in his crop of rising clover. As
soon as this plant begins, under the influence of the vernal
sun, to expand its leaves, the ringdove attacks the heart-shoot
with fatal severity ; and much address is required on the part
of the farmer to scare the birds from their favourite food.
Leaving, however, the sons of Ceres to fight their own battles,
I will merely add, that this handsome bird is protected here.
I love to listen to its soothing murmurs, and take intense
pleasure in observing its habits during the breeding season,
when it becomes fully as tame as the domestic pigeon. The
housekeeper often hints to me that a couple of them would
look extremely well on the table ; and the farmer calls them
devouring vermin. I receive the opinions of these respectable
personages with perfect indifference ; and I sometimes soothe
them by observing that where the ringdove has one friend, it
has a thousand enemies, ready to prepare it for the spit, or to
prevent for ever its return to the clover field.

The ringdove lays tv*^o snow-white eggs on a nest which
may be termed a platform of sticks, so sparingly put together,
that the eggs are easily seen through it by an eye habituated
to look for them. On inspecting this apparent commence-
ment or remnant of a nest, one is led to surmise, at the first
glance, that the young are necessarily exposed to many a
cold and bitter blast during the spring of this ever-changing
climate. " But God tempers the wind," said Maria, *' to the
shorn lamb ; " and, in the case before us, instinct teaches the
parent bird to sit upon its offspring for a longer period after
they are hatched than, perhaps, any other of the feathered
tribe. In the meantime, the droppings of the young, which
the old birds of some species carefully convey away, are
allowed to remain in the nest of the ringdove. They soon
form a kind of plaster strong and scentless. This adds con-
sistency to the nest, producing, at the same time, a defence
against the cold. The ornithologist, while going his autumnal
beats, in quest of knowledge, on seeing this, will know imme-
diately that the nest has contained young: should this be
wanting, he may conclude that the nest has been abandoned
at an early period. As he will find but very few nests with
this species of plaster in them, he may conclude, to a cer-
tainty, that the ringdove has a host of enemies in this country,
and that it is seldom fortunate enough to rear its young to

Habits of the Ringdove, 331

that state in which the faculty of flying saves them from de-
struction.

No bird in the British dominions seems to resort to so
many different trees and shrubs for the purpose of incubation
as the ringdove. Not a tree, from the towering pine to the
lowly thorn, ever comes amiss to it. There is something,
too, peculiarly singular in the locality of some of the nests.
While one is seen placed nearly on the topmost branches of
the lofty sycamore, another may be found within four feet of
the ground, in the humble shelter of the hedge-row bush.
Last year, I found a ringdove sitting on one egg, in a magpie's
nest of the year gone by ; and I observed another ringdove,
rearing two young ones, in a spruce fir tree, below that of a
magpie, out of which I had taken seven eggs, and substituted
five of a jackdaw in their place. It was interesting to see
these two species of birds, one so calm and gentle, the other
so pert and roguish, thus close to each other, at so critical a
juncture. While I was observing them, I felt convinced that
there are certain times in which birds are not so bent on
plunder as we would fain suppose they are ; and, moreover,
that they can frequent each other's company in perfect peace
and quiet. In this instance it appears that instinct showed
the ringdove how to preserve her eggs from being plundered
by her crafty neighbour, who, according to our own short-
sighted view of ornithological economy, would have been apt
to make free with them at the earliest call of hunger. The
ringdove had settled there with her eyes open to her sup-
posed danger ; for the magpie was the first to get possession
of the tree.

I had but a faint idea of the habits of the ringdove until
I had offered it an undisturbed asylum in this " valley free."
Its movements are remarkably periodical. In mild winters,
or more properly speaking, in winters of short continuance,
it makes its first appearance on the island where my house
stands, early in February. This year it came, for the first
time, on the second of the month, and cooed in full note.
From this period, it may be seen here, every day till Oc-
tober, either in the sycamore trees, or in the ivy on the old
ruined tower, or on the lawn, picking up the tender sprouts
of grass. Provided you approach with " cautious step and
slow," you may get within seven yards of different pairs of
these birds ; and when the window-sash is down, they will
come within a few paces of the place where you are standing,
and allow you to gaze at them for any length of time. After
the first week in October, they take their final leave of my
island for the winter ; and never, by any chance, pay us even

332 Hahits of the Bingdove,

one single solitary visit till February sets in ; though they may
be seen every day in congregated numbers in other parts of
the park, where they roost in the elm and fir trees. During the
winter months, they are exceedingly shy and timorous, seek-
ing for safety in lofty flight, the moment they see you ap-
proach. They become quite silent towards the last week in
October, and their notes are reduced to half their number
for some days before they cease to coo entirely. At this
period they discontinue those graceful risings and sinkings in
the air, in which they appear to so much advantage during
the whole of the breeding season.

Thus we have a bird which, during the course of the year,
at one time approaches the haunts of man with wonderful
assurance, and at another shuns them with a timidity equally
astonishing. I speak only of its diurnal movements ; for, at
the close of day, both in winter and in summer, when not
molested, this bird will come near to our out-buildings, and
seek a roosting-place in the trees which surround them.
This peculiarity of the ringdove in approaching so near to
our mansions during the day in the breeding season, and then
losing all confidence in us, as soon as incubation ceases, is
not a mere accidental trait of one or two particular birds,
whose usual habits may have been changed, either by want
of food, or by protection offered ; but it is inherent in the
whole species, when the bird is allowed by man to follow
Nature's unerring mandates.

I know of no British bird which has the colour of its
plumage so constant as is that of the ringdove. I have
never yet seen it vary ; and the white spot or segment of a
circle on the back of its neck, from which it takes its name,
is always of the same size.

Ringdoves are exceedingly numerous here during summer;
and when winter sets in, many thousands come every even-
ing to take up their quarters for the night. They retire
early to roost, and never leave the trees till all the other
birds are on the stir.

As yet, all attempts to reclaim this pigeon have been of no
avail. I should suppose that it is not in the power of man
to make it breed within the walls of a dovecot. For my own
part, I am not exactly aware that its reduction to domestic-
ation would be productive of much advantage to us. Let
others offer it the same protection it enjoys with me, and
there would always be an ample supply of ringdoves to fill
their groves with softest murmurs, and furnish their tables
with a delicious repast. Connoisseurs tell us that the flesh
of the ringdove, in winter, has the flavour of moor game : I

Fragments of Ornithology , 333

have fed on pigeons in many countries, but cannot say that
I ever found them vary in taste from the pigeon which in-
habits our common dovecots. Much, perhaps, depends upon
the cooking. The culinary art, no doubt, with other im-
portant sciences, has derived much benefit from the march of
intellect. In London they will serve you up a ram cat for a
Martlemas rabbit ; and we are told that in Paris a pair of old
hunting boots can be stewed down into a very excellent and
wholesome soup.

" Nil equidem durare diu sub imagine eadem
Crediderim."

These cooks will suffer nothing to remain
In pristine flavour, or its shape retain.

Walton Halli May 21. 1834. Charles Waterton.

Art. V, Sketches of the Natural History of my Neighbourhood,
No. 2., Fragments of Ornithology. By C. Conway, Esq., of
Pontnewydd Works, Monmouthshire.

What I have to say respecting the birds of my neighbour-
hood may be very insignificant, and beneath the notice of the
ornithologist : I am sorry for it. I am no ornithologist ; yet,
when I run after butterflies [VI. 224?. 541.], or ramble about
the country to gather flowers, I cannot shut my eyes when a
bird flits by me, nor stop my ears when he chooses to cheer
me with his song. Observations gathered under such cir-
cumstances are what I have now to offer. Some classification,
however, appeared to be necessary ; but, as I do not profess
to be a scientific ornithologist, that which was most accessible
appeared to be the best suited to my purpose, and I have
therefore made use of that furnished in Stark's Elements of
Natural History: and now for our gossip.

I. Rapa'ces. — Fdlco M' salon (Merlin), F. Tinnunculus
{Kestrel), F. Wisus {Spa7rowhawk), F. Milvus {Kite), F. Buteo
{Com,mon Buzzard), F. riifiis {Moor Buzzard), F, cydneus
{Henharrier). — I believe that this list contains all thefelcons
of my neighbourhood ; and these are, perhaps, quite enough
for one small locality. The merlin is, probably, the scarcest
of them.

Is it a Fact that Hawks have such Power of Sight as is gene-
rally presumed ? — I recollect seeing a sparrowhawk once in
pursuit of a redbreast, and almost in the act of capturing
him ; but the redbreast turning short round the angle of a
building, the hawk flew directly against it, and absolutely

334? Natural Historic of my Neighbourhood : —

dashed out his brains ! I have also known a hawk to pounce
upon a bird hung up in a cage by a window ; when he, miss-
ing his mark, dashed in through the glass, and was captured.
Is this owing to any defect of sight ? or is the attention so
taken up with one object that another is not perceived ?

The Tenacity with which the Falcons grasp their Prey
has frequently excited my admiration ; for I have seen them
disturbed in every possible way, and yet making oiF with
the prize : nay, I have even seen them killed, and yet retain
their prey in their grasp. As an instance, perhaps the fol-
lowing will be sufficient: — -A neighbour of mine, a keen
sportsman, was one day sitting by his kitchen-fire, when he
heard a great clattering in his poultry-yard. Well knowing
the meaning of such an uproar, he immediately started up,
and, seizing his gun, determined to be revenged upon the
aggressor. When he reached the yard, he observed a moor
buzzard just clearing the top of one of his barleyricks,
with a chicken in its claws. The buzzard was immediately
fired at and struck severely, but escaped from sight. The
following day, its carcass was found at some distance, and the
chicken running about the same field uninjured. I have known
instances in which the captive has been totally unable to
release himself; and the sportsman has been absolutely obh'ged
to open the claws of the dead bird in order to set the prey at
liberty.*

The Kestrel pays me a visit almost daily ; hovering for a
considerable time in the air, then taking a rapid sweep to
another part of the field, and there, again, hovering for
another long space of time, apparently in the utmost enjoy-
ment. What name can better describe the habits of such a
bird than the wind-hover ?

That fine Bird the Kite, though, I believe, a very local

* [See p, 150, On the fact there quoted from the Field Naturalist, Mr.
Bree has since remarked as follows : — The combat between the hawk and
magpie, mentioned in p. 150., reminds me of

A Method of catching Magpies [and other Species of Birds], which, I have
been told, has been practised with success. A live magpie is fastened
down to the ground on its back. In this situation, the noise which the
bird makes, together with its exertions to release itself, attracts the atten-
tion of other magpies, who come to its assistance. The first unfortunate
bird which ventures within reach is so firmly grasped in the claws of the
captive, that it may be taken up by the hand and secured, in order to be
tied down in like manner to ensnare others : and thus the magpies are
made to inveigle their own kind. This is no new method of entrapping
birds : if I remember right, an exact representation of it is given in one of
the curious prints of hunting pieces by Anthony Tempesta, who flourished
between 1555 and 1630. In the same set of prints are representations of
some other very curious methods of catching birds and other wild animals,
as well as of the diversion of riding a crocodile. — W. T. Bree. Allesley
Rectory y April 16. 1834.]

Fragments of Omit Jiology, 335

bird, is plentiful in this neighbourhood, our extensive woods
furnishing him with a secure retreat. The great size and
brilliant markings of this bird render it an object of no
inconsiderable beauty when dead ; but its calm and easy and
circuitous flight, as it wheels aloft in endless mazes until it
vanishes from sight, and making the air resound with its
ceaseless mewings, on a bright summer's day, renders it a
sure source of interest when alive. The power of flight in
this bird is amazing: I frequently watch him wheeling round
and round and round, until my eye is completely fatigued,
and yet not a feather appears to be in motion except the
forked tail. How does he propel himself forward in such
instances ?

The Dispute respecting the Identity of the Henharrier and
the Ringtail is, I presume, sufficiently settled ; and I need not,
therefore, make any further allusion to it. I have now before
me a fine specimen of this bird, shot close by, in which the
plumage of the ringtail is still visible on the breast and the
crown of the head, while all the other parts of the body are
covered with the plumage of the henharrier.

StrixO'tus {Eared Owl), S. stridula {Brown Owl), S^Jldm"
mea {Barn Owl), — The brown owl and barn owl are common
here, though the object of the inveterate persecution of the
gamekeepers; whether for any just reason or not, I cannot
say : but, just or unjust, I certainly must say that I regret it;
for the brown owl's note (whether uttered in b flat, as stated
by White, or not, I am not musician enough to distinguish)
is a " rural sound " which I always hear with pleasure,
however uncouth it may sound in " ears polite." Of the
eared owl I had never a specimen until February last ; when
I had a fine pair sent me, which were killed, in a fir plant-
ation on the side of one of our mountains, by the gamekeeper
of B. Hall, Esq. M.P. They are the only pair, I believe, that
have ever been seen in this neighbourhood. Perhaps I may as
well make a few remarks in this place respecting

Eggs of Anomalous Structure. — " We shall here instance
imperfect eggs sometimes produced, such as want the vitellus,
and others containing two yolks." (Montagu, on " Eggs of
Birds," in Rennie's edition of the Diet., p. 166.) " When, from
the same cause, the growth of the vitellus in the ovarium is too
luxuriant, two yolks pass the oviduct together; which, being
surrounded with the usual quantity of albumen, are brought
forth in the form of a single eg^ of extraordinary magnitude."
{Ibid., p. 167.) This irregularity in the state of the egg is not
of common occurrence amongst birds in their native state,
but is much more frequent amongst domestic poultry; I

336 Natural History of my 'Neighbourhood : —

have, however, the egg of a crow, of very diminutive size
and uncouth shape ; but it had been kept so long before I
knew of its existence, that its contents were dried up, and,
consequently, I cannot speak of its internal formation. I have
also the eggs of the queest [ringdove or wood pigeon], of
very small size. The nest was taken on the 18th of April ;
and, from the small size of the egg, I presumed it was that of
a turtle-dove, although I had never known this bird to visit
us so early in the season : however, in extracting the contents
of the eggs, I found that neither of them contained any yolk.
But, the most irregular egg that I have at all met with
is that of a domestic hen. It weighed 1425 grs., and is as
uncouth in shape as it was extraordinary in size. The shell is
divided into three compartments or swellings, and contained
three yolks ; a case not recorded by Montagu in the article
from which I have already quoted.* [See, in 11. 289., a
statement of the anomalous conditions of a pheasant's egg;
and, in III. 4-72., one on those of " an egg within an egg,"
produced by a goose: the instances, in VI. 184., of remark-
ably spotted eggs of the common fowl may just be pinned to
the present subject.]

iJFacts and Considerations on the Conditions "which appertain
to Birds in the producing of their Eggs."] — Whether birds
have or have not a power to retain or expel their eggs at
pleasure, appears to be almost as unsettled a matter as the
cause of their song. " Those who suppose a bird capable of
producing eggs at will, are certainly mistaken. It will ....
lay the number allotted by nature, which is determined before
the first egg is produced. If it is prevented from incubation
by any means whatever, it may begin again to lay in five or
six days ; but there is always an interval of a few days, and
sometimes as many weeks, which must wholly depend on the

* Mr. Conway had, in a communication dated May 24. 1833, favoured
us with a drawing of the anomalous egg of the fowl, and one of that of the
crow. The drawings are stated to be of the natural size, and exhibit the
following dimensions and figures : — The drawing of the fowl's egg is 3 in.
and a tenth and a half in length, and I in. and 8 tenths in breadth ; the
outline is that of an ellipsis, as the two ends are similar in form and
dimension, but has its curve slightly interrupted in three or four places by
a just perceptible protrusion, exhibiting, of course, slight prominences in
these places in the egg itself. The drawing of the crow's egg is in outline
a prolate spheroid, or nearly so ; and its longer diameter is scarcely
9 tenths of an inch, and shorter one full 7 tenths. This extraordinary
example seems an apposite, and, we suppose, is an extreme, illustration of
the accuracy of the remark of Mr. Waterton in VI. 209. ; namely, the eggs
of the carrion crow are " wonderfully irregular in size and shape and
colour." Mr. Waterton has also remarked, in VII. 105., that the eggs of
the rook vary much in colour, shape, and size. — J. D.

Fragments of Chiiitliology, iSST

age and vigour of the bird." If a nest be robbed; " the female
stimulates to love again ; and soon brings forward, by that
stimulus, aided by the male fecundity, a new lot of eggs :
never more than the former, and usually less." {Ibid,^ p. 161,
162.) " After the first ^^^^ [in any of the courses of laying,
Montagu must have meant] is laid, the others must succes*
sively follow, one after the other, each in twenty-four hours."
{Ibid., p. 119.) [Montagu has added, " with a few exceptions
in the larger undomesticated birds ; " and has assumed the
cuckoo to be another exception, and deemed it possible that
this bird has the power to retain its mature egg until it has
found a nest to receive it.] " Another wonderful fact," says
Jesse {Gleanings in Natural History, series i. p. 193 — 195.),
'' respecting eggs is, that some birds have the property of
either retaining their egg after it has arrived at maturity, or of
suppressing altogether the further progress of those eggs which
had arrived at a certain size in the ovarium ; " and he instances
the fact in the case of a domestic hen, which, on being removed
from one location to another, ceased laying, although she had
already commenced depositing her eggs ; and also in another,
that had had her leg accidentally broken. " If the peewit is
deprived of only one egg after she has completed her number,
she immediately forsakes the nest : if, however, she has but
one other to lay, and all but one of her eggs are removed,
she will continue to lay for ten or twelve days or more. The
same has been observed of the blackbird, lark, and long-
tailed titmouse : the latter has gone on to lay as many as
thirty eggs before she began to sit." {Jesse, p. 191.) To these
facts I must now add my own observations. Requiring the
eggs of the brown owl, I desired a neighbouring farmer to
procure them for me; but, before they reached me, they
were destroyed. In about three weeks afterwards, the same
owl had laid two other eggs in the same nest. A thrush's
nest was discovered, on a Saturday, with one egg in it; and,
on Sunday, it was robbed and destroyed. On Monday, a
new nest was constructed, but very imperfectly, and one egg
laid in it. During the whole of Tuesday there was no addi-
tional egg ; but, on Wednesday evening, there were three.
These facts do not appear to accord [Do not those on the
brown owl quite accord ?] with Montagu's statements as to
the number of eggs in the second laying, nor as to the time
in which a bird is forced to bring forth her eggs in succes-
sion. A friend of mine has some pheasants in captivity ; and
two hens laid, in one season, ninety-two eggs. Again : a wren,
under my own observation, built her nest three several times
in the same hole, in a bank ; but no sooner was it constructed
Vol. VII. — No. 40. z

SS8 Anival of British Summer Birds,

than it was destroyed. [See, in No. 41., the details of the
case of a wryneck ( Yunx Torquilla), whose nest was five times
disturbed, and the bird thereby excited to produce twenty-
two eggs.] Now, I argue that she [the wren] would not have
prepared her nest at all before it was required; and, con-
sequently, must have been ready to deposit her eggs as soon
as it was finished. If this supposition be correct, it will then
follow, if we do not allow the bird the power of retaining
her eggs at pleasure, that she must have dropped her eggs
while the second nest was constructing ; but, if this was the
case, for what purpose was the third nest built? I should,
reasoning from analogy, certainly feel inclined to say that the
exclusion or retention of the egg is no more under the will
or control of a bird than the exclusion or retention of the
foetus is subject to the will of a viviparous animal : yet, how
are we to reconcile this with the facts recorded ? *

Art. VI. Notes on the Arrival of the British Summer Birds of
Passage in 1834, with incidental Remarks o?i some of the Species.
By Mr. Edward Blyth.

The following notes have principally been taken in the
neighbourhood of Tooting, Surrey, in the course of long
rambles before breakfast; the country around being greatly
diversified, and exceedingly well adapted for observations of
this kind.

The number of our feathered migrants, this season, appears
to me greatly to exceed the usual average, at least in the

* What are we to say to the following remark ? — " The eggs of the
rook, magpie, and lapwing are nearly similar in size and appearance."
{Jesse y p. 193.) Is it possible that Mr. Jesse had ever seen the egg of the
lapwing before he made this remark ? Mr. Knapp, however, appears to be
of somewhat the same opinion ; for he tells us {Journal of a Naturalist,
2d ed., p. 262.) "the eggs of the rook, though bearing little resemblance to
those of the plover (lapwing), are, in some places, not uncommonly taken
and sold conjointly with them in the London market." Surely, it must be an
easy matter to impose upon a cockney. — C. C. [Hewitson's British Oology
will effectually tend to prevent the recurrence of similar errors. In pro-
motion of its useful service, we give again (we have noticed the work in
IV. 428, 429., VI. 509.) its title in full '.—British Oology; being Illustrations
of the Eggs of British Birds, with Figures of [those of] each Species ; as far
as practicable, drawn and coloured from Nature : accompanied by Descrip-
tions of the Materials and Situation of the Nests, &c. By W. C. Hewitson.
Currie, Newcastle ; Edwards, London. Seventeen numbers are published.
We hope that Mr, Hewitson will not omit to give, before his work is
completed, a dissertation on the structure of eggs, and especially on the
anomalies in structure which have been observed in them. The condi-
tions of anomalous formations are, in every class of natural objects, highly
instructive. See in VI. 430., and in Mr. Conway's communication above.

mth incidental Remarks. SS9

above-mentioned vicinity. Many species which are always
common, as the blackcap and the tree pipit, are now more
than usually abundant; whilst others, which in general are
here comparatively rare, as the redstart, and the grasshopper
warbler, are this season far from being so. Perhaps this
may be in some degree attributable to the long continuance
of fine weather, during the period of migration; which is
assuming that, in general, many perish by the way; but,
unfortunately for this explanation, there is also a consi-
derable increase of several of our resident birds, especially
of buntings (Miliaria), green grosbeaks, and common linnets.
Owing to the unusual mildness of last winter, very few gold-
crests arrived from the north ; and these little birds, only, I
think, are now not quite so abundant here as they were last
summer.

The first of the migratory species which made its appear-
ance here this season was the blackcap (Curruca Atricapilla),
three or four of which were seen about some privet bushes
on the 23d of March, and on several following days, sub-
sisting on the berries, and pouring forth their lively melody
from amid a clump of shrubs, then every morning thickly
incrusted with hoar frost. They did not become common
till April 2. or 3.* April 11. A blackcap was, this morning,
seen carrying in its bill materials for nidification.

March 29th. On this day a meadow crake (or landrail,
Crex pratensis) alighted on board the Farquharson, East
Indiaman (as I was informed by a relation, one of the passen-
gers), as she was nearing the English coast. These birds
are not common in this neighbourhood, and I did not hear
their cry until the 13th of April. I heard them again on
the 16th.

Ajrril 2d. I was informed by a birdcatcher, on whom I
think I can depend, that he had just seen a redstart. Though
I frequently examined their haunts, I did not myself notice
one for some time afterwards. Could this have been Phoeni-
curus Tithys ?

Wheatears are, here, rather rare, and the first I saw was
on the 3d of April. They were, doubtless, in the country
at least a fortnight before.

4th. This morning a solitary swallow (Zfirundo rustica)
was seen, and bank martins [H. riparia) were plentiful about
the river Wandle. These last had been over some days.f

[* The summer birds ar€ now arriving. The blackcap has been warbling
sweetly to-day. — J, G. Lexdeiiy near Colchester y 3d of 4th mo. [April 3],
1834.]

If Sand martins appeared on March 15., at Dorking, Surrey; and at

z 2

34:0 Arrival of British Summer Birds,

Tree pipits (^'nthus arboreus), also, arrived on April 4.,
being the same day on which I have first noticed them for
three successive years. The following day they were abun-
dant. Speaking of the genus v4'nthus, Mr. Selby observes,
that the species " appear subject to a trifling change of plumage
in the spring, confined principally to the region of the head
and throat." From observations which I have made on these
birds, both in confinement and in the wild state, I find that
the members of this genus, and also of Budytes and Motacilla,
undergo in the spring a complete change of plumage, with
the exception of the quill and tail feathers. Even the wing
coverts and the scapulars are all changed.

6th. 1 heard a wryneck (Yunx Torquilla), on Clap-
ham Common : on the 7th these were very plentiful. [In
1833, the wryneck was heard at Bury St. Edmunds on
April 7.]

7th. A single chimney swallow was seen, being probably
the same individual that was noticed on April 4. Observed
several willow wrens (Sylvia Trochilus), and chiffchafFs
(S. loquax). These last have generally been described to
come over in the middle of March; but I rather question
whether those that have migrated are ever heard before the
first week in April. Two chifFchaffs remained throughout
last winter in Earl Spencer's park at Wimbledon. In the
Field Naiuralisfs Magazine for last April, p. 217., a corre-
spondent from Penzance mentions that a few willow wrens
remain in that neighbourhood throughout the year ; and as,
in a previous communication, he makes mention of the chiiF-
chaffi he is doubtless correct with regard to the species.

10th. Heard, for the first time, this morning the long

Taunton, March 29. Swallows appeared, on April 7., at Dorchester; and
at Stanley Green, on April 19. There were, on May 1., martins hatched,
and full fledged, at Spalding, Lincolnshire; and martins were building at
Stanley Green on May 2. The Rev. W. O. Bartlett, Vicar of Great ('an-
ford, near Wimborne, Dorsetshire, saw twelve swallows in that parish on
Oct. 29. 1833. The last swallows seen here, in the parish of Longfleet,
were two seen by Mr. A. Kemp, on Nov, 15. A brood of martins, the
produce of a second hatch, had taken flight two days before. After various
rehearsals, which were very interesting to observe, the young birds departed
with a number of old ones which had assisted in teaching their young wings,
as well as ideas, "to shoot" through the air. Very few birds return, I
think, from their migration. I notice two martins which frequently visit
the old nest where the brood I have named was reared, but there is not,
at present, any attempt to rebuild it: their acts seem more like a remini-
scential inspection. This nest was in an apple loft ; their egress and regress
was, last year, through a window then open ; but, observing that, on their
arrival this spring, they dashed themselves against the glass, I removed a
pane, and now tvTO birds frequently fly in and out ; but only two. — W. B.
Clarke^ in a communication dated Stanley Green [Dorsetshire]^ May 19. 1834.]

mill incidental Hemarks, 341

trill of the grasshopper warbler (Salicaria Locustella), or, as it
is better named by the peasantry in these parts, " the cricket
bird," or the " rattlesnake bird ; " the former, of course,
from the similarity of its cry to that of the mole cricket
(Gryllotalpa), and the latter (by which term it is here most
generally known) from the equally close resemblance which
it bears to the rattle of the Crotalus [rattlesnake] ; though it
is difficult to imagine how this should be sufficiently well
known [in England] to give rise to a provincial name.
April 10. was also the day on which I heard it for the first
time last year. I did not this season again notice it till the
17th, about which time they appeared in considerable numbers.
On the first arrival of this curious species, it sedulously hides
in the very densest furze or bramble coverts, rarely emits its
strange sibilous rattle, and even then its voice hardly ever
seems to proceed from the true direction. This ventriloquis-
ing faculty (as it is absurdly called) is well known. The
bird can, at pleasure, send forth (as it were) its voice to the
distance of two or three yards ; so that, by merely turning
round its head, the sound often appears to be shifted to
double that distance. The same effect is produced also in
the common meadow crake, and in precisely the same manner,
by a mere turn of the head. As soon as the cricket birds,
however, have fixed their abode, and the females begin to
arrive, the males cease for a time to exercise this faculty, and
for a very obvious reason ; otherwise, were five or six of them
to be emulously trilling in a furze brake, as is frequently the
case, the female would often be sent in a wrong direction,
and might, it is not unlikely, introduce herself to one of the
rivals : but this the males take care to prevent, not only by
ceasing to ventriloquise, but by sitting exposed on the top-
most twigs of the bushes, and rattling so loudly that they
may be heard at a very great distance. They are then so
bold, that, even if shot at and missed, they fly only for two
or three yards, and then recommence immediately, as if no-
thing had happened. No sooner, however, are they paired,
than their habit of close concealment returns, and also their
deceptive mode of uttering their cry. Having lately pro-
cured a considerable number of these birds for different
friends, I have observed that they vary somewhat in plumage,
some being much spotted on the breast, while others are
spotless, and the colour of the upper parts also varying a
little in different individuals ; but there is no fixed diflference
between the plumage of the sexes. I have often been sur-
prised at the great strength of the muscles of the leg in this
species, which are partly ossified, as in gallinaceous birds.

z 3

342 Arrival of British Summer Birds,

13tb. A cuckoo was heard.*

14th. Yellow field wagtails (Budytes flava, or better,
perhaps, flavissima) were seen, and the next morning these
were very plentiful. I once had the gratification of seeing a
small flock of these birds arrive from the sea, early one morn-
ing in September, while shooting seafowl in the Isle of Jersey,
They were of this species, and not the nearly allied one lately
detected by Mr. Gould, and had probably crossed from the
south-western coast of England, f

15th. House martins and chimney swallows were skim-
ming over the meadows by the river Wandle. A redstart
was heard.

16th. Redstarts plentiful.

17th. Several cuckoos were about; and the nightingale
was heard here for the first time in the season, being the
same day on which I first noticed it last year.

18th. Whinchats arrived ; a reed warbler (*Salicaria arun-
dinacea) was shot; and I was told that a garden fauvette
(Curruca hortensis) had been heard. Redwings and field-
fares were still abundant, but from this time their numbers
rapidly decreased.

19th. Several whitethroats made their appearance, and on
the following day these were very plentiful.

20th. I saw a grey flycatcher (Muscicapa Grisola): this
being about ten days before the usual period of its first
appearance*

* [The cuckoo was first heard at Parkstone, near Poole [Dorsetshire],
on April 18. 1834 : it came on the same day in 1833; and I am told by
persons who are observant, that it always returns, and is first heard
at Parkstone, about that day. One cuckoo, last year, which haunted
my garden, was known by its voice : it was cracked; and the bird, during
its twelve weeks* stay, never recovered its hoarseness ; it could only cry,
cuck, cuck. I have ascertained that this bird has not returned, or
else has made good use of its winter holidays in learning to speak plain.
The cuckoo left us last year on July 8. Which way does this bii-d retreat ?
I have heard its note very often between Bruges and Ghent, so late as the
end of July : especially, also, near Ostend. — W. B. Clarke, May 19. 1834'.

One of the patrol in Kensington Gardens has told me that the cuckoo
was heard in these gardens on April 21.; I saw one there on April 27.

—j.b:\

[f Wagtails arrived at Stanley Green [Dorsetshire] on March 6. These
birds built last year in a small brick island, covered with shrubs, in a fish-
pond in my orchard. At least ten pairs left us in October ; two only have
returned. They have not built there this spring, as the gardener has
cleared away the weeds, &c. ; and the birds seem alarmed. W. B. Clarke.
May 19. 1834. — We have appended this observation, because, although
Mr. Clarke has not stated the species, it would seem to be not the common
resident one ; and because it is so clear an illustration of the remark by
Mr. Waterton, in VI. 312. ; namely, the means of " food, and a quiet
retreat, are the two best offers that man can make to the feathered race, to
induce them to take up their abode on his domain."]

mth incidental Hemarks. 343

21st. Sedge warblers tolerably plentiful.

23d. Common swifts (Cypseliis murarius) arrived. Also
the white-breasted fauvette, or lesser whitethroat (Curruca
garrula). This species is rather irregular in its appearance,
and Montagu extends the period of its arrival " from April 2 1 ,
to May 10." In the spring of 1831, its nest, containing four
eggs, was brought to me on the 23d of April. Last year I
did not observe it till the beginning of May. Here it is very
abundant; and I may avail myself of the present opportunity
to offer a few remarks on the species.

It is certainly strange, that so common a bird as this is, an
inhabitant of gardens and orchards, and roadsides, in the
immediate vicinity of houses, and conspicuous from its rest-
less activity, and its perpetual reiteration of a loud and pecu-
liar note, should be so little knov/n to naturalists as very
generally to be considered rare; and be described, by all our
writers on ornithology, to inhabit only the thickest under-
wood ; yet such is the case : and, even in the late edition of
Mr. Selby's work, it is said to inhabit " the thickest hedges, in
which it conceals itself with great adroitness; and the in-
tricacies of which it threads with the rapidity of a mouse ; on
which account, specimens are only to be obtained with diffi-
culty, and by patient watching." And, again : — " Its retired
habits, and the impatience of observation which it so con-
stantly exhibits, in always ensconcing itself amidst the thickest
entanglements of hedges or underwood," &c. The words,
also, of Mr. Mudie, in his Feathered Tribes, are to the same
purport, representing it to keep much closer to the hedges
than the common whitethroat. Much of this is, however,
erroneous; for the haunts of this bird are not much in the
hedgerow nor in the tangled underwood, but more upon the
trees than those of the whitethroat, and not unfrequently on
the tops of the highest elms : whence its shrill and monotonous
concluding note (which much resembles the song of the cirl
bunting, or the sound jV^, or glieei, repeated several times in
quick succession) may be heard at a considerable distance.
I have noticed it to be particularly partial to elms ; so much
so, that, when rambling through different parts of the country,
I have approached a spot where a few elms have grown out
of the hedge, and especially if a ditch were at their feet, I
have often, as a matter of course, looked out for this active
little bird, and scarcely remember an instance of failing to see
it in such situations. It may almost always be observed, also,
about little cottage gardens ; and, when the cherries begin to
ripen, no species is more eager in its attacks upon them ; nor
are its habits so retired, nor its impatience of observation so

z 4

344 Arrival of British Summer Birds,

great, but that it will allow of a tolerably near approach ;
nearer, indeed, than any of its British congeners. It some-
times places its nest ]0 ft. or 12 ft. from the ground ; but more
commonly in low bushes, and not unfrequently among nettles
or other coarse herbage : whence, in these parts, this bird
(and not the whitethroat) has acquired the provincial name of
" nettle creeper;" by which term it is mostly known to the
peasantry.

The lesser whitethroat differs remarkably, in confinement,
from all its British congeners, in the extreme quarrelsomeness
of its disposition ; resembling, in this respect, the willow wren
and chiffchafF. I have noticed this, in a greater or lesser
degree, in upwards of a dozen individuals ; and, in general,
they must not, on this account, be kept with other birds, or
they will fairly worry them to death, even if double or triple
their own size, as I have reason to know from experience. Its
manners in the cage (though not its attitudes) bear a very near
resemblance to those of the furze wren, or Dartford warbler
(Melizophilus provincialis). Both these little birds have, in
confinement, a remarkable habit of often throwing back the
head ; and they frequently climb along the wires, which none
of our other warblers ever do. They farther assimilate in
being puffy and thick of feathers about the neck and throat ;
and in sometimes uttering a kind of rattling note, peculiar to
themselves. In other respects, however, the furze wren ap-
proximates more to the whitethroat than it does to this species ;
and, in confinement, is as fond of fruit as either of these. Its
general habits, in the wild state, are quite those of the white-
throat ; and its manner of singing on the wing precisely the
same; its bill, also, is very similar to that of the whitethroat:
yet I now incline to the opinion that the furze wren forms a
distinct natural genus from these, taking the blackcap for the
standard of Curruca; and consider our two whitethroats as
species in some degree intermediate, these differing, however,
considerably from each other. The furze wren, in its mode of
nidification and eggs, very closely resembles the whitethroat
and other fauvettes ; and not the Maluri, to which genus it, in
some other respects, also very nearly approximates.

The lesser whitethroat is never observed to mount singing
into the air, like the common species ; but pours forth its
pretty chirping song generally from amid the branches of a
tree, though sometimes from a bush. This is soft and melo-
dious, but weak ; and may be easily recognised by the fre-
quent recurrence of a note like sip, sip, sij). Like the other
fauvettes (Curruca), it raises its voice as it proceeds, and ends
generally with the monotonous and loud shrill note mentioned

mth incidental Remarks. 345,

at the commencement of this account ; which is analogous to
the clear and lively whistle with which the blackcap usually
concludes. This note is also sometimes repeated, as it flies,
in a vacillating manner, from tree to tree.

In the young of this species the colour of the iris is very
dark, appearing at first sight black ; the following spring it
becomes hazel, with a tinge of reddish ; the next year it is
pale olive brown ; gradually becoming lighter and lighter,
till at length it is of the purest white. In this state I have
kept in confinement a fine male, and have since seen another
individual, a female, in which the irides were perfectly colour-
less. They are seldom thus met with, because so many years
must elapse before the colour entirely disappears ; and in all
birds there is always a great preponderance of young indi-
viduals. Montagu's description must have been taken from
one three years old ; as the irides are said to be " yellowish,
with a tinge of pearl colour." In the males of the common
whitethroat, the iris does not acquire its rich yellow until
the second or third year. [I have, this morning, shot one
with white irides. [Mr. Blyth, in a letter dated May 30.)]

I hope this long digression will be pardoned. I have been
thus diffuse, because the lesser whitethroat seems but very
partially known, judging from most of the descriptions of it
which I have hitherto seen. Of these, that in Professor
Rennie's edition of Montagu's Dictionary is decidedly the
best, the editor being well acquainted with the bird.

26th. Heard the sibilous petty chaps (or wood wren, Sylvia
sibilatrix) for the first time.

30th. On this day I was informed, that, among the numer-
ous swifts playing around the Garrat copper mills, on the
Wandle, was one individual of a larger size, and rather
paler than the rest, with a white line along the belly. This
I immediately recognised to be Cypselus alpinus [described
in VI. 286, 287-], so took my gun, and went direct in
search of it ; but, ere I arrived at the place, all the swifts had
disappeared.

May 3d. Did not hear the garden fauvette (Curriica
hortensis) until now. In an excursion, on May 8., over
Penge Woods, near Sydenham, I observed this species to
be more abundant than I had ever known it before. For
miles, the whole neighbourhood was vocal with their deep
and mellow warblings. They did not here become common
till about this time. Grey flycatchers were now plentiful.

5lh. The common flusher (Collurio vulgaris) made its
appearance; and the turtle dove was first heard. A finished
dove's nest was found on the 18th. Though the turtle dove

346 Arrival of British Summer Birds,

is common in Dulwich woods, and in several other places
near the metropolis, it is here of rather rare occurrence ; and
I have not, therefore, perhaps, been able to note down the
exact time of its arrival.

I had now for some days been rather anxious to procure
an alpine swift, for as many as three or four were one day
seen sailing in company with the common species. I went
several times to the place, and once I certainly saw them,
but they were sailing high in the air, far out of the reach of
gunshot. It was a calm still evening, and the spectacle af-
forded by the swallow tribes was truly beautiful, and would
interest any lover of natural history, i^irundo rupestris ex-
cepted, all the European if irundinidae (or Cypselidae, should
they not rather be called ?) were sailing around. With
pinions wide-extended, the two swifts (Cypselus murarius
and alpinus) glided rapidly along in bold and sweeping curves,
now buoyantly floating on the breeze, now darting with the
speed of thought in pursuit of each other ; those of the com-
mon species screaming in their course. The swallows {H. rus-
tica) skimmed the surface of the water, at times excursively
ranging over the adjoining meadows, and uttering, as they
passed, their well-known " peet-weet," so exactly imitated
by the little sedge bird. The house martins {H. urbica) sailed
gracefully in easy curves, with wings extended, twittering
forth in the air their brisk and cheerful song ; and showing in
beautiful contrast, as they neared the ground, their purest
snow-white plumage above the tail. Lastly, though far more
numerous than all the rest together, the little sand martins,
{H. riparia), with flight more vacillating than the others, li-
terally peopled the air with their numbers, and, in colour
widely differing from the rest, displayed their brown vestures
to advantage, as they passed before a clump of trees, then
everywhere budding forth into leaf.

It was impossible not to gaze with admiration on this ani-
mated scene. Their numbers seemed to lessen ; and presently
hardly one could be discerned, where a minute before they so
abounded: but soon, in the distance, a few moving specks
were visible, and in another minute the air was peopled as
before. Again they disappeared, and the scene again was every-
where enlivened by their presence ; but not in such numbers
as at first. The sun was fast sinking below the horizon, and
in every direction the refulgent sky glowed with his setting
beams. The swifts had disappeared: a few swallows and
house martins were still sailing around, their numbers fast
decreasing : the bank martins gradually, almost imperceptibly,
mounted higher and higher into the air, rising somewhat at

mth incidental Remarks. 3 47

every sweep ; and, slowly congregating in their ascent, con-
tinued thickening in numbers and lessening in the distance,
till at length, '^ parvis componere magnd^ [to compare great
things to small], they assumed exactly the appearance of a
swarm of flies. At last they vanished to the westward ; but
whither they pursued their route I cannot tell, though I sup-
pose that they retired straight to roost among the osier beds
beside the Thames.

Mr. Selby observes of the bank martin, that he is not aware
whether they ever congregate in the autumn, like the other
species, previous to their migration. They certainly do con-
gregate, and in tens of thousands, the flocks sometimes alight-
ing on the ground ; and generally passing the night in large
beds of reeds or osiers.

Last of all the summer birds of passage, arrived the night-jar
(Nychtichelidon europae^us), the loud hurre of which was first
heard here on May 1 5. This is early ; but they may possibly
have arrived a little before, as they are not common in this
immediate neighbourhood, though a few always make their
appearance. They are plentiful in the Coombe district; and
I have seen them in Dulwich woods, and upon Penge Com-
mon, within five miles of London.*

To conclude : I did not, this season, observe any ring ousels,
nor pied flycatchers f (M. luctuosa). The former usually make
their appearance here about the middle of April; the latter
in the early part of that month, being one of the first summer
birds of passage. Query ^ Should this species, and albicollis,
range in the same minimum division as M. Grhola F

The noting down the arrivals of our small summer visitants
has become a subject rather destitute of novelty ; but it is still
interesting to compare observations made in different parts
of the kingdom ; and, with this view, I have been induced to
offer the present communication.

Tooting, Surrey, May 21. 1834. Edward Blyth.

* [The nightjar was heard at Stanley Green on May 15. : it had probably
just arrived. It has no regular habitat here, as far as I am informed.
The bird arrived seems to be a solitary individual; at least I have not seen
its mate. It made a fearful clatter on the 15th and 17th, from 7 o'clock
in the evening until midnight. It was silent on the 16th, in the evening of
which day it was hovering about the garden. (W. B. Clarice y in a communi-
cation dated Stanley Greeny May 19. 1834.) See, in p. 156, other facts
from Mr. Clarke, on the habits and time of migration of the fern owl.]

f Since writing the above, a field flycatcher's nest has been discovered
in the identical hole (of a large ivied poplar), in which three successive
nests of this bird were destroyed last year : see the Field Naturalist'' s Ma-
gazine for March 1834, p. 117. This is a most remarkable instance of
persevering attachment to a particular location, for I have no doubt what-
ever that these nests were all built by the same pair. — E, B. May 30.
1834.

848

Illustrations in British Zoology

In Taylor's London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazi7ie
and Journal of Science^ the Number for May, 1834, there is
pubhshed an interesting communication, entitled " Notice of
the arrival of twenty-six summer birds of passage in the neigh-
bourhood of Carlisle, during the spring of 1833." — J. D.

A Cuckoo pursued by a Meadow Pipit, — Happening to hear,
when passing over Mitcham Common, a few days since, the
full melodious note which the cuckoo often utters on the wing,
I looked around, and soon perceived a meadow pipit (v4'nthus
pratensis) chasing a cuckoo through the air, at a considerable
height from the ground ; following it at least a couple of hun-
dred yards, and attacking it repeatedly, with wonderful spirit,
till at length it seemed no longer able to keep up. On re-
turning to its nest, it probably found a new object for its
affections. — JS. Blyth,

Art. VII. Illustrations in British Zoology. By George John-
ston, M.D., Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edin-
burgh.

21. Pleurobra'nchus plu^mula {fig. 46.)

a, A view of the back, when the animal is in progression. bbb. Three views of the ventral
surface c c, Two views of the shell. All of the natural size.

Synonymes. — Bulla pliimula Mont. Test. Brit. p. 214. t. 15. f. 9. (the
shell), Turt. Br. Faun. p. 168., Turt. Conch. Diet, p. 25.; Pleurobranchus
plumula Flem. Brit. Anim. p. 291.; Berth^lla porosa Blainv. Malacolog.
p.470. t.43. f.l.

Description. — Body oval, convex dorsally, of a uniform
cream-yellow colour. Cloak smooth, reticulated with minute
clear spots, so as to appear almost porous, like a piece of fine

Pleurohrdnchus plumula. 349

sponge ; the margin thickisb, plain, undulate, free, and suf-
ficiently broad to conceal the foot when at rest. Tentacula
arising between the cloak and veil, superior, two, cylindrical,
short, formed of a membrane folded into a tube slit along one
side. Eyes two, small, black; one at the superior base of each
tentaculum. Veil above the mouth broad, somewhat triangular,
produced at the upper and outer angles, which are folded.
Mouth shortly proboscidiform. Space between the cloak and
foot smooth, deep. Orifice of the generative organs on the
right side, placed very forward, tubercle-like. Branchia arising
immediately behind it, single, naked, plume-like, and pectin-
ated ; the posterior half free. Foot oval, tapering posteriorly
when in a state of extension, and projecting beyond the
cloak ; the margins undulate, plain. Shell concealed in the
substance of the cloak, dorsal, ovate-oblong, depressed, with
a minute spire at one end; brownish, thin, pellucid; strongly
wrinkled concentrically, and marked with a slight fossa from
the apex to the opposite angle. Length 6 lines, breadth 3 J lin.

I am unable to describe the internal organisation of this
interesting mollusc; but it may be permitted me to direct
the student's attention to the wonderful structure of its oral
organs, which I could not (although not unfamiliar with ana-
logous structures in congenerous species) view without a
feeling of indescribable pleasure and amazement: and, to the
lovers of the microscope, I am satisfied that no object can
afford a more gratifying display. Within the soft parts of the
mouth there lie two thin oval plates, one on each side, reti-
culated in an inconceivably minute and regular manner, after
the fashion of the compound eyes of many insects ; the meshes
being diamond-shaped, and set with a small obtuse process at
each angle. Between these plates (which, I presume, are a
modification of the maxillae or jaws) the tongue is situated :
a broad membrane, folded at the sides, and armed with innu-
merable little spines or teeth, arranged in close-set transverse
series, parting from a longitudinal medial line. The tongue
is of a square shape, rounded at the lower end ; to which is
appended an inversely heart-shaped piece of similar structure
and appearance : the whole fitted to rasp down the vegetable
matter on which the animal feeds.

The cloak is fleshy, but not fibrous ; and, in its composition,
includes many small crystaUine spicula of carbonate of lime,
which are also to be found in the foot and branchia. These
spicula are colourless, short, cylindrical, and rounded at both
ends ; and they seem to have no determinate arrangement.
I have found similar spicula, but larger and more abundantly,
in the tegumentary system of the D5ri5.

35.0 Description of some nondescript and rare

Our figures exhibit the animal of its natural size; and
were taken from specimens found, between tide-marks, in
Berwick Bay. Like the land slug, it progresses by obscure
undulatory motions of the foot ; but it justly claims the " bad
preeminence " of being superior in sluggishness and tardiness.

The specific name of Blainville is unjustifiable ; and no
authority can warrant our adoption of it. Montagu (the
discoverer of the species) called it Bulla plumula * ; and,
although the generic name must be altered to suit the progress
of science, his specific name is sacred, and is beyond the
changeful caprice of any systematise Blainville has done
some further wrong to Montagu, in ascribing even the dis-
covery of the mollusc to Donovan ; whose name, I may
observe, is often substituted for that of the former naturalist
by foreign authors, and by some careless translators in our
own country. BermcJc upon Tweedy Jan, 3. 1834^.

Art. VIII. Description of some nondescript and rare British Species
of Shells, By William Turton, Esq. M.D. &c.

Crena'tula Travi's// [Turton]. (Jig, 47.)

Testa rhombea, inferne rotundata, pellucida, albida vittis
longitudinalibus interruptis pallide violaceis ,• margine antico
incurvato.

Shell rhombic, rounded below, transparent, whitish, with
pale, violet, longitudinal, interrupted stripes; the anterior
margin incurved. Nearly an inch long, and full half an inch
broad ; extremely thin and brittle ; obliquely truncate at the
top, with a few pale violet spots below ; hollowed out at the
front margin in a slight crescent-shaped form.

This most interesting addition to our native stock was
taken alive at Scarborough; and is in the cabinet of Mr.
Bean, who obligingly sent the accurate drawing from which
the figure was taken. He has given it the specific name of
TraviszV, after Mr. Travis, well known for his valuable com-
munications to Pennant. In its outline, it differs from any
of those figured by Sowerby, or described by Lamarck.

My'tilus stria'tulus Linn, Mant, p. 548., Schrcet, Einl, iii.
p. 449. t. 9. fig. 16., Gmel p. 3358.

Testa subtrigona, striis longitudinalibus elevatis crenulatis.

Shell somewhat triangular, with raised, longitudinal, slightly crenate
striae.

Length three quarters of an inch, and hardly as much in breadth ; semi-
transparent, dark horn-colour, with a few paler zones ; marked with nume-

■* He subsequently constituted with it a new genus, which he called
Lamellaria, a name preoccupied in botany.

British Species of Shells. 35

rous slight longitudinal ribs, which are crossed by transverse depressed
lines, giving them a granulated surface : the front margin a little incurved ;
the hinge margin angular.

This beautiful species, which has long been a desideratum
to the science, was taken in abundance, by Mr. Bean, on
some floating wood at Scarborough, who kindly sent us
some specimens. [See, in connection, the communication in
p. 353.]

Pleuro'toma Trevellta^n zjiw [Turton].

Testa ovato-fusiforme J anfractibus 6 — 7, striis numerosissimis, apice
deplanatis.

Shell oval-fusiform ; with 6 or 7 volutions, very closely striate, and
flattened at their tops.

This new and very distinct species was found, by Mr.
Bean, abundantly at Scarborough. It is so extremely like
the Murex turricula of Montagu, as to be hardly distin-
guished, except by the following marks: — 1st, The outline
is of a more inflated cast ; 2dly, the striae are twice as nume-
rous ; 3dly, and the distinct notch at the upper angle of the
outer lip fixes its genus.

In this genus we have also the ikfurex gracilis, M. sept-
angularis, and M. linearis of Montagu, and the M. Chord ula
of our Conchological Dictionary ; a pair of which, collected by
ourselves, are now in the cabinet of Mr. Clark.

The M. purpureus of Montagu has sometimes this pleuro-
tomatic notch.

. Fu^SUS FENESTRA^TUS [^TurtOfl],
Testa oblongo-fusiformi, alba, costis numerosis longitudinalibus striis
transversis reticulatis ; anfractibus octo, tumidis ; cauda producta, sinis-
trorsum curva; apice papillari; fauce albo lasvigato.

Shell oblong-fusiform, white, with numerous longitudinal ribs, which are
reticulate by transverse striae ; volutions eight, swollen ; the tail produced,
a little turned to the left ; mouth white, smooth ; the tip papillary.

Length, 1^ in. ; breadth, five eighths of an inch. In its outline it much
resembles the Fusus corneus j but the volutions are much more rounded
and deeply divided, and the tail is not so much elongated j the reticulations
are rather coarse, and slightly granular at the points of junction; the
colour is also of a much clearer ivory white.

A pair of these were dredged up at Cork ; one of which
was sent to us by Mr. Humphries, and is now in the cabinet
of Mr. Clark.

Fu^sus NoRWEGicus \_Turton'], iStrombus norwegicus Chamn,
Conch, X. t. 157. fig. 197, 198.

Testa laevi, eburnea ; anfractibus planiusculis ; ultimo ventricoso ; labro
dilatato, intus laevigato.

Shell quite smooth, ivory white ; volutions rather flat, the lower one
ventricose ; outer lip much dilated, and smooth on the inner margin.

Length 3 in., and about 2 in. broad ; with six volutions, the last of which
is much enlarged ; of an ivory whiteness, with a slight ferruginous stain ;
aperture very large, twice as long as the rest of the shell, pure white

352 Description of some nondescript and rare Shells.

within ; the outer lip much spread, with the margin sharp and slightly
reflected ; pillar smooth.

This fine shell was taken by the dredge, off Scarborough ;
and is in the cabinet of Mr. Bean, who obligingly sent it to
us for examination and description.

Triton cuta^ceus Z., Sowerby, Gen. fig. 3.

Testa ovata, dorso tumido, subtus deplanata, cingulis transversis pro-
minulis subnodosis, varicibus diiabus, nodosis, alternis; columella um-
bilicata ; labro intus serie duplici crenato.

Shell oval, tumid on the back and flat underneath, with transverse and
rather prominent belts, which are slightly nodulous ; varices two, knotty
and alternate ; pillar umbilicate, outer lip crenulate internally in a double
row.

Length nearly 3 in., and half as much wide ; yellowish white, pure white
within ; pillar with a small nodule near the upper end.

Three or four of these shells were cast on shore, after a
violent gale, near Falmouth, in Cornwall ; and we have taken
them on the Guernsey coast. From their worn and much
stained state, they appear to have come from very remote and
deep water.

? Ia'nthina exi'gua Sowerby Gen, fig. 2, 3.

Testa ovata, subfusiformi, bifariam striata, spira producta acuta.

Shell oval, a little swollen in the middle, striate in a double direction ;
the spire produced and pointed.

Length four tenths of an inch, three tenths broad ; of a violet colour,
and a more conical shape than L fragilis, in consequence of the spire being
more produced, and the volutions rounded and more distinctly defined ;
the mouth is also not so proportionately spread, by which it appears of a
somewhat spindle-like form, the primary volution being swollen and slightly
carinate in the middle; the striae are very distinct and elegant, oblique,
and turning at the subcarinate part in an obtusely angular direction.

In the small coves about the Land's End, in Cornwall, the
? lanthina fragilis is occasionally wafted, by a gentle south-
west wind, in prodigious fleets ; all alive, and borne upon the
water by their clusters of tough bubble-like vesicles. By the
retreating waves, most of them are carried back into the
ocean ; so that it requires a fortunate combination of tide,
wind, and wave to see them in all their splendour. This
mostly happens about the months of July and August. The
fishermen's wives call them bullhorns, which supposes a prior
knowledge of their appearance. Among them are sometimes
found a few of I. exigua; which, having been probably regarded
as the young of 1. fragilis, may have caused them to be over-
looked.

Bu'lla zona^ta \_Turton']^ Scaphander Leach,

Testa ovata, solida, opaca, albo et fulvo alternatim zonata, lineis trans-
versis elevato-punctulatis.

Shell oval, solid, opaque, with alternate zones of white and fulvous, and
transverse lines of minute raised dots.

Length a quarter of an inch, breadth nearly as much.

Bare British Mytilus. - 353

This very elegant species in shape very much resembles
a small B. lignaria; but is of a more conic oval shape, with
the volutions more loosely connected ; the crown is umbili-
cated, and, together with the pillar, pure white. On the body
are regular, rather broad, alternate, transverse bands of white
and pale rufous brown ; and round each of the white belts is
a regular line of very minute raised granular dots.

Found near the Land's End. (Mus. Clark,)

Bu'lla hya^lina [^Turtoii], Roxania Leach,

Testa ovata, hyalina, lasvi; aperture basi dilatataj columella umbilicata ;
corona planata, canaliculata, umbonata.

Shell oval, transparent, smooth ;, apertura dilated at the base ; pillar
umbilicate ; crown flattened, channelled, umbonate.

It something resembles the Bulla umbilicata; but is shorter, and of a
more oval shape, with the aperture more dilated, and is of a crystalline
transparency. At the base of the inner margin there is a reflection of the
pillar, forming a slight groove or umbilicus ; and the central umbo on the
crown is very distinct and prominent. The last two marks seem to fix it
in the genus Cymba of Lamarck and Sowerby; but we have not remarked
the sharp plaits on the pillar.

Found abundantly on the coast about Newcastle; whence it
was sent us by Mr. Alder. We also discovered it near the
Land's End, in Cornwall. {Mus. Alder, Clark,)

BuLL^^A puncta'ta [7wr/o?z], Bulla punctata Adams, Linn,
Trans, vi. t. i. fig. 6, 7j 8.

Testa ovata, hyalina, lineis transversis impresso-punctatis ; corona
canaliculata.

Shell oval, transparent, with transverse lines of distinct impressed dots.

The accurate observations of Mr. Clark, who favoured us
with specimens, have fully distinguished this species from
B. catena of Montagu. The shell is something smaller, of a
more oval shape, with the crown more flattened ; and, instead
of oval, raised, chainlike points, which form the lines in B.
catena, the lines in this species consist of distinct impressed dots.

Mr. Clark has also been able to ascertain, that, in B. ca-
tena, the animal is of a yellowish white, and furnished with
a gizzard ; but that the animal of B. punctata is of a blackish
grey colour, and destitute of any trace of gizzard.

Found by Mr. Clark, near Exmouth.
Bideford, Devon, May 1. 1834.

Art. IX. A Notice of Localities, Habits, Characteristics, and
Synonymes of a rare British Sj^ecies ofMytilus. By Mr. Wil-
liam Williamson, Jun.

My'tilus subsaxa' tilis [^Williamson']. — A species of
Mytilus has been occasionally found on various parts of the
Vol. VII. — No. 40. a a

354

Rare British Mytilus,

eastern coasts of Yorkshire and Durham, and has been ar-
ranged under the different names of M. angulatus and M,
solitarius. Nothing has, however, been known of its habits,
in consequence of the specimens (which have been generally
found attached to the roots of seaweeds) being so rare, and
all of them young ones, until lately, when a habitat of this
species was discovered a little to the north of Scarborough.
The only other species to which it bears any resemblance
are the M. edulis and the M. incurvatus, both of which are
found in the neighbourhood. In the drawing {^fig* 48 ), « is a

lateral representation of a full grown shell, and d is the
anterior margin of the same. From the M. edulis, to which
it approaches in size, it differs in the greater thickness of the
shell, which is strong and solid; the hinge-line is longer, and
very straight, giving rather a rhomboidal form to the valves,
sometimes even more so than in the figures; while in the
M. edulis it is curved ; the anterior margin is broad, de-
pressed, and a little convex, instead of being produced ; the
lines of growth are also comparatively stronger. In form, it
bears a greater resemblance to the M. incurvatus ; but the
latter wants the straight hinge-line, and is not of half the
.size. The young shells {b and c) have the character of the
hinge even more striking, and are of a deep brown colour,
instead of the dirty blue of the old ones. Still stronger

Meriari's Insects of Surinam. 355

points of distinction between these three species are supplied
by the differences in their habits. The M. eddlis is found
thickly clustered on the large flat scars, and the M. in-
curvatus fills the crevices and fissures of the rocks: the
species which is the subject of my notice is invariably, except
in the solitary instances to which I have above alluded, laid
under water. It is found in the large pools left by the retir-
ing tide, in groups of three or four together, firmly attached
by their strong byssus to the under surfaces of the large stones
with which the water is here and there studded ; so that, to
procure them, it is necessary to wade into the pools, and
overturn these stones.

Mr. J. Alder of Newcastle has arranged it under the name
of ik/ytilus angulatus ; and the Rev. W. Mark of Shields
calls it M. solitarius ; but the largest individuals which these
gentlemen have ever seen are less than the smaller figures
{b and c) ; and as the shells of all muscles are more or less
angular, and as this is not a species of a solitary habit, I
would propose the name of M, subsaxatilis, as most charac-
teristic of the situations in which it is found. The charac-
ters of its habitat, combined with its peculiar solid form,
give it as good a title to be styled a distinct species as, if
not a better one than, that of the transparent shell of the
M. pellucidus, or the small blunted form of the shell of the
M, incurvatus, does these species respectively.

Queen Street, Scarborough, June 10. 1834.

[For a notice of the localities of the M. polymorph us, see
VI. 532. ; and for a statement of the characteristics of the M.
striatulus Linn., see VII. 350.]

Art. X. Observations on the Work of Maria Sibilla Merian on the
Insects, Sfc, of Surinam. By the late Rev. Lansdown Guilding,
B.A. RL.S. i&c. *
Such of your readers as may possess a coloured copy

of Madame Merian's work, may be glad to receive the

[* He died at St. Vincent in 1832, under 50 years of age.
" Yes ! thou hast pass'd life's transient hour.
Yet oft shall fancy's witching power

Recall thy parted breath :
Still shall thy name in * deeds ' survive.
Still shall thy * thought ' in memory live.
Though thou art cold in death ! "
In vol.xvii. of the LiniKBan TransactiojiSy part i. published May, 1834,
there is an additional instance of the industry of this arduous-minded man :

A A 2

356 Observations on Madame Merian^s

remarks which I have been able to make on the value and
interest of her figures, during my residence in a country similar
to that in which her collections were formed.

We can never sufficiently admire the zeal of this female
votary of the sciences, who, quitting the comforts of her home,
sought for two years the gratification of her curiosity in a far
distant land, under a burning sun, and in an unwholesome
climate : her book, however, abounds with errors, against
which the naturalist of Europe should be always upon his
guard. At the period in which it was issued from the press,
1726 (according to Kirby, an edition seems to have been
published as early as 1705), it was considered a splendid and
valuable addition to the libraries of the learned ; and it con-
tinues still to be admired, from the size of its showy plates,
and the beauty of the subjects depicted, though the state of
entomological engraving in 1 726 was very imperfect ; and the
figures are sadly deficient in that minuteness of detail which
is indispensable.

Its principal value seems to me to consist in the figures of
larvae and pupae. Much fault is to be found with the absurd
position of many of the figures, and the very great inaccuracy
of others : indeed, it is difficult to imagine how they could
have been prepared, unless they were sketched from memory.
The grand defect of the work is the introduction of idle stories,
related to her by strangers. The " paucis solum exceptis,
quae ex ore Indorum percepta junxi," go far to destroy that
confidence which would naturally be given to a patient ob-
server of nature. Linne, and some others of the older writers,
have been led to give very inapplicable names to various
species of Lepidoptera, taken from the plants on which they
are falsely represented to have fed.

I shall pass on to notice the plates, which are 72 in
number, and at the end of each note will say something
as to the value of the figure of the plant introduced. The
plates are preceded by one of those fimciful and useless
frontispieces which were formerly thought indispensable in
an illustrated work, and which occupied, to no purpose, the
time and labour of the engraver. Here the fair author is

it is entitled, " Observations on Naticina and Dentalium, two Genera of
Molluscous Animals," p. 29., and consists for the most part of technical
descriptions and notices of systematic affinities; two Dentalia are figured.
This remark is given in the paper : " I have transmitted a drawing and de-
scription of the typical species of Naticina to my friend Mr. Swainson,
who has promised to insert many of my drawings of West Indian shells in
his beautiful work, entitled * Zoolo.cncal Illustrations.' "1

luscdSi 4"^., of Surhiam. 357

represented, in the foreground, before a basket of tropical
fruits, with her attendants placing in cabinets chip boxes
filled with extended insects ; while the room is swarming
with a host of butterflies and caterpillars that would have
frightened Pharaoh in the land of Egypt. In the distance is
a Surinam landscape swarming with frogs, in which we behold
two old gentlemen, in bag wigs and broad-tailed coats, assist-
ing the maid-servant to capture flies.

Plate 1. contains, on the right side, three rude and useless
figures of i^latta americana Gmelin, Lin. 2042. At the
bottom, the circular egg purse {theca) of a spider is mistaken
for the inartificial egg cell (loculiis) of the kakkerlac or cock-
roach, out of which a young one is represented as escaping.
On the left are two useless figures of a second species, hardly
mature. I have not observed that these creatures are par-
ticularly attached to the pine [Bromel/a Andtias L., Ana-
nassa saliva Aucl.'], though in the forests I have captured
many interesting species among the vaginating leaves of the
Tillands/<^ or wild pines, where they had evidently retired
for shelter and concealment only. The bag, said to contain
the young, was the egg cell, which is retained in the vagina
for some time by the females of this genus, till it is indurated
by atmospheric influence. It is then glued against some
chosen spot, and covered for concealment in the dirt or any
substance that may be at hand. The young pine [Bromeh'a
Ananas L.] in a state of inflorescence, with the crown and
basilar offsets just developed, is not badly executed.

Plate 2. The four upper figures represent the Coccinella
cacti G?nel. 1661., with the pupae; and the two following,
the cocoon and larva of a small moth ?, said, without pro-
bability, to devour the Coccinella. The four lower ones
illustrate the Papilio Dkb Fabric. 177. Gmel. 2324. They
appear rudely done, with the exception of the largest larva.
The pine is shown in its ripe state, and cut out of its cluster
of serrated leaves, and ready for the table. I may once for
all observe, that, when a lepidopterous insect is reversed, that
portion of the upper wing which is exhibited is incorrectly
coloured, and does not correspond with the accompanying
figure of the upper surface of the insect.

Plate 3. Three figures of a giant species of Sphina:, of the
same group as S» Carolina, executed with more than ordinary
care. Not known to Fabricius. The exuviae and pupa are
improperly attached to a branch ; for all these insects descend
towards the earth, and take their pupal slumber in a ball of
prepared dirt, or in a slight cocoon. The pilose head of the
imago, and the free tongue-case (glossotheca) of the pupa,

A A 3

358 Observations on Madame MeriarCs

more than usually convoluted, are worthy of notice. The
plant is a species o^ Anbna not found with us, which produces
an unpalatable fruit.

Plate 4. contains the larva, empty puparium, and imago of
Papilio jatrophae Fab. 301. GrneL 2308. With the lizard I
am not acquainted, but disbelieve the improbable story of its
acquiring the length of 10 or 12 feet. The plant is the
flowerless head of the Jatropha Manihot, or cassada.

Plate 5. contains four tolerable figures of iSphin^ Tetrio
Fab. 32.-— See also S. rustica Fab. 33. Gmel. 2385. The
larva is said to have been destructive to the fields of cassada
plants. In St. Vincent I have found noble specimens, just
developed, resting on the leeward or sheltered sides of the
gru-gru palm {Cocos fusiformis ?). As they were all caught
on the same tree, at distant intervals, it would appear probable
that they had fed on its fronds, and had descended through
the host of needles which beset the trunk, to seek a temporary
rest, in the pupa state, at its foot. The gravid snake, with
its eggs, is unknown to me. The unnoticed figure is the
curious Membracis foliata Fab. 4. Cicada Gfnel. 2092. The
root of the cassada is badly represented, with its tubers ; from
which, after the evaporation oi its poisono?is iuice, the granular
Jarine, and the flat cassava cakes of the West Indians, are
prepared. By the act of boiling o?il2/, this juice is (in the De-
merara settlement) converted into the rich and dark sauce
called cassaripe. The native Indians form of dark clay their
pots which bear the name of this sauce, serving to season the
hunter's daily meal; and the colonist has introduced the
custom into his more luxurious dwelling. The plan is, to
throw into the cassaripe pot, which is never cleaned or alto-
gether emptied, the remains of meat and poultry, to add the
sauce, and stir the compound preparation, which forms, as I
can readily testify, a most delicious meal.

Plate 6. has two species of Saturni«, with their curious
larvae and cocoons {folliculi)^ both undetermined. The under
one approaches a species sent me from the Orinoco trees, on
the banks of the great river of that name, which assumed the
imago in my study in St. Vincent. The plant comes near to
<Solanum torvum, the round berries of which were boiled and
eaten here, during the partial famine caused by the stony
showers of the volcano of Morne Soufriere, in 1812.

Plate 7. seems one of the most valuable in the work, and
represents the Papilio Achilles Fab. 2534. Gmel. 2245., with
the larva and oddly shaped pupa. This noble creature,
soaring in the tropic sun in all its splendour and strength, is
worthy to bear the name of the Grecian hero. The plant

Insects, SfC, of Surinam, S59

seems to be the Malpighia glabra X., common in our gar-
dens ; the cherries of which, called here chereese, or cerise,
from their acidity, are used only when preserved. They are
delicious when encrusted with a coat of white sugar, laid on
in the sun, by the help of the white of eggs.

Plate 8. has the curiously armed larva, the pupa and rude
figures of Papilio Amphinom^ Fab. 404. The plant is the
Plumi^rm rubra L., whose sweetly scented flowers often cover
the whole tree before the restoration of its leaves. The tree
with v^^hite flowers is totally distinct, and is a common orna-
ment of our leeward and rocky coast.

Plate 9. contains Papilio Nestor Fab. 266. Gmel. 2245.
The puparium is j'udely done, and the larva seems rather to
belong to some Sphinx or nocturnal moth, though it is said to
have produced the butterfly before us. The plant is the
pomegranate (Punica GranatumZy.)? with the fruit burst open,
and showing the pale sweet coat which protects the seeds; and
has all the glassy splendour of gems, so difficult to represent
on paper.

Plate 10. Three rude figures of the larva, pupa, and imago
of Hesperia (Papilio) Cupido Fabr. 1. Gmel. 2336. ; a species
remarkable for the spots of burnished silver, of the greatest
brilliancy, on the inferior surface. The three lower figures
illustrate a pale-coloured moth of the size of Ceriira vinula,
not known to Fabricius. The cotton plant (Gossypium bar-
badense L. ?) is more than usually faithful.

Plate 11. The two figures of the sexes of J56mbyx (Pha-
lae^ia) erythrinae Fahr. 13. Gmel. 2403., are neatly engraved,
with the pupa and exuviae. If one can depend on the
drawings of the larvae, and the accompanying statements, we
have here an extraordinary instance of the change which
takes place during the developement of the larva. I have
myself, as well as other observers, witnessed the disappear-
ance of spots, the alteration of colour, and the variations in
the clothing of caterpillars ; but have never noticed so great
changes as are here described. The yellow larva, at its first
moulting, exchanges its transverse bands for lateral spots ;
at the second, the six strong spines which defended the body
are laid aside, and the general colouring of the animal under-
goes a change. The plant is a most beautiful species of Ery-
thrina, not cultivated by us.

Plate 12. We have the male, the larva, pupa, and cocoon
of an undetermined species of Saturni«, very nearly allied in
many respects to a beautiful species which I have lately
drawn in all its stages, for insertion in the costly zoological
work of my correspondent, Mr. Wilson of Edinburgh, under

A A 4

360 Observations on Madame Merian^s

the name of A'ttacus Wilson?/. Indeed, I am not certain if
it be not the very same. However, the coarse colouring and
engraving will always render it impossible to determine this
point. The flowers, with their strange subcoriaceous enve-
lope, and the young fruit of the plantain (Mus« paradisiaca
Zv.), are tolerably well designed, though, even in a folio work,
justice can hardly be done to these wonderful vegetable pro-
ductions, which may well be thought worthy of paradise, and
the names they bear [as paradisiaca, sapientum, ornata, su-
perba]. I have commenced a Pomona on atlas sheets, whose
size will enable me to depict the larger products of our
gardens. Nine sheets I have devoted to the bread fruit
( Artocarpus incisa L.) alone, and its varieties, and yet I have
not done it so completely as I have wished. How, then, shall
we expect, in small-sized works, figures which can give to the
European any tolerable idea of the more splendid gifts of
Flora?

Plate 13. contains the larva, pupa, and two figures of an
undescribed Hesperia ? The larva is a remarkable object :
instead of being spiny, as represented, I should rather think
the back must have been clothed with fallen flowers ; the ap-
pearance of the filaments and anthers is very clear. I have
in spirits a lepidopterous larva, the processes of whose back
are tipped with the yellow anthers on which it fed ; a covering
adapted for concealment, and not more wonderful than the
stercoraceous coat worn by the cannibal larvae of several
orders, and by some small land testaceous Mollusca, and
which protects them from birds, by giving them the appear-
ance of the dung of bats. The plant is rudely done, and
infamously coloured : the fruit should have been yellow. Can
it be the hog plum (»Sp6ndias Myrobalanus L.) of the An-
tilles ? A useless plant.

Plate 14. The three central figures belong to a white and
colourless unknown moth, sent me from Demerara. The
three exterior ones represent an undetermined ASphinjr, very
nearly approaching S. Carolina, but, without doubt, distinct,
especially as far as regards the larva. A common and neg-
lected, but delicious, West Indian fruit, the Anbtia muricata
L.i or soursop, is very correctly drawn.

Plate 1 5. has three figures of the larva, cocoon, and imago
of a black nocturnal moth, which does not seem to have
occurred to other writers. The larva is remarkable for its
quadrate bulky outline, and the hairy blunt processes of the
extremities, and the slime said to accompany it. Our fair
author is not the first entomologist who has been disappointed
in the expectation of something splendid after the metamor-

Imeds, S^c.f of Siirinayn. 361

phosis of insects. Larvae of forbidding aspect sometimes
shine, in their hour of perfection, in all the glorious tints of
gems, and gold, and silver, and gaudy flowers, while those of
more lovely hues produce in the end a garb of sober colours.
The plant is the water melon (Cucurbita Citrulliis L.). Though
a cooling fruit, it becomes insipid here, and hardly merits
the praises it has received in the warmer regions of the old
world.

Plate 16. The central figures are useless, and, I think,
confused. The white larva is of wonderful structure, and
equals in interest any of those so beautifully depicted in the
plates lately published by the indefatigable Dr. Horsfield.
It is more probable that it produced the white cocoon and
colourless moth so shamefully engraved. The banded larva
has the aspect of those of many Papiliones, and, with the pupa
on the stalk, I should suppose, belongs to the butterfly here
neatly drawn, which is the Papilio anacardii Fabr, 567. It
is the P. Piera Gmel. 2257., and the P. anacardii, 2258. ! of
this careless compiler. The upper part of the plate is a very
fair representation of the leaves, flowers, and young fruit of
the cashew (Anac^rdium occidentale) ; but the lower part of
the engraving exhibits an unpardonable instance of the au-
thor's carelessness, and of the readiness with which she listened
to the stories of those who sent her subjects for her pencil.
The ripe fruit is reversed, and, by means of an imaginary
peduncle, placed under the leaves, where it never grows. The
yellow variety is most valued when sweet, and is often used
to communicate a pleasant flavour to punch. They are seldom
eaten except when preserved, from the vile indelible stains
they communicate to our linen. The truly reniform external
nuts, when deprived of their very caustic oil by hot coals,
afford one of the most delicious of all kernels, which will
keep for a long time. Bottles are sometimes tied under the
young fruit, which is allowed to grow within till it is large
and ripe, when it is preserved in spirits as a curiosity, and
serves to exercise the ingenuity of children, who cannot
account for the method of its introduction.

Plate 17. The larva, pupa, and two figures of Papilio
Anchise5 Gmel. 2230. The pretty larva is remarkable for
those retractile cervical scent organs called by Kirby osmateria,
which are found in some of its congeners, as Papilio Poly-
dama5 Drury. The small figures are rude attempts to
represent some of the Coccidse. The plant is the lime (Citrus
Lima) with its delicate odoriferous blossoms, abounding in
our islands. The young lime forms one of the finest green
preserves when emptied, and the fine acid of the ripe ones

362 Ohstrvations on Madame Mcfian^it

is used with fish, turtle, and other dishes, and also makes
delicious lemonade.

Plate 18. may serve for an entomological caricature exhi-
bited on the branch of a guava tree [Psidium]. The large
spiders are the well-known giant ^ranea avicularia Fabr, 63.
I disbelieve the existence of an egg-shaped cocoon-like //«-
bitaculum, into which they are said to retreat. The only web
I have seen them weave in captivity is loose, of snowy white-
ness and moderate strength. Doubtless this species is strong
enough to overcome small birds, if it could seize them ; for the
prominent horny mandibles resemble in size and solidity the
talons of a hawk.* The spider on the left is the Arknea.
venatoria Fabr. 7. ; the Thomisus venatorius Lat7\ Madame
Merian has given it credit for ingenuity which it does not
possess. It spins no shrouds or ladders ; and weaves nothing
but the flat circular egg-purse (t/ieca), which is carried under
the breast, supported by the palpi only, and not aggluti-
nated, as in some spiders, to the belly; or deserted, as by
others. It runs about houses in the night-time, frequents the
same spots, and murders the all-consuming [see V. 481.], bold,
and buzzing cockroaches. It is never destroyed by the negroes ;
who say, if killed, it w^ould cause them to break cups and
glasses. Thus an absurd superstition serves to protect a
useful creature ; which, though of threatening aspect, is timid

[* The story of a spider which catches and devours birds had-, Mr.
MacLeay believes, its origin with Madame Merian. Oviedo, Labat, and
Rochefort make no mention of any spider as possessing such habits, the
two latter writers going no farther than the statement, that in the Ber-
mudas there exists one which makes nets of so strong a construction as to
entangle small birds. Madame Merian, however, went the length of as-
serting that one spider not only caught, but devoured, small birds ; and
figured the iliygale avicularia WalcJcenaery in the act of preying on a hum-
ming-bird. Now the ilfygale does not spin a net, but resides in tubes
under ground, and in all its movements keeps close to the earth ; while
humming-birds never perch except on branches. The food of ikfygale
consists of Juli, Porcelliones, subterranean ^chetae, and ^lattae : a liv-
ing humming-bird, and a small Anolis, placed in one of its tubes, were not
only not eaten by the spider, but the latter actually quitted its hole, which
it left in possession of the intruders. The largest spider of the West
Indies that spins a geometrical web is the Nephila clavipes Leach ; and
its net may, perhaps, occasionally, be strong enough to arrest the smaller
among the humming-birds : but it is not likely that the spider would eat
the birds. A small species of Sphasriodactylus Cuvier [a lizard], intro-
duced into one of these nets, was enveloped in the usual manner by the
spider ; but as soon as the operation was completed, the spider lost no
time in cutting the line, and allowing her prisoner to fall to the ground. —
Mr. MacLeay consequently disbelieves the existence of any bird-catching
spider. (^Froman abstract of a communication made by Mr. MacLeay to the
Zoological Society y and read on Feb. 11. 1834. The abstract is published in
Taylor's Phil. Mag. for June, 1834. vol. iv. p. 460—462. Third Series.)]

Insects^ 4c-} of Surinam, 363

and harmless, and only occupied in ridding us of loathsome
and offensive vermin. The ants are the i^ormica cephalotes
Fabr. 52. GmeL 2802. Even after the facts recorded as pro-
ceeding from the all-wonderful instinct of these Cossack and
Arab plunderers, one can scarcely credit their bridge of
bodies, more singular than the chain-bridges of our rivers.
In my garden, I find that hymenopterous insects (after the
manner of swarming bees) crowd together for sleep on the
extremities of plants ; and I have seen a large group of four
species, though of different genera, and even distinct tribes,
attached by the feet to the bodies of each other, and slumber-
ing in peace and quietness. What an example for unsocial
and jealous men ! The custom of cutting off the leaves of
trees calls to one's mind the parasol ant of Trinidad. There
we may see marching legions of these beings, with a leaf
elevated over their heads, like a London crowd, on a rainy
day, following the lord mayor's show, with innumerable um-
brellas ; or rather, as they observe the order and decorum
which the mob despise, they represent, on a Lilliputian
scale, with their leafy screens, the enemies of Macbeth descend-
ing from " Birnam wood to Dunsinane." These leaves are,
however, probably collected to cover in their nest, rather
than to " shadow the numbers of their host." The bird is
probably fancied; the nest is too much like a pot of clay;
there should have been two instead of the four eggs, which
look like peas cut out of chalk. The figure gives one no
idea of the tiny well-proportioned nest, formed of the silken
pappus of plants, collected before it floats into the atmo-
sphere, and bound round some pensile twig with the fairy
fastenings of stolen cobwebs.

Plate 19. The three small figures belong to one of those
splendid metallic flies which buzz, and poise themselves like
hawks, in the tropical landscape. She represents them to
have sprung from the larger pupa naturally ! but " rariore
metamorphosi : " one cannot fix the species. The three left-
hand figures represent the Papilio psidii Fabr. 525. GmeL
2254. The others illustrate the beautiful and curious larva,
folliculus, and imago of a large nocturnal moth, not inserted
in the works of Fabricius. The red guava (Psidium pyri-
ferum) is a fruit common on our higher pastures, and the
skirts of woods.

Plate 20. We have here, considering the state of the
arts in 1726, fine figures of the gigantic bat-like E'rebus
(Noctua) ^trix Fabr, 3. GmeL 2529. The cocoon is of large
size ; and the larva, though subpilose, from its anal horn
approaches the outline of those of the S\)hingidce It under-

364 Observations on Madame Merian's

goes, like some of those caterpillars, a change of colour when
mature. The exudation like a bunch of eggs is one of those
natural gums or resins which force their way from the over-
charged vessels of many a tropical tree ; and hang like opaque
icicles, or ooze like streams of frozen tears, from accidental
wounds.

Plate 21. The four figures first noticed are those of a
small moth, and not a diurnal Papilio. The paler larva,
with its curious habitaculum of cemented sticks, being evi-
dently, like my genus Oiketicus of the Linncean Transactions
[vol. XV. tab. 6.], referable to the Lepidoptera, could never
have produced the red bug (a Reduvius?) figured in the
plate. The darker caterpillar and the cocoon are also those
of a lepidopterous insect ; though out of this, she asserts,
she procured the specimen of Petalopus {Kirby) Cimex Lat.
drawn at the bottom. With such instances of carelessness
and neglect before one, we must receive with caution the
more improbable assertions in her journal of the metamor-
phosis of the Surinam productions. The Passiflora is a showy
species; though the fruit, which I have received from Deme-
rara, is not valuable, and infinitely inferior to that of many
kindred plants.

Plate 22. The three larger figures represent a fine and
distinct but undescribed Saturni«, belonging to the same
group as those depicted in plates 6. and 12. The larva is very
beautiful, and clothed with a vesture of plant-like branched pro-
cesses, imitating the ciliated calyxes of some vegetables. She has
remarked iheferreajila, or hard pungent bristles, with which
the ramuli terminate. The two small figures are the larva
and cocoon of some lepidopterous animal, which she idly sup-
poses produced the Lygae^us, or some cimicoid insect, which
is inserted in the plate. These strange mistakes must have
arisen from breeding many insects together, but are hardly to
be excused by the then imperfect knowledge of annulose
transformations. The lily is beautifully drawn, and is com-
mon in all West India gardens, where it blossoms without
culture, and occasionally becomes double.

Plate 23. Four of the figures illustrate the curiously
armed larva, the pupa, and imago of Papilio Teucer Fabr. 271.
Gmel. 2248., which appear carefully drawn. The lizard is
doubtful ; these creatures differ beyond measure in the in-
tensity and disposition of their spots and markings. The eggs
of the diurnal species are more elongate than those figured ;
and they are covered, as in the turtle, with a coriaceous skin.
The eggs of nocturnal lizards are rounder, and have a cal-
careous shell : hence they are deposited anywhere ; whereas

Insects^ Sfc, of Surinam. 365

the former, unless committed to the damp earth, would perish.
The young must be incorrectly traced : I have always observed
that, for the size of the eggs, the young of lizards are singularly
large and active. The fruit is that of the ripe and edible
banana (Mus« sapientum Z>.).

Plate 24. The spotted figure is the Cerambyx farinosus
Gmel. 1820. See also his C. cinnamomeus, 1817. ! This she
supposes to have proceeded from the linear larva above it,
which seems to me to belong to the Elateridge ; and resembles
a luminous one which, I have fancied, belongs to Elater noc-
tilucus, though I have not bred it. The white larva, she
affirms, produced the beetle at the summit of the plant,
which [beetle], is the Prionus melanopus Fahr. 30., Cerambyx
Gmel, 1816., and is quoted as a synonyme of the P. spinibarbis
Fabr. 25. I It seems to be a pregnant specimen ; we have one
like it common in the decayed trunks of the silk-cotton bom*
bax. There seems, indeed, to be a group of kindred species
most shamefully confused by entomological writers. The
larger figure, which she has not noticed, is the Cerambyx
spinibarbis Gmel. 1818., remarkable for the unusual structure
of the mandibles. The plant Argemone mexicana L. is well
represented.

Plate 25. The four larger figures exhibit the Papilio
passiflorae Fabr, 189., P. vanillas Gmel, 2336. The former
name only is appropriate. It devours greedily the leaves of
Passiflora /aurifolia, &c. Though it does not injure the
arbours on which these delicious fruits are cultivated, it spoils
the beauty of the foliage for a time, if suffered to propagate
the family. The outlines of the small moth are useless. The
plant is a large variety of the vanilla of commerce (Epiden-
drum Vanilla \_VanUla aromatica Swz.yj, so famed for commu-
nicating a grateful flavour to our chocolate.

Plate 26. The four figures represent a nocturnal moth,
not described. The coco branch (Theobroma Cacao L.) is but
rudely drawn. The painter, moreover, has attempted to
improve on nature in the disposition of the flowers : it is but
rarely that the smaller branches are productive. The frail
and pretty blossoms issue in an unusual manner from the
larger limbs and the rough and unsightly trunk. The spongy
pulp which surrounds the ripe berries of which the chocolate
is made affords a pleasant acid refreshment.

Plate 27. The three upper figures represent an undeter-
mined moth. The filiform worm resembles nothing in nature ;
though, on the testimony of her scrva nigrita, she supposes it
to have produced the Mantis, which is the very remarkable
M. strumaria Fabr. 21. Gmel. 2053. The figure between

366

the fruits is the group of eggs. In the ^lattae, we have the
eggs enclosed in a common inartificial egg-cell [locidus). The
Phasmadae lay them separately; whereas, in the Mantidas,
though the eggs are laid singly, they are always agglutinated
in a group of a given determined form, which is preserved
after the young have escaped by the vertical foramina. After
the deposition of the ova (eggs), the female secretes a wax-like
fluid, and varnishes the mass ; all the time directing the
motion of the anus by the styles, which serve as anal antennas.
The cockroach apple (*Solanum mammosum), without flowers,
is tolerably executed ; and is said to expel those noxious
creatures [see V. 481.] from which its trivial name is de-
rived : but I doubt w^hether it possesses this much-desired
property.

Plate ^8. The three upper figures belong to an undescribed
pale moth. The larva is most interesting; the lanate processes
are said, like cowitch, to inflame the surface of the body; and
the animal adheres by an agglutinating skin. The rude and
larger figure represents one of the most gigantic and singular
of the Capricorn tribes of beetles, the Acrocinus longimanus
Kirhy^ Pribnus Fahr. 1., Cerambyx GmeL 1814., Macropus
pictus Leach, Zool. Misc. vol. ii. tab. 89. The fruit is the
citron (Citrus ilfedica var.) cultivated in our gardens; the
thick rind of which is dried in sugar, as in Madeira, and used
in pastry. Considering the former state of the arts, this is cer-
tainly a masterly plate, representing the various states of the
gorgeous Urania Leilu5, Papilio Fabr. 63. Gmel. 2237.* The
fine fruit is that of the shaddock (Citrus decumana L.), said
to be so named after the captain who introduced it : there is
a variety with red and another with white pulp. If the fruit
of the shaddock is suffered to ripen on the tree, it is doubt-
less one of the finest of the citrine tribe, and certainly the
largest. The clusters of this gigantic fruit are so heavy, that,
were not the wood close-grained and very tough. Flora would
have been compelled to suspend these bulky presents on the
trunk; as she has done the jack fruit (Artocarpus integrifolia
X.) and other larger productions of the vegetable kingdom.

[* Mr. MacLeay in a communication to the Zoological Society, read on
Feb. 11. 1834, has described the egg, larva, pupa, imago, transformations,
and characteristics of form and of habits, in a good degree of detail, of a
previously undescribed species of Urani«, which he has named Urania Fer-
nandinae. An abstract of this communication is published in Taylor's
Philosophical Magazine for June, 1834, vol. iv. p. 460 — 462. third se-
ries. Mr. MacLeay, in concluding his communication on the U. Fernan-
dinae, refers " to Madame Merian's description of the metamorphosis of
U. Leilu*, and to her figure of its larva, both of which he regards as un-
worthy of credit." (Taylor's Phil. Mag. as above.)]

InsectHy i'C, of Surinam. 367

Plate 30. The four upper figures are of the Papilio
ricini Fabr, 517. Gmel. 2253., which I have received from
Demerara. The two other figures may possibly have been
intended for the Oiketicus Kirby/, which I have described in
the fifteenth volume of the Lirincean Transactions, with two
plates ; but her scanty description will not clear up the diffi-
culty. Either we have before us a larva of similar economy,
or she has altered and distorted the outline of the habitacu-
lum, in order to give it the appearance of an Indian swinging
in his hammock. The case is only suspended by the ante-
rior extremity in our animals. The castor-oil bush (i^icinus
conmiunis L.) is correctly done. The leaves are applied to
blisters ; and the expressed oil used in medicine, or in the
nightly chamber lamp.

In Plate 31. we have four figures of Papilio Polycaow
Fabr. 96. Gmel. 2236. It surely cannot be properly quoted
as the P, Polydamas? Fabr. 4?2. Gmel. 2231. The larva is
curiously marked; and, instead of the sexes, possibly two
species are depicted. The plant is the changeable rose
(/fibiscus mutabilis L.).

Plate 32, The well armed larva, pupa, and two figures
of Papilio cassiae Fabr. 461. Gmel. 2280., a large and lovely
species. The plant is the medicinal Cassia occidentalis X.,
or stinking weed. The whole is neatly engraved.

Plate 33. Very rude figures of iSphin-r ficus Fabr. 31.
Gmel. 2380. ; the female of which is well figured in Drury's
great work. The male is smaller, the wings less ample, and
tlie antennae thicker. The upper larva well represents the
alteration of colour which it undergoes before the pupal
change. The plant of fig is of that species cultivated in
gardens throughout the world.

Plate 34. We have here the 5phinjc labruscse Fabr. 66.
Gmel. 2380., so beautifully lithographed in the first series of
Swainson's Zoological Illustrations. The larva is well done,
and is remarkable for the attenuated neck, the shagreen-like
shoulders, and the changeable lovely spot on the anal pro-
minence. It is very voracious ; and, in a neighbouring
island, a host of these caterpillars lately destroyed acres of
canes : an account of their depredations I have given in the
47th volume of the Transactions of the Society of Arts, &c.
The black grape looks more tempting than in nature : our fair
author regrets it has not been cultivated in vineyards. It is
to be feared the excessive heats of these regions would inter-
fere with the proper fermentation of the wine.

Plate 3B. The four larger figures illustrate the T^apilio
sophor^e Fabr. 459. Gmel, 2282. The larva is said to be

368 Observations on Madame Merian^s

gregarious under a common web {tentorium), from which it
sallies forth at night for food. The three small figures are
those of Papilio Clio Fabr. 531. Gmel. 2254. With the plant
I am not acquainted.

Plate S6, The four large figures well represent a species
of the genus Castnia, established by Fabricius in his last
work, the Systema Glossatorum, which death prevented him
from completing. It is the Papilio Licu5 Drury, i. tab. 16.
f. 1, 2. The minor figures belong to some of the Cicadadae,
which, in their earlier states, if I recollect rightly, imitate the
larvae of the Myrmeleonidae, and wear a coat of excrements,
exuviae, and other matter, for concealment. The plant, which
is only beautiful as the gradually developed flowers are ex-
panded, blossoms in our botanic garden. Well may the fair
author complain of the difficulties of penetrating through the
" bush," to use a colonial term. Though we have not the
many thorny plants which attack the sportsman in England,
the traveller meets too often with the strong spines of the
climbing Dioscore^; and the sharp blades of the frightful
razor grass, which inflict deep and painful gashes on the
cheeks and hands.

Plate 37. The first three figures are those of a small
and pretty, but undetermined, moth; while a small Cicada?
is rudely drawn below. The plant is said to be a red variety
of the ochro, which I have never seen. Our true ochro
(Hibiscus esculentus L.) has yellow flowers and much more
ample leaves. The young pods [green, tender, and un-
ripened capsules], which vary in length and shape, are plain
boiled, and eaten as vegetables, with butter and pepper and
salt. When more advanced, but still green, they are made
into a glutinous soup, or form an ingredient in the pepperpot,
the most famous dish of the Creoles, which is principally
composed of the leaves of the calaloo (a kind of Calddium),
and seasoned with crabs, salt fish, or pork.

Plate 38. The upper and smaller figures are meant for
the Papilio jatropharia Fabr. 89. Gmel. 2469. ; the four lower
ones for ^Sphin^ jatrophae Fabr, 22. Gmel. 2376. Though
the larva is better, these seem too rude to be depended on.
The species approaches in size ASphinjr Tetrio of the fifth plate.
The plant is the Jatropha ^ossypifolia, which abounds in our
low lands, and is remarkable for the quantity of those viscous
pedunculated glands which form fatal traps, in many cases, to
swarms of the smaller insects.

Plate 39. illustrates an undetermined *S'phin.r, whose imago,
in general outline, approaches the subgenera Smerinthus Lat.
and Thyreu5 Swains.; but the length of the antlia, and the

Insects, 4'C'j of Surinam, 369

outline of the larva, are against its admission into these groups.
The plant appears to be a weed which adorns our ditches
with its pretty sulphur blossoms.

Plate 40. The small larva, cocoon, and moth refer to a
species which, from their rudeness, it is, of course, impossible
to determine. The other three figures illustrate the small
Papilio caricae Fabr, 155. Gmel. 2354?., whose larva has
curious elongate hair-shaped processes. The sketch of the
variety of the }>apay (Carica Papaya L.), with rounded fruit,
is very bad indeed. It is one of those giant vegetables to
which justice cannot be done on paper of limited dimensions,
and without the aid of a scientific draughtsman. The fruit is
sweet when ripe, though litde valued. When green, it is
boiled as apple sauce, being mixed up with lime juice and
sugar. Thus prepared, it is impossible to detect the im-
position.

Plate 41. The plants are the Indian shot (Canna in-
dica L.) supporting the red-rooted variety of the sweet
potato (Convolvulus Batatas L.), The round black seeds
of the former serve, at a small distance, for shot. The flowers
are pretty ; but the fast-spreading roots are difficult to era-
dicate when once established. The tubers of the latter, when
mealy, are a sweet but delicious vegetable, either boiled or
fried in slices. The insect figures are all worthless. The
more curious larva has strange globular hairy processes, and
the cocoon belongs to it. The large figure is the Lygae^us
Merian^ Fabr. 3., with the antennae broken. Every boy
entomologist will perceive it could have no connection with
the larva just noticed, as Madame Merian assei'ts it had.
The upper moth seems one of the Botydae common on our
plants of the gourd family, whose leaves it often wholly
destroys. From its large anal tuft of scales, I have lately
referred it to a subgenus, which I have called Phakelliira.

Plate 42. The plant is the musk ochro (il/ibiscus Abel-
moschus L.). The seed-vessel has a musky odour, and pro-
duces seeds which are strung into necklaces by the ladies.
The six entomological figures are vile and useless.

Platens, has four figures of Papilio Protesilau5 Fabr. 69.,
Gmel, 2243. The larva, though black, is rendered interest-
ing by the many ramulose, and the two stellated, processes.
The wild fruit Madame Merian represents as eatable. The
berried creeper and young Tillands/a are parasites.

Plate 44. — In the lower part of the plate are three figures

of Hesperia bixae Fabr. 307., Pap. Grnel, 2367. The larva

is not only covered with pilose fascicles, but the pupa also.

This is a rare circumstance among the Lepidoptera, though

Vol. VII. — No. 40. b b

370 Obsewations on Madame Mcrian^s

we may occasionally observe scattered squamulae or a light
pruina. Above are three figures of a moth not determined by
any scientific writer. The elongate larva bears some resem-
blance to one I have described in the Transactions of the
Society of Arts, ^c, vol. xlvii., as very destructive to the
fields of sugar cane in the island of Bequia. The Bioca Orel-
Idna L.5 or anotto, is tolerably executed. This plant, so well
known in commerce, is easily cultivated here, but has never
been attended to by the planter, whose whole thoughts and
cares are absorbed b}' the more productive cane.

Plate 45. has three figures of a ASphin^r, of the same group
as aS. Carolina, not known to modern authors, though appa-
rently very distinct. The yellow variety ? of the Voincmna
pulcherrima i., or flower-fence, as it is called, seems a dis-
tinct species, as I never can detect any changing in its petals.
It forms a pretty hedge, and is used by the Creole doctresses
among their credulous patients.

Plate 46. We have here another distinct species of
S\>\\\nx not determined. The antennae seem fictitious. With
the plant and snake I am not acquainted.

Plate 47. With a showy figure of a branch and bunch
of white grapes, are given, above, three rude figures of ASphinjr
vitis Fabr, 41. Gmel 2380. Drury 1. p. 28. f. 1. I have
observed, with Madame Merian, the tendency which the
more light-coloured larvae of this and other species have to
become rufescent before their pupal change. The singular
larva, and the other two figures below, should apparently be
referred to »Sphin^ satellitia Fabr^ 42. Gmel. 2381. Drury 1.
t. 29. f. 1, 2.

Plate 48. The plant seems allied to Eugenm, and ap-
pears to be mistaken for a tree which furnished a pigment to
the savage natives. A lepidopterous larva, remarkable for its
regular and close fasciculi of hairs, is given with the cccoon :
and out of this, without the slightest probability, is said to
have proceeded the large bee added below. The beetle with
expanded wings is said to be the Prion us cervicornis Fabr. 12.,
Cerambyx Gmel. 1814. In the centre is the Cordylia (Ca-
landra) palmarum Fabr. 2. Gmel. 1740., the prince of the
destructive tribes of the Curculionidae. The larva or gru-gru
worm, so misplaced here,, resembles nothing in nature but a
lump of fat. In the Transactions of the Society of Atis, ^c,
vol. xlvi., I have given descriptions and coloured plate, fully
illustrating this fine insect in all its stages. The gru-gru
worm is still eaten by a few persons : they are fried in butter,
and the greedy epicure, holding the hard horny head between
his fingers, sucks out the fat entrails of this disgusting mor-

Insects, ^'c. , of Surinam . 371

ceau. [An abstract of Mr. Guildiiig's description, and copies
of his figures, of the Calandra palmarum, as published in
T/ie Transactions of the Society of Arts, have been given in
this Magazine, V. 466 — 469.]

Plate 49. — The subterraneous larva and the smaller ex-
panded figure belong to a true Cicada, but not, I think, tlie
Tettigonia tibicen Fahr. 8. The larger figures well repre-
sent the noble Fulgora lanternaria Fabr. 1. Gmel. 2089., one
of the most singular of all insects, and a precious addition to
any cabinet. The creature at the bottom is fictitious. The
hollow lantern-shaped head of the Fulgora has been glued on
a Tettigonia, and probably sold to our good-tempered author
by some cunning negro. From her words, " Persuasum mihi
ab Indis est,*' she had evidently no better authority for pre-
senting us with this strange figure. The sounds of the
Cicada, so like those of the razor-grinder's wheel, are not
produced by the proboscis, but by the wonderful and com-
plex tympanum, which occupies half the abdomen of the
clamorous and impatient male. From the peculiar shrillness
of the confused notes drawn from the quickly agitated organ,
the creature is heard not only at a great distance, but is
superior in attracting the attention, to anything I know. >
Often, as the sun has been descending, and I have been per-
forming the solemn service of the dead, one of these creatures
has lighted on some neighbouring plant, and commenced his
evening hymn, and thus disturbed me. At other times,
attracted by the lights at evening service, the noisy intruder
will enter my parish church, and distress the preacher with
his rival voice. If its jarring notes cannot be said to drown
my powerful organ, they are certainly heard distinctly above
everything by the still assembly. Madame Merian gives ns
an account of her first discovery of the shining property of
the Fulgora, and tells us of the horror which seized her when
she opened the box to separate the quarrelling inmates, and
saw it filled with fire. A glass full of any of our luminous
insects, when in health, is, indeed, a splendid show. The
plant is the monstrous or double variety' of the pomegranate
(Punica Granatum L.\ sometimes cultivated as an ornament
of our gardens.

Plate 50. Above is Passalus interruptus Fabr, ]., Zu-
canus G77iet, 1590., with the nympha ; and below is the noble
jBuprestis gigantea Fabr 4. Gmel, 1926. The two larvae,
from the situation in which she found them, are without
doubt improperly referred to these lignivorous beetles : pos-
sibly they belong to the AScarabae'idae. The plant is a tropical
tuber-bearing Convolvulus L.

B B 2

372 Observaiiofis on Madame Menan*s

Plate 51. is useless: it represents a species of C61ia5 (Pk-
pilio Zy.), and some singular plant unknown to me.

Plate 52. has three figures of the bat-like ^ombyx A'tla^^
Fabr. 1. Gmel. 2400. The larva (as is generally the case in
these plates) is most carefully engraved. All the insects of
this princely subgenus which I have taken in our forests, so
far from being " volatu celeres " [swift in flight], were very
heavy, and ^easily captured. She describes the cocoon as
affording a good silk which would be useful in commerce were
it possible to domesticate the moth. The plant is the Seville
orange (Citrus vulgaris), hardly valued as a fruit. The thick
skin, when emptied of the pulp, forms a fine preserve.

Plate 53. The splendid Papllio Menelau5 Fabr. 270.
Gmel. 2244. The larva has very remarkable dorsal needles,
and the pupa a free humeral process of very unusual form.
The plant, whose seeds are eatable, 1 do not know.

Plate 54. About the flowers of some kind of Heliconia
are six figures of two moths of no value. The vespoid in-
sect belongs to that group so remarkable for its economy in
constructing cells of mud, in which the ovum is sealed up
with the destined [living] food of the future larva, disabled
by the parent's poison, but not destroyed.

Plate 65, Here, again, is a distinct species of /Sphin-r,
unknown to Fabricius, on a sprig of some species of Cap-
sicum : on this several varieties of the berries are fixed
without any attention to nature. The many kinds of peppers,
so useful and palatable in hot countries, are worthy of being,
well drawn and better known,

Plate 5Q. contains, as its name imports, the largest of its.
genus, the iVepa grandis Fabr. 1. Gmel. 2120., with its larva.
The frog, with its spawn and young, is the 72ana (Hyla)
Merian« Shaw's Zoology, vol. iii. p. 133. t. 39. The plant, if
my memory is faithful, has been introduced into Barbadoes,
where curious persons keep it in tubs of water to enjoy the
beauty of its blossoms. At the bishop's residence, I saw
numbers of them in flower.

Plate 57. To the left are representations of iSphin-r
Carolina Fabr. 25. Gmel. 2377., Curtis's Genera of Insects^
pi. 195. The plate contains also the cocoon and larva of a
Saturnitt? If I judge rightly, the caterpillar is remarkable
for its dense coat, which gives it the appearance of the French
variety of the dog, which I have seen aged people in their
dotage cherish so fondly. I have in spirits a specimen equally
curious from Trinidad. The hair is said here to have acted
like cowitch. The pupa was fly-blown, and Madame
Merian has drawn two of the parasites to commemorate

Insects, Sfc, of Surinam. 373

lier disappointment. The plant is a variety of guava [Psi-
dium.]

Plate 58. — -On an unknown plant are figured of a
ikfusca Zy., with its larva ; and the larva, pupa, and imago of
iPapilio (Colia^?) sennae Fahr. BQ?>. The remaining three
figures on the left are a doubtful species of 2Iygas^na. The
larvae of this group use their close fascicles of hair to defend
the cocoon. The whole is stripped off before the pupal
change, and disposed radiatim [rayedly] to keep off rain and
enemies.

Plate 59. The jRana (Pipa Laurent/) Pipa Cuv. is figured
with its pulli lodged in the temporary dorsal cells.* The
Pyrula, and another shell with a parasitic crab, are not worthy
of mention. I know not the plant which is here said to be
•used as a spinach and salad.

Plate 60. With an unknown plant are three figures of th^
magnificent Papilio Idomeneu^ Fabr. 275. Gmel. 2248. The
pupa has a large frontal, and another dorsal, club, which give
it a singular aspect. The larva seems in no way connected
with this butterfly, and probably would produce a Saturnia:.
The words " telae autem statim sese intexuit" confirm the idea.
The Papilionidae spin no cocoon ; even the Hesperiae are but
enclosed in the leaves convoluted by the silken threads of the
larva. The wasp is the marabunce of Demerara. I have
received its nest, though not quite complete : it was as large
as a child's head, and resembled the bowl of a tobacco pipe
reversed. It was firmly attached to a strong branch, had a
smooth hard exterior, and was composed of the usual paper
mortar, made of the loose epidermis and fibres of various
woods and branches. At the bottom was a hole, opposite to
many others, of the same diameter, which afforded a straight
passage through the parallel horizontal stories of the pendent
building.

Plate 61. From this number to the end of the work, with
one exception, the plates are infamously engraved ; the draw-
ing, also, is equally faulty. Indeed, the figures are hardly
worthy of being quoted, and cannot be accurately determined.
On a branch, which the author, by mistake, calls the white
guava, and which appears to be the J^tropha Mdnihot L.,
from which the cassada is prepared, we have, above, three
figures of an unknown pretty moth, and, below, three others,
which have been supposed to represent the S\)hmx Kilo
Fabr. 21. Gmel. 2375.

* See Materiaux pour servir a une monographic anatomique du Pipa,
par C. Mayer, &c.

B B 3

374 Madame Merian's Insect s, <$•€,) of Surinam,

Plate 62. With a bad figure of the papaya (Carica Papdi/a
L.), we have six poor figures of two species of *Sphin^, evi-
denl§f distinct, but which cannot be ascertained, unless,
perhaps, by those who may capture the larvae.

Plate 63. Above are three figures of some Saturni«, the
hairs of whose larva are said to have caused on her hands
the most painful irritation, which subsided on the use of oil.
Below are three rude figures of what is said to be the Hespe-
ria Proteus Fabr. 256. Gmel. 2362. A branch of the coco
tree is stuck in the ground, and, by means of much dis-
tortion and alteration, is at length made to represent a cap-
sicum bush more than any thing else in nature. Though the
pericarp is not very large or heavy, Flora in this most
precious tree only suspends the fruit on the trunk and larger
branches, and the frail and delicate blossoms have a singular ap-
pearance as they start (like the marble snowdrop in its chilling
bed) from the moss-clad, rough, and unsightly bark. The
plate is worthless.

Plate 64. On another poor sketch of the papaya we have
six figures of two doubtful Sphingidce ; the lower one has been
said to be the *S^phin.r caricae Fabr. 67. Gmel. 2379.

Plate 65. On a branch of some Citrus are three figures of
i56mbyx Hesperus Fabr. 2. Gmel. 2401., all worthless.

Plate 66. The insects are, perhaps, Mantis siccifblia Fabr. 24.
Gmel. 2049. See also Mantis precaria Fabr. 32. Gmel. 2050.
The triangular mass beneath, on which are seen eggs and
young, I suspect to be a fungus, and not the collection of
eggs ; for though in this genus there is no egg-cell (loculus),
as in the J51attadae, the ova are always deposited in some
determined and tolerably regular shape and group. The
quadruped is the Didelphis dorsigera Gmel., with its young,
rather too fancifully mounted all together on the parent's
back.

Plate 67. On a branch of the cultivated fig we have three
figures of an undetermined Papilio of a group, the larvae of
which have cervical, elongate, retractile osmateria, or scent
vessels : in this species they are said to imitate the anal
mastigia (or whips) of other larvae, and to give a painful
wound, but I doubt the fact. There are also three figures of an
unknown moth, remarkable for the spiny process of the pupa.

Plate 68. Above are six figures of two small undetermined
moths, and below four coarse ones of Papilio Telemachus
Fabr. 269. Gmel. 2245.

Plate 69. A rude figure of the crocodile of Surinam, which
is said, without probability, to arrive there at the length of

Generic Distinction of Ranunciflus Ficdria L. 375

more than 20 feet; and the beautiful Coluber 5cytale of
Gmelhu

Plate 70, is a showy representation of a ground lizard,
which she complains of, as destroying her hen's eggs in the
coops.

Plate 71. We have here (a) figures of the singular jRana
paradoxa Cuv.^ and (b) others illusti'ating the changes of
European frogs. The unusual transformations here recorded
by the fair author have, of course, no foundation in fact. The
only circumstance worthy of notice is, that this species remains
a very long time in its caudate state, and, indeed, acquires, con-
trary to the usual law, the greater part of its bulk while yet
a tadpole.

Plate 72. The work concludes with a zoological caricature,
equalling Hogarth's distorted perspective, for we have here
a larva half the length of the towering column of an areca
palm. The plate is crowded with various animals from dif-
ferent parts of the world, introduced without reason or judg-
ment. No. 1 — 5. are immature jKanse. a, b, c, are marine
plants, or flexible corallines or Gorgon?^, d is the O'strea
£c)lium ? E, F, useless figures of shells, g is the /Scarabae^us
Actas^on Gmel. 1 529., one of the giant group called Mega-
sbma by our learned countryman, the rector of Barham [Sir.
Kirby]. On the tree are obscure outlines of larvae and pupae,
and above are represented a bunch of the berries of the
areca, two Papili^nes, and a South American Zygasna ?

I am. Sir, yours, &c.

St Vincent, Jan. 29. 1831. Lansdown Guilding.

Art. XI. On the supposed generic Distinction of Ranunculus
Ficaria ofLinne. By Charles C. Babington, M.A. F.L.S. &c.

The i?anunculus Ficaria Linn, having been considered by
many botanical writers of high authority as distinct generic-
ally from the other i?anunculi, and having been described
by them under the names of Ficaria verna and F. ranun-
cuUxides, I have been induced to examine the characters
on which the genus Ficaria is founded, and now give the
result.

The plant now under consideration was first formed into a
distinct genus by Hudson, in his Flora Anglica, p. 244., in
the year 1 762, under the name of Ficaria verna, in which he
has been followed by Persoon and De I'Arbre. In 1794,

B B 4

376 Supposed Generic Distinction

Moench, in his Methodics Plant. Horti et Agri Malburgensisf,
gave it the name of F. ranunculoides ; a name totally inad-
missible, being, in the words of Sir J. E. Smith ^English
Flora, iii, 47.1 " ^ barbarous jumble of Latin and Greek.'*"
He is, however, followed in that nomenclature by Roth and
De Candolle, and by Biria, in his Histoire Naturelle des Re-
7ioncules. In this country, Lindley also has adopted the latter
name in Loudon's Encyc. of Plants^ but considered the plant
as a i?anunculus in his Synopsis of the British Flora ; and
Mr. George Don has done the same in his recently published
General System of Gardening and Botany, All other botanical
authors have, I believe, followed Linne in considering this
plant as a species of i^anunculus.

The characters given by all the above-mentioned botanists
to distinguish the genera Ficaria and /Ranunculus rest wholly
upon the comparative numbers of the sepals and petals;
Ficaria having 3 sepals, and 9 petals; and ^Ranunculus, 5
sepals, and 5 or rarely 10 petals.

That number is of no value in this case, any more than in
many, I may, perhaps, be allowed to say in all, the other
cases in which it alone has been employed as a generic cha-
racter, is, I think, clearly shown by the tables opposite,
drawn up from the examination of 2682 specimens of this
plant. It will be seen that some of the varieties which I
have noticed are true i^anunculi, having sepals 5, and petals
5 or 1 0 ; and that, so far from 9 being the typical number of
petals, 8 occurs in very many more, and 7 in nearly an equal
number of cases*

I will, however, leave the reader to draw his own con-
clusions from the facts, and only add, that I am indebted to
my friend W. A. Leighton, Esq,, for an account of some
specimens examined by him at Shrewsbury, given in co-
lumn 5. of Table I.

In all the subvarieties under varieties 8, 12, and 17, in
which the petals are more in number than nine, I consider
those above that number as stamens transformed into petals ;
as they may, as I believe, be always referred to a whorl within
that of the true petals.

In one specimen of variety 8 subvariety 2, two of the
stamens had become small scales, being apparently in the first
stage of their transformation into petals.

In variety 7 subvariety 3, 1 consider one of the petals to
be a transformed stamen, it being slightly within the other
petals ; and in variety 6 subvariety 3, one of the regular outer
whorl of sepals is half converted into a petal.

of Ran^?iculus Ficdria L.

377

Table I. — Showing the relative numbers of the sepals and petals in 17
distinct varieties, noticed in the examination of 2682 specimens. The
* added to the number of sepals, denotes that one additional sepal is
placed more or less below the flower in the form of a bractea ; i denotes
that one of the petals consisted of two agglutinated together, and having
two nectariferous scales at its base; and, |, that one petal was formed
of three joined in the same manner.

{;"

fl-T

a

i

i-

a

ji

iil

1

s.

Iji

•&

<

1!

73

J

ill

^
t

1

III
III

11
If

s

1'

1.

1

2

6

1

0

1

1

9

4

6

1

0

1

1

2

2

8

2

0

2

2

10

4

7

35

4

39

39

3

3

4

1

0

1

1

11

4

8

42

31

73

73

4

3

5

9

0

9

9

'

4

9

12

34

46

■

5

3

6

71

0

71

},.

4*

9

2

/O

2

3*

6

1

0

1

I2J

4

10

6

28

34

I 101

3

7

376

4

380

4

11

3

13

16

eJ

3*

7

5

0

5

\ 387

4

12

1

2

3

3*

7

2

0

2

13

5

5

1

0

1

1

3

8

1467

121

1588

14

5

6

1

0

1

1

7-

3
3

8t

2
1

0
0

2

1

•1599

15
16

5
5

7
8

5
4

1

1

6
5

6
5

3*

8

8

-_

8

■

5

9

4

5

9

■

3

9

243

5

248

5

10

3

1

4

3

10

50

22

72

\l\

5

11

0

2

2

V 25

8-

3*

10

1

0

1

. 359

5

12

1

6

7

3

11

25

7

32

5

13

1

2

3

3
3

12
14

2
1

3
0

'i

-

Total

0

0

2390

292

2682

2682

Table II. — Stating the total number of instances of each of the several
variations in each whorl which occurred in the whole number of spe-
cimens.

Number of parts [in either of the
whorls]

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9,&c.

[Number of examples in the whorl
of] sepals

3

2427

214

38

0

0

0

0

[Number of examples in the whorl
of] petals

0

0

1

10

75

432

1679

485

[A variety of the J?anunculus Ficaria i., or Ficaria verna
Hudson, is cultivated in gardens, in the flowers of which
whorls of petals, interior to the usual exterior whorl next to
the sepals, occupy, and compactly fill up, the whole included
space. Whether any stamens, or pistils, or portions of these,
are produced amongst them, I have not examined. — J, Z).]

378

Short Communications.

1.2
1^

9
16
22
39

1

4
5
3
6

to

7

4
5
3

i
i

4
4
4
5

1

8

8

9

10

1

4
4
4
3

18
3
1

1

Paris quadrifblia, — In addition to
Professor Henslow's table (in V. 431.)
of the conditions of this species, I
supply the following, observed in plants
of it at Bath, in June, 1832 : they note
one new variety, No. 39.

Charles C. Babington.
St, JohrCs College^ Cambridge^
May 13. 1834..

Are Potentilla reptans, and Tormentilla r^ptans, distinct
species P (VI. 251.) — In this neighbourhood Tormentilla rep-
tans has five petals in, I would at a rough guess say, three
cases out of every four ; and hence it is extremely difficult to
distinguish between it and Potentilla reptans. The calyx of
Potentilla reptans itself is, too, sometimes 8-cleft; and, when
this circumstance is coupled with the former, I cannot con-
ceive any imaginable specific distinction between it and Tor-
mentilla reptans. Indeed, I am inclined to believe that they
are only varieties of one species, dependent on differences of
soil. — J. Jones. Gelh/, Llanfair^ Montgomeryshire^ March 28.
1834.

Art. XII, Short Communications.
Mala CUIUS bipunctdtus Babington is not M. rufkollis Pan-
zer, (p. 178.) — " Plate 8. fig. 2.", or, as is probably intended,
Part 8. No. 2., of Panzer, quoted by Mr. Dale (p. 178.) is
Scolytus ae^neus, the Diaperis se^nea of Panzer's Index Ento-
mologicus, and of more modern entomological works ; an in-
sect of a totally different section of the Coleoptera, of which
/ig. 49. fl is a correct outline. Malachius rufficoUis (as Panzer

Dk ,rv

spells it). Part 2. No. 10., is correctly copied from his figure
in d; and my figure b is a very good representation ofM.
bipunctatus described by me in this Magazine (V. 329.). —
Charles C. Babington.

Short Communications* 379

My friend Babingtoii having sent me two specimens of his
new Malachius, in order to make a sketch of it to illustrate
his note, I have given representations of both of them, as
they appear to be the sexes ; h being evidently a male, and
c a female, individual. This is a material point, from the
peculiar structure of the extremity of the elytra, which thus
appear to be appendiculated in both sexes of this species.
The same occurs in Malachius bituberculatus Steph. In M.
ruficoliis, on the contrary, the female, at least, has simple
elytra. I only possess this sex, and do not know the struc-
ture of the elytra of the male ; but in some species, as Mala-
chius rubricoilis and /julicarius, the males have the extremity
of the elytra irregular, and the females have it simple. In
other species, M. bipustulatus and se^ieus, the elyfra are
simple in both sexes. The construction of these terminal
appendages of the elytra is very curious, and apparently dis-
similar in the different species, requiring a more minute in-
vestigation than has hitherto been given to it. — J, O. West-
'wood. The Grove, Hammersmith, April 4. 1834.

Information on the Limneus elongdtus Turton ; on the
British Limnei generally ; and a Notice of the Difficulties *mith
which British Conchology is at "present beset, — In answer to
W.W. (p. 161.), I beg to observe that the genus Limneus is
at present ill understood ; many of the species being ill defined,
and no two authors, except mere copyists, agreeing which are
veritable species and which varieties : in fine, it may be truly
designated " rudis indigestaque moles" To disentangle the
species, and rectify the errors of authors, would, I fear, in
the present state of our knowledge, require greater talents
and perseverance than fall to the lot of the generality of
mankind. Neither the influence of external circumstances,
nor the great differences observable in the various periods of
growth, appear to have been hitherto sufficiently investigated ;
and a correct monograph on this genus would not only require
the lyncean eye of a Jenyns [V. 374.], but the searching skill
of a host of less accomplished auxiliaries. Linnaeus describes
only three or four species, which have been recognised as be-
longing to our country ; while my manuscript list of the British
land and freshwater shells (and which I intend shortly to have
printed) enumerates no fewer than twelve or thirteen kinds
which appear to me worthy of specific distinction.

With respect to the Limneus elongatus Turton, Helix
octanfracta Montagu, H. octona Pennant (p. 161.), and Lym-
nae^a leucostoma Lamarck, they are all synonymes of one
species. W. W. is, however, mistaken in supposing that the
figure 32. in p. 161. is a correct delineation of the above

380 Short Communications,

shell. It appears to be a truncated variety of the ^uccinum
palustre Miiller, Helix palustris of most British authors,
Limnae^us fiiscus of Pfeiffer, and is perfectly distinct from the
former ; differing from it not only in the fewer number of its
volutions, but in its whole contour, and in the last whorl being
considerably larger or more inflated than the penultimate one.

I have not the first edition of Pennant's British Zoology at
hand ; so I cannot say how far the figure of his H. octona
may agree with W. W.'s shell [fig. 32. p. 161.]. The H.
octona of the second edition is a totally different species,
common in the West Indies ; but has, probably, no claim to
be considered British, although described as such by nearly
all our authors. It is arranged in the genus Bulimus by
Lamarck, but is in reality an Achatina.

Linnaeus refers to a figure in Gualtieri's Index, as repre-
sentative of his Helix octona; but this figure is, unfortunately,
the Achatina acicula of Lamarck, and is wholly at variance
with the description given by the illustrious Swede. Baron
de Ferussac is aware of this discrepancy ; and, in his inimit-
able work on land and freshwater shells [V. 192.], candidly
says, in reference to this species, " Nous ne connoissons pas
la veritable espece de Linne, dont ia description ne convient
ni a V acicula, ni a notre octona J^ On the other hand. Pro-
fessor Nilsson, a Swedish author, thinks he has discovered
the long-disputed shell of Linnaeus ; and, in his excellent
Historia Molluscorum SuecicE, describes it under the name of
Paludina octona, adding, " Hanc esse veram Helicem octo-
nam Lin., et descriptio Linneana et patria utriusque docet."

The unravelling of the discordant synonymes with which
the lovely science of conchology is so thickly beset, is neither
calculated to please the generality of readers, nor likely to
inspire the uninitiated with a desire to taste the unalloyed
sweets resulting from the pursuit of natural history. I will,
therefore, conclude by observing, that, if W. W. of South-
ampton will favour me with his address, and a hstof the shells
found in his neighbourhood, we may, perhaps, be of farther
use to each other by an exchange of specimens, as many
species occur in the south which are seldom or never met with
in more northern latitudes. — Joseph Kenyo7u 7. Butler Street,
Preston, April, 1834..

[In Silliman's American Journal for January, there is a
« Description of some new species of freshwater shells from
Alabama, Tennessee, &c., by T. A. Conrad." Eighteen species
are described, and fifteen figured. They are of the genera
U^iio, Alasmodonta, Anodonta, Cyclas, Melania, Anculosa,
Planorbis, and Physa. The description is " to be continued."]

381

REVIEWS.

Art. I. Catalogue of Works on Natural History, lately published^
with some Notice of those considered the most interesting to British
Naturalists,

Edwards, Dr. : On the Influence of Physical Agents on Life.
Translated from the French, with Notes by Dr. Hodgkin
and Dr. Fisher. 8vo, 489 pages. Highley, London.

This is a work of high interest to the philosophical na-
turalist. The object of the author's researches is to examine
and ascertain the effects, both separately and conjointly, pro-
duced by air, water, temperature, light, and electricity on the
various classes of vertebrated animals. These agents, no
doubt, almost always act simultaneously and conjointly, and
and hence it must be a very difficult matter to discriminate
the influences of one alone from those of the others. Dr.
Edwards," however, has laboured most meritoriously and
successfully to elucidate these dark arcana of natural science ;
and his work is the record of the almost countless, and in
many instances very curious experiments he has performed,
and of the highly interesting conclusions to which these ex-
periments have conducted him. His original views, which
are numerous and valuable, having been rigidly scrutinised
and confirmed by the researches of others, we may place the
most implicit reliance on their authenticity and correctness.
Dr. Edwards is, indeed, an honour to his country (he is an
Englishman); his work evinces the most unwearied industry,
and, at the same time, great penetration, ingenuity, and judg-
ment. He is quite an original thinker, and his mind is
evidently stamped with the signet of true philosophy. — J, J,
May, 1834.

Jar dine. Sir William, Bart. F.R.S., &c. : The Naturalist's
Library. Vol. IIL Gallinaceous Birds. 65.

The pictures of this class of birds (the pheasants, turkey,
pea fowl, Guinea fowl, &c., but especially of the pheasants)
are, as might be expected, striking for their splendour : they
are, besides, enriched with landscapes. A " Memoir of
Aristotle," with an engraved head of this naturalist, is prefixed
to this volume. The memoir occupies 98 pages.

382 Lees's Affinities of Plants isoith Man^ %c.

Partington^ C. F., Author of various Works on Natural and
Experimental Philosophy, &c. : The British Cyclopaedia,
in monthly 4to Parts, \s. each [subsequently raised to 1^.
ed. each]. Division III. (purchaseable separately), Natural
History, combining a Scientific Classification of Animals,
Plants, and Minerals ; with a popular view of their Habits,
Economy, and Structure.
Part i. contains 56 pages of letterpress, two plates, and

some woodcuts. It is far, indeed, from faultless; but at a

cheaper rate than any work on natural history which has yet

been offered to the public.

Lees, Edwin, F.L.S., Hon. Curator of the Worcestershire
Natural History Society, &c. : The Affinities of Plants with
Man and Animals, their Analogies and Associations; a
Lecture delivered before the Worcestershire Natural His-
tory Society, on Nov. 26. 1833; with additional Notes and
Illustrations. 8vo, 120 pages. London, 1834. 2>s. 6d.
This is a choice addition to what we would term the polite
literature of botany. Plants have not failed to produce some
embellishing effect on the polite literature of mankind in
general, while we think that the literature of botany has re-
mained, strange as it may seem, until latterly as unpolite as
well could be. The ideas expressed on plants, and the terms
in which they have been expressed, have been, among the
botanical (ourselves, if we may do ourselves this honour, in-
cluded), too much those of the dissecting room. Plants are
poetical pictures; and to view them but with anatomical eyes
is, perhaps, to defraud ourselves of the prime of the pleasures
they give. Well, however this may be, Mr. Lees has, in the
work before us, collected, and originated, and connected with
them, a volume of sweet and pleasing associations ; and so
done much to enrich the imagery of the science of botany,
and multiply the influences of plants upon human sen-
timentality.

" There is a still, a soothing thought.
With purity and calmness fraught.

That steals upon the mind ;
Soft as the tear that eve distils.
Sweet as the breath of murmuring rills.
Or music on the wind."

And plants are, " when all within is peace," effective incentives
of this blissful state of feeling. The considerations which
Mr. Lees has offered on them are in promotion of this state
of feeling; and the enriching and exercising our faculties
of fancy, memory, and understanding by means of them: the
offices of plants to these ends constitute what Mr. Lees has
denominated " the affinities of plants with man,"

Lied!i Contributions to Geology, 383

Lmdlei)^ Ph.D.^ F.R.S. &c. : Ladies' Botany: or a Familiar
Introduction to the Study of the Natural System of Botany.
8vo, 302 pages, and 25 plates. London, 1834. 165.
This is another addition to the polite literature of botany ;
and it is a very welcome one, because such a one has been for
some time really wanted, and because it supplies the want in
(we conceive, from a glance through the work) a clever and
agreeable manner. The office of the present work is not so
much like that of the work above, to introduce to ideas which
appertain without particular relation to the investigation of
their structure ; but to lead us through the outlines or general
course of this investigation, and to guide us in an agreeable
narrative, and not needlessly technical manner, to that dominion
in knowledge among plants which botany alone can give. The
plan adopted comprises twenty-five letters, each devoted to the
explanation, in some detail, of the features which mark the dis-
tinctions of the more obvious of the natural orders, and to each
of the letters is prefixed a plate, in which the parts described
in the given characteristics of the orders, and specimens of the
plants from which they are taken, plants for the most part very
easily obtainable, are exhibited.

Lea Isaac ; a Member of the American Philosophical Society,
&c. : Contributions to Geology. Philadelphia, 1833. 8vo.,
227 pages; and six plates which bear tinted figures of 224*
species of fossil shells, and four fossil remains of species of
fishes ? Carey, Lea, and Blanchard, Philadelphia.
" 1 hope to add some new facts contributing to the develope-
ment of the geology of our country. Little, comparatively,
has yet been accomplished in defining, with perfect accuracy,
most of the beds of the great geological masses of our ex-
tended formations ; and these contributions are presented with
a view to assist, though in a small degree, in the accomplish-
ment of an object desirable to every American geologist, a
perfect and thorough knowledge of American geology." —
Preface,

The subjects of the work are, an " introduction," in which
an abstract is presented of the conditions and characteristics
of the different formations recognised in general geology:
then, the " tertiary formation of Alabama:" this is the main
of the subjects, and comprises descriptions and illustrations
of more than 200 species of shells, and those of some Polypi :
then, descriptions and illustrations of " new tertiary fossil
shells, from Maryland and New Jersey." In relation to the
two last treatises, the author has, in his preface, this remark,
" Presuming the species to be new, I have endeavoured to
make minute descriptions, accompanied by faithful figures of

384« Literary Notices.

each, with the hope of determining their characters perma-
nently." Lastly, a short notice of the " tufaceous lacustrine
formation of Syracuse, Onondaga County, New York."

Hawkins, T., F. G. S. : A Memoir on the Ichthyosauri and
Plesiosauri, with several Lithographic Prints. Folio, 21. 10s.
London, 1834.

This work, announced in VL 267, is now published, and
a copy of it, with which we have been favoured, we have sent
to a geologist for review, whose remarks we hope to present
in our next number. In the mean time, we may notice that
the illustrations contained in the work are striking ; that they
present, besides pictures of the wonderful creatures which are
the subject of the volume, numerous details of their osteology
and general structure; and so supply, we presume, in con-
junction with the text, the fullest and most perfect account of
these wonders of the animal world of former ages, which has
yet been produced. The author in his geological deductions
seems in entire accordance with the account of the creation
by Moses, taking the separate days as distinct geological
epochs.

Art. II. Literary Notices,

A Zoological Text Book, by G. R. Gray, is announced, in
the Entomological Magazine for April. The text book is to
consist of " an explanation of all the terms employed by
zoologists in the description of beasts, birds, fishes, reptiles,
insects, shells, worms, corals, &c. ; " and it is to be " illus-
trated by numerous plates, representing the various parts in
their natural situation, and in detail." This title bespeaks a
work nearly respondent to one for which we have often
wished ; although the title of A Dictionary of the Language of
Natural History would more precisely express the kind of
work of which we have often felt the want.

The Entomologisf s Popular Guide to the Study and Classifi-
cation qf British Insects, with an Account of the Habits of
the most remarkable Species, illustrated by numerous wood-
cuts, by G. R. Gray, is announced.

Of the Iconogrqfia delta Fauna Italica, di L. Bonaparte, it
is announced that fasc. 3. 4. and 5, are published: folio, 15^.
each.

In the press, in 8vo., A Treatise on Primary Geology, being
an Examination, both practical and theoretical, of the older
Formations : by Henry S. Boase, M. D., Secretary of the
Royal Geological Society of Cornwall.

THE MAGAZINE

OF

NATURAL HISTORY,

SEPTEMBER, 183^.

ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.

Art. L On the Meteors seen in America on the Night of Nov* 13.
1833. By the Rev. W. B. Clarke, A.M. F.G.S. (A Supple-
ment to Mr. Clarke's Essay, No. 3., in p. 289—308., On certain
recent Meteoric Phenomena^ Vicissitudes in the Seasons , prevalent
Disorders^ <5rc., contemporaneous, and in supposed connection, with
Volcanic Emanations.)

" Quid sit, unde sit, quare sit. . , . .quod ipsum explorare et eruere sine
universitatis inquisitione non possumus, cum ita cohaerentia, connexa,
concatenata sint." — M. Minutius Felix, xvii.

In the last number of my remarks on the supposed connec-
tion of volcanic and other phenomena (p. 289 — 308.), I have
attended to the extraordinary display of meteors on the night
of Nov. 13. 1833, as described in Silliman's Journal of Science
and Arts, vol. xxv. p. 411. In vol. xxvi. p. 132. of that
work, for April, ] 834, are '* Observations thereon, by Denison
Olmsted, Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy
in Yale College."

Professor Olmsted sets out with quoting previous examples
of meteorites seen at various periods. Amongst these, he
alludes to several quoted by me, especially the meteors of Nov.
19. 1832 *, seen in England ; the matter which fell at Wolo-
kolumsk, March, 1832; the meteor of Brunck, Nov. 14.
1832; and those seen by Humboldt, Nov. 12. 1794, in Cu^
mana ; and the aerolites of Candahar. Others are,, the fall of
red rain in different countries, on Nov. 13. 1755, and in
Picardy, Nov. 14. 1765; and a great meteor seen in Ohio,
Nov. 1825; and that seen in England, Nov. 13. 1803.

* By error, the date is before given, by me, Nov. 17. (p. 293.); as i&
1728, for 1828 (p. 305.).
Vol. VII. — No. 41. cc

S86 Meteors seen in America

The testimony of an eyewitness is also adduced for the
appearance of meteors, exactly resembling those in England,
^\e days afterwards, at Mocha, on the Red Sea, where the
same phenomena occurred, from 1 a.m. till after daylight,
Nov. 14. 1832. {Amer, Journ,, xxvi. 136.)

Professor Olmsted also mentions a shower of meteors seen
in America about the middle of April, 1 803, which I have no
hesitation in connecting with the shower of stones at L'Aigle,
in France, April 26. 1803. [Mag, Nat. Hist., VII. 296.)
The other examples of the professor are, I think, plainly
to be referred at once to a volcanic origin, especially the
black dust at Constantinople in 472, which, according to Pro-
copius, was traced from Vesuvius. Additional information
iias been received that the meteors of 1833 were seen, contem-
poraneously with the other localities, at Kingston, Jamaica ;
in Mexico, in lat. 34*^ 30' N. ; and on the shores of Lake
Huron.

The explanation of the professor is most elaborately minute,
and does no injustice to his celebrity as a calculator : but I
must say that, if I were not attached to my own hypothesis, I
could not agree in his upon his present showing. He assumes
that the matterof which these meteors were composed is similar
to that which composes the tails of comets, and that the
meteors of 1799, 1832, and 1833 are results of the destruc-
tion of one and the same body ; and thence, by the aid of
astronomical reasoning, deduces this conclusion : — " T/iat the
meteors of Nov, 13. consisted of portions of the extreme parts of
a nebulous hody^ *which revolves round the sun in an orbit in-
terior to that of the earth, hit little inclined to the plane of the
ecliptic, having its aphelion near the earthh path, and having
a period in time of\S2 days nearly J^

I have neither time nor leisure, at present, to examine here
in detail the very ingenious, and apparently satisfactory, pro-
cess by which these meteors are resolved into cometic frag-
ments. I imagine that philosophers will find so many diffi-
culties in the admission of the professor's theory, that he will
not be able to maintain it. I would merely ask, if the appear-
ances seen in such different places imply the object to be the
same, why we may not include other similar displays in that
comprehensive identity ? Why we may not suppose that the
meteors, of precisely similar character, seen on August 10.
1833, in Worcestershire, at 10 to 12 p.m.*, were cometic
fragments ? How happens it that, if this comet has a motion
from N.w. to s.E. (Prof. Olmsted, p. 143.), the meteors seen at
Mocha, on Nov. 14., made their appearance in England ^i?^

* See Mr. Lees's paper on the aurora, in The Analj/st, No. i. p. 33., for
August, 1834,

on the Night of Nov, 13. 1833. 387

days after, in a directly contrary direction ? It is certainly pos-
sible, and more than probable, that both occurrences had one
origin; but, on Professor Olmsted's arguments, they could
not, without involving difficulties of a serious nature. Surely
he would not contend that the meteors seen by Sir W. Ha-
milton in the electrical display on Vesuvius (VII. 301.)
were otherwise than volcanic : — yet, why do we not call them
cometic f

The whole argument of the professor rests on the general
assumption that these displays of falling meteors are different
from all others which have been denominated, and even by
him, aerolites : now, evidence undoubtedly goes to establish
their similarity. The singularity of these occurrences being
so commonly about a particular day in November had pre-
viously struck me, and certainly lends an air of probability to
the professor's supposition. But periodicity is not, surely,
confined to extra-terrestrial bodies. I shall, perhaps, have
an opportunity of showing, in some future portion of my
observations on the earth's derangements, that those disturb-
ances obey a periodical law, and that, consequently, all their
results obey the same impression. Professor Olmsted asserts
that it is his belief that what has commonly been designated
as the zodiacal light is identical with the light from his meteoric
comet ; and that the frequent displays of that light, recently,
so correspond with the assigned position of the comet as to
involve the identity of both. On this point I shall be silent ;
farther observation, and the eyes of astronomers, will be the
best means of elucidating it.

After having made these remarks, it is incumbent upon me
to offer a few words in defence of my own previous attempt
to explain the connection of the meteors with my subject. In
order to bring the topic within my reach, I must quote from
Professor Olmsted himself, who remarks that the meteors were
directed to the earth in a shower from a cloud, which must
have remained stationary a long time at a great height above
the earth (p. 142.) : he calculates, above 2238 miles, (p. 144.)
I have always been of opinion, in which many persons will
agree (see Mr. Lees, in The Analyst^ No. i. p. 36.), that phi-
losophers are too apt to talk of hundreds and thousands,
when, perhaps, units and tens would be nearer the mark. I
allude expressly to the frequent mention of bodies entering
the earth's atmosphere from tremendous heights. Is it actu-
ally known what is the real height of the earth's atmosphere ?
and can any one define it ? It appears to me more probable
that space is filled with atmosphere, denser, doubtless, towards
all bodies moving therein ; and that it is not philosophical to

c c 2

388 Meteors seen in America

suppose each planet to be surrounded by a particular atmo-
sphere, independent of the rest of the universe, and fenced in
by a kind of wall, which many expressions seem to imply.
If space be filled, as it doubtless is, though we know nothing
about it, by a universal atmosphere, bodies which are said now
to fall from heights above our atmosphere may have been, in
their original state, carried up by great heat into very lofty
regions, even to a thousand miles. At any rate, it has not
yet been shown that the heat generated in a volcanic erup-
tion is not sufficiently powerful to produce such effects. And,
on the other hand, it may be questioned whether bodies may
not be in some measure displaced in vision by optical causes
connected with the atmosphere. These speculations may
seem absurd to such men as Professor Olmsted, with whom
I have no pretension to dispute an argument : but, having
taken a certain view of the subject, I do not like to abandon
it hastily, and I have no reason to consider the meteors of
1832 and 1833 as exceptions to the general character of
meteoric bodies.

The idea of a " cloud and shower " perfectly corresponds
with the idea which we have of transported volcanic matter
so discharged ; and, as to the effects produced, " the sudden
cold," " the change of wind," &c.. Professor Olmsted allows
the same results to true aerolitic agency. (Amer. Journ.^ 161.)
I have already produced evidence (VII. 296.) to show that
meteors are followed by such changes in the atmosphere, and
no defender of cometic influence can gainsay that evidence.

But it also appears that the western parts of the American
continent were subjected to a " change of seasons," and that
unusual warmth and mildness of weather prevailed on the
shores of Lake Huron through the winter. (Mr. Schoolcraft
in Amer. Journ.,^ xxvi. 139.; see, also, Mr. Hildreth's
paper in the same work, p. 85.) I shall, hereafter, bring
forward some evidence upon this point, and show that a line
of cold extended between two lines of xvarmth during the
late winter, which can only be accounted for in one way.
That the meteors might, and did, modify for a time the states
of the atmosphere, is probable; but we might as rationally
impute to them the state of weather in Europe, as the change
of season in America. In both cases, those changes appear
to me to depend on a cause to which the meteors themselves
were originally subject. I would not wish it to be inferred
that a volcanic eruption, or emanations from the earth, must
necessarily be immediately contemporaneous with meteoric ap-
pearances. Volcanic vapours may float for a considerable
time in space before they become sufficiently condensed to
assume a solid form : and, again, it is very probable that such

on the Night of Nov, 13. 1833. 389

vapours may issue a long time before the actual outbreak of
the volcano. I shall quit the subject, for the present, with
this observation, that I have had so many examples before me
of the intimate connection of atmospheric and telluric dis-
turbances, as to feel inclined to admit it as established. In
the present case, there is only an interval of eleven days
between the appearance of the meteors in America, and the
outbreak of Bocket Kaba, a volcano of Palambang (Nov. 24.
1833). This eruption was most dreadful. The whole of Java
was shaken by earthquakes, attended by inundations from a lake
on the mountain called Telaga Ketjiel, which covered several
hamlets to the depth of 21 ft., leaving a mud deposit 7 ft.
thick. Kaba is 50 leagues from Palambang, and yet the
water of the great river Moessie was not fit to drink for
several weeks, owing to mephitic mixtures. Even as late as
February, 1834, there were floods and great rains; and Telo
Mojo, a mountain of the province of Ngassinan, sank down
in consequence. {Journal de la Haye.) I take one more cor-
respondence, in illustration of the last of the professor's ex-
amples of meteors. He quotes (p. 137.), from the Medical
Gazette and New England Farmer of May 1. 1833, an ac-
count of a shower of fire m the department of the Orne in
France, seen at Caen and at Argenton, for two hours, one
morning in the end of April. Earthquakes, &c., were very
common about this time in various parts of the earth. Juasco
and Coquimbo, in the west (on April 25.), were dreadfully
shaken ; while, in the east, very early in April, the inhabitants
of Manilla were alarmed by the sudden decrease of water in
their river, attributed to a volcanic eruption in the interior.
The water became green, unpleasant in odour, and could not
be used. Pestilence was, in consequence, feared. (Canton
Register, May 18. 1833.) On April 4. occurred an earth-
quake at Vicenza ; on the 17th, a hurricane in lat. 28° s. 52° e..;
and at the end of the month, about the time of the others
above named, earthquakes in Demerara. At this time, also,
universal and unusual drought extended through the earth,
occasioned, doubtless, by internal heat : Buenos Ayres lost
2,000,000 head of cattle in consequence, while New South
Wales and the Cape of Good Plope suffered in proportion.
Europe also felt its effects. These facts may be considered
extravagant illustrations ; but, surely, when it is known that
the meteors of Nov. 14. 1833, at Brunck, were accompanied
by aerolites (see VII. 293.), and by " falling stars" (Olmsted,
in Sill. Journ., 134.); and that such meteors have preceded,
accompanied, and succeeded, earthquakes ; and that they have
been seen over volcanoes (VII, 291, 292.), there is, I think, na

c c 3

S90 Origmes Zoologies,

reason, as far as the evidence goes, to upset the theory of the
zodiacal light, and bring so dangerous, though brilliant, a
neighbour as this cometic gentleman seems to be. If I be
wrong, and Professor Olmsted be right, the^earth will in all
probability enjoy the celestial carnival again in November,
when meteors will fly about as sweetmeats and bon-bons do at
Naples and Rome.

Stanley GreeJi^ August 9. 1834.

Art. II. Origines Zoologicce, or Zoological Recollections. By
William Turton, M.D. &c. [Continued from p. 328.]

THE ox.

In the earliest stages of society this valuable quadruped
became an object of domestic care and regard ; for we read
in Genesis (xiii. 6, 7.) that " there was a strife between the
herdsmen of Abram's cattle and the herdsmen of Lot's
cattle;" the flocks of each of whom were so numerous " that
the land was not able to bear them, and they could not dwell
together." The ox was held sacred by the Egyptians, and
elevated into one of the twelve signs of the zodiac (Taurus),
A representation of the ox became an object of idolatrous
worship, as in the golden calf erected by Aaron. (Ex-
odus, xxxii.) At this day, in India, the sacred cow, as repre-
senting one of the transformations of the deity, is held in the
highest veneration, and the flesh forbidden to be eaten. The
ox became, from associations like these, an acceptable offer-
ing of propitiation or gratitude; as we find (Genesis, iv. 4.)
that Abel offered in sacrifice the firstlings of his flock ; that
Abram was directed (Genesis, xv. 9.) to sacrifice a heifer,
of three years old, as an offering for the promise of a son ;
and that twenty- two thousand were sacrificed by Solomon at
the dedication of the temple. (1 Kings, viii. 6S.) The seven
years of plenty and the seven years of want were typified by
the fat and the lean kine of Pharaoh. (Genesis, xli.)

Veal, it appears, was the first dressed meat upon record :
for, when Abram entertained the three angels (Genesis,
xviii. 7.), " he ran into the herd, and fetched a calf tender
and good, and gave it to a young man, and he hasted to dress
it." The ox and the ass, as the most valuable represent-
atives of pastoral possessions, are expressly forbidden, in the
Tenth Commandment (Exodus, xx. 17.), to be unlawfully
coveted from our neighbour : and the ox and the sheep were
pointed out to Moses, from Mount Sinai, as the chief subjects
of sacrifice. (Exodus, xxix.)

or Zoological 'Recollectio7is, S9I^

A white bull was the most acceptable sacrifice among the
Romans : but a black ox was considered as the emblem of
misfortune; as we say of one who has been unlucky in his.
pursuits, that the black ox has set his foot upon him. And
a man who has been bribed to silence is said to have an ox
in his tongue, hos in lingua ,• because the figure of an ox was
stamped upon the Roman coin : and for this reason the word
pecunia, or money, was derived from pecus, or cattle. Europa
was fabled to have been carried beyond sea by a bull, because
Taurus, or the Bull, was the name of the ship by which she
was conveyed. By the Roman law, the owner of a vicious
bull was obliged to distinguish him by a bundle of hay tied to
his horn ; whence the expression, " he has hay on his horn,'*
as spoken of a dangerous or litigious man : " foenum habet
in cornu ; longe fuge." Of a bold adventurer we say, that
he has taken the bull by the horns ; and of a petulant woman,,
that the curst cow has short horns. [In Exodus, xxi. 28 — 36.^
there are various compensations appointed to be made for
injuries received from oxen by human beings or other oxen,.
as well as for injuries occasioned by man to oxen.]

To plough with the heifer means, to make a friend' of the
female sex :: for when Samson lost his wager to the Philis^
tines by the treachery of his wife, " If," said he, " ye had not
ploughed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle.'*
(Judges, xiv. 18.) To chew the cud and to ruminate, ex-
pressions figurative of deep and serious reflection, are taken
from the placid and quiescent habits of this tribe of qua-
drupeds. To bully and to cow, meaning to intimidate and
overbear, are probably words taken from the menacing at-
titudes of these animals when irritated : so coward, from them
when in an opposite condition. Some, however, have sup-
posed that the expression bully arose from the pope's bull, or
threat of excommunication. And he who is compelled to
retract unwarrantable pretensions is said to draw in his horns.

Bull-feasts are probably remains of pagan sacrifice, or
augurial rites ;. at present a national and favourite amusement
in Spain...

" So Spanish heroes with their lances
At once wound bulls and ladies' fancies ;
And he acquires the noblest spouse.
That widows greatest herds of cows." Hudibras,

Bull-baiting was first introduced into England in the time
©f King John, and is supposed to be commemorative of the
persecutions of Christians under the emperor Nero, who,
among other species of torture, commanded them to be sewed
up in the skins of wild beasts, and worried to death by dogs,

c c 4

392 Origines Zoologicce,

After this time, bull-baiting and cock-fighting became such
general sports, and the feats and achievements of persons
engaged in them were so commonly exaggerated and made
the subject of discourse, that any tedious and bombast rela-
tion is still called a cock and a bull story. From the great
size of the bull, this last word, when formed into a com-
parative composition, means of larger bulk than usual; as,
bull-rush, bull-head, bull-trout, bull-finch, bull-frog, bull-
weed, bull-wark or bull-work, &c. : so, in Greek, boopis, from
its circular shape, a round central spot in the target of archers,
and a small aperture, covered with glass, in the deck of a
ship, for the admission of light below, are called the bulPs
eye. A bull, or blunder, is said to have originated in the
simplicity of an upland boor, who, when the village maidens
went forth to milk the cows, himself took a pail, that he might
milk the bull.

It has been jocularly remarked that the clown in every
country is nicknamed from the favourite dish of the people;
as the Englishman, Jack Pudding and John Bull ; the French-
man, Jean Pottage ; the Italian, Macaroni ; the German, Hans
Sausage; and the Dutchman, Pickle Herring. The Welsh-
man, in his pride of genealogy and his love of cheese, traces
the cow to the line of Adam : —

" Cheese was akin to Adam from hur birth ;
Ap curds, ap milk, ap cow, ap grass, ap earth.*'

By the laws of the Cambro-British legislator, Howel-dha,
if a man betrayed a young woman, he was sentenced to place
a bull in a stall with his tail soaped ; and if the damsel could
draw him out by the tail^ she wiis to have tlie bull for her
pains.

The arms of the city of Oxford are three oxen passing a
ford, with the motto, " Ox on," underneath. This was for-
merly finely represented in sculpture upon the ancient water-
conduit at Carfax ; but which is now removed. And here it
may not, perhaps, be impertinent to remark, that Carfax is a
simple corruption of quatre vaux: it being the centi'e of
four roads radiating in crossing directions.

The bones of cattle slaughtered in London were formerly
of such huge accumulation that it became necessary to con-
sume them from time to time. This process was reserved for
some holiday or period of public rejoicing, when faggots and
combustible materials were collected from the neighbours for
the purpose of illumination ; whence our term bonfire may
mean either bone-fire, from the materials to be consumed, or
boon-fire, from the gratuitous collections made for the pur-

or Zoological Recollections. 393

pose.* Of a person whom it is intended not to encourage
or spare, it is said, that we make no bones of him.

The stealers of cattle have an ingenious method of twisting
the horns of these in a direction so contrary to their natural
position as to make it impossible that they can be identified
by their owners. The cattle are concealed in caves under
ground, and hot loaves of bread fastened successively on the
horns, the heat and moisture of which soon render them mal-
leable, when they are turned in any direction, and afterwards
fixed and stiffened in their new position by cold water.

The age of a cow is known by the horns, reckoning three
years for the first circular wrinkle, and one for every ad-
ditional wrinkle. It is remarkable that the Comte de Buffon,
generally so accurate, should assert that the cow sheds her
horns every three years.

The ox, when alive, is the only horned quadruped which
lends his labours to the service of man, except the rein-deer ;
furnishing him also with the substantial luxuries of milk,
cream, butter, cheese, and whey: and, besides its national
[" the roast beef of old England "] and nourishing food, when
dead, almost every part is convertible into some useful pur-
pose. The skin makes a durable leather, useful for shoes,
boots, and numberless conveniences of life ; and the fisher-
men of Wales, Scotland, and some parts of Ireland still make
use of the ancient coracle, or leather boat, the ribs of which
are made of osiers, and covered with the hide of a bull.
Vellum is made of calves' skins ; and Limerick gloves of
the skin of such calves as are just dropped. The hair is
mixed with lime as a necessary cement for mortar. The
chippings of the hoofs, and fragments of the skin, make glue.
Goldbeater's skin is made of the fine membrane which invests
the larger intestines. Rennet for curdling the milk is made
of the salted stomach of the calf, f Of the horns are made
combs, spoons, powder-flasks, boxes, the handles of knives,

[* "What is the number of the animals of all kinds annually put to death
in Great Britain, for the sake of their bodies as food for human beings ?
This question was first incited in me by seeing a tanner superintending the
preparation of a sufficient quantity of hair off the skins of animals, chiefly
or wholly oxen, I presume, to cover a space of greensward of perhaps six
poles by four. Men were turning this quantity over, and breaking asunder
" the knotty and combined locks " which they found in it j exposing it to
the drying action of the air j and apparently endeavouring to get it free
of lime which adhered to it. In the evening they collected it into conical
heaps like little haycocks.]

[f Ineptly called the " calf's bag " by the calf jobbers of Essex, and the
dairywives of Cambridgeshire, and, perhaps, by others. The term " calf's
bag " gives those who only passingly hear the matter mentioned the idea
that the embryo milk bag of female calves is meant.]

'394 Origines ZoologicdS,

drinking-cups called horns * ; and, when softened by steam or
warm water, they are drawn into thin plates for lanterns ; and,
when scraped and properly compounded, were formerly used,
like bezoar, as antidotes against poison, f The blood of oxen
is useful in the manufacture of sugar, is an excellent manure
for fruit trees [is an ingredient in the compost or soil used in
the cultivation of auriculas], and is the basis of Prussian blue.
The bones, besides being useful to mechanics where ivory
would be too expensive, produce, when crushed, an excellent
manure ; are essential in the formation of sal ammoniac and
phosphorus ; produce an oil, much used by coach and harness
makers, called neat's-foot oil ; and, when calcined, give a
valuable test to the smelter and refiner. The gall is service-
able to the chemist; the tallow contributes to give us light;
and, above all, this noble quadruped has become sacred, as
being the instrument of eradicating that loathsome disease
the small-pox. From the noble sirloin of beef, as being the
prince of joints, we say of a man who predominates over his
companions, that he rules the roast. The H bone of beef,
the derivation of which is not generally known, is a corruption
of isch bone, from ischium^ the hip or huckle-bone ; and is so
spelt, I believe, by the venerable Mrs. Glasse.

It has been quaintly remarked, that most of our animals
serving for food preserve their ancient Saxon names while
living; but when they are dead and dressed their names
immediately become French. Thus it is ox, calf, sheep, deer,
pig, while alive; but beef, veal, mutton, venison, pork, when
served at table. This might arise from our neighbours
having introduced among us a more savoury and tasteful art
of cookery.

[* A fair, for the sale of horn wares, called Horn Fair, is held annually
somewhere near to town.]

[f The harvest-horn, formerly blown at early dawn in harvest time in
large farm establishments, and still in use in some, perhaps many, was, and
doubtless is, mostly, I believe, a bullock's horn. Gray has, in his " Elegy
written in a Country Churchyard," given record of this pleasing rural cus-
tom, and of some sweet associations of early morning which must ever
keep it company.

" Beneath those rugged elms, that yew tree's shade.
Where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap.
Each in his narrow cell for ever laid.
The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep.

" The breezy call of incense-breathing morn.

The swallow twittering from the straw-built shed,
The cock's shrill clarion, and the echoing horn.
No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed."]

or Zoological Recollections. 395

THE SHEEP.

Of equal antiquity in a domesticated state with the ox,
forming the pastoral wealth of the children of Adam, and the
earliest oblation of grateful acknowledgment in sacrifice :
for the accepted offering of Abel consisted in the firstlings of
his flock (Genesis, iv. 4.) ; and a hundred and twenty thou-
sand were sacrificed at the dedication of the temple by Solo-
mon. (1 Kings, viii. 63.)

Of an animal so serviceable to man, and so constantly
before his eyes, many familiar allusions have become con-
sequently popular and common. From his mild and un-
meaning aspect *, a vacant or silly look is said to be sheepish ;
and a swain, when he affects tender glances to the village
maiden, is said to cast sheep's eyes at her : and we say of a
man unworthily tricked of his property, that he has been
fleeced, f A tyrant who exercises his cruelties under the
garb of gentleness is called a wolf in sheep's clothing.

The horn of the ram was an early instrument of martial
and ceremonial music, at whose sound the walls of Jericho
fell down (Joshua, vi.) : and the jubilee of old (Leviticus, xxv.)
was ushered in with the sound of rams' horns, or the jubilee
trumpets ; for the word jobul, or yobul, in Hebrew means a
ram : so our curved and sonorous field instrument is called a
horn. The ram was chosen by the angel as a substitute for
Isaac, whom his father Abraham was commanded to sacrifice
in proof of his obedience. (Genesis, xxii. 13.) Jacob, for a
wife, kept 'sheep twice seven years '(Genesis, xxix.); and
Moses kept the flock of his father-in-law Jethro. (Exodus,
iii. 1.) Jason is fabled to have carried away the golden fleece
from Colchis, in the ship Argo, by the help of the sorceress
Medea, as representative of the extension of commerce, and
the transfer of the arts ; and the fleece of Gideon was the
miraculous instrument by which he had assurance of the
victory of the forces of Israel, led by him, over the Midianites,
who then oppressed Israel. (Judges, vi. 33 — 40.)

In the reign of Nero the converts to Christianity were

* [It seems to be generally agreed that the face of the sheep is not
expressive of any greater sentiment than that of mildness ; but Henry
Selwyn, in a small volume of published poems, has a tenderly sentimental
heroine, who, in her sensitive exercise of this feeling, does

try a character to trace

In every sheep's unconscious face

and it may be remarked that the various faces observable in a flock of sheep
exhibit a considerable variety of expression.]

f [" Tiberius rescripsit praesidibus provinciarum onerandas esse tribute
provincias scribentibus : boni pastoris esse, tondere pecus, non deglubere."j

396 Origines Zoologicco^

sewn up in sheepskins and goatskins, and torn to pieces by-
dogs ; or in this state exposed to the heat of the sun or a slow
fire, which, by gradually shrinking and shriveling the skin of
the animal in which they were straitly enclosed, exposed them
to still more exquisite and lingering tortures.

In the ruins of Persepolis were found the statues and
figures of rams, which formed one of the astronomical signs
at the commencement of the year, when ewes yean : and it
was the ensign of the tribe of Gad. The lamb is an emblem
of spotless innocence and patience, the symbol of the pass-
over, and the type of the Redeemer of man; and a vast
slaughter of these unresisting victims is annually made on
Good Friday, for the feast of Easter day : and a smooth "and
pleasant drink is called lamb's- wool. The Bachelors of Ox-
ford, who determine their degrees at Lent, wear lambskin
hoods, emblematical of the innocence of the calling they are
about to adopt ; for all learning, and all learned occupations,
were formerly confined to the clergy. This hood is at present
degraded into a strip of flannel.

The age of the sheep is known by the teeth : and an old
ewe who has lost her teeth is called a crone ; a term applied,
in low language, to a disgusting old woman. A sheep two
years old is called a hog; the double acceptation of which
term occasioned the following ridiculous mistake. A com-
mercial gentleman, not much acquainted with husbandry, ap-
plied to an agricultural friend for the best means of bringing
upon his newly laid lawn a fine clothing of herbage, and was
advised to have it eaten down by a score of hogs. Unaware
of its less common meaning as applicable to sheep of a cer-
tain age, and taking it in its more usual sense, he purchased a
score of large pigs ; and, to his very great surprise and mor-
tification, soon discovered that his lawn was totally scarified
and rooted up. About the neck of the oldest wether of the
flock is often fastened a bell, to gather them together, or to
Conduct the herdsman to their place of pasture ; whence a
noisy and brawling woman is called a bell-wether or bel-
dame. * The Romans used battering rams in their sieges ;
and our terms ram and ramrod seem to have their origin
from this source. Of a person of indifferent character, and

* [Rams fight most desperately. The noise produced by the concussion
of their heads may be heard at a great distance. They would seem to
proceed to fighting with great suddenness, as if the sentiment of aversion
were fixed, and prompted them to battle at sight. I infer this from Shak-
speare's remark in As You Like It: — " Never was there anything so sud-
den, except the battle of two rams."]

or Zoological Recollections, 397

who may be suspected to corrupt his companions, we say that
one scabby sheep infects the whole flock.

By the Israelitish women the wool was spun into garments,
and formed a part of their offering to the sanctuary. In
good and olden times, the maidens of the family spun the
wool of their flocks; whence unmarried women are deno-
minated spinsters ; and, in heraldry, bear their arms, not in
a warlike shield, like men, but in a lozenge having a resem-
blance to the outline of a spindle or distaff charged with
worsted.

The celebrated morocco leather is made of the skins of
rams dyed red. It is probably the most ancient of manufac-
tures, and has formed an uninterrupted article of commerce
for nearly four thousand years. With this was formed a
covering for the tabernacle in the wilderness, in the days of
Moses (Exodus, xxv. 5.; xxvi. 14.); and with this was deco-
rated the celebrated shrine of Minerva, at the Lake Tritonis :
and with this are covered, at the present day, our most costly
tables and books. The wool of the sheep is considered of
such inestimable importance to the comforts and commerce of
our own country, that the Lord Chancellor of the realm sits
on a woolsack in the House of Lords, as the staple commodity
of the kingdom ; and the funeral garments of deceased bodies
are by law directed to be made exclusively of woollen.

The value of wool, in the days of Queen Elizabeth, may be
ascertained by the clown in Shakspeare's As you like it, who,
in estimating his market produce, says, " Every eleven wether
tods, every tod yields pound and odd shilling, fifteen hundred
shorn, what comes the wool to?"

The occupation of collecting scattered flocks of wool from
hedges and brakes was considered so mean and miserable,
that it is said of a person not quite settled in his ideas, that
his wits are gone wool-gathering. Its valuable uses in various
garments, in flannels, in blankets, in broadcloth, and all
materials requiring warmth, are sufficiently well known : the
coarser lumps, called flocks, are used to stuff mattresses. The
skins of the slaeep make parchment and covering for books ;
and the skins of lambs a finer kind of gloves.

THE HOG.

The emblem of filth, sloth, obstinacy, gluttony, and bru-
tality : abhorred by the natives of warm climates as unclean,
and subject to scrofula and leprous disorders of the skin.
Hogs are highly sensible of the approach of foul weather,
and run about in great agitation before storms, screaming,
grunting, and snuffing up the air ; whence they are said to

398 Origmes Zoologicce,

*' see the wind." Hogs are of exceedingly rapid growth, and
as, when killed, their flesh takes salt more readily than the
flesh of other animals, they form a valuable part of the husband-
man's stock, and one of the principal objects of sale in a country
fair : so, when a man has made a successful bargain, he is said
to have brought his hogs to a fair market. Stubborn and in-
flexible obstinacy is likened to the casting of pearls before
swine ; and of indocible stupidity it is said, " Ne sus Miner-
vam," You cannot make a silken purse of a sow's ear.

In some parts of the East, they were, nevertheless, objects
of pastoral care and attention, if not of commerce : for the
herd of swine, into which the evil spirits were suffered to
enter, were under the care of feeders. (Matthew, viii. 28 — 34.
[So in the parable of the Prodigal Son. (Luke, xv. 15.)]
They are very gregarious, and in the wild and vast forests of
Germany collect together in great herds; and persons who
are closely packed in society are said to pig together. Hogs,
like many animals in a state of domestication, bring several
litters in a year, and at all seasons, from the abundance of
food and accommodation which can be afforded them, as may
also be observed of dogs, cats, rabbits, poultry, doves, cows,
and sheep. When caught, they are seized by the ear or lug,
and make a most noisy outcry : whence of a person who has
fastened his suspicions on a wrong object, it is said, that he
has taken the wrong sow by the ear.

The side or flitch, when salted and dried, makes bacon ;
and as this savoury food too frequently becomes the plunder of
rats, bats, and other vermin*, it is said of him who has barely
escaped a loss or an injury, that he has just saved his bacon.
The smoking of hams is as old as Horace, who considered a
hock of bacon and greens as fit food for a country farmer.

" Temere edi

Quidquam praeter olus, fumosae cum pede pernae."

The boar, when in anger, foams at the mouth, gnashes his
teeth, and whets his tusks, f We learn that, at the tables of
the Roman epicures, the flesh of the boar, together with the
turbot, or probably the halibut, was considered as rank, and
not fit to be served up, till it had been kept a long time :
" putet aper rhombusque recens :" and again, " rancidum
aprum antiqui laudabant." [Brawn's flesh, skilfully prepared,
is, at our own tables, an esteemed and somewhat expensive
kind of food.]

* [One of these is the larva of the insect Z)ermestes lardarius.]

f [iEsop has taught wise instruction by his fable of the boar whetting

his tusks in time of peace, that he might be prepared for the most sudden

presentment of war.]

or Zoological Becollectzons, 399

St. Anthony was the patron of swine, and celebrated for
curing such diseases of the skin as were considered to be of
swinish origin or nature, as leprosy, scrofula, and erysipelas,
or Saint Anthony's fire. His monks were thence called, in
derision, St. Anthony's pigs ; and thence originated the
ironical taunt of " please the pigs ;" and, as the gambols of
young swine are singularly awkward, any frolic more than
usually ridiculous was compared to a " tantony pig," and a
stupid rustic was called a tony. In the monkish legends, it
is related, that, when St. Anthony was once sorely beset
by the temptations of Satan, he defied him by commanding
him to shear his hogs ; who, finding them more clamorous and
troublesome than productive, exclaimed, that there was great
cry and little wool.

Swine, if they are fed on fermented grains, or the must of
cider, are subject to fits of the gout ; and in large distilleries
get rapidly fat and bloated, by being kept in a state of con-
stant intoxication. The hog, although apparently shapeless
and unwieldy, is of considerable swiftness and agility : for the
hind legs have two bones in each, whereas there is but one in
horned cattle.

The hog, as a beast of chase, forms the armorial bearing of
many families. It constituted the arms of King Richard the
Third : and in his reign, when great enormities were com-
mitted by himself, RatclifF, Catesby, and Lovel whose crest
was a talbot or kind of hound, an unhappy wit was hanged
for the following not inelegant pasquinade : —

" The rat, the cat, and Lovel the dog,
Govern all England under the hog.'*

In his reign the English coin was first introduced into Ire-
land, whence an English shilling is in the sister island still
called a hog: and after his reign, the popular sign of the
hog in armour probably originated, in allusion to his un-
shapely person and his arms or crest. The bristles are made
into brushes ; and the skin of the wild boar is used in Spain
to hold wine, whence the origin of our word hogshead, a cor-
ruption of hog's hide.

In the casting of metallic ores, the red-hot fusion runs from
the furnace down a straight groove, and branches on each
side into shorter ones, supposed by the workmen to resemble
a sow suckling her litter ; whence the longer piece is called
the sow, and the shorter ones pig iron or pig lead.

A learned monk wrote a long poem in praise of pigs,
every word of which begins with the letter P : —
" Plaudite porcelli porcorum pigra propago."

400 Origines Zoologicce,

Although the flesh of the hog is held in abhorrence by the
Jew and the Turk, no other animal affords so large a series
of savoury viands to the table of the Christian. Every part
is in use, except the brains and the marrow, which, from
ancient prejudice, are thought to create melancholy. The
smaller intestines make chitterlings, and the ears are made
into souse ; as it was said of the fiddler Crowdero, —

** His warped ear hung o'er the strings.
Which was but souse to chitterlings ;
For guts, some write, ere they are sodden,
Are fit for music or for pudden." Hudibras.

The sides of the head are made into cheeks, and the tongue
is pickled. The neck or collar makes brawn ; whence any-
thing strongly muscular is called brawny. Of the shoulders
are made gammons and blade-bones ; of the back-bone are
made the chine and the griskin ; the thinner portion of the
ribs forms the sparerib ; the sides and the belly make the
flitch and the rasher; the hind legs make the ham and the
hock ; the feet of the sucking pig make petit-toes ; of the
heart, the liver, and the lights, with morsels from the throat,
are made the harslet or fry ; of the spare lean parts are made
sausages ; the larger intestines, stuffed with grits mixed with
the blood make black-puddings.

" And fat black-puddings, proper food
For men that most delight in blood." Hudibras.

The bristles are made into brushes, and point the waxed
thread of the shoemaker.

THE BEAR.

Rough as a bear, may be taken either from the coarseness
of his coat, or the rudeness of his embrace ; for, being fur-
nished with collar bones, he is able to climb, and presses his
adversary to death by the closeness of his hug : and he, whose
manners are unpolished and his actions unmannerly, is said
to be rude as a bear. He was made the instrument to avenge
the insult to the prophet, by the mockery of the children, and
destroyed forty-two of them. (2 Kings, ii. 24<.) In the winter,
when his food is hardly to be procured, he becomes sleepy,
and partially torpid, rolled up, with the paws before his
mouth, that they may be kept warm by the breath, whence
he is said to suck, " or quarter upon, his own paws." * At
one time, it was thought that the young were brought forth
a mere shapeless mass, which the dam brought into proper

* [See, in the Entomological Magazine^ i. 327 — 332., an account of the
winter habits of bears in Russia ; and in Mag. Nat. Hist., VI, 510., a short
notice of their earliest vernal habits in Switzerland.]

or Zoological Recollections, 401

form by her licking. [Hence it is, probably, that to give rude
sketches professional touches is expressed by " to lick them
into shape."] The bear was taught to dance by putting boots
on his hind legs, and placing him on a floor made hot, thus
forcing him to lift up his fore feet, and stand erect ; and a
rough staff was placed in bis paws for support, and to defend
himself against the dogs, which were let loose upon him.
The amusement of bear-baiting constituted a favourite pastime
of our unpolished forefathers. It formed a part of the sports
selected by the Earl of Leicester for the amusement of Queen
Elizabeth, when she visited Kenilworth Castle. The places
where this sport was exhibited were generally pointed out by
the sign of the bear and ragged staff. For this purpose a
bear was formerly kept in enclosures called bear-gardens,
and, when it was baited, was tied to a stake or post ; procla-
mation was then made, that no one should come nearer than
40 ft. Now, the amusement consisted in endeavouring to
make him angry, and quit his post or stake, and be worried
by men and dogs ; whence the expression, stake or venture ;
and post, in allusion to an employment or office; as, he has
lost his post, or keeps his post, and cannot be turned out.*
To pluck a bear by the beard was considered a hardy act of
venturous and manly courage ; and Master Slender boasts
to his sweet Anne Page, that he has seen Sackerson loose
twenty times, and taken him by the chain. Any assemblage
of riot and confusion is now compared to a bear-garden ; and,
among the noisy money-brokers of the Stock Exchange, the
speculators for a rise in the funds are called bulls, and those
who calculate on a fall are called bears.

THE FOX.

Cunning as a fox, is truly exemplificative of the manners
of this sly and crafty animal, whose shifts and tricks of fraud
and evasion are too well known in the farmyard and among
hen-roosts, f That all traces of his progress might be lost,

* [" Lucrative offices are seldom lost

For want of powers proportion'd to the post :
Give e'en a dunce the employment he desires.
And he soon finds the talents it requires ;
A business with an income at its heels
Furnishes always oil for its own wheels."

Cowper's Retirement.

Does not a desire for an employment argue an affection towards it, and,
consequently, some fitness for it ? ]

f [A fox was fastened with a long chain to a post in a court, where he
was fed with, among other things, potatoes. These, the animal was seen

Vol. VII.— No. 41. dd

402 Origines Zoological,

he was formerly supposed to sweep out the marks of his foot-
steps with his tail : and even to simulate death, to delude his
pursuers.

" And as a fox, with hot pursuit

Chased through the warren, cast about

To save his credit, and among

Dead vermin on a gallows hung ;

And while the dogs ran underneath,

Escaped by counterfeiting death." Hudibras.

^sop has left us the fable of the fox and the grapes ; whence
of disappointed hopes we say that the grapes are sour : and
when some degree of art and management, as well as deci-
sion, is considered essential to the accomplishment of an
object, it is said, that we must eke out the lion's skin with the
fox's tail.

With three hundred foxes, tied in pairs by the tail, and a
firebrand placed between each pair, Samson burnt the stand-
ing corn of the Philistines, who kept from him his wife
(Judges, XV.) : but it is probable that the hyaena, a very
common beast in the East, was the animal here meant. The
female of the fox is called foxen, or iixen, whence the
name vixen is applied in reproach to a woman of a wayward
or spiteful temper.

THE HARE.

Timid and solitary, the emblem of melancholy among the
Egyptians, and therefore considered as the forerunner of ill
luck, if she crossed our path. By the law of the Sabians, if
any one called another a hare, he was obliged to compound
for the injury, by the payment of a large fine, as the name
was considered to be synonymous with coward ; and he who
indulges in wild and improbable fancies is called hare-
brained. *

to bruise and scatter about, mostly within reach : he then retired, in an op-
posite direction, to the full length of his chain. The object of this con-
trivance was to decoy a number of fowls that were accustomed to enter
the court, but which were usually so much attentive to their own safety as
to defeat the various stratagems of reynard. When, however, some had
become so much off their guard as to venture within the circle of danger,
the fox was seen to spring from his lurking-place across the diameter of
the circle, and seize his prey.

The fox, when hunted, never runs through a gatej nor does it cross a
hedge, in a smooth and even part, but chooses the roughest spot, where
briars and thorns abound, and mounts the eminence, not straight forward
as a hare does, but obliquely, scrambling up, not springing over it. —
J. Couch. Polperro^ Cornwall. {Received June II. 1834.)]

* [Burns has done much, in the following exquisite verse, to render the
faculty of being " harebrained" estimable. He, in sketching the character-

or Zoological Becollections, 403

It was formerly thought that she changed her sex every
month, and was probably forbidden for this reason to be
eaten by the ancient Britons. She was also one of the favourite
transformations of the witch, from her silence and facility of
escape.

To hunt and course the hare have ever been considered as
favourite and joyous sports of the field : and into the social
drinking-bowl, after the feast, the foot or the scut of the
victim of the chase was cast ; whence he that comes too late
to enjoy the viands is said to kiss the hare's foot ; and any
indirect or roundabout way of obtaining information is called
to beat about the bush. A true sportsman is said never to
taste his game: and Horace informs us, that the Roman
huntsman disdained to touch the hare when set before him.

" Leporem venator ut alta

In nive sectatur, positum sic tangere nolit."

Martial considers her as a favourite dish among these luxu-
rious people.

" Inter quadrupedes gloria prima lepus.'*

And Horace tells us that the shoulder was thought the best
part : —

" Foecundi leporis sapiens sectabitur armos."

And again : —

" Et leporum avulsos, et multo suavius, armos."

A German quack doctor, when his patient was surfeited by
eating too much hare, upon the principle of antipathy, directed
him to take greyhound broth.

Moses supposed the hare to be a ruminant animal, and
forbade her to be eaten : *' the hare, because he cheweth the
cud, but divideth not the hoof, he is unclean unto you."
(Leviticus, xi. 6.) But what has been supposed to be the
rumination of the hare and the rabbit, is not the chewing the
cud proper and peculiar to cattle which have four stomachs,
from one of which stomachs the cud or ball of hair is
projected at pleasure into the mouth, and swallowed back
again ; but merely the bringing forward a portion of the food
from the cheeks, where such animals as have round mouths,

istics of "some Scottish Muse," whom he has fully described in his Fmow,
says of her —

" A * hare-brained sentimental trace,'
Was strongly marked in her face ;
A wildly witty rustic grace

Shone full upon her ;
Her eye, e'en turn'd on empty space,
Beam'd keen wi' honour."]

D D 2

404 Ortgi?ies Zoologka,

and cheeks more or less dilatable, and capable of being formed
into pouches, are enabled to preserve a portion of their food
to be brought forward for occasional mastication.

The fur of the hare and the rabbit is much used in the
manufacture of hats.

Cff Ruminating Animals^ or, as they are commonly called,
cattle; it may here be remarked, that they form a truly
natural division, and vv^ere, in the earliest formation of social
manners, pointed out by Moses as exclusively, among qua-
drupeds, constituting the proper food of man. " Whatsoever
parteth the hoof, and is cloven-footed, and cheweth the cud,
among the beasts, that shall ye eat." (Leviticus, xi. 3.) From
all other quadrupeds they are distinguished by peculiarities
so characteristic as to remove all difficulty of identification,
in a wild or domesticated state, in the living animal or the
dead carcass. It was remarked by Aristotle, that such of
them as have horns have no tusks, and such of them as have
tusks have no horns. Destined to graze upon the herbage
of pastures, they have no front teeth in the upper jaw ; and,
as the head is constantly in an inclined posture, during the
time they are feeding, the neck is supported on each side by
a strong and remarkably tough ligament, called whitleather,
or white-leather [called, at table, packwax]. The hunter, in
search of food, may at once distinguish them from impure
quadrupeds, or such as are not usually fit to be eaten, if he
can see them in a recumbent or crouching posture ; for the
whole of this tribe rise from the ground with the hind feet
first, and all other quadrupeds with the fore feet first:
that is, a cow or a sheep first lifts up the hinder parts, with
the knees of the fore-legs on the ground; but the horse and
the dog first lift up the fore parts, with the front hoofs on the
ground, and then the hind parts. This may possibly be oc-
casioned by the weight of the four stomachs, with which all
ruminating quadrupeds are furnished. The internal fat of all
this tribe is hard, and called suet, sufficiently consistent to
make candles ; while that of all others is of a softer and more
oily consistence. [That of the bear is now known to most
by the name of bear's grease ; and that of the hog is familiar
to all by the name of pork lard, or pork seam.]

AMPHIBIOUS ANIMALS.

A tribe intermediate, as it were, between the inhabitants of
land and water, possessing properties in some measure com-
mon to both, and often peculiar to themselves. The body is
cold, and slow of motion, the countenance stern and ex-
tremely expressive ; with the senses of sight and hearing of

or Zoological Recollections, 405

exquisite acuteness. They are able to live an incredible time
without food, and in an atmosphere highly noxious to animal
life : and are so tenacious of life, that, if the head be cut off,
or the chest opened, they survive many days; and have even
the power of reproducing parts which have been destroyed or
lost. Instead of bones, the skeleton consists of cartilage.

All the horrible fables of antiquity seem to be taken from
this singular class of beings. Satan, when he tempted the
parent of mankind, put on the form of the wily serpent, the
most dreadful of all created beings ; or sometimes appeared,
as represented by Milton, " squat like a toad." The siren
was a kind of lizard, supposed to possess a voice of such ex-
quisite attraction as to entice its hearers within its reach to
their destruction : and the crocodile, at certain seasons, utters,
in the night, sobs and cries of bewailing, so bitter and pathetic
as to imitate the most distressing lamentations of human
misery and woe ; and is hence fabled to weep and shed tears
over her victims : affected appearances of grief are hence
called crocodile's tears. The chameleon is said to live on air,
from its long endurance of life without food ; and to change
its colour at pleasure, because its naked shining body reflects
various hues, according to the change of its position in the
light. The salamander, another kind of lizard, is reported
to resist the power of fire, and even to quench it, because,
like many of its tribe, the body is extremely cold, and covered
with a slimy exudation. The basilisk, or cockatrice, a spe-
cies of serpent, was thought to be of such malignancy of vision,
as suddenly to destroy those upon whom it fastened its eyes.

THE BADGER.

This animal, which burrows generally in the side of a hill,
is to be found throughout Great Britain, but is particularly
abundant in Scotland. When attacked it emits a fetid odour,
which appears to be the effect of fright, rather than as in-
tended as a means of defence. So intolerably offensive is
this odour, that it has passed into a proverb, which is applied
to any peculiarly disagreeable smell. The colour of the
coat is greyish brown, whence we say of a person whose
hair begins to show signs of old age, that he is as grey as a
badger.

Baiting the badger with dogs is still a common diversion ;
and hence originates the phrase of badgering a person, ap-
plied in cases where one is made the butt of mani/. Its skin
is so loose and tough, that the dogs can make but little im-
pression on the animal, except upon the belly, which sensi-
tive part the animal guards with such extreme care that it

D D 3

406 Origines Zoologies,

never designedly exposes it to its pursuers. From this cir-
cumstance, and the inimitable manner in which, notwithstand-
ing the molestation which it receives, it counterfeits death, in
order to deceive its enemies, we say of a person notorious
for duplicity, that he is as sly as a badger.

THE HAWK.

This bird, from its having been one of those animals which
afforded our ancestors so much amusement in the field, has
furnished us with many similes. We will pass over the
keenness of his vision, so universally known, and throw light
upon a passage in Shakspeare's Hamlet, which has hitherto
puzzled all the commentators on the grand master of the
drama. The phrase we allude to is the following: — '' I am
not so mad but I know a hawk from a hand-saw." There
appearing no connection between the two objects of compa-
rison, a reading, which has been universally adopted, and
which is very ingenious, is, " a hawk from a heronshaw^'
[see IV. 425.]; but the hawk of Shakspeare is not the
bird; it is that j^«^ board with a handle centrally fixed on
the lower surface, which is used to this day by masons for
smoothing the plastering of a wall, and which still retains
that appellation. The comparison, therefore, is between two
operative implements. [For this solution, which restores the
original text, we are indebted to an oral communication from
Dr. Turton.]

The hawk, from its rapacious habits, has received its
Latin name, acciptter, and was held in dislike by the Roman
poet : —

" Odimus accipitrem quia semper vivit in armis."

A hawk that happened to be once beaten, was ever after-
wards effectually cowed, and was technically termed a craven ;
whence the appellation has been transferred to a person
eminent for pusillanimity, as being the most bitter term of
reproach that can be employed. *

THE DOVE, OR PIGEON.

From the most ancient records that we possess, we find
this bird has ever been considered as the emblem of peace

[* The term " craven " has also, it seems, been applied to the rook :
some poet has these lines : —

" The craven rook, and pert jackdaw,
Though neither birds of moral kind.
Yet serve, when hang'd, and stufF'd with straw.
To tell from which point blows the wind."]

k

or Zoological Recollections, 407

and innocence *, and has moreover been early employed as a
carrier. The first person that ever made this use of the
pigeon appears to be Noah, who despatched one from the
windows of the ark, in order to ascertain whether the waters
of the deluge had subsided. When it was nearly time for
the patriarch to quit the ark, the dove returned with an olive
leaf in her bill, as a token of reconciliation between the
offended majesty of heaven and the sons of men ; and, on
being sent forth a third time, she returned no more. (Genesis,
viii. 8 — 12.) In the book of Leviticus, Moses commanded
that for a sin-offering a man should bring a lamb or a kid,
the one the type of the Lamb of God, and the other emblem-
atical of the great scape-goat of mankind ; but, should he be
disabled by poverty from offering either of these, the remain-
ing means of atonement for the sinner was " a pair of turtle
doves, or two young pigeons.'* (Leviticus, v. 6, 7.) Our Sa-
viour beautifully alludes to the gentle disposition of the dove,
when he cautions his disciples on this wise, " Be ye therefore
wise as serpents, but harmless as doves." (Matthew, x. 16.)
And the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Redeemer, at
his baptism, was in the form of a dove. (Matthew, iii. 16.)

The term of pigeoning, or over-reaching, a person, origi-
nated in a practice common amongst sharpers, at a period
when the qualities of this bird as a carrier were not generally
known, of employing pigeons for the rapid transmission of
news connected with the sporting world. A rogue by these
means was accurately informed of the result of any important
match for some time previous to its being communicated by
the accustomed channel, and was thus enabled to lay his bets
with certainty; and the phrase has been carried still farther
by the application of the term of plucking a pigeon, meaning
the depriving a person of all that he is worth by sharping.

* [Shenstone, in his pathetic "Pastoral Ballad, in Four Parts," has these
delightful lines : —

" I have found out a gift for my fair ;

I have found where the wood pigeons breed ;
But let me that plunder forbear.

She will say 't was a barbarous deed.

For he ne'er could be true, she averr'd.

Who could rob a poor bird of its young ;
And I loved her the more, when I heard

Such tenderness fall from her tongue.

I have heard her with sweetness unfold

How that pity was due to a dove ;
That it ever attended the bold.

And she call'd it the sister of love."]
D D 4

408 Natural History of Mollusccus Animals : —

To this day a roast pigeon is occasionally served up at the
table of sharpers, as emblematical of the profession. Fifty
or sixty years ago, it was customary to cast off a carrier pigeon
at Tyburn, immediately that a criminal was turned off, in
order to give the earliest information of the event to the
surviving relatives.

Art. III. An Introduction to the Natural History of Molluscous
Animals. In a Series of Letters. By G. J.

Letter 14. On their Food and Digestive Organs: Carnivorous

Mollusca.

Although it may be true, as stated in the preceding letter,
[p. 218 — 224.], that the great proportion of the Conchifera
Subsist on food in a state of molecular division, yet there can
be no doubt that some of the larger and locomotive species
seek a more substantial fare, and feed on worms or other
animal matter in a state of partial decay ; which they seem to
have the power of grasping by means of their extensible
labial appendages. Thus the large Cyprina islandica and the
Modiola vulgaris of our seas very often swallow the bait of
our fishermen, and in the stomach of an individual of the
former I once found the undigested remains of a large green
Nereis enveloped in a pulp too consistent certainly to have
been the sediment from water, however loaded with molecules.
In their manner of feeding, these Conchifera resemble the
pectinibranchial g2is\.Gro}^odiQS whose shells have a notch or canal
at the base of their apertures ; and it is important you should
remember that it is only, with a few exceptions, the gastero-
podes of this order (Pectinibranchia) so circumstanced that
are truly carnivorous. They embrace the Cyprae^wf/t?, the
cones, the volutes, the rock shells and the whelks, all of
which live on animal food, and it seems to be indifferent to
them whether their prey is dead, or still fresh and alive ; but, in
the latter case, it is obvious, if you remember the inactivity,
and sluggishness, and total want of cunning, of these molluscs,
that the prey they can master must be fettered and stationary,
or endowed with locomotive powers and arms not superior to
their own. It is not unlikely that they may prefer a dead
prey to a living one, for we know that the whelks will take a
bait readily, and they frequently enter the baskets laid for
crabs and lobsters, which are always baited with garbage ;
while in tropical climes we are told that they fish for the olives
with lines, to which small nooses, each containing a piece of
the arms of a cuttlefish, are appended.

their Food and Digestive Organs* 409

You could never have anticipated that the Bivalved Mol-
liisca (Conchifera) would be found among the prey of these
carnivorous tribes, than which there are apparently no animals
less fitted to gain access to their strong-holds, so that even
Blainville has expressed himself incredulous on the point.
But the fact is certain, and has been known since the time of
Aristotle {Hist, Anim., lib. iv. cap. iv. sect. 148-9.); nor, in-
deed, is it hastily to be believed that such an improbable state-
ment would have been made by the Stagyrite, had it not rested
on personal observation. The Purpuras prove extensively
destructive to muscles and other littoral bivalves : the -Succina
feed upon those which burrow in sand in somewhat deeper
water ; and it is very probable, considering the similarity of
their organisation, that all the whelks and rock shells, and per-
haps all the pectinibranchial zoophagous gasteropodes, have
the same taste, and an equal capacity of gratifying it. How,
you ask, and by what means ? Do they glide insidiously, and
pop a stone between the valves, to prevent their closure ? or
do they venture slily to insinuate their foot, and seize upon
the unwary inmate ? The first they cannot do, and the latter
I should deem a hazardous attempt ; but nevertheless it is
affirmed that the J5uccinum undatum really runs the hazard
in its attacks upon the clam (Pecten opercularis), to which it
bears a great enmity.* This is not, however, their usual
method, which is — what you might never guess — by boring
a hole in one valve through which they reach their miserable
victim. On examining a number of valves of dead shells,
of Mactrae and Anatinae especially, you will perceive in many,
and generally near the beaks, a small circular hole drilled
with a neatness that the gimlet of the artisan could not more
than emulate ; and these holes are the workmanship of the

- * " Is commonly taken in dredging by fishermen, who either use the
animal for bait, or destroy it, from a supposition that it is very destructive
to the large scollop, Pecten maximus, by insinuating its tail (as it is
termed) into the shell, and destroying the inhabitant : this, we have been
assured, they will do even in a pail of sea water." (Mont. Test. Brit.,
p. 238.) The mode in which they anciently fished for the Purpuras proves
the danger. " Now these purples are taken with small nets, and thinne
wrought, cast into the deep ; within which, for a bait to bite at, there must
be certain winckles and cockles, that will shut and open, and be ready to
snap, such as we see those limpens be, called mituli. Halfe dead they
should be first, that, being new put into the sea again, and desirous to
revive and live, they might gape for water : and then the purples make at
them with their pointed tongues, which they thrust out to annoy them ;
but the other, feeling themselves pricked therewith, presently shut their
shels together, and bite hard. Thus the purples, for their greedinesse, are
caught and taken up, hanging by their tongues." (Holland's Plin.j i. 259.)

4>I0 Natural Hktory of Molluscous Anhndls : —

gasteropodes in question.* Having secured the shell, by
applying to it the disk of the foot, they apply, to the point
where they mean to penetrate, the apex of their proboscis,
and now by a constant rubbing or grating of their filiform
rough spinous tongue, assisted, perhaps, by some corrosive
quality of the saliva, they succeed ultimately in perforating
the shell. Surely the " patientia vincit " [patience over-
comes] had never a more remarkable illustration ; for the
^iiccina may work for days, and even weeks, before the life
of the animal attacked is fully extinguished.

But the proboscis (Jig. 50.), the organ by which this work
is effected, demands a more detailed description ; for its me-
chanism is scarcely less wonderful than
the analogous organ of the elephant. It
is cylindrical and of considerable length,
and when not in use is kept retracted
within the body, where it lies beyond the
reach of injury. The better to under-
stand its structure, we may represent it
as being formed of two flexible cylinders,
one within the other, and which are united
at the upper margin, so that, in drawing out the interior cy-
linder, we can only lengthen it at the expense of the other ;
and, on pushing it back again, we, in shortening it, give cor-
responding extension to the exterior, but the latter lengthens
only on the upper side, because it is fixed to the parietes of
the head by its inferior margin. Let us now add a number of
longitudinal muscles, all of them very much divided at both
extremities : the stripes of their internal or superior extremity
are attached to the parietes of the body, those of the opposite
end all along to the internal surface of the inner cylinder of
the proboscis ; and their action, consequently, is to draw this
cylinder and the whole proboscis inwards. When thus re-
tracted, a great part of the internal surface of the interior
cylinder makes part of the external surface of the exterior
cylinder, and it is just the contrary when the proboscis is
elongated and protruded. The protrusion of the inner cylinder
by the unrolling of the exterior, or, which is the same thing,
the evolution of the proboscis, is effected by its own peculiar
annular muscles : these encircle it all its length, and, by con-

* " The purple hath a tongue of a finger long, pointed in the end so
sharpe, and hard withall, that it is able to bore an hole and pierce into
other shell-fishes, and thereby shee feeds and gets her living." (Holland's
Plin.y i. 258.) The ancients were better informed on this subject than
some modern writers, who have attributed these operations to the Trochus.
(See Smellie's Phil, of Nat. Hist., i. 396.)

thei7' Food and Digestive Organs,

411

tracting in regular succession, they force it out beyond the
lips, in a manner perfectly similar to the evolution of the ten-
tacula of the snail. There is, in particular, one muscle, near
the place where the exterior muscle is attached to the head,
which is stronger and more effective in this operation than all
the others. When extended, the proboscis can be bent to
all sides, and at any point, by the action of the retractor
muscles, parcels of them acting, while others assume the place
and office of antagonists. The Jigs. 51, 52, and 53. will serve

to illustrate this interesting mechanism. In j%. 51. the pro-
boscis is retracted about a half: the external cylinder [a) is
seen enveloping a portion of the inner (Z>), the end of which
[c) is the end of the proboscis : the muscles which draw it
within the body (d d) are in a state of contraction, and at e
we see the great annular muscle, the use of which is to push
forwards the inner cylinder, and consequently lengthen the
organ. In Jig. 52. this muscle, and all the annular fibres,
have by their action greatly protruded the proboscis, and
its retractor muscles {d d) are extended and laid bare ; the
exterior cylinder (a) has become very short, and the interior
{b) is proportionably lengthened. Fig. 53. represents the
two cylinders cut up in a longitudinal direction to show what
they contain, and in what manner the retractor muscles are
distributed upon . the inner parietes. In the inner cylinder
we find the tongue, with all its aoparatus [e e), the salivary

41^ Natural History of Molluscous Animals : — «•

canals {jy)i and the greater portion of the gullet (gg) :
the tongue is a very narrow cartilaginous membrane, armed
with numerous acute spines or prickles curved backwards ;
and the principal purpose of the elongation of the proboscis
is seemingly to carry its rough point to the body which the
snail wishes to perforate and suck. (Cuvier, Mem, sur les
Mollusq. M., xvii. 7.)

This anatomy of the proboscis is derived from an exami-
nation of the organ in Succinum undatum, but it is appli-
cable to all the pectinibranchial or proboscidian Carnivora.
The other organs subservient to digestion in this tribe pre-
sent nothing remarkable in their organisation. The stomach
is a membranous bag, irregularly plaited on the inner surface ;
the intestinal canal, like that of carnivorous animals in ge-
neral, is short, and the lower portion, or the rectum, the
inner coat of which is raised into several strong longitudinal
folds, is wide, and opens on the right side of the branchial
cavity under the margin of the collar. Cuvier observes that
the sides of the rectum are thickened by a whitish substance,
fatty, and a little granular, of which the use is unknown.

It appears to be ascertained that the Bullae are also feeders
on the Bivalved MoUusca. Mr. Humphreys mentions that
he had found a species of 3iya alive in the gizzard of
Bulla lignaria. {Lin. Trans., ii. 16.) Cuvier says that the
stomach of the Bullae, in general, is usually filled with the
remains of small shells [Mem, sur les MoUus. M., x. 14.) ;
and Mr. Sowerby tells us that they are " exceedingly vora-
cious, as is evident from the fact, that the animal of B. aperta
is sometimes distorted by having swallowed entire a Corbula
nucleus, which is a very thick and strong shell, nearly equal
in size to itself." {Ge7i, Bee, Foss. Shells, No. 39.) Now, as
the Bullae have no perforating instrument in the mouth, nor
jaws to crack them, they are under the necessity of swallow-
ing their prey entire, and, as might have been anticipated,
there is provided an internal apparatus to supply this defi-
ciency, and break up the shells, so that the inmates may be
exposed to the influence of the digestive agents. This singular
apparatus is placed within the gizzard, and consists of three
strong calcareous pieces, differing in form and size in the
different species, thus modified, undoubtedly, to suit them to
their peculiar wants, and moved by powerful muscles against
each other.* In the Aplysia, a genus of the same natural

* Cuv. Mcm.y X. 13. These stomachal teeth were described by Gioeni
as a new genus of multivalve shells ; a genus retained by Retzius, Bruguiere,
and Lamarck, until the mistake was detected by Draparnaud. (See Bosc,
Vers., i. 76.)

their Food and Digestive Organs, 4 1 3>

order (Tectibr&,nchia) as the Bulla, we find a curious modi-
fication of this structure, accompanied, however, with a total
discrepancy in the tastes and propensities of the creature ;
and this is a fact which deserves to be remembered in esti-
mating the value of inferences, in relation to the habits of
animals, drawn from their presumed affinities. The oral organs
of Bulla and Aplysia are nearly the same, and there is a
resemblance in their complicated digestive apparatus; but, in-
stead of three shells, the muscular gizzard of the latter is
studded with numerous sharp pyramidal knobs of a semi-car-
tilaginous consistence, and of unequal sizes, and which may
be rubbed off very easily, for they have no muscles to attach
and move them. * When Bohadsch saw this structure for
the first time, it seemed to him so anomalous and wonderful,
that numerous dissections were required to convince him of
its being the natural armature of the organ {De Anim. Mar,,
p. 19.) ; and he fell into the erroneous conclusion that it was
fitted to triturate the shells on which the animal was presumed
to prey. {De Anim, Mar., p. 22.) But the Aplysia is really
herbivorous, as is asserted by Pessonel, Cuvier, and others;
and, were it necessary, I could add my testimony to this fact,
having at one time kept a large specimen of Aplysia depilans
for nearly three months in a state of confinement, during
which it was fed on jPi\ci only, and these it ate greedily, show-
ing some partiality to the dulse (JF\\cus palmatus). The food,
previously to its reception in this curious gizzard, has passed
tlirough a large membranous crop, in which it probably un-
dergoes little change : in the gizzard it is broken down, and
in this state enters a third stomach, armed also on its internal
surface with hook-like prickles directed forwards, and intended,
doubtless, to tease the fibrous mass, that it may be more
thoroughly subjected to the dissolving virtue of the gastric
juices, and reduced to a homogeneous pulp, previously to its
commixture with the bile, which flows into this viscus from
two large orifices close to the pylorus, opening between two
small membranous prominent crests. (Cuvier, Mem. sur les
Mollusq, M., ix. 18.)

* Pessonel's description of this organ is short, but characteristic: —
" The membranes are thick, and are set with twelve stones, or horny
pieces, of a bright yellow colour, and as transparent as fine yellow amber,
ending in points like a diamond j so that the great side, or basis, is set into
the membrane of the gizzard, as a diamond in its socket. Others differ in
size, having different figures, that, in acting all together, they may be able
to break and grind the herbs the animal feeds upon, as well by the strength
of the muscle, or gizzard, which puts them into action, as by the situation
of these stones, assisted by grains of sand found in it, turning the whole by
this trituration into a liquor." (Phil. Trans., vol. 50., 1758, p. 587.)

414 Natural Histo7-y of Molluscous Animals: —

Among the other families of gasteropodes, I do not re-
member any that are exclusively carnivorous, except the
genus Testacellus, to outward appearance scarcely differing
from the common slug, but distinguished by carrying a small
shell above the tail, and a species of Vitrina, or shelled ter-
restrial snail, found under stones in moist, shady, or grassy
situations in the higher parts of the Island of Madeira. Un-
like the slugs, the Testacellus burrows in the soil, and is the
dread of the earthworm on which it feeds ; and these habits
are accompanied with corresponding changes in its organis-
ation. Its body is more cylindrical than that of the slug, and,
in lieu of a shield confined to a limited portion of the neck,
the whole body is encased with a thick coriaceous coat, to
guard from the additional pressure to which it is exposed,
and to afford sufficient strength to execute its furrows. But
the most marked differences are found in the digestive organs.
In the mouth there is no corneous denticulated jaw, nor a
membranous spinigerous tongue ; but from between two ver-
tical lips issues a very small cylindrical proboscis, and appro-
priated to it a muscle which forms the most curious part in
the structure of the creature. It is large, cylindrical, lies
along the whole belly, and is attached to the left side of the
back by a dozen of very distinct fleshy slips, almost perpen-
dicular to the principal muscle of the body. (Cuvier, lib. cit,
Mem, xii. 7.) The size and strength of this muscle indi-
cate its paramount importance ; nor do all its actions seem to
be ascertained, although one of its uses is certainly to retract
the proboscis, and probably at the same time to grasp with
firmness the struggling victims of its ferocity.* The carni-

* Since this letter was written out for the press, a very interesting paper
on the Testacellus has been published in this Magazine. (VII. 224.) From
the observations of Mr. Denson, it is proved that the animal has the power
of suddenly darting out its tongue to seize its prey : — " It is projected and
applied in an instant ; and, when applied, the action of a muscular struc-
ture, connected with its origin, draws it, and with it the worm, into the
slug's mouth." (p. 227.) We now know the use of the remarkable muscle
of Cuvier. — G. J.

I have, in p. 226 — 230., shown, that, after I had made the remarks there
published, 1 had found that equivalent and many additional ones had been
published, long before, by M. de Ferussac and Mr. G. B. Sowerby. The
following one, from Mr. G. B. Sowerby, I strove to present in p. 227., in
connection with those there published ; but want of space excluded it : —

" We have observed them [individuals of T. scutulum] attentively, and
were rather surprised that an animal generally so extremely sluggish in its
motions, after discovering its prey by means of its tentacula, thrusting from
its large mouth its white, crenulated, revolute tongue, should instantly
seize upon, with extraordinary rapidity, and firmly retain, an earthworm of
much greater size and apparent force than itself; but which, by its utmost
exertion, is unable to escape." (G. B. Sowerby y in his Genera of Recent

their Food and Digestive Orga?is, 4-15

vorous Vitrina (Helicolimax Lamarck?*? of Ferussac) differs
from our native species in some respects ; but, according to the
Rev. Mr. Lowe, to whom we owe our acquaintance with its
habits, " is so closely allied, that it would be very rash at
present to separate it " from the genus.* When leaves and
other vegetable matters were given to it, they were never
touched,^even although care was taken that the Vitrina should
have nothing else for nearly a fortnight; but, on the very first
night of its confinement, it would kill and eat a small snail,
and it preyed on its own species greedily, the larger slaying
the smaller, and then indulging its cannibal appetite. Two
of nearly equal size being put together, the stronger or braver
slew his neighbour, which furnished a plentiful repast for two
or three succeeding nights, for it is during this season only
that they feed. {Lowe, in Zool. Journ,, iv. .342.) It would
be well to ascertain whether our own Vitrinse are not equally
carnivorous and addicted to cannibalism : they are at present
believed to be herbivorous ; but Mr. Jeffreys informs us that
V. pellucida " has the same carnivorous propensities as the
smaller Ximacidae and Testacelli ; and I once," he adds,
" detected no less than seven individuals busily engaged in
feeding on a scarcely dead earthworm, which was faintly
writhing about, and endeavouring in vain to get rid of its
assailants." [Linn. Trans,, xvi. 506.)

The Pteropodous MoUusca are probably zoophagous ; the
minute Crustacea and Medus<^, or particles of dead animal
matter floating in the sea, furnishing their nutriment. Some
species of this order abound amazingly in the Arctic Ocean,
where the marine vegetation seems too scanty for the requisite
supply of food; and, moreover, they are found floating far
from the shore, and at the surface, where no vegetables are.
We have, however, no certain information on this head.

On the contrary, it is well ascertained that all the Cepha-
lopoda are carnivorous, and for voraciousness and ferocity
may justly claim precedence among molluscs. Such of them
as swim in the bosom of the ocean, as ioligo, feed upon fish

and Fossil Shells.) Mr. J. D. C. Sowerby has, too, shown me, in a spe-
cimen preserved in spirits, that the tongue is furnished, around and just
beneath (if not upon) its margin, on the outside, with short hair-like
bristles, which doubtless increase its power of retaining secure hold. Mr,
Sowerby also showed me, in other specimens, that the inner face of the
stomach, or of the parts leading into it, is furrowed and roughened, in aid,
it may be presumed, of the slug's ingesting its prey. — J. D.

* This opinion of Mr. Lowe's is confirmed by the anatomy of the
species, excellently developed by the Rev. M. J. Berkeley in Zool. Jour.,
No. xix. p. 305.

416 Natural History of Molluscous Animals : -^

in general, and they will frequently tear large pieces from
those which have swallowed the baited hook, and deprive the
fisherman of his gain. I have had more than one specimen
of ioligo vulgaris brought me, which, adhering with a fatal
tenacity to the fish, had allowed itself to be drawn from the
water ; and in the stomachs of others I have found not only
the undigested remains of this food, but the beaks of small
individuals of their own species. The tribes, again (Octo-
podeae and A^autili) (See Mr. Owen's beautiful and perfect
Meinoir on the Pearly Nautilus, p. 24.), whose habit is to crawl
along the bottom, and seek concealment in rocky places, prey
principally on the larger Crustacea, which find in their hard
spiny shells, and their powerful claws, no protection against
these voracious enemies. In the Mediterranean, the Octopi
are held in detestation by the fishermen, because of the havoc
they commit among the most esteemed species of lobsters and
crabs, which is so extensive that scarcely any are to be found
in their usual haunts during the summer season, and what
have chanced to escape evince, by their mutilated condition,
the peril they have run (Cuvier, lib. cit» Mem, i. 4.) Ac-
cording to the early naturalists, the cuttle entraps its prey,
partly, at least, by stratagem : " and albeit otherwise it be a
very brutish and senselesse creature, so foolish withall, that it
will swim and come to a man's hand ; yet it seems after a
sort to be witty and wise, keeping of house and maintaining a
familie : for all that they can take they carry home to their
nest. When they have eaten the meat of the fishes, they
throw the empty shels out of dores, and lie as it were in am-
buscado behind, to watch and catch fishes that swimme
thither," (Holland's Pliny, i. 250). Pliny also informs us,
on the authority of Trebius Niger, that the Cephalopoda
" are most desirous and greedie of cockles, muscles, and such
like shell fishes ;" and, in order to reach the animal scathless,
they " lie in wait to spie when the said cockles, &c., gape wide
open, and put in a little stone between the shels, but yet beside
the flesh and bodie of the fish, for feare lest, if it touched and
felt it, she would cast it forth again : thus they theeve, and
without all danger, and in securitie get out the fleshie sub-
stance of the meat to devoure it : the poor cockles draw their
shels together for to clasp them between (as is above said),
but all in vaine, for by reason of a wedge between, they will
not meet close, nor come neere together. See how subtle
and craftie in this point these creatures be, which otherwise
are most sottish and senseless." (Holland's Plifiy, i. 251.)

The cuttlefish, I need scarcely remark, are all guiltless of
this clever stratagem : their warfare, though cruel, is open,

their Food and Digestive Organs, ^ 1 7

and they are amply furnished with the necessary weapons.
The long flexible arms which encircle the head are set along
their inner aspects, with numerous cup-like suckers, which
the animal can fix to any object, and the adhesion is
strengthened by a horny ring round the edge of each sucker
often pointed with sharp curved teeth. {Jig, 54-. a,) " When

an animal of this kind approaches
any body with its suckers, in order
to apply them more intimately, it
presents them in a flat or plain state ;
and when the suckers are thus fixed
by the harmony of surfaces, the ani-
mal contracts the sphincter, and
forms a cavity in the centre, which
becomes a vacuum. By this con-
trivance, the sucker adheres to the
surface with a force proportioned to
its area, and the weight of the column
of air and water, of which it con-
'^tfedVrfo^Ktl'oViUgo stitutes the basc. This force, mul-
^^s*"^^^ tiplied by the number of suckers,

gives that by which all or a part of the feet adhere to any
body. This power of adhesion is such, that it is easier to
tear off the feet than to separate them from the substance to
which the animal chooses to attach itself." (Cuvier, Comp,
Anat., trans., i. 432.) It must, then, be a fearful thing, for
any living creature, to come within their compass ; for, en-
tangled in the slimy serpentine grasp of eight or ten arms,
and held by the pressure of some hundreds of exhausted cups,
escape is hopeless, and the struggles of the hapless victim,
by bringing its body into more rapid contact with the suckers
not yet applied, only accelerate its fate.

The digestive system of this tribe is less uniform in struc-
ture than, from the sameness of their food, we might at first
suppose; but, in sketches of the very general character to which
I limit myself, I pass over the peculiarities of tribes, to notice
little beyond what is common to the class. The mouth,
formed by a puckered fold of the skin, is placed at the base,
and in the centre of the circle formed by the arms, and is
armed with two powerful corneous jaws, having a vertical mo-
tion : they are fashioned to the resemblance of a parrot's bill
[Jig, 54-. b), and are well adapted to tear their prey piece-
meal, or crush the hard shell, especially when, as in the
A^autili, their tips are hnrdened and calcareous. Between the
jaws lies the tongue, adherent to the platform of the mouth,
Vol. VII.— No. 41. e e

418 Natural History of Molluscous Animals : —

but capable of being unrolled to a slight extent, and having
its surface roughened with many rows of small sharply pointed
tricuspidate, or semi-tricuspidate teeth, set in close and regular
array, which can be erected at will, so as in some measure to
grate down the food, previously to its transmission to the
gizzard, and they greatly facilitate its descent by their direction,
and by their motion backwards and forwards. In the mouth,
the food is mixed with the saliva, which is secreted by one or
two pairs of large glands. The gullet is a narrow membra-
nous tube, of nearly uniform calibre throughout in the Zoligo

The stomach of Zollgo vulgaris.

(Jig. 55y 56, a), and penetrating the substance of the liver be-
fore it enters the gizzard ; but, in the Octopus, the gullet is
only bound to the surface of the liver, and at the point of

their Food and Digestive Organs. 419

attachment swells out into a large membranous crop, of the
appearance of which, in the Octopus ventricosus, at least, I
cannot give you a better idea than by comparing it, both in
size and position, to the bulb of a small retort. The gizzard
LfiS' "^'^j ^6- ^) ^s ^ thick muscular organ, like the gizzard of
a fowl, and strongly corrugated internally in a longitudinal
direction: immediately beyond it, in the *Sepia and Octopodiae,
is situated a curious spiral appendage, laminated on the inte-
rior, into which the bile is poured ; but in the Z/oligo, instead
of this spiral caecum *, and, as it were, to compensate for its
deficiency of a crop, there is a very large membranous and
somewhat cylindrical bag {Jig. 55, 56. c), on the posterior and
upper part of which we trace vestiges of the spiral struc-
ture, for there a fatty substance is so disposed as to assume
that form, having the outer edges cut in a deeply serrated
manner {^g. 55, 56> d). I have found this bag always filled
with a grumous fluid, and it is undoubtedly the organ in which
digestion is principally effected and completed ; for it not only
receives the bile, but is itself, or the spiral part of it, supposed
to furnish a secretion analogous to that of the pancreas in
higher animals. The aperture between the gizzard and this
caecum is oblique and valvular, and another adjoining aperture
leads to the intestine {Jig. 55, 56. f e), which, like the oeso-
phagus, winds upwards along the surface of the liver to ter-
minate in the funnel, which is the common vent of all the
excrements. The liver is very large in all the genera of this
class, and must furnish a copious supply ; but, besides this, and
the secretions of the other accessary organs to good digestion,
Sir E. Home believes that the inky fluid is intended also to
have some effect upon the lower portion of the intestinal canal,
to enable this to extract from its contents " a secondary kind
of nourishment" (Comp. Anat., i. 369. and 393.); an opinion
not very probable in itself, and with but a few fanciful analo-
gies in its support.

* " It may with greater propriety be denominated the duodenum^ as it
performs some of the offices of that part of the gut in the higher orders of
animals. This stomach is conical, closed at the distal extremity, and per-
forms about a turn and a half, like a spiral shell. Its inner surface is
covered with a ridge, which traverses it in a closely spiral direction." —
Fleming, FUl. ZooL, ii. 424.

f In reference to these figures, it may be observed that they are copied
from nature; a remark which seems necessary, since they differ entirely from
Sir E, Home's figure of the stomach of Loligo vulgaris, or the ^epia Lo-
ligo of Linnaeus. Sir Everard's figure appears to have been taken from
a species of Octopus.

E E 2

420 Observations on some British S&piilce.

Art. IV. Observations on so7ne British S^rpulcB,
^y the Rev. M. J. Berkeley.

In an interesting notice of Serpula tubularia Mont., by
Dr. Johnston, in p. 126., a doubt is expressed whether
S. tubularia Mont, and S. i;ermicularis of Authors have not
been confounded in an article in the Zoological Journal, iii.
229. The truth is, that, at the time the article in question
was prepared, my text-book for British conchology was Dr.
Turton's Conchological Dictionary, as being the most recently
published work upon the subject ; and, throughout, where
S. tubularia is mentioned, the species so named in that work
is intended, which is not the same with S. tubularia Mont,,
but is S. triquetra Mont. Test. Brit., pt. 2. p. 511. (Tubus
t;ermicularis Ellis, Corall. t. 38. f 2.), but not Mont. SuppL
p. 157.J which is the true S. triquetra. Though I was well
acquainted with the several allied species and their distinctive
characters, I confess freely that I was not then aware of the
identity of Montagu's S. tubularia, with S. arundo Turt,, and,
in consequence, supposing Turton's species to have been
first described by him, adopted his name.

The following synonymes, which I find written on the back
of the rough copy of the article above mentioned, I shall beg
leave to subjoin, as they may possibly be useful to others in
the study of the common British species, whose nomenclature
has been most unfortunately confused, though, at the time
the Supplement to the Testacea Britannica was published, the
species were well known to Montagu. The only alteration I
shall make is the one suggested by Dr. Johnston, of the pro-
priety of which there can be no doubt ; viz., that the older
name of Montagu should be preferred to the more recent
one of Turton. I am quite satisfied, on a careful examination
of Turton's descriptions, that he had in view the species
figured in Ellis, quoted above, for his S. tubularia, and the
S. tubularia Mo?it. for his S. arundo. If not, the very com-
mon species of Ellis is altogether omitted ; or, if S. t;ermicu-
laris of the Conchological Dictionary be supposed identical
with it, the almost equally common species with a double
infundibuliform operculum, figured by Miiller, ZooL Dan.,
t. 86. f. 7 — 9. I shall only add to these observations, that
S. tubularia Mont, ought certainly to be placed in a different
genus from S. t;ermicularis, &c., being altogether destitute
of an operculum. According to the principles of Cuvier's
Regne Animal, it belongs to the genus Sabella, and is one of
the rare instances in which a shelly tube occurs in that genus.

Observations on some British Sh'pula. 421

This has been proposed in a paper printed in No. xx. of the
Zoological Journal, but not yet published.

The following are the synonymes alluded to above : —

Serpula (Sabella nob.) tubularia ilibw^. ; Serpula tubularia ilibw^. Test.

Brit. pt. 2. p. 513., Johnst. Mag. Nat. Hist. vii. 126.; Serpula arundo

Turt. Conch. Diet. p. 155., Berk. Zool. Journ. v. 3. p. 229., Tab. Supp.

xviii. f. 2.
Serpula MuUeri nob. ; Serpula «;ermicularis Mont. Test. Brit. pt. 2. p.

509., Mont. Supp. p. 157. (with reference to Zool. Dan. t. 86.), Turt,

Conch. Diet. p. 152.
var. b. Lam. An. sans Vert. t. v. p. 862.

I am obliged to designate this species, which is characterised
by the double infundibuliform operculum, by a new name, as,
in the confusion of synonymes, I know not that there is any
which can be unobjectionably applied to it. The name now
proposed will have the advantage of calling attention to the
figure of the animal in Zoologia Danica, and thereby prevent
any confusion which might arise from the similarity of its
shell to that of any other species. I have received from the
Western Hebrides a species exactly resembling this as regards
the testaceous covering, but furnished with two double infun-
dibuliform opercula. Though the animal was preserved in
spirits, it was so decayed that, unfortunately, I could not trace
the connection of the opercula with the branchial fringe, and,
therefore, do not venture to propose it as decidedly distinct.

Serpula t'ermicularis Linn. ; Serpula z;ermiciilaris Lam. An. sans Vert,
t. V. p. 362. ; Tubus «;ermicularis ElliSy Corall. t. 38. f. 2. ; Serpula
triquetra Mont. Test. Brit. pt. 2. p. 511. not Suppl. p. 157.; Serpula
tubularia Turt. Conch. Diet. p. 154. f. 84.

This species is distinguished from the following, in every
stage of growth, by its corneous striated operculum. It is
seldom found above the ordinary low-water mark.

Serpula triquetra Linn. ; Serpula triquetra Mont. Supp. p. 157. not
Mont. Test. Brit. pt. 2. p. 511., Turt. Conch. Diet. p. 152., Sow.
Genera of Shells; Vermllia triquetra Lam. An. sans Vert. t. v. p. 369.

This is perhaps the most common of all the British Ser-
pulae. The operculum, which is testaceous, is very variable.
Specimens occur in which the testaceous coating is a mere
pellicle : but in this case there is no difficulty in distinguish-
ing it from the foregoing species, as it is destitute of the beau-
tiful radiating striae. Other forms of the operculum are de-
scribed by Montagu, in the place quoted above, and figured
by Sowerby in his excellent Genera of Shells,

King's Cliff, Wansford, ^Northamptonshire,
Jnly\9. 1834.

E E 3

422 Foliage of Sallows and Osiers destroyed

Art. V. On the Injury produced to Plantations of Sallotvs and
Osiers (Salices), and Loss of Gain to the Proprietor, by the
Ravages, on the Foliage of these Plants, of the Caterpillars of
the Insect Nematus caprece F. : voith a Notice, in Sequel, of the
very great Importance of a Scientific Knovoledge of Natural
Objects to those engaged in the Practices of Rural Economy.

I OBSERVE, in p. 265., a short notice of Nematus capreae.
I am very little, indeed, of a naturalist; but, having suffered
from the ravages of this insect, my attention has been drawn
to its acts and habits ; and the results of my experience may be,
perhaps, useful to others. I have a piece of moist ground, in
a low sheltered situation, highly favourable in itself for the
growth of osiers. I remember it, as first known to me about
thirty years ago, when some straggling osier bushes were
growing upon it, and it was covered in other parts with weeds
and brambles. On the offer of an opportunity, about twenty
years since, I determined on cultivating the spot well, and
then planting it with osier plants. A sort of tradition pre-
vailed, that osiers would never succeed there. This I disre-
garded, deeming it absurd, since they grew freely in very
inferior situations in the neighbourhood. The ground was
thoroughly dug and then planted. After a few years, the
osiers had disappeared, we hardly knew how. The spot was
again planted, and with a like result. The ravages of the
insect were now noticed, indeed, but still they did not suf-
ficiently attract our attention ; and osier plants were actually
put in a third time. My attention being now strongly drawn
to the subject, I discovered that which ought to have been
perceived half a century sooner, namely, that Nematus ca-
preae, favoured by the peculiar localities, was the cause of
all this devastation. The spot is low, moist, shut in by wood,
and very near the southern limit of England. The species
of willow planted was chiefly one of those with broad leaves,
woolly underneath,* The warmth of the situation, and the
nidus for eggs afforded by these woolly leaves, were, I pre-
sume, the combined cause of the insect being so remarkably
attracted to this spot. Some of the plants were of a species
with smooth narrow leaves f: these escaped much longer

* [Most probably the 5alix caprea L. " The name caprea seems to
have originated in the reputed fondness of goats for the catkins." — Smith.
The specific epithet of the insect, Nematus capreae F., was doubtless in-
tended to teach the fact, that the foliage of Sii\ix caprea L., and, it may be
assumed, that of allied species, as well (all called sallows in some parts of
England), is the favourite food of this insect in the larva state.]

f [5'alix triandra, «mygdalina, Vorhydna, rubra, purpurea, ^elix, and
Lamberti«?i«, are species of osier, natives of Britain : of this kind, the first
four include the species more extensively cultivated in English osier plant-
ations, called, in some places, holts.]

hy the Caterpillar ofNmatus caprece. 423

than the others, but still they did not escape eventually :
they were also attacked by another caterpillar.

I introduced both red and black ants, and also put some of
the caterpillars into their nests ; but the ants disregarded them
altogether. Having, although thus slowly, ascertained the
true state of things, the ground was once more cultivated, and
was planted with apple trees. As there happens to be no
insect there which much attacks these, they thrive very well.
The distance at which apple trees are planted is also less
favourable to the propagation of vermin.

I have communicated all this detail, in order to show the
importance, to individuals, of attending to such seemingly
trifling matters. Many a plantation, &c., fails in an appa-
rently inexplicable manner. A scientific investigation would,
in numerous cases, disclose the truth, and prevent farther loss.
Had a person acquainted with entomology been proprietor of
this osier ground fifty years since, he would speedily have
discovered the truth, and might have saved 200/. or more to
himself and his successors.

Wireworms, — I take this opportunity of mentioning the
wireworm. This neighbourhood has been repeatedly ravaged
by it. Crops of wheat and potatoes have suffered severely,
but the pastures have never been touched. We have no old
meadow, and our lands are always broken up when three or
four years old. The beetle and its habits are not sufficiently
known. If some popular knowledge on these destructive in-
sects could be conveyed to farmers and labourers, they might,
perhaps, be destroyed on a large scale.

Penzance, June 18. 1834.

The facts communicated by C. D. on the habits of the
Nematus caprese are a welcome furtherance of our knowledge
of the natural history of that insect; and they, in conjunction
with C. D.'s remarks, are, we conceive, of emphatic value, as
exemplifying to entomologists how much their aid in eluci-
dating popularly the forms, structure, transformations, habits,
and names of insects is wanted by persons engaged in the
businesses of rural life, and also as intimating to them some
idea of the extent to, and mode in, which the required aid
should be rendered. A remembrance of the nature of our
own wants in things entomological, as experienced while en-
gaged in rural practices, and, added to this, some knowledge
of the wants of others so engaged, tempt us, therefore, to
join C. D. in soliciting entomologists (which C. D. does, in
effect) to do, forthwith, what they can, towards leading us, as

E E 4

424 Hints for an Entomologia Rustica,

farmers, gardeners, orchardists, foresters, intendaiits of cattle,
&c., to the knowledge we so much desire, and so certain to
avail us greatly, not only in a pecuniary relation (perhaps, the
least worthy regard of all the relations), but in the excellent
and best one of intellectual exercise, or mental gratification.

The means by, and the mode in, which this could best be
done, is, we have thought, the production of a work which
should supply such information on the species of insects emi-
nently injurious, and those eminently beneficial, to rural in-
terests, as is supplied on the plants to which these qualities
appertain, in Martyn's Flora Rtistica (in which the species of
plants described and treated of are identified by figures), and
in Holditch's Essay on the Weeds of Agriculture, It may be
urged, that very much of the suggested information, and well-
nigh all that entomologists possess, has been already placed
on record by them, for the public benefit. This may be true ;
but it is also true that the places of record are too various, and
the access to the whole of them a matter too consumptive of
time and money, for many rural practitioners to indulge in.
It is needless to remark, that every technicality which could
be spared, should be kept out of such a work ; and the more
nearly it could be written in the phraseology of ordinary life,
it would be, we think, so much the better. Should woodcuts
be deemed sufficient (to spare coloured figures) for the pur-
pose of identifying each species, they would be much to be
preferred, as being introducible amongst the text, and thus to
be viewed at once without the distraction of a distant reference.
In the descriptive matter, it would be well to indicate what
facts require to be confirmed by additional testimony, and
what points in the economy of each insect remain yet to be
explored ; and thus the practical man, in appropriating the
researches of the entomologist, might be induced to return the
result of his own, and might, while he appropriated the fruit
of the researches of the entomologist, be instigated to institute
others for himself, and to contribute the result of them to the
general store. The publication of Notes on such a work
would, it is possible, be scarcely less common than Notes on
White's Selbor7ie; and, out of each of them, something of truth
and means of completeness would surely be acquirable.
Neither can it be fallacious or ungratifying to presume that
such a work would tend very much indeed to the extension
of the studying of insects in an entomological manner. Every
accurately represented and described species would make
known one of a certain type of form and structure, and lead
the way to assimilation and association. Under the descrip-
tion of each of the species, something of the leading points of
affinity might perhaps be guardedly hinted. — J, D,

Oj Remedies against Insect Ravages, 425

Art. VI. On the most advisable Methods for discovering Remedies
against the Ravages of Insects ; and a Notice of the Habits of
the Onion Fly. By J. O. Westwood, Esq. F.L.S. &c. Read
before the Entomological Society, May 5. 1834.

One of the most common, and at the same time most
weighty, charges brought against the entomologist is, that,
whilst he bestows endless labour and trouble on collecting
and preserving various kinds of insects, his attention is never,
or but very seldom indeed, directed to enquiries into the most
effectual remedies for those insect scourges which nature has
inflicted upon our vegetable productions. He is told, over
and over again, that, to make the science which he cultivates
more beneficial to society, and thereby more generally known,
a share of his attention must be occupied in prosecuting
experiments for the purpose of discovering how this or that
insect enemy may be combated in the most successful manner.
And, indeed, it must be admitted, that this is a charge too well
founded ; although, perhaps, a few observations may convince
those who are the most ready to bring it forward at every
opportunity, that it may be very greatly palliated.

In the first place, therefore, it may be urged, that these
destructive insects, appearing, as they do, in occasional seasons,
in vast profusion, are produced in such myriads, for some
wise purpose, which we may not be permitted to understand.
They, like the locusts, of which so splendid a poetical de-
scription is recorded in the second chapter of the prophet
Joel, form portion of the army of the Almighty, wherewith
he scourges the nations; and, although the scientific researches
of mankind might discover means of destroying in some de-
gree their hosts, it may, perhaps, not unreasonably be supposed
either that he would not be allowed to frustrate the designs of
Providence, or that, if this evil were removed, others, perhaps
more weighty, might arise in their stead.*

* [Man, it is true, fails occasionally to secure to himself all the fruits of
his own sowing ; but, nevertheless,

" His portion in the good that Heaven bestows "
is undeniably a munificent one. Tn relief of his partial losses, no sentiment
is perhaps more healthy and more just than the unflattering one of our
great moral poet. Pope : —

" Has God, thou fool, work'd solely for thy good.
Thy joy, thy pastime, thy attire, thy food ?
Who for thy table feeds the wanton fawn.
For him as kindly spreads the flow'ry lawn.
Is it for thee the lark ascends and sings ?
Joy tunes his voice, joy elevates his wings.
Is it for thee the linnet pours his throat ?
Loves of his own and raptures swell the note.

426 On the Discovery of Remedies

In the second place, the minuteness of the size of these
creatures presents an almost insurmountable barrier against
those delicate enquiries and observations on every stage of
their existence, by which alone we can arrive at a knowledge
of the real nature and cause of the mischief, and be thereby,
and thereby alone, enabled to judge of a suitable remedy.

In the third place, the want of sufficient opportunity is not
the least objection which may be brought against the charge.
It has always appeared to me, that no effectual check can be
given to the ravages of any insect, until its entire habits and
economy have been ascertained. Thus far, in the enquiry, is
the strict province of the entomologist, whose attention ought,
as it seems to me, to be directed, from day to day, and from
year to year, not to isolated spots of ground, but to whole
acres, more especially with reference to the peculiarities of
seasons, and to atmospheric changes : but here we have only
gone half way. It now becomes the province of the agricul-
turist to discover a remedy ; since it seems equally clear that
this ulterior branch of the enquiry can be prosecuted effectu-
ally only by persons perfectly conversant with the chemical
nature of soils, the action of various ingredients which may
be employed as remedies not only upon the insects themselves,
but upon the plants which may be attacked. Such persons,
too, are alone able to judge of the practicability of the applica-
tion of the proposed remedies : since it is surely needless for
an indoor entomologist to endeavour by experiment to dis-
cover remedies which, when discovered, cannot be adopted,
either from the great expense of the article itself, or the im-
possibility of applying it ; or the liability of the destruction,
not only of the insect, but also of the plant itself; and even
instances of the latter description have come under my own
notice.

Hence it appears that the most efficient remedies will in all
probability be suggested by those persons who, residing in
the country, can obtain a knowledge of the economy of these
destructive insects, founded upon the most general and prac-

The bounding steed you pompously bestride,
Shares with his lord the pleasure and the pride.
Is thine alone the seed that strews the plain ?
The birds of heaven shall vindicate their grain.
[Thine all the subjects of fair Flora's reign ?
The insect races here their rights maintain.]
Thine the full harvest of the golden year ?
Part pays, and justly, the deserving steer.
The hog that ploughs not, nor obeys thy call,
Lives on the labours of this lord of all."

Essay on Man, ep. iii. 21 — 42.]

I

against the Ravages of Insects, 427

tical modes of examination, and who unite the entomological
knowledge requisite to trace most effectually their habits, with
a perfect and scientific knowledge of the true principles of
agriculture.

Thus, it seems undoubted, that this want of sufficient op-
portunity for investigation has hitherto proved one of the
greatest barriers to our proposing satisfactory remedies against
the ravages of insects ; and knowing, as we too well know,
that the study and investigation of these objects have hitherto
been almost totally uncultivated, it is not perhaps to be won-
dered at, that so little has been done. The observer of insects
has proposed remedies which the agriculturist cannot adopt ;
and the agriculturist, on the other hand, ignorant of the nature
of insects, has pursued the very plan which has been the most
congenial to the habits of the insects which he wished to de-
stroy : as in the case of the French gardener, recorded by
Reaumur, who, thinking to destroy the caterpillars of the
cabbage moth, buried them just at the time when they were
themselves on the point of going into the earth to change to
chrysalides.

The study of insects is, however, beginning at length to
emerge from that contempt with which it has been so long
regarded ; and I trust that the labours of the members of the
Entomological Society will show that practical utility has not
been lost sight of in their discussions.

It is owing to this more extended observation of insects,
that we now find gentlemen, possessing great agricultural
knowledge, applying themselves to the investigation of noxious
insects ; aiid no one appears to have entered more fully into
this united species of enquiry, or to have obtained more de-
cided success, than the gentleman whose communications, in
various works [especially in the Entomological Magazine,
vol. i.], are pubhshed with the name of Uusticus of Godal-
ming ; although, perhaps, there is a shade too litde of the
entomologist in his writings.

In one of the papers of this gentleman, published in the
Entomological Magazine [i. 363 — 367.], upon the turnip fly,
an apparently successful remedy has been proposed against
its attacks, by steeping the seeds, upon which it is supposed
that the eggs of the insect have been deposited, in brine.

The object of the present communication is to suggest the
application of a similar remedy for the prevention of the
ravages of a scarcely less destructive insect, the onion fly.

On examining a bed of onions in the month of May, almost
as soon as the plants are out of the ground, some of them will
occasionally be observed to be in a drooping state ; these soon

428 Habits of the Onion Fly,

die, and others of a larger size are then observed to decay
in a similar manner ; and this continues until the middle of
July, and even until the onions are full grown, at M^hich time
they have occasionally sufficient strength to survive the injury,
with the decay of a portion only of the outer layer or coat : the
centre part remaining sound. In this manner whole beds are
destroyed ; and it seems to be of little use to sow again, as the
fresh-sown plants do not fare better. In light soils, especially,
the attacks of this insect are occasionally very annoying to the
gardener.

On stripping off the coats of the young onions, which show
evident signs of decay, it is at once perceived that it is owing
to the attack of a small apod [legless] grub upon the vital
parts of the young bulb or stem of the plant, that its destruc-
tion has been occasioned. On pulling up a very young onion,
its interior is found to be completely devoured by a single
grub at its very heart, but in plants of larger growth I have
counted at least half a dozen of these grubs, varying con-
siderably in size. They are of a moderately long cylindrical
form, pointed at one end, which is the head, and this is fur-
nished with two minute tentacula ; the other end is the broader,
and is obliquely truncated, with the edges rugose, and with
two small reddish spots, from which appear to proceed two
internal and dark-coloured veins : the body is smooth and
shining, and of a whitish colour. When full grown, they
much resemble the common maggots of the flesh-fly, and are
nearly half an inch in length. In the summer season they
are about a fortnight in arriving at their full growth. They
generally consume the entire of the interior of the onion, the
outside skin of which is alone left dry and entire, serving as
a place in which they undergo their transformations, without
forming any cocoon, or without shedding their outer skin ; the
skin of the larva, in fact, shortening gradually, and assuming
an oblong oval form, rather truncate at the posterior extremity,
within which the real pupa is to be found. This puparium,
as it may be termed, is of a chestnut colour, having its pos-
terior end blackish, with the extremity red, and two large
black spots observed in the larva : the oral tentacula are also
observable at the other end, they being somewhat exserted.

In about another fortnight the perfect fly makes its appear-
ance. It is a dipterous insect, belonging to the family Mus-
cidse, and genus Anthomyia ; and appears to have been noticed
by Linnaeus under the name of ilfusca radicum ; it is the
Scatophaga ceparum of Kirby and Spence *, which is referred

* Anthomyia radicum Meig. Zw. v. 168. Linn.ii. 992. ; (ilfusca) brassicae
Wicd. Z. MA. 78. ; (Anthomyia) Scatophaga ceparum K. and S. i. 192.

mth Suggestio7is for its Destrndion. 429

by Stephens to the Anthomyia radicum of Meigen and Wiede-
mann. Although I regret that want of time, as well as igno-
rance of the more scientific principles of agriculture, have
prevented my making the extensive series of observations by
which, as above insisted upon, a knowledge of the entire natural
history of, and consequently of the most efficient remedies
against, this insect can be obtained, yet I may be allowed
space for a few suggestions resulting from the facts already
acquired.

If, from the somewhat similar growth of the turnip and
onion, we consider that the grubs which attack the latter plant
in a very young state are produced from eggs deposited (in
the same manner as Rusticus states to be the case with those
of the turnip fly) upon the seeds of the onion, then it is evi-
dent that, if immersion in brine had the efi^ect of 'destroying
the turnip fly*s eggs, the same effect will be produced with
those of the onion fly.

If, on the other hand, such should not be the case, and the
eggs should be deposited by the parent fly upon the young
plants, or even if, from what is known of the repeated gene-
rations of the domestic fly in the course of the season, the
first grub should be produced from eggs deposited upon the
seed, and the latter generation of grubs from eggs deposited
upon the growing plants by the flies produced from such early
grubs, then, and in either of such cases, it appears to me
that an effectual remedy will be to destroy the early grubs,
to as great an extent as possible, by carefully selecting and
burning (not burying) the young infested onions.

The safest way, however, will be to employ both remedies,
at least until it shall be ascertained whether the eggs be actu-
ally deposited upon the seed or not. I make this remark,
because, as has been suggested to me by a naturalist of emi-
nence, the pods of the onion are closely shut, not being suffered
by the seedsmen to split before they are gathered * ; more-
Cinereous, clothed with distant black hairs, proceeding, particularly in the
thorax, from* a black point : legs nigrescent, back of abdomen of (^ with
an interrupted black vitta down the middle; wings immaculate; poisers
and alulae pale yellow ; length 3i lines.

* The same objection exists against the idea that the eggs of the turnip
fly are placed upon the turnip seed. Moreover, there are some other cir-
cumstances connected with the natural history of this insect, which call for
minute investigation. Thus, it is contrary to analogy to suppose that the
egg of an insect, the grub of which, when hatched, must feed above ground,
should be placed by the parent fly in such a situation that it would neces-
sarily be buried. Again, if the turnip fly be produced, as Rusticus pre-
sumes, from eggs laid upon the seeds, how did it happen that " there were
some beetles from the very first coming up of the plant'?" since there
would be no necessity for their living through the winter, like some butter-

430 Habits of the Onion Fly,

over, unless we suppose either that the grubs of the fly are
liable to a very great difference in their period of develope-
ment, whilst in their unhatched state in the egg, or that all
the grubs are produced from eggs deposited by the different
generations of the fly upon the plants themselves, we can-
not account for the constant succession of grubs, or for the
very great difference in their size in a single bulb. Again,
it seems contrary to our ideas of the proceedings of animals,
that a fly should at one period of the year have the instinct
to deposit the eggs upon the ripe seed, whilst its descendants
should place their eggs at the root of the growing plants ;
and yet, if this be not the case, in what state does the fly re-
main through the winter? Again there appears a difficulty
how the grubs find their way to the centre of a root under
ground, if produced from eggs not placed upon the seed, but

flies, to deposit their eggs in spring. Again, if the eggs were deposited
upon the seed, how did it happen that the grubs " were very various in
size ? " Again, as there is but one generation of herbivorous beetles in
the course of a year, if the eggs of the turnip fly were deposited upon the
seed in the autumn, there would be no perfect beetles until the grubs to be
hatched from these eggs, in the next summer, had arrived at this state ; and
yet Rusticus observes, " I knew from experience that the turnip beetle
fed on wild mustard and several other hedge plants ; and, therefore, it was
not at all an improbable thing that, when they smelt the fragrance of the
fresh-bursting cotyledons of their favourite food " (at which period he had
just stated that the grubs were most abundant), " they should skip down
from their spring habitations, the hedges, and commence the attack."

From these remarks I think it will be evident that minute research is
as necessary into the economy of the turnip fly, as of that which infests
the onions ; and it is under such circumstances that the turnip fly has
been selected by the Entomological Society [see p. 3. of the cover of
Mag. Nat. Hbt. for July] as the subject of the prize Essays upon noxious
insects for the present year,

[" Turnip-seed, committed to properly prepared ground, makes its ap-
pearance on the fourth day. Now, suppose that the eggs of the insects
are attached to the seed, as is represented by Rusticus, is it probable that
they can be transformed first into grubs, next into chrysalides, and lastly
into perfect beetles, in the short space of five, or six, or even fourteen
days ? This is for Rusticus to explain ; and it is to be hoped that his de-
scription only is erroneous, not his doctrine." This remark is quoted from
the British Farmer's Magazine for November, 1833, where an abstract of
Rusticus's discovery, and remarks upon it, are presented. In the abstract,
Rusticus's statement of the effects of steeping the seeds of turnip in brine
is, from misapprehension, misrepresented, but has been corrected in a sub-
sequent Number of the same Magazine, by the author of the abstract and
remarks. In the Gardener's Magazine^ ix. 505., x. 78., some facts in
relation to the habits of the turnip beetle are registered; but the work
most likely, it would seem, by its title, to avail the researcher on the habits
of this insect, is one about to be published, entitled, " Report of the Don-
caster Agricultural Society on the turnip fly, founded on the returns re-
ceived from upwards of a hundred gentlemen, cultivating turnips on every
variety of soil in the country."

Volcanoes, 4<31

deposited by the fly above ground : it may be said, indeed,
that the ovipositor of the parent fly is constructed in a manner
capable of great elongation, so as to enable it to protrude its
eggs to a distance beneath the ground, and to fix them there
upon the outside, or even beneath the outer coats of the bulb.

These, however, are all points of natural history, which a
minute series of observations can alone determine : and my
chief object, in thus noticing them, is in the hope that some
experienced agriculturist will take up the enquiry. It is this
class of the community who are the greatest sufferers from
this and similar evils ; it is not too much to hope that they
will consider the subject worthy of investigation.*

The Grove, Hammersmith^ July 30. 1834,

Art. VII. Volcanoes, By W. M. Higgins, Esq. F.G.S., Lecturer
on Natural Philosophy to Guy's Hospital. [Concluded from
Vol. VI. p. 350.]

The Cause of Volcanic Activity, — There are few persons
who agree as to the cause of volcanic activity ; for there are
so many difficulties connected with the investigation of it,
that it may be fairly doubted whether we have sufficient
data to warrant the adoption of any one theory more than

* [In the Gardener's Magazine, vii. 90 — 92., there are brief notices of
papers which had been reported on at the eighty-ninth meeting of the Royal
Prussian Horticultural Society. From one notice I quote that " Herr
Borggreve also confirms, by experience, the good effect of sprinkling pul-
verised charcoal over beds destined for onion seed. The mixing of char-
coal powder with the superficial mould, to protect bulbous roots against
the larvae of a fly (Anthomyia ceparum) has already been recommended
in the Transactions of the Society.*' These Transactions are entitled Ver-
handlungen des Vereins ziir Beforderung des Gartenhaues in den Koniglich
Preussischen Staaten, of which the first part of the tenth volume is pub-
lished : they are in quarto, and some insects troublesome in gardens are
figured and described in them. Growing plants of the cultivated onion
are occasionally eaten by other species of insects. In a bed of about 7 ft.
long, by 3i ft. broad, sown with onion seed in 1833, so late as early in May,
a plentiful crop of onion plants arose ; of the first number of which scarcely
more than half remained on September 12., the absent plants having been
successively eaten off at, and just below, the surface of the soil, by larvae
of some species of iVbctuadae, resident in the soil. Of these larvae, I found
within the area of the bed, on September 14., on digging up then the
remainder of the onions, forty-seven, most of them full grown, but some
of them not so. The late sowing of the seeds from which the onion plants
had arisen had occasioned them to be in a growing or vernal state, that is,
without bulbs and maturity, through much of the period named, and thus
had, perhaps, preserved them as eligible food for the iVbctuadae, when
earlier-sown, forwarder, and riper onions would not have been. The
bulbs of those left till the last were very small.]

432 Volcanoes*

another, except that some of them better account for the
phenomena which have been observed than others. This state
of uncertainty has given every student liberty to form a theory
for himself, or to modify that which pleased him best. The
pages of our scientific journals and works on volcanoes abound,
therefore, in explanations of volcanic action; and we might
almost have been excused if we had passed over the subject.
But, as there is no probability of ascertaining truth while the
mind is cherishing error, there will be some advantage in
exposing false opinions, and in breaking the fetters which
prevent the intellect from healthy and vigorous activity. We
shall therefore enumerate some of the most remarkable
theories which have at various times engaged the attention of
the learned, and state some of our objections to those which
may appear the most plausible.

There is reason to believe that much of ancient fable de-
rived its origin from an erroneous estimate of natural pheno-
mena. The history of astronomy affords abundant proof of
this statement ; and we believe that, in every country where
the inhabitants have been accustomed to the sight of volcanic
phenomena, they have ascribed them to occult deified agency.

The Egyptians attributed all physical evil to the demon
Typhon ; and the Greeks, who adopted the superstitions
and science of the Egyptians, have evidently symbolised the
volcanic phenomena in their description of this personage.
Typhon, they tell us, was a giant more powerful than all the
children of the earth ; his head reached to the stars, and his
arms embraced the rising and the setting sun ; with his hands
he hurled the rocks to the highest heavens ; fire gleamed from
his eyes, and liquid fire boiled in his mouth. He is said to
have been born in Cilicia, which is known to be a volcanic
district ; and having, shortly after his birth, frightened the gods
from heaven, he was pursued by Jupiter to the borders of
the Lake Serbonis, another volcanic district, and was at last
imprisoned in the Island of Sicily, where he still continues to
rave, shaking the earth with his groans and ejecting liquid fire.

The philosophical opinion, if such we may call it, of the
ancient Greeks and Romans, as standing in opposition to the
fable by which the uninitiated were imposed upon, is stated
by the Roman poet Lucretius, in his De Rerum NaturL
Volcanoes were supposed to derive their origin from the con-
version of the confined air in the cavities of the earth into
violent winds by heat. By this process, it was said, caloric
was generated, and the combustible bodies in the bowels of
the earth were inflamed.

This is certainly the meanest theory of volcanic action that

Volcanoes. 433

Ims^ ever been proposed, it is nothing more philosophical than
the fable we have mentioned, and far less poetical : but it is
not surprising that such a theory as this should have obtained
currency among the ancients, for they were almost entirely
ignorant of all those facts upon which an explanation of the
phenomena of nature must be founded ; and the same reason
which is an apology for the ignorance of the moderns upon
the cause of volcanoes applies equally to the ancients. The
phenomena which accompany eruption prevent a direct exa-
mination of its cause; and, consequently, opinions must be
formed from the circumstances under which the effect is pro-
duced, the extent of the volcanic action, and the character
of the ejected mass. With all these the ancients were un-
acquainted; but our knowledge is much inferior to our
opportunities.

Werner was among the first of the geologists who ventured
to propose a theory of volcanic action. He attributes erup-
tion to the ignition of coal and other inflammable substances;
and, in support of this hypothesis, Pallas informs us that
the ejection of mud by the volcanoes near the Cimmerian
Bosphorus was occasioned by the combustion of the coal
measures.

J3rieslak proposed to improve this theory by attributing
volcanic phenomena to the ignition of petroleum by sulphuric
and phosphoric acids, and, in support of his theory, adduces
the presence of these substances in lava.

As it would be difficult to find, in the present day, an
advocate for either of these theories, we shall not stop to
disprove them.

A much more singular theory, and one which has a much
greater appearance of probability, was proposed by Sir Hum-
phry Davy. After the discovery of the metallic bases of the
earths and alkalies, he was induced to imagine that the earth
itself might, perhaps, have been originally a globe of metallic
alloy. Now, if this had been the primitive condition of the
world, the combination of the oxygen of the atmosphere with
the metals would, he says, have formed a crust of earthy
matter, as a superficial covering, the interior still remaining
a deoxidised metallic mass. Now, if water should, by pe-
netrating through the crust, reach this metallic mass, a che-
mical action would be immediately produced. The oxygen
of the water, having a great affinity for the metal, would be
liberated from the hydrogen, and a metallic oxide would be
formed. This chemical action would cause the disengage-
ment of caloric, sufficient to melt the surrounding rocks,
while the disengaged hydrogen gas would, exerting its influr

Vol. VII. — No. 41. ff

434 Volcanoes.

ence as a confined elastic fluid, rend tlie rocks, and burst into
a flame upon exposure to the atmosphere. There is certainly
a great degree of plausibility about this hypothesis, and it is
not altogether unphilosophical ; but Davy was, from some
cause, induced to renounce it, and give preference to an ex-
planation founded on the doctrine of central heat. Dr.
Daubeny, who has adopted Davy's discarded child, suggests
that it is not inconsistent with what we know of Davy's cha-
racter to suppose that he acquired a distaste for the theory in
question, when he found it an object of admiration among an
humbler class of enquirers. This observation may be correct ;
but perhaps a better reason may be given for Davy's want of
confidence in his own theory.

If the assumption of a number of unproved statements as
facts afford any argument against the correctness of a theory,
this one of Davy's must stand very low in our estimation.
But, lest we should be charged with arrogance in thus speak-
ing of that which was proposed by Davy, and is still sup-
ported by an acknowledged scholar, we will give our reasons
for the statement. Two admissions are required by this
theory, and they appear to draw largely upon the faith of the
reader, but it is absolutely necessary that he should admit
the probability of the existence of a metallic nucleus, and its
inflammability, or he must at once give up the theory itself.
We must first allow the existence of a metallic nucleus. It
is possible that the interior of our world consists of metallic
alloys, but we have as much reason to believe that it consists
of water or of stone. We will, however, grant, for the sake
of the argument, that the earth, beneath its superficial cover-
ing, consists of metals, for it is only a matter of opinion,
and we may imagine it one substance as well as another; all
that is required by ascertained facts is, that we should fix upon
some heavy body. We are next required to admit that this
metallic nucleus is of such a character that it is oxidised by
the presence of water, the hydrogen being liberated and
ignited. To determine the nature of the metallic nucleus, we
must examine the character of the lava that is ejected, or of
the earths composing the crust of our globe, which are sup-
posed by this theory to have been at some former period a
part of the metallic globe. Dr. Daubeny accurately states
that silica, alumina, lime, and iron are the chief constituents
of volcanic products. The metallic alloy, therefore, must be
composed of silicon, aluminum, calcium, and iron. Now, of
all electro-positive substances, silicon is the most incom-
bustible : it may be made white hot in the open air without
evincing any tendency to burn ; and, so far from decomposing

Volcanoes, 435

water at common temperatures, it may be boiled in that fluid.
But there is every reason to believe that silicon is not a metal,
but has a closer resemblance to carbon, a non-metallic sub-
stance. But, however this may be determined, it is so far
from alloying with the metals, that it has no tendency to unite
with other bodies, except when in a nascent state, or when
double affinities are exerted. We cannot help remarking
that it was only a short time after Berzelius had discovered
the properties of silicon, that Davy renounced his theory. A
consideration of the properties of aluminum is equally fatal
to the theory ; for it sustains no visible alteration by long boil-
ing in water, even when in the state of fine powder, and only
begins to oxidise when its temperature is raised to a red heat.
Of calcium and iron we need not speak : the former is only
an imaginary substance, and the properties of iron are too
well known to require a remark.

That any compound of these substances, in any propor-
tion, should fulfil the conditions required in the theory, is
utterly impossible. It is true that metallic alloys are more
oxidisable than pure metals ; but we have given a reason for
the supposition that, if the substances of which we have spoken
were existent in a deoxidised state, it would not be in union
with each other. If it could be imagined that the earth was
originally a ball of potassium, there might be some reasons
to support the theory, for then the decomposition of water,
and the burning of potassuretted hydrogen, might be supposed
to mimic the exhibitions of Etna, if not of Tomboro. But,
as the constituent elements of lava evince no tendency to act
agreeably to the requisitions of the theory which we have
examined, we ought not to give them properties which do not
belong to them.

Dr. Daubeny has modified the details of this theory. He
admits that the action of water is not of itself sufficient to
account for all the phenomena, and introduces the agency of
atmospheric air. But it must be quite evident that, if our
objections to Davy\s theory be sound, they are equally so as
applied to Dr. Daubeny's amendment. No one would have
a theory of volcanic action suggested from pouring water
upon a cold cannon shot, yet the chemical action is as strong
in this instance as that which would be produced upon the
unoxidised nucleus of the earth. Iron is much more readily
oxidised than the bases of silica and alumina; for in a spongy
state it will decompose water, and become red hot, on being
exposed to the air at common temperatures. We no more
believe that this theory can be received as an explanation of
the cause of volcanic action, than Southey's assertion as a

F F 2

436 Fresh'jcater Formation at Copford,

philosophical fact, that the atmosphere of Elysium and the
Fortunate Islands consists of the protoxide of nitrogen.

But, independently of the chemical objections that we have
urged, there are many derived from the physical constitution
of bodies, such as the arrangement of the metallic nucleus ; the
impossibility of water ever penetrating to it ; the improbability
of the presence of atmospheric air, and the doubt whether
any chemical action could be developed under great pressures.
Each of these might, and the sum of them would, lead us to
the conclusion that the theory is doubtful, if not visionary.

Another hypothesis attributes volcanic eruption to central
heat. The cause of this central heat is variously accounted
for by geologists, according to their particular notions or
fancies. Some attribute it to one cause, and some to another ;
but, whatever may be the origin of the singular phenomenon,
it has, we think, been proved that the interior heat of the
earth increases from its surface. It is veiy evident that this
fact would afford an ingenious theorist the opportunity of
creating a plausible hypothesis. We shall not attempt to
explain the almost endless variety of opinions that have been
entertained and defended upon the general idea that central
heat is the cause of volcanic activity, as this article has already
exceeded the space usually allotted to an individual subject;
and, in closing the communication, it cannot be denied that
the information already obtained, in relation to the activity of
volcanoes, is too vague and limited to warrant the formation
of a theory built upon observation.
July 10. 1834.

Art. VIII. A Notice of some of the Contents of the Freshwater
Formation at Copfordy near Colchestery Essex. By J. Brown,
Esq.

Mr. Wood has, in p. 275., invited some correspondent in
this neighbourhood to communicate notices on this subject.
I, for one, have pleasure in offering the results of my own
observations.

From what attention I have given to this locality, I have
only been able to obtain perfect specimens of the Valvata
piscinalis. Some of these freshwater beds are mainly com-
posed of fragments of shells, but in such a state that it is
almost impossible to ascertain their species. Among the sand
and small fragments are found numerous opercula (probably
belonging to the genus Paludina), but no entire shell: the

9iear Colchester^ Essex. 437

Valvata pisciiialis appears to be the only species that has
escaped destruction. I have, it is true, detected forms of the
genus Planorbis in these beds; but, in trying carefully to
remove them, they have invariably fallen to powder.

The beds containing these lacustrine shells, and other or-
ganic remains to be noticed, consist principally of white cal-
careous marl and ferruginous sand, mixed with broken shells,
and alternating for about 4 ft. in thickness; the whole sur-
mounted by what was formerly called a diluvium, 3 ft. thick,
consisting of brown clay, and gravel composed chiefly of
rounded and angular flints, quartz boulders, and bouldered
fragments of the trap rocks. These mineral substances, more
or less mixed with sand or clay, and coloured with oxide of
iron, constitute the surface of our neighbourhood : and are
the source from which the materials are supplied for our
excellent roads.

Under the beds containing the shells and fragments is a
stratum of lignite 3 in. thick, which divides these beds from
a thick deposit of clay that lies beneath them; in this lignite
I have found shells of the Cyclas rivicola in groups from the
bed. Immediately above this lignite, and associated with the
shells and fragments, I obtained a horn of the ox, and some
large fragments of bone, and amongst them a scapula belong-
ing to the same animal. This horn, or rather part of a horn
(for both ends are truncated), measures 16 in. in circum-
ference at the larger extremity, and is 21 J in. in length, not
continuing to a point, but broken off to 2 in. in diameter at the
smaller end : some of the fragments appear to be parts of
the skull, and are very thick compared with the thickness of
the skull of our recent ox. These remains were found, in the
winter of 1832, in excavatinop for brick earth ; and I thouo^ht
myself very fortunate in rescuing from destruction such me-
morials of days long gone by. About a month ago, I also,
fortunately, obtained, from the same stratum and the same
spot, some more bones, with pieces of deer's horns, antlers,
&c., which at present form a part of my little collection.

Under the layer of lignite is found a deposit of fine blue
clay, with mica regularly disseminated throughout it in very
small plates ; there is also much calcareous matter in it. This
is a most excellent material for white bricks, chimney-pots,
&c., for which it is extensively used.

This clay is generally excavated to the depth of 8 ft., or
10 ft., from the layer of lignite mentioned above. At this
depth there are found many rounded portions of soft chalk,
the size of walnuts, and some smaller, although we have no
chalk formation nearer than Sudbury, w4iicli is fifteen miles

F F 3

438 On the Causes of the Colour

hence, unless it is to be found in situ at a moderate depth
below this clay ; which is, I think, not very improbable, con-
sidering that these portions of soft chalk could not have been
drifted a long distance without being dissipated by the trans-
port. I only notice this circumstance in support of the con-
tinuance of the chalk strata to our western coast, where it has
been perforated in boring for water; and [in the idea] that
its basin is shallower, under this lacustrine deposit, than in
many other places ; as many of the wells in this neighbour-
hood are 50 ft. and 60 ft. deep, without getting through our
gravel beds, although my own well, only 37 ft. deep, and
within a mile and a half of Copford brickfield, penetrates the
London clay about 2 ft.

Although the shells of these strata are in a broken state, still,
by an attentive observation, we can trace the forms of several
genera; the Planorbis, Paludina, Valvata, and Cyclas; all of
which are abundantly found living in the pools and ditches in
this neighbourhood.

Admitting the ox to which the horn above noticed was
once attached, to have belonged to one of our lost species of
Mammalia, its being found associated with recent Testacea
is an illustration of Professor Lyell's observations on this in-
teresting subject, in his most excellent work, the Principles
of Geology, vol. iii., p. 140.

Stanway, near Colchester, May 5. 1834.

Art. IX. Enquiries on the Causes of the Colour of the Water of
the Rhine ; by J. R. : xuith Remarks, in Contribution to an
Answer; by the Rev. W. B. Clarke, A.M. F.G.S.

I DO not think the causes of the colour of transparent water
have been sufficiently ascertained. I do not mean that effect of
colour which is simply optical, as the colour of the sea, which
is regulated by the sky above or the state of the atmosphere,
but I mean the settled colour of transparent water, which has,
when analysed, been found pure. Now, copper will tinge
water green, and that very strongly ; but water thus impreg-
nated will not be transparent, and will deposit the copper it
holds in solution upon any piece of iron which may be thrown
into it. There is a lake in a defile on the north-west flank of
Snowdon, which is supplied by a stream which previously
passes over several veins of copper : this lake is, of course, of
a bright verdigrise green, but it is not transparent. Now, the
colouring effect, of which I speak, is well seen in the waters
of the Rhone and Rhine. The former of these rivers, when

of the Water of the Rhine, 439

it enters the Lake of Geneva, after having received the tor-
rents descending from the mountains of the Valais, is fouled
with mud, or white with the calcareous matter which it holds
in solution* Having deposited this in the Lake Leman *
(thereby gradually forming an immense delta), it issues from
the lake perfectly pure, and flows through the streets of Ge-
neva so transparent, that the bottom can be seen 20 ft« below
the surface, yet so blue, that you might imagine it to be a
solution of indigo. In like manner, the Rhine, after purify-
ing itself in the Lake of Constance, flows forth, coloured of a
clear green ; and this, under all circumstances, and in all
weathers. It is sometimes said that this arises from the tor-
rents which supply these rivers generally flowing from the
glaciers, the green and blue colour of which may have given
rise to this opinion; but the colour of the ice is purely optical,
as the fragments detached from the mass appear simply white.
Perhaps some correspondent can afford me some information
on the subject. J. R.

March, 1834.

I CANNOT say that I think the Rhine is so extremely clear
and pellucid as J. R. states. In its passage through Germany,
where it receives the tributary streams of many districts, it
is, in places, very far from transparent ; and few persons who
have made the passage from Mainz to Cologne in the steamers,
can have failed to remark the shower ofdirty calcareous matter
which is constantly falling over the deck of the vessel, from
the steam, as it is condensed in the air. At the junction of the
Nahe with the Rhine at Bingen, the waters of the two rivers
may be traced a considerable way in separate unmingled cur-
rents, by the red tint of the former, which gains its hue from
the red-sandstone country whence it flows. The Rhone, also,
clear as it is immediately after leaving Geneva Lake, is, where
it goes underground near Carouge, of the colour and appear-
ance of pea soup. As to the colour of the Rhine waters,
after leaving the Lake of Constance, that doubtless depends on
causes similar to those which have given that well-known
cerulean tint to the Rhone at Geneva ; arising from some un-
known property of matter derived from the parent snows and
ice of the mountains, which acts upon light, so as to reflect

* [This lake, however, if the poet have spoken truly, is not very fecu-
lent : —

" Lake Leman wooes me with its crystal face.
The mirror where the stars and mountains view
The stillness of their aspect in each trace
Its clear depth yields of their far height and hue."

Byron.]

F F 4

440 071 the Causes of the Colour

the colours in question.* We know that the icebergs of
the polar seas are frequently of an emerald green f, and
the glaciers J of the Alps are of a green or a deep blue,
and that the waters from them issue of a pale blue colour.
As Mrs. Somerville has observed in her recent work
On the Connexion of the Sciences (p. 174'.), it is on the
property of unequal absorption that " the colours of trans-
parent media depend ; for they also receive their colour from
their power of stopping or absorbing some of the colours of
white light and transmitting others." This, however, J. R.
seems aware of, in part.

Mr. De la Beche has some remarks on the coloured waters
of different seas, quoting Sir Gore Ouseley, in which green
and blue water are alluded to. (Geological Manual, 1st ed.
p. 89, 90.) All lakes are more or less coloured, even when
most pellucid. There is a lake on the summit of Blencathra
or Saddleback Mountain, in Cumberland, the deep waters of
which are quite black to look upon, and it is said that they
reflect the stars in the daytime ; which, by the way, I could
never observe, though frequently looking for them. The most
perfectly clear expanse of water in England is Derwent-

* The Rliine, from the Alps to the Lake of Constance, is blue ; after-
wards grass green ; then, after having received the waters of the Black
Forest and Alsace, yellowish green. The Maine, traversing the red sand-
stones of Franconia, takes a yellowish red tint, but in very cold seasons it
becomes greenish blue by the precipitation of the oxide of iron ; it is amber
grey when it is not coloured yellow by long rains. All the rivers of Ba-
varia Proper are bluish green in winter, grass green in spring, and pale
grass green in autumn. (Keiv Edin. P/iiL Journ.^ Jan. 1830, p. 193.)
Sir H. Davy (in his Salmonla) says, the colour of snow water is deep
])lue ; that the green tinge comes from the vegetables that grow on the
banks ; and the yellow and brown, from turf; and that the green hue of
the sea is derived from vegetable matter, iodine, and bromium. He re-
lates some experiments with iodine on the ice of the glaciers.

\ On the colour of icebergs, see Scoresby's Arctic Regions^ i. 254.
The glacier of Rosboden in Switzerland, is all through of a dark blue :
but green is a general colour.

' J It must be observed, that the ice of the glaciers is very different
from common ice. It consists of snow which has been melted, frozen, and
compressed, perhaps, a thousand times ; till it has become solid, hard, and
often as compact as marble. I have frequently seen, at Geneva, cubes of
alpine ice upon the table, used to cool the wine in the drinking-glasses.
It may be also remarked, that it is in the warm months of the year that
the ice of the previous colder season is generally subjected to the pro-
cesses alluded to; that, in those months, avalanches occur; and that the
alpine rivers, contrary to what occurs in colder localities, are most swoln
with the waters arising from melted ice and snow. There are, however,
certain seasons when, as in 1816, winter seems to extend throughout the
year. It is asserted, by an observer, that not a single week, in 1816, passed
without a fall of snow on Mont St. Bernard. I shtill produce the quotation
in another place.

of the Water of the Rhine. 441

water : nothing can equal the brilliancy and accuracy of the
reflections of the scenery from its surface. J. R. says, co-
loured ice, when in minute fragments, is " simply white."
The sky is of a deep blue, approaching to black, in great
heights, yet a thin stratum of air is nearly white. The colour
is, therefore, dependent on the quantity of the matter which
absorbs or reflects. There is, says Mrs. Somerville, " no
substance which is either perfectly opaque or perfectly trans-
parent : the clearest crystal, the purest air or water, stop or
absorb the rays of light when transmitted, and gradually ex-
tinguish them as they penetrate to greater depths." (p. 173.)
I cannot quote all that Mr. Scoresby has said upon this sub-
ject; but he has fully detailed the facts, as observed by him in
the polar seas, and has come to the same conclusion as Mrs.
Somerville. The real colour, he says, of the sea, " may be
recognised in storm or calm, in fine weather or foul, clear or
cloudy, fair or showery, being always nearly the same " {Arctic
Regions, i. 175.); which agrees with what J. R. says of the
Rhine. Mr. Scoresby says, also, the sea in the arctic regions is
generally blue, but occasionally diversified ; since "in 1817,
he fell in with such narrow stripes of various-coloured water^
that he passed streams of pale green, olive green, and trans-
parent blue, in the course often minutes' sailing" (p. 176.);
" and that the different qualities of water were kept distinct
from each other." He states that blue is the natural colour
of the sea; and that the green water alluded to was coloured
by myriads of medusae, &c., or the food of the whale. [See
in this Magazine, VII. 222. note *.] " The water of
the main ocean is well known to be as transparent and as
colourless as that of the most pure springs ; and it is only
when seen in very deep seas that any certain and unchange-
able colour appears. This colour is commonly ultramarine
blue, diifering but a shade from the colour of the atmosphere,
when free from the obscurity of cloud or haze. Where this
ultramarine blue occurs, the rays of light seem to be absorbed
in the water, without being reflected from the bottom ; the
blue rays being only intercepted. But where the depth is
not considerable, the colour of the water is affected by the
quality of the bottom." (p. 173.) Wood, in 1676, sounded,
off" Nova Zembla, in 80 fathoms ; in blue water, which was
so transparent, that " even the shells on the ground were
clearly visible." (p. 181.) Hudson says, in 1607, the sea
was blue where ice was, and green where it was open. (p. 175.)*

* " And now there came both mist and snow,
And it grew wondrous cold ;
And ice, mast high, came floating by,
Green as an emerald."

Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient il/ffnWr, part i.

44f Causes of the Colour of the Rhone a7id Rhine.

From the summit of Skiddaw, in a very clear day, I once
saw, very distinctly marked, all the sandbanks in the Solway
Frith, by the yellowness of the water above them. This
arose from the reflection and shallowness of the water.

Stanley GreeJiy Aprils. 1834. W. B. Clarke.

Causes of the Colour of the Water of the Rhone and Rhine,
The Rhone, at Geneva, is some 17 ft. deep, but so exqui-
sitely clear that a pebble may be seen in the bottom at that
depth ; but, seen with its surface at a small angle, to the eye
it appears of the most beauteous transparent blue. This,
some assert, arises from the lake's waters being actually co-
loured ; but the transparency of the waters en ?72«55^ disproves
this. The fact is, it arises from the colour of the bottom,
which, being of the same substance as the neighbouring side
of Jura, a calcareous tufa, is nearly white ; and the blue of
the sky is thus reflected with such singular beauty. {Robert
Mallet^ Esq., CapelStreet, Dublin; in Gard, Mag., viii. 526.)

Mr. Mallet mistakes, I think, in two points. The side of
the Jura is not " a calcareous tufa ; " nor is the bottom of the
channel under the bridge at Geneva so "nearly white" as he
states. The bottom is strewed with stones, broken pots, &c. ;
and there is also an alluvial coat of mud, not, perhaps, very
thick, but still sufficiently so to resist the current. Had the
bottom been " nsohite^^ or " nearly white," the colour of the
water would be green, and not blue. I would refer Mr.
Mallet and J. R., upon this fact, to the very instructive and
elaborate treatise of De Maistre, in the Bibliotheque Uni-
verselle (an accurate translation of which, by Professor Gris-
com, is published in the American Journal of Science and Arts
for April, 1834*); in which treatise, actual experiment is
brought forward to show that "white substances at the bot-
tom of blue 'water reflect green light. The count alludes, in
his paper, to the Rhone and the Rhine, to the green and blue
tints of the glaciers, and to the colours of the sea near the
shore and in deep places ; and introduces some discussion on
the blueness of the sky and of the veins in the human body,
and on the properties of mixed colours to reflect the blue
rays. By far the most instructive account which I have seen
is also there given of the singular grotto at Capri, called
the Azure Grot; the description of which might, with good
effect, be transferred to the pages of this Magazine. That
description would be particularly illustrative of J. R.'s en-

* " On the Colour of the Air and of deep Waters, and on some other
analogous fugitive Colours," by Count Xavier dc Maistre.

Temperature in Connection with Elevation, 443

quiries. Two extracts from other parts of the count*s memoir
are here appended, as belonging to the subject before us, and
which it would be wrong to omit : — " Although the blue
colour of water is often marked by numerous causes, it is
sometimes exhibited in all its intensity : a fine example of it
is witnessed in looking at the Rhone from the bridge at Ge-
neva. The river seems to flow from an ultramarine source.
The spectator is in the most favourable situation for observing
the internal reflection, disengaged, as much as possible under
an open sky, from the reflection at the surface." (Griscom's
translation, Amer.Journ., xxvi. 68.)

" The bluish green colour of crevices in the glaciers is
occasioned in the same manner as that of water near shore :
if the mass of ice were as great and homogeneous as that of
the sea, the interior of the crevices would be blue; but the
ice contains air-bubbles, particles of snow, and fissures, which
reflect the transmitted light, throwing it from one face to
another of the crevice, until it finds an escape. These opaque
substances in the glacier produce the same effect as a white
surface in the depths of the sea." {Ibid., p. 70.) That De
Maistre is correct may be shown by this, that our homeward-
bound ships can, when out of sight of land, distinguish their
approach to the Channel by observing the colour of the sea
change from blue to green. Captain Basil Hall (somewhere,
in one of his amusing works) speaks of the " reign of blue
water," to designate the deep open sea. Every one who has
happened to have been in a violent storm in the ocean, has
seen huge green waves approaching his vessel ; the water
composing which, in time of calm, would be blue. Seen
horizontally, the wave, by transmitted light, becomes gree?i.

To sum up all, De Maistre concludes his remarks by
observing that the effects alluded to above appear to him "to
depend wholly on the peculiar property which the blue ray
possesses of being reflected, in preference to other rays more
or less refrangible, by the simple mechanical resistance of the
molecules of bodies which reflect light." (p. 75.)

Stanley Green, Aug, 8. 1834. W. B. Clarke.

Art. X. Data toxvards determining the Decrease of Temperature
in Connection with Elevation above the Sea Level, in Britain,
By H. C. Watson, Esq. F.L.S.

We have very few data for determining the decrease of
temperature, either of the earth or atmosphere, in connection
with increase of elevation above the sea level : an enquiry

U4i

Data towards determining the Decrease

amply meriting more attention than appears to have been
hitherto bestowed upon it. The following data will furnish
a commencement to any one willing to undertake the task of
observation and experiment on this head.

1. Temperature of the Atmosphere, — Sir Thomas Brisbane
and Mr. William Galbraith have brought together a few
observations {Edin, New Phil. Journal, Nov. 1832 — Jan. 1833),
by which it appears that the thermometer falls 1° of Fahren-
heit in 212 ft. of ascent for heights of 2000 ft. or 3000 ft.
Thus: —

Ben Lomond, from Edinburgh, gave 243 ft.

Ben Lomond, from Rowardennan (its base) 205
Ben Nevis and its base - - 216

Carnethie and Edinburgh - - - 183

Cheviot and Holy Island - - 212

Average - - 212

In the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal (Jan. — April,
1833) I have published a series of observations, made in July
and August, 1832, on the temperature of the Highland
mountains. By these it appears, that, with a mean difference
in elevation of 2055 ft., the mean difference of temperature
was 9^° Fahr. Dividing the former by the latter, we should
get only 216 ft. of ascent for 1° of temperature. The true
average, however, should be drawn from the mean of the
number of feet required to sink the thermometer 1° on the
different days. The following are my results : —

Date.

Place.

Difference of

Number of feet

Elevation.

Temperature.

for 1° of temp.

July 16.

Clova Mountains - -

2139 ft.

10°

214 ft.

17.

Clova and Braemar

1112

5

222

23.

Ben-na-Buird

2157

6

359

21.

Braemar Moors

1057

4

264

24.

Ben-na-rauic-Duich

3013

14

215

31.

Ben Heeal

1370

10

137

Aug. 1.

Ben Loyal

1717

16i

104

5.

Ben Hope

2154

H

391

14.

Ben Nevis - - -

2368

151

153

15.

Ditto

3315 •

12|

265

16.

Locheil Moors

1657

7

232

17.

Red Cairn

Means

2599

8

327

2055

n

242

The observations at the upper stations were usually made
between 1 and 3 p.m. ; those at the lower stations preceding
or following them by from two to six hours ; more usually by^
only two or three. This would, of course, give an excess of

of Temperature in Connection with Elevation. 445

1° or 2° to the upper stations. But, as a balance against this,
it is to be remarked, that ascents were commonly commenced
on fine mornings ; which, on some of the days, were followed
by cold and rainy afternoons. Ben Loyal, and the first ascent
of Ben Nevis, furnish examples of this; while on Ben Nevis,
the second day, Red Cairn, and the Locheil and Braemar
moors, the weather was warm and sunny. On Ben-na-muic-
Duich and Ben Hope, there was thick mist : on the former,
it was more dense towards the summit ; on the latter, it was
partially transparent to the sun's rays near the summit of the
hill, though very dense below. On the whole, I incline to
believe that these several sources of error would nearly coun-
terbalance each other.

From a few similar observations in Cumberland, during
May and June of 1833, I obtained 298 ft. of ascent for a
decrease of 1° of temperature ; the weather being dry, warm,
and sunny. Other observations, in Caernarvonshire, in the
beginning of May, 1832, give only 212 ft. for 1° of tempera-
ture; the weather cold and humid. Otley's Guide to f he Lakes
mentions incidentally that the difference of temperature between
Keswick and the summit of Skiddaw is about 12°. This gives
230 ft. for 1° of temperature ; but the author informed me that
his average was only drawn from a few observations, not suf-
ficient for much confidence. The following is a summary of
these several conclusions : —

Place.

Observer.

Number
of feet.

Place.

Observer.

Number
of feet.

Caernarvon-
shire
Cumberland
Ditto

Watson -
Otley -

212
298
230

Scotland -
Highlands -

Brisbane, &c.
Watson

212
242

Mean -

239

The only place of considerable elevation, the mean annual
temperature of which has been determined with precision, is
that of Lead Hills in Lanarkshire, at 1280 ft. Comparing
the average temperature of it and of adjacent situations near
the sea level, we find a much slower decrease of temperature
tl\an the preceding observations would lead us to expect : —
Canaan Cottage gives 1° of temperature for 340 ft.
Carlisle - - - - 480

Kendal - - - - 462

Keswick - - - - 294

Jesmond - . - - 400

Mean

- 395 ft.

We can hardly doubt that the temperature of Lead Hills
is above the true average for its height. The observations
were made at 6 a.m. and 1 p.m. ; which hours, taken together,

446

Data toixards determining the Dea-ease

should represent very nearly the mean of the twenty-four.
Let us, for the convenience of whole numbers, make the
preceding general average of 239 ft. into 240 ft., and take
it as the standard for the diminution of temperature during
the whole year, as well as in the summer. The mean annual
temperature, near the sea-level, in lat. 57°, is about 47° ; and
that of summer, 58°. From these data, the temperature of
the Grampians should be thus : —

Altitude.

Mean of year.

Mean of
summer.

Altitude.

Mean of year.

Mean of
summer.

1000 ft.
2000

42-83
38-66

53-83
49-66

3000
4000

34-5
30-33

45-5
41-33

The mean annual temperature at Lead Hills (corrected by
the Leith Fort observations) is 44^°; that of summer, 55\^,
The height is 1280 ft., as above mentioned.

2. Temperature of the Earth, — The mean temperature of
the earth, at Lead Hills, is stated to be 44°. In other neigh-
bouring places, of moderate elevation, it is given thus : —

Elevation,

Temperature.

1 Elevation. | Temperature.

Keswick -
Kendal -
Jesmond -
Newcastle
Leith -

250 ft.

200

180

46-6

47-2
45-7
49-42
47-3

Edinburgh
Ditto

214
230

47-76
4708

Mean -

47-3

In the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, the temperature of
springs on Ben Nevis is given as here copied : —

Temperature
of springs.

Temperature
of air.

At an elevation of 1200 ft.

2000
A well near the summit

41-5°

38

36

48°

47

46

I observed the temperature of a bubbling spring, throwing
out a stream of water, on the moors near Locheil, and of the
well near the summit of Ben Nevis, on the west side, in Au-
gust, 1832. The temperature was then : —

Elevation.

Spring.

Air.

Locheil spring
Ben Nevis well

2200
3760

43°
39

62°

49

On the 9th of May, 1832, the temperature of seven small
springs, or drains, from the sides of Carnedd David, in Caer-
narvonshire, varied only between 39° and 39J°, though the

of Temper ahire in Connection mill Elevation. 447

heights at which they burst from the mountain were from
2700 ft. to 3247 ft. At the end of April, the temperature of
drain-springs at lower elevations in the adjacent hills was : —

Temperature
of springs.

Temperature
of air.

Temperature
of springs.

Temperature
of air.

At 300 ft.
520
1200

46°

47

44

?

50°
47

At 1400 ft.
1600

44°

42

46°
43

In Otley's Guide to the LaJces it is stated, that, '•' on the
sloping side of Helvellyn, about the distance of 300 yards,
and 300 perpendicular feet below the summit, is a spring,
called Brown-rigg Well, where the water issues, in all seasons,
in a copious stream ; its temperature in the summer months
being from 40° to 42°." The height of this spring must be
about 2750 ft. In May of 1833, I found the temperature of
a feeble spring (in very hot weather), at about 350 ft. of ele-
vation, to be 49 J° of a thermometer graduated by Ronchetti
of Manchester; and of a spring-drain, at 450 ft., the tempe-
rature v/as 53° : but as this thermometer stands 2J° above
thermometers obtained from Adie, the temperatures may be
called 47° and 51^°.

Now, using these very imperfect data, we get the results
given below, towards ascertaining the decrease of temperature
in the earth as we ascend above the sea level.

Mean of

the Year,

Differe
Temperature.

nee of
Height.

Feet for 1° of
temperature.

Lead Hills and Leith
Lead Hills and Keswick -

Spring an
Ben Nevis - - -
Ben Nevis and Locheil
Hills of Caernarvon
Carnedd David

and
Adjacent hills

3-3°
2-6

d Summei\

5-5

4
4
7

3

1200
1000

Mean

2560
1560
1300
2670

1000

Mean

364

385

374i

466
390
325
381

333

382J

I have before assumed the decrease of atmospheric tem-
perature to be 1° for 240 ft. of ascent. Let us compare this
with 380 ft., as the rate of decrease of temperature in the
earth ; and we then have, as the assumed temperature of the
earth and atmosphere on the Grampians : —

4td

Singular Appearance of a Rainbow.

Height in

Temperature

Temperature

Diflference.

feet.

of the earth.

of the air.

0

47°

47°

0

1000

44-10

42-83

1-27

2000

41-21

38-66

2-55

3000

38-32

34-50

3-82

4000

35-42

30-33

5-09

The difference of temperature between the earth and atmo-
sphere increases more rapidly than I should have anticipated.
How near these results and assumptions may approximate to
truth, future observations must determine. Meantime, I
should feel much indebted to any one for additional inform-
ation on this subject.

Ditton Marsh, July, 1834.

Art. XI. Facts and Arguments in Relation to the Causes of a
singular Appearance of a Rainbou), of an unusual Appearance
of the Sky, of Mirage, of Devo, and of Hoar-Frost. By A
Subscriber.

Along with B. (IV. 79.), I have been looking for an
explanation, from some correspondent, of the phenomenon
described in III. 544., under the head of " Notice of a sin-
gular Appearance of the Rainbow, by E. G. ;" and, with a view
of recalling attention to the subject, I beg to submit the fol-
lowing extracts from Sir D. Brewster's treatise on Optics, in
Lardner's Cyclopedia, p. 269, 270. : —

" Many peculiar rainbows have been seen and described.
On the 1 0th of August, 1665, a faint rainbow was seen, at
Chartres, crossing the primary rainbow at its vertex. It was
formed by reflection from the river."

To save a new cut, I have altered the letters of reference
in the next passage, to make them correspond with the dia-
gram in III. 544.
E, --v^ [which we here repeat

(fg- 57.)].^ In ad-
dition to which, it will
be necessary to sup-
pose that the segment
E F reaches to a ; and
that there is a similar
^' ^^' B j> segment on the left

side, which I shall call e' f' : the arch f' e' e f thus being the
remaining part of the circle of which the primary bow a b is
a portion.

'Singular Apjyearajice of a Rainbow, 449

" On the 6tli of August, 1698, Dr. Halley, when walking
on the walls of Chester, observed a remarkable rainbow. A b
is the primary bow ; c d, the secondary ; and f' e' e f, the
new bow intersecting the secondary bow c d, and dividing
it nearly into three equal parts. Dr. Halley observed the
points e' e to rise, and the arch [of the new bow] e' e gradually
to contract, till at last the two e' e [of the secondary bow], and
e' e [of the new bow], coincided ; so that the secondary iris,
for a great space, lost its colours, and appeared like a white
arch at the top. The new bow (f' e' e f) had its colours in
the same order as the primary one (ab), and, consequently,
the reverse of the secondary bow ; and, on this account, the
two opposite spectra at e' and e counteracted each other, and
produced whiteness. The sun at this time shone on the river
Dee, which was unruffled; and Dr. Halley found that the
bow f' e' e f was only that part of the circle that would have
been under the castle, bent upwards by reflection from the
river.

" A third rainbow, seen between the two common ones,
and not concentric with them, is described in Rozier's Jour-
nal, and is doubtless the same phenomenon as that observed
by Dr. Halley."

Now, though it may be very presumptuous in an anony-
mous individual like myself, to object to an explanation
sanctioned by the names of Halley and Brewster, yet I am
obliged to say that it is as unsatisfactory to me as it seems to
be to E. G. ; and that I, therefore, consider the problem as
yet unsolved. I cannot imagine the sort of reflection sup-
posed by it possible ; except on such an inadmissible principle
as that the rainbow is the base of a hollow cone of prismatic
light proceeding from the sun, and rendered visible by being
received upon falling rain, or the clouds, or the earth, as a
screen. Still, however, as in the instances mentioned, the
phenomenon seems to have been observed in the neighbour-
hood of an extent of water, it may somehow depend on
reflection ; but, as it would be almost vain to attempt a solu-
tion without being perfectly acquainted with such circum-
stances as the position of the observer, and the relative
situations of the bow and the water, as well as the state of
the latter, it would be useful if E. G. would oblige your
readers with such particulars of the instances witnessed by
him as he can now recollect, in reference to these points.

E. G.'s question ought not to be lost sight of, " What

becomes of the received opinion that the eye of the observer

must be in the apex of the cone of which the bow is the

base?" (III. 5^5,) How is that opinion to be reconciled

Vol. VII. — No. 41. gg

450 Unusual AppearuNce in the Sky.

with the fact of two bows, not concentric, having been seen
by the same person at one time ?

A very unusual Appearance in the Sky, (III. 199.) — The
Rev. W. B. Clarke will find an explanation of this appear-
ance in Sir D. Brewster's treatise on Optics, in Lardner's
Cahiiiet Cyclopcedia, p. 277 — 279. It is not very uncommon :
I have myself seen it several times towards sunset, and once
very distinctly ; on which occasion the eastern horizon was
more cloudy than the rest of the heavens. " This," says Sir
David, " seems to be necessary as a ground for rendering
visible such feeble radiations." Speaking of an instance
observed by himself, he adds : — "A few minutes after the
phenomenon was first seen, the converging lines were black, or
very dark ; an effect which seems to have arisen from the lu-
minous beams having become broad and of unequal intensity:
so that the eye took up, as it were, the dark spaces between
the beams more readily than the luminous beams them-
selves." On this I may observe, that an additional reason for
the dark spaces attracting the eye is, that the light of the con-
verging beams little exceeds, and, near the horizon, rather falls
short of, the average brightness of the rest of the sky.

" The phenomenon is entirely one of perspective." The
beams of light arise from a portion of the sun's rays passing
through openings in the clouds, while the adjacent portions
are obstructed. These rays, practically, may be considered
parallel; and, consequently, according to the laws of per-
spective, must appear, to a spectator on the earth's surface,
to converge towards each extremity ; on the same principle
of perspective, clouds, carried along by the wind in lines
parallel to its course, seem to diverge from the windward
horizon, and to converge towards the leeward.

The " singular Phenomenon " observed by L. F., and de-
scribed in III. 200., is noticed by Sir D. Brewster, in his
treatise on Optics, in Lardner*s Cabinet CyclopcEdia, chap. xiv.
p. 113., " on the colours of fibres and grooved surfaces."

Mirage, — When I wrote the article in III. 484 — 486., I
had seen no explanation of the phenomenon, except that pro-
posed by Y., in III. 200. Since that time, I have seen many
notices of it, and several theories; but none of them do I
prefer to my own. In the present, I mean to confine myself
to the following, by Professor Jameson, in the eighth volume
of the Edi7iburgh Cabinet Library^ p. 254, 255. : —

" Mirage, In viewing distant objects, it often happens,
under certain circumstances, that these objects present many
images which are straight, oblique, or inverted, and always
more or less changed in the contour. It is the appearance
of these images, without any visible reflector to produce them,

Milage, 451

which constitutes mirage. In explanation of this phenomenon,
it may be remarked, that, as soon as the soil becomes heated,
the lower stratum of air is also affected by the calorific in-
fluence. Numerous aerial currents are established, and, an
undulatory motion taking place in the air, distant objects,
become changed in form, and variously distorted and broken.
If, when these changes are going on, a calm should prevail,
and the mass of atmosphere upon the plain remain at rest
while the stratum in contact with the ground becomes gra-
dually heated, mirage will arise. In such cases, the observer
will see distant objects in their natural positions and forms ;
but, beloxv them, these images will be seen reversed, and the
spectator believe that he is looking at a reflection from the
surface of a body of water. The sky, also, joins in com-
pleting the illusion, its images being reflected in the same
manner. The whole visible appearances, the French philo-
sophers who visited Egypt remark, are, indeed, the same as
those usually exhibited by water. All the laws by which the
observer has been accustomed to judge of the existence of
water, viewed at a distance, are here called into action ; and
the man of science as well as the peasant alike find themselves
deceived."

In this description of the phenomenon, it is stated that
distant objects are seen in their proper positions ; and, at the
same time, under them their reversed images, as if reflected
from the surface of water. The sky, also, i^s in the same
manner reflected ; the whole appearances, in short, being the
same as those usually exhibited by water ; and the explanation
is, that these reversed images are owing to reflection from an
invisible mirror ; that is, from a supposed reflecting surface
at the place where two strata of different densities are in
contact : which (speaking from memory) is, I think, the
theory of the French philosophers referred to as explaining
the phenomenon.

I have seen this kind of mirage, I dare say, a thousand
titnes ; and have often attentively observed it for a length of
time, with a view of accounting for it; and I have to say,
that the appearances, though like^ are 7iot the same as, those
usually exhibited by water. The images seen by me were
always very indistinct ; though, generally, their colours were
tolerably bright, their outlines were undefined, and they more
or less approached to a triangular form, the base being upper-
most ; appearing, on the whole, very much as if reflected
from water slightly ruffled by a light breath of wind. The
images were never reversed^ but invar iahly erect: though this
was not always easily made out ; for, from the constant form

G c 2

452 Miiasic.

t>'

just mentioned, the image of a hill, a tent, or of a liouse with
a steep roof, appeared at the first glance distinctly reversed ;
but if the hill had a white building on its summit, it might
always be seen that, if it appeared in the image, it was towards
the base, not at the summit, of the hill ; so, if the house had
white walls and a roof of red tiles, in the image the roof and
walls seemed to have changed places.

But the hypothesis of a reflecting surface at the place where
the rarefied stratum and the dense one over it meet, will by no
means account for, it is even contradicted by, other observed
facts. On such a supposition, to see the image the eye must
be raised into the dense stratum above the supposed mirror,
and to make it disappear, the eye would only have to be lowered
into the rare stratum below it. But the facts are, that, as the
eye is raised, the mirage gradually disappears, and as it is
lowered it gradually increases, till at last, when brought close
to the ground, all is mirage, even the soil within a few feet not
being distinguishable. This I have often tried. Belzoni says
{Narrative^ p, 196.), " If the traveller stand elevated much
above the mirage, the apparent water seems less united and
less deep ; for, as the eyes look down upon it, there is not
thickness enough in the vapour on the surface of the ground
to conceal the earth from the sight. [This is Belzoni's theory,
but I quote him solely for his facts.] But if the traveller be
on a level with the horizon of the mirage, he cannot see
through it, so that it appears to him clear water. By putting
my head first to the ground, and then mounting a camel, the
height of which might have been about 10 ft. at the most, I
found a great difference in the appearance of the mirage."

In stating the result of my own experience, I do not mean
to deny that other observers may have seen reversed images * ;
but / have never seen them, and therefore I have come to the
conclusion that they are not characteristic of this kind of
mirage. I am also of opinion that hasty observers, misled by
the extraordinary resemblance of the whole to objects reflected
from water, have often taken it for granted that the indistinct
images were reversed, when, in reality, they may have been
erect ; and that, in consequence, much perplexity has arisen,
and the idea of a reflecting surface has been had recourse to, to
account for this, perhaps imaginary, part of the phenomenon.

* This communication has no reference to those cases of unusual
refraction where images are seen in various positions, erect, reversed, and
multiplied. Sir D. Brewster mentions that Dr. Wollaston, in looking
through a square glass bottle, containing water floating above syrup, saw
an object in its proper position, and under it an inverted image, but whether
by reflection or refraction, he does not say. This experiment seems to
have some relation to mirage, and to make against my theory.

Dcdo and Hoar- Frost. i^S

I shall conclude by repeating my own explanation in a few
words. In ordinary states of the atmosphere, the air is more
dense towards the surface of the earth, and, in consequence of
the refraction thereby produced, distant elevated objects appear
higher than they really are ; but, in the case under consider-
ation, a stratum of heated, and, consequently, rarefied air, rest-
ing on the surface of the ground, produces an effect the very
reverse : distant elevated objects are seen lower than they are,
by an eye placed near but below the upper surface of the rare-
fied stratum, while from this situation of the eye they will at
the same time be seen nearly in their true places.

Observations on Dew and Hoar-Frosty principally with re-
ference to a paragraph in III. 562.— If we leave solution and
precipitation out of the question, and admit that water exists
in the solid, liquid, and aeriform states, in consequence of
being combined with a less or greater quantity of heat, we
shall remove some of the difficulties stated by J. M. Having
thus premised, we may expect, from analogy, that, if the heat
thus necessary to retain water in its aeriform state be abstracted,
it will reassume its liquid form, and, if more heat continue to
be withdrawn, it will take the solid state, and freeze. This, in
fact, we find to be the case. A greater or less quantity of
aqueous vapour is always mixed with the air of the atmosphere ;
if, therefore, a body at a temperature considerably lower than
that of the atmosphere be exposed to the air, it will abstract
heat from the air and vapour in contact with it, till at last the
latter, being deprived of that portion requisite to sustain it in
the gaseous state, will deposit itself on the body in the form
of dew. The degree just necessary to produce deposition is
termed the dew point. If the temperature is sufficiently low,
the dew will freeze and become hoar-frost.

From this it follows that dew, speaking of it as a condens-
ation of aqueous vapour, may be formed at any temperature
under the boiling point ; but, in the more common accept-
ation of the word, dew will not be formed except when the
surface of the ground is at a considerably lower temperature
than the air immediately over it; and this will rarely be the
case except when the atmosphere is calm and clear, and the
sun is absent. For though all bodies on the earth's surface
are constantly throwing off their heat by radiation, yet, while
the sun, the great source of heat, is shining, they will re-
ceive more than they radiate; and when the sky is- overcast,
the heat radiated by the clouds will prevent their cooling
down much below the atmosphere : but a cloudless sky
radiates little or no heat towards the earth, consequently
bodies on its surface exposed to this clear sky nwist neces-

G G 3

•454 Dcx and Hoar-Frost.

sarily fall in temperature, if situated so as not to receive heat
from other radiating bodies in their neighbourhood.*

When bodies are thus exposed, some of them are found
to part with their heat faster than others : the former are
therefore called good radiaters, and may be observed covered
with dew ; while the latter, called bad radiaters, remain dry.
In fact, each body will cool down, and receive a deposition, in
proportion as it is a good radiater.

A calm atmosphere is necessary. In order to the de-
position of dew, the air and vapour must remain under the
influence of the cold body until their temperature is brought
down to the dew point. Wind not only prevents this, but
rapidly reduces the objects exposed to it to a common tem-
perature, thus neutralising the effects of radiation.

Fluids are bad conductors. Heat is slowly propagated
through them, when applied above or abstracted from below.
The cold, therefore, in the case we are considering, extends
to no great height ; indeed, it is generally confined to a few
feet from the surface of the ground. I often observe a ther-
mometer placed outside, at a height of about 7 ft., stand at
40° when the ground is white with hoar-frost ; and the Rev.
W. T. Bree (IV. 480.) has mentioned many striking instances
in point. The extent of the cold stratum is very obvious in
the neighbourhood of water ; the partially condensed steam
from it marking the limits very distinctly. (See, again, IV.
480.)

I have said that dew will rarely be seen except in clear
weather f, for otherwise the surface of the ground will seldom
be found colder than the air; but it sometimes happens.
Last Saturday night (Nov. 18. 1833), the thermometer sunk
to 29°, and during Sunday did not rise to 33° in the shade;
at night it fell to 28°, and on the morning of the 18th it sud-
denly rose to 47 J°, the atmosphere becoming dull : a calm
prevailed all the time. The consequence was a copious de-
position of moisture, which, on the grass, indeed, could be
distinguished from the melted hoar-frost, but was very remark-
able on stones that had been previously dry. The rooms in
my house that had been without fires had partaken of the
severe cold, the temperature being 40°, and the windows of
them, as might have been expected, were covered with con-
densed vapour on the outside. This, though of the same
nature with dew, is not what, in common language, we would
call by that name.

* Dew and hoar-frost are seldom observed in the close streets of towns,
or under shady trees,
f The common people here call a clear calm atmosphere " a frosty sky.'*

Sh(rt't Commmiications : — Mammifera. 455

While on this subject, I may observe, in regard to high,
exposed, and sloping grounds escaping the effects of hoar-
frost, while low grounds suffer, that, in addition to the causes
that have been assigned, it may be the case that the cold
stratum, as fast as it is formed in such situations, may, from its
increased density, slide down to the lower levels, and be
replaced by a warmer stratum, and so on ; thus helping to
produce the destructive effects of frost in low situations, so
often noticed.

Vale of Alford^ Aberdeenshire, Nov. 20. 1834.

Art. XII. Short Communications,

Mammtferous Animals. — Perforation of a Leaden Pipe
by Rats. — The sharpness of the incisory teeth of the Glires,
and the power with which these animals can employ them, are
well known to those who have unfortunately allowed a finger
to come within the range of those of any one of the species.
How readily will a squirrel penetrate the hardest shells of a
nut; and how do we hear, night after night, the patient and
persevering grinding of a rat's teeth, working its way through
some particular plank or joist below a skirting-board, forming
a barrier interrupting the intruder in its progress towards a
larder, storeroom, or closet, wherein its instinctive shrewd-
ness assures it that its labour will meet with a plentiful
reward ! It was not, however, till very lately, that I had
learned to what extent rats will employ their teeth, when bent
on making their way towards a desired point, whatever be the
nature of the intervening obstacle.

The facts of the case which informed me of this are the
following : — The kitchen and scullery, &c., of a gentleman's
house, were supplied with water from a pool at some distance,
by means of a leaden pipe about I J in. in external diameter,
with a bore of about | in. in diameter ; thus leaving a solid
circumference of metal varying from J in. to f in. in thickness.
This pipe, on reaching to the building, was carried under a
flagged pavement, and embedded in brickwork, till it termin-
ated in a cock, at a convenient height, for the purpose of
affording the supply of water. For some months in the sum-
mer the pool of water had been intentionally lowered while
some improvements near its banks had been carried on, and
the pipe had, in consequence, never been used. I know not
how far this circumstance influenced the operations of the
rats, whose avidity for water, more especially in dry weather,
is such as to induce them to lay aside their usual shy and

G G 4

456 Short Communicatiotis : —

secluded habits, and expose themselves, even in the middle of
the day, to public view ; so much so, indeed, that, after several
days of drought last summer, on the first drops of rain falling
from a slight shower, a whole colony of rats emerged from
under the eaves of an outhouse, and almost filled an open
wooden gutter which ran the whole length of that side of the
building. There they remained, old and young, only occa-
sionally retreating, but immediately again advancing, in the
presence of several persons, myself amongst others, assembled
to witness so singular a troop ; and there did they remain till
a gun was loaded, and fired amongst them, by which four or
five were killed on the spot, and many others, doubtless,
severely wounded.* But to return to the leaden pipe; some
repairs being necessary, a bricklayer was employed to open
the brickwork surrounding the pipe, when he found that the
mortar had been already removed, and a passage effected by
rats to the side of the pipe, which, it might have been sup-
posed, would completely check their progress. Great, how-
ever, was his surprise, when, on laying bare the pipe, he found
it entirely laid open to the extent of about 4 in. in length, and
considerably more than half the solid circumference of lead
actually removed. Not a doubt could exist as to the cause ;
for on the surface of the edges of the opening were continuous
marks of rats' teeth, deeply impressed, with as much uniformity
and regularity as if indented by a carpenter's file. How long
the rats, or more probably the rat (for, in so confined a space,
I think, it would have been difficult for more than one to have
gnawed and nibbled at a time), had been occupied at this
tough job, it is not possible to determine ; but the effects were
such as to convey a very fearful impression of what might be
effected by these animals in the work of destruction ; and, at
all events, how little resistance the thickest and most solid
planks would make to their united and persevering efforts. I
send a sketch of the piece of leaden pipe sawed off" by the
plumber, and now in my possession. — E. S., F,L*S.:

[The drawing corresponds with the description, which does
not need illustration.! j

* [Upon the thatched roofs of buildings in the country, unfurnished with
eaves' troughs, they may be- seen, after showers, in the daytime, lapping
the drops of water which hang at the ends of the reeds or straw of the
roof; and are not rarely shot while thus intent on slaking their thirst.]

f [Mr. Bree has, in a communication in the Gardener's Magazine^
vii., 235., described the attacks of some species of mice upon his holly
bushes; and those of rats upon his " young oaks in a plantation near a
brook and small pond. They [the rats] gnaw the tree off just below the
ground; sometimes nearly as level as if it had been cut with a saw.
Young trees nearly as thick as my wrist have been served in this way ; and
I have been quite astonished how the rats could cut them through so com-

Mammiferous Animals. 457

Singula!' Bobbery committed by Rats, — A clergyman, in the
spring of last year (1833), had a brood of turkeys, amounting
to a dozen or fourteen in number, when, one morning, all of
them, with the exception of two, had disappeared. In vain
was the dairymaid sent out in all directions to search for the
remainder ; not a vestige was visible, in the shape of body or
limb, to account for their death by vermin; and the whole
remained a mystery, though suspicions rested on rats, which
abounded in the barns and stabling adjacent to the pen in
which the mother turkey and her young brood had passed
the night. At this moment, when all were either deliberating
on what could possibly have happened, or diligently searching
for the delinquent, a farmer joined the party, who, in the
course of investigation, turned their attention to a slight loose-
ness of a piece of turf near the hedge bordering on the lawn,
on uplifting which, a hole appeared, and, on stooping down, a
slight noise was heard, which induced him to widen the orifice,
and insert his hand; when, to the astonishment of all, he
pulled out one of the young turkeys, and, on still farther ex-
tending their excavations, the whole of the remainder were
discovered; and, what was still more extraordinary, all were
alive, with the exception of two (if I recollect my friend's
report correctly), and apparently not much the worse for their
imprisonment; and, to crown the discovery, at the farther
extremity the plunderer himself was found. That instinct
should have prompted the marauder to carry off one, or even
two or more, if his appetite could command such a number, is
not beyond credence; but that he should, with a view to future
provision, furnish his subterranean larder with a sufficiency of

pletely, and could not at first tell whether it was done for meat or malice.
The fact is, the rat begins his operations under ground among the soft and
tender roots, and eats upwards as far as he finds the wood soft enough for
his purpose, which is just below the surface : the consequence is, that the
tree will often remain erect, and appear to the eye as if nothing had
happened to it : but, of course, it throws out no leaves in the spring, and,
on taking hold of it, you find it loose, and ready to come up with a touch."
We have witnessed the same effect produced upon young willow plants
growing in somewhat marshy soil, and have always referred it to the water
campagnol, or water rat (Arvicola amphibia). All of the Rodentia have,
we presume, the power of cutting with that remarkable evenness which
Mr, Bree has mentioned ; hares have, it is well known, in cutting their
way (muse) through young hawthorn hedges. The fact of rats gnawing
through lead is, perhaps, less remarkable than that of Cerambyx bajulus L.
making its way out even through sheet lead one sixth of an inch thick,
when this has happened to have been nailed upon the rafter in which the
insect has assumed its final metamorphosis. Holes a quarter of an inch wide
in their longer diameter have, it is stated, been found drilled by insects of
this species through such lead, and lead has been discovered in the stomach
of the larva. (See Kirby and Spence's Introd.y ed. 1822, i. 232. note d,)]

458 SJiort Commimications ; —

live stock for several days, is a fact which I could not have
believed, had it not been thus established by the testimony of
a most respectable witness, on whose accuracy I can place
implicit reliance. — E, S,, F.L.S.

[This account remhids one of that in VI. 206., by W. L.,
of a polecat, out of whose larder " he poked out, and counted
carefully, forty large frogs and two toads .... all and every
one of them alive, but merely so ! " See VI. 206.]

The Water Rat {Mus amphibius L., Arvicola amphibia
Fleming). — On Feb. 28. 1829, one was brought to me that
had been taken in a mole-trap, under ground, more than a
mile from any river. I have also been informed of the water
rat's being dug out of the ground in a potato field. No
motive can be supposed to have brought the water rat into a
mole creep, but in search of the mole to devour it. The
weasel also pursues the same prey. — J. Couch, Polperro^
Cornwall, May 29. 1834. [The fact of a handful of mangled
remains of earthworms, being, as I have noticed in V. 4-90.,
found in the run of a water-rat, suggests it to be possible
that the water rat, in the above case, was but seeking earth-
worms in the mole's run.]

Birds. — Of the Great Bustard {O^tis tarda L.,Jig. 58. $ ),
three females resorted, last spring, to Great Massingham Heath,

Norfolk, for incubation. Their
eggs consisted of two pairs and a
single one. These were taken away,
under the impression that, as there
was no male bird, they were good
for nothing. I have one of the pairs.
Does the male associate with the
female during the period of incu-
bation ? Bewick says that " the
male is said to live apart after the
females have been impregnated."
Is this the case ? If it be, it may
be well, should female bustards again visit the same place, not
to deprive them of their eggs. A correspondent, in VI. 513.,
states that the last bustard seen at Icklingham " was a hen
bustard, sitting on six or seven eggs." Is he correct in stating
that there were so many eggs ? I have always understood
that the number of a bustard's eggs never exceeds a pair. —
«/. Z). Salmon. Stoke Feny, Norfolk, Dec. 28. 1833.

Of the Little Bustard (O^tis Tetrax L.), a fine individual
has been recently killed in this neighbourhood. It has been
preserved; and the specimen is deposited in the valuable

I

Birds. 459

cabinet of British birds belonging to the Philosophical and
Literary Institution of Chatham. — Stephen Hart, Subcurator
{of that histitutiori], Jan. 21. 1834.

Rooks feedirig on Grain, S^c. — Sir, In reply to J. D., who
hints (p. 244.) that " the soil's being covered up, in summer
and autumn, with ground crops, may prevent access to it
for ground grubs and insects, and so account for the rook's
then feeding on grain, &c.," I would observe, that the rooks
feed quite as much on grain in the spring (March and April),
when they are not driven to that necessity by the ground
being covered up by crops. Neither will the excuse offered
be sufficient to exculpate the rooks from the charge of their
autumnal depredations on the corn ; for the ground is bare
enough at that season to afford them an opportunity to stock
it up in search of grubs; and, accordingly, they do then stock
it up, and destroy immense numbers. The real fact is, and
it must not be disguised, that my friends the rooks have a
natural taste and propensity for grain, especially when it is
a little swollen by having lain a few days in the ground;
and, accordingly, the periods at which they commit the
greatest depredations are just after the grain is sown (the
wheat in autumn, and the oats and barley in spring), and
before it is come up. I have known the blackbirds do me
much mischief in the summer and autumn, especially if the
season be dry, by plucking up most unceremoniously low-
tufted alpine plants (e. g. 6'axifraga //ypnoides, Arenaria bale-
arica, Sibth6rp/« europae^a, &c.), in order to get at the grubs *

* [Those of some Curculionidae : not rarely those of the Curculio vas-
tator Marshaviy which, according to Curtis's Guide, is a synonyme of Otio-
rhynchus Ger. picipes F. It is not a little vexatious, to those who cultivate
plants with a passion for them, to find the tufts of AS'axifragae and other
plants (but more frequently the tufted 5axifragae) turned or turning to a
brown colour, and, at a lifting up with the hand, come clear off the soil
upon which they had grown, and appearing partly rootless, and in a dying
state. On exploring the soil below, insects in the pupa state (they have
wings formed, and pretty obvious) are discoverable. The larvae of these,
it may be presumed, had fed upon the roots of the plants. A fine plant
of the Crassula cordata was once kept upon a stand in the drawingroom,
near a window, by the late Sir Thomas Cullum, Bart. : it flourished, and
its branches hung tressily and prettily over the edge of the pot, and bore
flowers in its season. After this plant had been kept some time here, it
died suddenly, and, on exploring the soil, larvae or pupas of an insect were.
Sir Thomas informed me, discovered in it : doubtless those of one of the
Curculionidae. The grape vine, in forcing-houses, has its sprouting herbage
and embryo fruit not a little ravaged by an Otiorhjnchus. O. raucus has
abounded about Liverpool in the spring of this present year (1834), and
eaten to an unwelcome extent of the leaves of the trees and shrubs of that
neighbourhood. These facts aid in showing the value of the agency of
the black birds, however much or little they may do towards reducing the
numbers of the weevils.]

460 Short Commimkatiotis : —

which lie just below the surface, and feed on the roots of the
plants. Sometimes whole patches of these and similar plants
have been nearly stocked up from the rockwork, or the pots
in which they grew. But to return to the rooks : I am sur-
prised to find it mentioned (p. 244. )j as a new fact in natural
history, that '' the husk of grain taken by the rook is sepa-
rated, in the rook's stomach, from the grain itself, and is
afterwards discharged from the mouth of the rook in masses
of the size [nearly] of a pigeon's egg." This fact I have
repeatedly observed, and any one may satisfy himself of it,
who will but examine the ground under a rookery in the
spring, where he will find the surface strewed with abun-
dance of such rejectamenta.* I may here mention one cir-
cumstance connected with this fact, which is not noticed by
your correspondent : the rooks, to grind their corn, seem to
require stones, like other millers f; and, for this purpose,
they swallow lumps of brick, grit, broken platter, coal, and
other like substances (but chiefly brick), which are discharged
again along with the pellets of husks. These fragments of
brick, &c., are from the size of a vetch seed, or less, to that
of a damson stone, rough and irregular sometimes, but
usually more or less rounded or bouldered by the action of
grinding in the bird's stomach, before they are thrown up in
the pellets ; and the pellets, in consequence, are sometimes
slightly tinged with a red or brickdust colour. I herewith

* [Mr. Hewitson, in his Sriiish Oology y t. 71., has spoken of it as a fact
hitherto unnoticed, except in this Magazine, VII. 244. In the case de-
scribed by Mr. Hewitson, " the whole surface of the ground underneath
the trees [which bore the rookery] was thickly strewed with disgorged
pellets similar to those ejected by the owl, but consisting entirely of the
husks of oats ; and must have contained, altogether, the remains of many
bushels. [We shall add his speculation on this fact.] I suspect, however,
that the rook is by no means so destructive from choice as one might be
led (from what I have stated) to infer ; and that the dryness of the spring,
and the consequent difficulty in obtaining its usual food, had driven it to
a more than usual destruction of grain. If I am right, it will also account
for the habit having remained unnoticed."

Bushnan, in his Introduction to the Study of Nature y proposes, in p. 157.,
that birds adapt the time of rearing their young to the period in which

there will be a certainty of procuring food suitable for them " The

rook hatches in April, when the turning up of the soil affords abundance
of grubs and worms, which could not be found at a later season ; and, when
this source fails, the common chafer affords a long supply." How long
was the rook in existence ere tillage was much practised '?]

-|- Most, if not all granivorous birds, I believe, as well as some others,
swallow grit, in order to promote the trituration of their food. I have
sometimes been much amused by seeing chickens, especially such as have
been confined in a pen, and cannot help themselves to grit, swallow with
avidity large pieces of broken oyster shell, which have been given to them,
of the size of a sixpence, or larger. — W. T, B.

Birds. 461

transmit you a packet of these ornithological millstones, col-
lected from the pellets found under the trees of the rookery
on my premises.

I have somewhere lately met with an extract from Jesse's
Gleanings in Natural History, in which it is contended that
the rooks do no injury to the agriculturist. After speaking
in just commendation of the rooks, and of their utility in
destroying grubs, this pleasing writer goes on to say : — " In
order to be convinced that these birds are beneficial to the
farmer, let him observe the same field in which his plough-
man and his sower are at work : he will see the former fol-
lowed by a train of rooks, while the sower will be unattended,
and his grain remain untouched." Our own characters, I
believe, often suffer by the extravagant and injudicious praises
of our friends ; for, when men come to perceive that we do
not possess all the good qualities, or at least do not possess
them to that extent which we are said to do, they are apt not
to give us credit even for those which really belong to us.
I fear it may fare the same with the rooks in the present in-
stance. Some who read the above erroneous statement, will
be likely to condemn the rooks in toto^ and to discredit
what is most truly said in their favour, on account of the
error mixed up along with it. Mr. Jesse makes the rooks
too good by nearly half. They may not follow the sower, it
is true, because, as already stated, they prefer the grain when
it has become a little swollen, from having been a short time
in the ground. But that they do eat grain, the pellets we
have been speaking of are an incontrovertible proof. If far-
ther evidence were needed, I might mention what occurred
to myself this spring. A few days after the oats were sown,
my man came to complain to me of the rooks, which, he
said, were settling on the newly sown ground in numbers,
and pecking up the corn like a flock of chickens. The fact
was even so ; and, in corroboration of it, abundance of dis-
gorged pellets, consisting of oat husks and brickbats, was
soon perceived under the trees of the adjoining rookery.
" Keeping crows," as it is called in this part of the country,
that is, guarding the newly sown fields from the depredations
of rooks, is a very usual occupation for boys and children
who are unfit for more laborious employment. Mr. Water-
ton himself (the friend and advocate of all wild animals, even
of some which are usually accounted vermin) does not deny
(p. 102.) the rook's propensity, " if not narrowly watched,"
to peck a little new-sown corn. Let it not be supposed that,
in making the above statement, my object is to injure the
character of these useful and amusing birds. On the con-

462 Short Communications : —

trary, I am one of their firmest friends, being fully convinced
(indeed, it has been proved by actual experiment) that they
are, on the whole, beneficial to the farmer. Unquestionably,
they commit some injury; but then, by way of compensation,
they do a vast deal of good. Only let the balance be fairly
struck, and the good they do will be found greatly to pre-
ponderate.— W, T, Bree. Allesley Rectory, May 12. ISSl-.

[^The Rook is very rare, and never builds, in the Islands of
Guernsey and Jersey. The Red-legged Chough occurs in Jersey,
hut is rare there,'] — Dr. Latham has remarked (as quoted by
Mr. Selby), as a curious circumstance, that the Islands of
Guernsey and Jersey should be without rooks, particularly
as it is ascertained that they frequently fly across the Channel,
from England to France. I learned on the spot [see 473.]
that they do sometimes make their appearance there in winter ;
but never breed in the islands. The red-legged chough
occurs in Jersey, but is rare. — E. Blyth, Tooting, Surrey,
May 22. 1834.

The Swift (H. K^pus L.) builds its own Nest : this Nest de-
scribed.— It is generally understood, I believe, that the swift
occupies, for the purpose of incubation, the deserted nest of
the sparrow (i^ringilla domestica X.). Most authors agree
on this point; I suspect for want of opportunities of examin-
ing, personally, the nests of swifts, in consequence of these
birds invariably selecting the roofs of churches, houses, &c.,
as the places for their nests. By comparing the statements
of different authors, it will be, I think, found that they have,
in fact, copied from each other. I must, however, except one
author, of a very recent date, from this charge. Mr. Mudie
says, in his British Naturalist, " the nest is constructed much
in the same manner as that of the common swallow." A. R.Y.
has, in V. 59., well commented on the fallacy of this notion
[and his remarks should be read in connection with this sub-
ject]. In the Architecture of Birds, the swift is classed with
the " parasite birds;" and there is a quotation from Montbeil-
lard, Oiseaux, viii. 218., who, after describing the nest as
" consisting of a great variety of substances, stalks of corn,
dry grass, moss, &c. &c.," says, " of seven nests found under
the head of a church porch, 15 ft. from the ground, there were
only three which had a regular cup shape, and of which the
materials were more or less uifawoven, and with greater order
than usual in sparrows^ nests ; they had also more moss and
fewer feathers, and were in general less bulky." This author
had evidently laboured under a mistake, in supposing these
were the nests of the sparrow. I have, during 1831, had an
opportunity of inspecting two nests belonging to a small co-

Birds, 463

lony of swifts (for I find that they, like their congeners the
martin {H. urbica) and sand martin {H. riparia), delight in
associating together, whenever it is practicable), consisting of
three pairs, these being all that visited this village last spring.
They took up their quarters under the eaves of the roof of the
church, all of them entering by the same aperture: this was
too small to admit my hand ; and I was, in consequence, under
the necessity of untiling a very large space before I succeeded
in finding the nests. There were but two, which were placed
in opposite directions from the entrance : one contained three
eggs of a clear white colour ; the other not any. I was much
surprised to find these nests so totally different in their struc-
ture from what I had hitherto been led to expect. Instead of
being "loose and slovenly structures " (A. R. Y., V. 60.)j I
found them both (for they were precisely similar) quite the
contrary ; being very neat and compact. They were chiefly
composed of that part of the blade (the sheath) which is left
adhering round the straw : this is a light substance, and there
can scarcely be a doubt that it is obtained by the bird on the
wing, as it is waved about by the wind ; the remainder was
of dry grass, none of the pieces more than about 6 in. in
length ; not any feathers whatever. These substances were
very closely interwoven, and were held firmly together by an
adhesive substance very much resembling glue, and so dis-
posed round the inner edge of the nest as to hold the straws
in their places ; the whole forming quite a cup of an oval
shape, of about 4 in. in length, not very deep. These facts
will show, I think, that the swift is entitled to more merit
than has hitherto been awarded to it. In fact, I think
it scarcely possible for the sparrow to occupy those places
that are generally selected by the swift, as the swifts go a con-
siderable way up under the roofs before they reach their nests :
those I have mentioned were, I should say, from 5 ft. to 6 ft.
from the entrance ; nor could there be any thing like suffi-
cient room for the sparrow to form their dome-h\x\[t nest, which
I believe they invariably form, even where there is a natural
covering. I hope some correspondent, who may have oppor-
tunities, will be induced to examine the nests of the swift, and
let us know how far those of the little colony resident here last
year agree with those of the main body. I suspect there will
not be found any very great difference. — J, D, Salmon. Stoke
Ferry, Norfolk, Dec, 28. 1833.

Additional Particulars, communicated under Date ofThetford,
Norfolk, July 14. 1834. — My observations have been fully
verified. These birds are very numerous in this town [Thet-
ford, Norfolk], and they made their first appearance this

464 Short Communications : —

spring on April 26. Several pairs having taken up their
residence at a house, entering under the eaves, I, on May 22.,
examined this situation, and found that there were seven nests,
all of them containing eggs, two with a pair, four with three,
and one with even four. The nests, in this case, instead of
being some way up under the rool^ were all placed upon the
wall plate, although at some distance from the different en-
trances under the tiles : they were precisely similar in form
and structure to those previously described, the only difference
being in the materials of which they were composed. As,
however, they had been occupied for the same purpose the
preceding season, if not for a longer period, as was evident
from their appearance, it was rather a difficult matter to ascer-
tain precisely what the materials were. I should think prin-
cipally feathers and other light substances. I took the
precaution of removing every nest, and all rubbish ; and, as I
perceived that the birds still adhered to the same place, I, on
June 27-, again examined the same situation, and found that
the swifts had constructed eight other nests ; these, of course,
having been built since my previous examination. These
nests were, in form and structure, precisely similar to the
others, except that there was in some a greater profusion of
feathers, intermixed with a few straws and other light mate-
rials, all held together firmly by a viscous substance ; each
contained only a pair of either young or eggs. On removing
the tiles, several of the old birds would not leave their nests,
although exposed to view, until gently taken off. The author
of that interesting work, lately published. The Feathered
Tribes^ has remarked, in mentioning the different situations
selected by this bird, its occupying " the jutting rocks that
rise to a considerable altitude amid fertile places, and its in-
stinct leads it to adapt the structure of its nest to the ele-
ments. The straws and other matters of which it is composed
are said to be soldered to the rock, and to each other, with a
viscid substance, elaborated by glands for the express purpose,
though, perhaps, the same glutinous matter may more assist
the bird in the capture of its prey." I think I may now with
certainty state that the swift does not make use of the deserted
nest of the sparrow, except as a foundation on which to place
its own nest, the same as it would upon any other substance.
The swift is remarkable for its early rising and retiring late
to rest, and may be seen for a considerable time in the even-
ing after all the other i/iriindines have retired, and even
seeming to dispute the acquisition of flies, &c., with the bats,
whose flapping movements are strangely contrasted with the
swift's rapid and silent evolutions ; for at these times it is

Birds, 465

quite silent, being eager and intent upon securing its prey, as
it passes and repasses with the utmost velocity, and at the
same time flying much lower than it is wont at midday to do.

I have great pleasure in forwarding you specimens of the
nests. No. 1. taken on May 22. ; No. 2. on June 27.; which
will speak for themselves. — J. D. Salmon,

[Both nests are neat ones. No. 1. seems as if it has been
much used: the feathers about its interior surface are not
numerous, and have a trodden battered appearance : it is re-
markable that a twig, the thickness of the tine of an eating-
fork, as tough as wire, passes at the bottom of this nest across
its longer axis. No. 2. is a nest much thicker in its walls,
which are interiorly coated with many feathers, several of
which retain their expanded form. The viscous matter, by
which the materials are cemented together, is obvious in each
of the nests. We have given them both to Mr. E. Blyth.]

[I have not seen a swift since July 25. and they appear to
have left this village even some time before that: I think we
see fewer and less of them every year. — W. T, Bree, Alles-
ley Rectory^ in a letter dated Aug. 7. 1834.]

A Pair of the Wryneck ham steered their Nest to he removed
and replaced Five Times, and Four Layings of Eggs to betaken
a*way, before they would quit the Place of attempted Incubation.
— I was wishing, last spring, to obtain the eggs of the wry-
neck to place in my cabinet, and accordingly watched very
closely a pair of this bird that had resorted to a garden in this
village, for the purpose of incubation ; I soon ascertained that
they had selected a hole in an old decayed apple tree for that
purpose, the entrance to which was so small, as not to admit
my hand. The tree being hollow and decayed at the bottom
near the ground, I was enabled to reach the nest by putting
my arm upwards ; and I found, on withdrawing the nest, that
the underneath part of it was composed of moss, hair, &c.,
having every appearance of an old one of the redstart's of the
preceding summer ; which, I suspect, was the case : the upper
part was made of dried roots. The nest did not contain any
eggs, and I returned it by stuffing it up in the inside of the
tree. On passing by the same tree, about a week afterwards,
my attention was arrested by observing one of the birds leav-
ing the hole, upon which I gently withdrew the nest, and
was much gratified at finding it contained five most beautiful
glossy eggs, the shells of which were perfectly white, and so
transparent that the yolks shone through, giving them a deli-
cate pink colour, but which is lost in the blowing. [This is
the case with the egg of the kingfisher.] I replaced the nest,
and visited it during the ensuing week, and was induced, out

VoL.VII. — No. 41. HH

466 Short Communications : —

of curiosity, to examine it again, when, to my astonishment, I
found the bird had not deserted the hole, she having laid six
eggs since : I took these away, and was obliged to keep them,
as I was only able to replace the nest by thrusting it up in
the inside of the tree as before, which I did. I again visited
the spot in the following week, and found that they had still
pertinaciously adhered to their domicile, having farther laid
four more eggs. I repeated the experiment, but, not having
an opportunity of visiting the tree until ten days afterwards, I
thought at the time that the nest was abandoned, and was not
undeceived until I had again withdrawn the nest, having taken
the precaution of endeavouring to frighten the old bird oflfj
should she be on the nest, which I found was the case, she
suffering me to pull the nest to the bottom of the tree, before
she attempted to escape : there were seven eggs, which were
slightly sat upon. What appears to me extraordinary is,
that the bird should suffer her nest to be disturbed Jive times^
and the eggs (amounting altogether to twenty-two) to be taken
away at four different periods within the month, before she
finally abandoned the spot she had selected. After this the
pair quitted the garden, seeking, I presume, and, I trust, find-
ing, some more fortunate spot in which to rear their young. —
J. D. Salmon. Stoke Ferry, Norfolk, December 28. 1833.

[This is the case referred to in p. 338. Mr. Blyth has
given, in the Field Naturalisf s Magazine for January, 1834,
ii. 50, 51., various facts on the habits of the wryneck. Ac-
cording to his experience, " it forms no nest, but lays its eggs
on the soft sawdust-like chips at the bottom of the hole."]

The Habits of the Wheatear (MotacillaCEndnthe.)—'' One
most probable reason for the solitary habits of the wheatear is
the nature of its food ; for, living, as it seems to do, on the
few insects which frequent such places as the little heaps of
stones collected from the ridges of a corn field, it would be-
impossible for more than a pair of these birds to find subsist-
ence near one spot. The gregarious habits, again, of other
birds which feed on insects, depend on similar habits in the
peculiar insects to which they are partial," The observation
here given, I have found quoted from " Timers Telescope^^ for
1832 ; of which year the natural history is ascribed [V. 186.]
to Professor Rennie ; and it affords a proof of the necessity
of more extended enquiries, before we can venture to speak
with certainty of the natural habits of even the common birds
of our own country. The only specimens of this bird that are
ever found in corn fields, in Cornwall, are such as are not our
own residents, but which are engaged in travelling, with all
haste, to their summer homes. The time of this their spring

Birds, Spiders* 467

migration is, therefore, confined to the month of March ; after
which they are seen only on the slopes of our hills fronting
the sea, which, being only sheepwalks, afford abundance of
wild thyme, and other plants that are supposed to attract the
insects on which the wheatear feeds. The only other situ-
ation in which, I believe, I have seen a resident wheatear, is on
the wild downs close to Dozmerry Pool, in the middle of the
county of Cornwall. The periods of this bird's first arrival
are here given : — March 17. 1817; March 18. 1816 and 1822;
March 20. 1818. My subsequent notes showed so little vari-
ation in the periods, that I have since ceased to mark them.
The wheatear reaches our shores so early in the morning as
to prove that it must have taken flight from the French coast
long before daybreak. Few come after nine o'clock in the
morning, and none after twelve. They sometimes perch on
our fishing-boats, at two or three leagues from land, in an
almost exhausted state. They do not cross the Channel every
day ; and, as it usually happens that our own residents are
not the first to arrive, it is common for them to abound in a
morning ; but in the afternoon, and for a day or two after,
for not one to be seen. My own observations do not confirm
the remark, that one sex materially precedes the other ; they
rather appear to arrive indiscriminately. Through the sum-
mer, the wheatear is a common bird along our coasts, on the
slopes fronting the sea, somewhat above the bare uncovered
rocks. On the least alarm they flit over the precipice, and
take refuge in some place of shelter. The nest is not often
seen ; but our prying fisher-boys inform me that it is concealed
in the bottom of a deep recess, beneath some huge stone or
rock, far beyond the reach of their arms. Consequently
when discovered, a circumstance of some difficulty, they are
able to obtain it only by means of a hook fastened to the end
of a rod. This bird has a slight, but not unpleasing, song.
It is vulgarly known by the name of nacker.-^— J". Couch,
Polperro, CornwalL [Received June W, 1834-.] .

[For the provincial name of the wheatear in the Orkneys,
and for a notice of its building, and of its eggs, as observed
there, see V. 424. : for a notice of the conditions of the wheat-
ear's migration in Donegal, Ireland, see V.582, note *.]

Spiders. — A Spider infested mth Insects, — I found, last
year, in a hotbed, a spider so completely covered with indi-
viduals of a dark brown coleopterous [?] insect, that scarcely
any part of the spider was visible except its legs ; so that it
was with great difficulty the poor spider could move about.
I have preserved the spider in spirits, with all its pests about
it. — L. E. Meed. Tiverton, March 15. 1833.

H H 2

468 Short Communications : —

Insects. — The Death-iioatch. — Sir, I enclose you a spe-
cimen of one, and beg to preface the circumstances 1 ob-
served respecting il by two short extracts on tlie systematic
names for the species of death-watch.

" Authors formerly were not agreed concerning the insect
called the death-watch ; some attributing it to a kind of wood-
louse, others to a spider. But it is a received opinion now,
adopted upon satisfactory evidence, that it is produced by
some little beetles, belonging to the timber-boring genus,
Anbbium Fabricius.^^ {Kirhy and Spence^ Letter 24.)

" One of the insects which produce the ticking termed the
death-watch, is a woodlouse (Termes pulsatorius Lin.^
A'tropo5 lignarius Leach), It is not so large as the common
louse, but whiter and more slender, having a red mouth and
yellow eyes. It lives in old books, the paper on walls, col-
lections of insects, and dried plants The ticking noise

is made by the insect beating against the wood with its head.
.... Another death-watch is a small beetle (Anobium tessel-
latum)." {Insect Architecture^ p. S04.)

As naturalists are not yet agreed respecting the insect, or
insects, popularly called the death-watch, I enclose you one,
•which, you will perceive, is a small.bipwn beetle, three-tenths
of an inch long, having . its, elytra, _ or two wing-covers,
uniformly fluted or furrowed in the. direction of their length.
It appears to be the Anobium striatum of the Fabrician
system, and one of those insects which bore their galleries,
like pinholes, in old wood. Its history, as far as I am
acquainted with it, is as follows : — - On the 28th of July last
£1831], at midnight, having entered my bedroom in this town,
and laid down my watch, I heard. a, noise as of the ticking of
another watch. The noise proceeded from within or under a
half sheet of brown paper, in which mould candles had been
■wrapped. The paper lay loosely rolled up on the chimney
piece. I placed my ear close to the paper while the insect
-was ticking, and although my watch was at the same time
beating loudly at the distance of only two feet, I could not
distinguish any kind of difference in the ticking of the insect
from that of the watch. Occasionally, while the insect was
ticking, its ticking would suddenly change into a louder, less
acute, and less frequent sound than that of the watch. This
latter sound, however, did not continue above twenty or thirty
beats at a time, whereas the ticking in unison with the watch
would continue without intermission for some minutes. With
the exception of a few intervals (and those short ones),
the little beetle continued its noise all the time the candle
remained burning, which was about a quarter of an hour. As

Insects. 469

1 had never seen a death-watch, I was anxious to secure this ;
but, fearful that it might escape me by candlelight, I deferred
my search until morning. The light being extinguished, I
still heard the insect imitating and keeping time with the
watch, the beating of which it probably mistook for the call
of its mate. The next morning, after sunrise, I again heard
my little visiter mimicking the sound of my watch, the voice
proceeding from the same spot as before. I now slowly and
carefully unrolled the paper, and lifted it from the chimney-
piece, minutely examining every part of it; but I found
nothing whatever therein. I then examined that part of the
chimney-piece on which the paper had rested, and there I
perceived the enclosed beetle lying on its side, apparently
dead. The chimney-piece, which was painted white, was
quite clean, and, having carefully examined it, I can state
that nothing in the shape of a living creature except this
insect, was on the chimney-piece ; but whether it fell from the
paper as I was carefully unrolling it, or whether it was before
on the chimney-piece, 1 do not know. The wooden chimney-
piece was not pierced by any insect. I have said that the
beetle lay apparently dead. Those who are acquainted with
this genus (Anobium) of coleopterous insects are aware of the
pertinacity or fortitude with which some of the species simulate
death to deceive their enemies: andl might, no doubt, have torn
this individual limb from limb, or roasted it alive, before it
would have betrayed any sign of life. That the insect was
not however actually dead, was afterwards evident from my
finding it, during the same day, on the top of a paper box, at
the bottom of which I had placed it for future examination.

That the enclosed insect produced the two different kinds of
ticking which I heard, there can be therefore no question ; but
whether it produced those sounds by striking on the paper,
or by striking on the chimney-piece, or by any other means,
I am not prepared to say. Possibly the deeper, louder, and
less frequent beating which I heard was produced by striking
against the chimney-piece, while the other was produced by
striking on the paper. In the Pliiloso^Jiical T^^ansactions,
No. 245. p. 376. and No. 271. p. 832. are descriptions of
death-watches by Mr. Allen and Mr. Derham j but neither
there, nor elsewhere, have I met with any account of a death-
watch similar to that which I have now given. Yours, &c^
— R. Edmonds^ jiin, Bedruth, Dec. 31. 1831.

[Our correspondent's insect came to us in a crushed state;
but still its length, and the longitudinal furrows of its wing-*
covers, were readily observable, and were as stated in his
description. Mr. Westwood, to whom the specimen hn&

H 11 3

4-70 Short Communications : —

been submitted, has little doubt that the insect is Anobium
striatum, or the nearly allied species A. nitidum of Herbst.,
{StepL III. M. iii. 340.) Of the Anobium tessellatum jP«5r.,
and Termes pulsatorius Lin., both alluded to above, a fuller,
and of the Termes a very interesting, account, will be found
in our II. 461. Mr. Westwood, besides communicating the
name of our correspondent's insect, has favoured us with the
following remarks on death-watches generally.]

As to the identity of the death-watch, it is to be observed,
that more than one insect is thus designated : the name, in
fact, being a generic rather than a specific one ; any unusual
ticking being called the death-watch. The noise, however,
made by the A'tropo5 lignarius is not near so loud as that of
the Anobium. One species of this genus, A. striatum, bores
into the painted wooden chimney-board of my study. The
perfect insects appear, in the hottest part of the summer, flying
about the room in search of their mates ; but for many weeks
previous to the appearance of the beetles, I hear the ticking
in the interior of the chimney-board; and as it is most pro-
bable that these insects lie but a very short time in the pupa
state, I cannot help thinking that this noise is caused by the
larva in gnawing the wood with its powerful jaws. The
females, after impregnation, must deposit their eggs either by
boring into the wood with their ovipositor, or they probably
creep into some of the old holes made on their exclusion, and
so get into the wood without any trouble.

P. S. A confirmation of my supposition occurs whilst I am
writing (Oct. 13.), as I hear the ticking in the chimney-board
precisely similar to what I heard some months ago, although
it ,is some weeks since I saw a beetle ; so that, as there has
been sufficient time for the eggs deposited by the females to
be hatched, and for the grubs to acquire a moderate size, I
have little hesitation in laying it to the latter. — J. O. West-
wood, The Grove, Hammersmith.

Addenda to my former Note about the Ticking of Anobium. —
In corroboration of my opinion that the ticking of the death-
watch is occasionally caused by the gnawing of the wood by
the larva, I may mention that I have continued to hear the
noise in the wood of my chimney-board up to the middle of
November. I find, moreover, that the celebrated French
entomologist, Olivier (in opposition to Geoffi'oy, who sup-
posed the noise was caused by the perfect beetle knocking a
dwelling-place for itself in the wood with its jaws), conjectured
that the larvae were the cause of the noise: he, however,
thought it was produced by the blows of the larvae in the
interior of the wood for the purpose of ascertaining the thick-

Insects. 471

ness of the barrier through which the insect, when arrived at
the perfect state, would have to make its way ; its jaws, in that
state, not being so strong as in the Jarva state. — Id, Dec. 7.
1832.

Feb. 21. 1833. I have, within a few days, again heard the
ticking of the Anobia in my chimney-board, — Id.

March 12. I have heard the ticking repeated in my
chimney-board both during February and the present month:
it is, however, only at distant intervals that I hear the noise.
Your correspondent, R. Edmonds, jun., has shown that the
statements of Swammerdam, Derham, Latreille, &c., that the
perfect Anobium ticks, are correct, whilst my own observ-
ations, strengthened by those of Olivier (which I have men-
tioned in my note of Dec. 7.), as well as by Swift's lines, —

" A wood worm

That lies in old wood,"

" If the maggot cries click when it scratches the post,"

seem to establish that the larva is the cause of at least some
of these portentous sounds.

I may add, as bearing upon the question, that I have, at the
present time a larva of Anobium tessellatum, which I have
been endeavouring to rear for the last three years. — Id.

March 1 4. My friend, Alexander Greisbach, Esq., informs
me that he distinctly saw the large Anobium tessellatum, whilst
standing upon an old rotten oak tree in Windsor Forest, throw
back its head and the front part of its body, resting at the
time upon the hind pair of legs, and then suddenly jerk its
head upon the surface of the wood upon which it was standing,
and produce a sharp sound. [See also Vol. II. p. 461.]

May 22. The insect in my chimney-board has kept up his
noise without any change of place, during the last and present
months, together with another in my window frame ; and,
since the hot weather set in, the noise has been much more
continuous, as though the larva had arrived at a larger and
stronger size : even whilst I write this, the noise is going on,
and I cannot compare it to anything more apt than the sound
caused by scratching the lid of a small chip box with the point
of a pen. I have not yet seen a perfect Anobium. — Id.

Nov. 18. The ticking in my fireboard has been continued
in precisely the same spot through the whole of the summer
and autumn, and long after the perfect Anobia had made their
appearance. This the more confirms my idea of this noise
being caused by the larva, which reniains several years in that
state. Had it been caused by the imago, it would not have
been heard at the same spot for so many months. Whilst
writing this, the noise is continued in the same spot. — Id.

H H 4

472 Short Comnmnications : -^

The ticking in my chimney-board is still continued in the
old place.— /r/. Feb. 20. 1834.

These mentions of Anobium striatum have led me to re-
member the fact of the insect's prevailing in the woodwork
of my father's cottage, and to request from him specimens
of the insect, and a description of any facts on its habits
with which he might be acquainted. He has replied as
follows: — " iVbtJ. 9. 1832. Notwithstanding the terrible
havoc made in the deal boards of the chamber floor and
partitioning of my back room by the insect, I have had to
search a long time to find for you, at this season, a single
specimen in the winged state. I have found one, dead, and
send it to you, along with many live larvae, packed in the dust
from the old wood, which I have sawed and broken up to
procure them. They are destructive vermin ; and, although
small, will, by their aggregate exertion, shortly destroy the
timber of any building, when the wood has become in a
proper state for them to prey upon. Frequent washing and
scouring of the floors, particularly at the time the insects are
about to deposit their eggs; and painting or limewashing the
partitions, doors, beams, and other objects of their attack, not
readily scourable, appear to me to be the best preventives.
Besides deal, they attack the wood of ash or elm ; and my
neighbour, Mr. Cooper, the wheelwright, says no kind of
wood comes amiss to them.

" I have visited Mr. Cooper's timber yard, to endeavour to
obtain you specimens thence also ; and he has gouged out of
a piece of wood of white deal one specimen, which you will
find sticking dead, with its head outwards, though not pro-
jecting, in the mouth of the hole it had drilled."

I have submitted the two specimens mentioned to Mr.
Westwood, who has confirmed my application of the name
Anobium striatum to that from my father's cottage, and de-
termined that taken from the wood of white deal, in Mr.
Cooper's timber yard, to be the Ptilinus pectinicornis of Fa-
bricius. The circumstance of this insect not being distinguished
from the Anobium striatum, by my father or Mr. Cooper,
gives ground for this question : may not the imputation above,
on Anobium striatum, that, " besides deal, it attacks the wood
of ash, elm, and no kind of wood comes amiss to it," belong in
part to other insects of the Ptinidae family ? It is probable that
to some one species of this same family the following allega-
tion, by the poet Cowper, is referable. In the first book of The
Task, in the historical deduction of seats, it is said : —
" And such [a stool] in ancient halls and mansions drear
May still be seen, but perforated sore,
And drilled in holes, the solid oak is found.
By worms voracious eating through and through."

Insects, 473

On April 16. 1833, I happened to be at my father^s, and
the above-mentioned Mr. Cooper was then removing a beechen
bedstead from the vicar's house, which he, Mr. Cooper, had, not
more than two or three (but I am pretty sure he said two) years
before made and put up. It was, on April 16. 1833, a mere
mass of powder, pierced through and through, with countless
larvae in various places, although in others less so ; a difference
which Mr. Cooper attributed to the wood having been taken
from trees various in age, or from the centre and circumference
of the same tree, &c. : however, the parts least attacked were
somewhat so, and other parts so completely destroyed, that
the whole bedstead was fit only for the fire. In passing my
door he broke off, and gave me, a small cubical block, almost
a lump of powder, and this I, after my return, sent to Mr.
Westwood, who, as soon as the insect had become winged and
had come forth, sent it back to me, with Ptilinus pectinicornis
as the name for the insect. The aptness of its specific name
was evident enough on May 25., when, the weather warm,
some were flying about in apparent high joy, with the lamellae
of their antennae as obvious as the teeth of a comb. This fact
shows that beech is one of the kinds of wood ravaged (or
eaten, as the Ptilinus itself would doubtless term it) in addi-
tion to the white deal, in which it had been previously, as
stated above, found in Mr. Cooper's timber-yard.

My own first acquaintance with the habits of the Ptinidae
began thus : — Some six or eight years ago, some tallies, that
had been employed to bear the names of plants in a garden,
were cut over to remove decayed parts, and fit them again to
receive paint, and inscription, that they might be a second
time employed. These tallies had been made out of old
coach spokes, and one of them, the wood of which, I remember,
was oak, (whatever that of coach spokes generally may be),
had tracks eaten in it by larvae, some of which were then in
it : this was saved, at some time in the winter, and observed
until the perfect insects had come forth, which they did some
time in the summer following. I ascertained their name at the
time, which, I think, was Anobium striatum. — J. D,

Remarks on the Clouded-yellonx! Butterfly {Cblias JEdusa) ;
and on other Lepidopteroiis Insects noticed in the Isle of Jersey.
— ■ Happening lately to hear the observation made, that, " in
all probabilit}^, the pale varieties (C. Helic^ Hiibner?) of
Colias Edus« will yet prove to be a distinct species," I am
induced to offer a few remarks which I made on this insect
in the Island of Jersey, where in particular situations, especially
over the fields of lucern (Medicago sativa) by the sea side, I
found it exceedingly abundant.

It is a remarkable fact that all these pale varieties are

4- 74; Short Communications : —

females. Of many hundreds of males, which I have seen in
the course of a single day's ramble, I have never observed
one variety of this sex, though I made it a point to capture
every pale specimen which I saw. Where this insect flies in
great abundance, the females are seldom seen, but where it is
comparatively rare, the latter may as frequently be noticed
on the wing as the males ; precisely as in the common P. carda-
mines : I have seen the woods quite alive with the male orange-
tipped white butterflies, when I have not observed above two or
three females in the course of the day; yet, where this species
is not very abundant, both males and females may be seen
flying about in nearly equal numbers ; which fact will, indeed,
reconcile some rather conflicting descriptions of this latter
insect. In Jersey, the number of pale females of Collar
Edusa bore the proportion, to those of the usual colour, of at
least one third ; but, though the males were so very plentiful,
female specimens were difficult to procure, as they slug-
gishly concealed themselves in the lucern: I was never able
to take above half a dozen in a day, though of males I might
have captured some hundreds. Yet, in September, 1833, the
two sexes were observed in this neighbourhood [Tooting,
Surrey], flying in about equal numbers ; but the species was,
here, far from being common.

I took, on the whole, about twenty individuals of the pale
variety of Collar Edusa, and observed in them considerable
variation ; some being whiter than others, and some having
the spot on the upper surface of the hinder wings white,
others having it yellowish, and others orange: they also
varied much in size, but not more than individuals of the
usual colour do.

It will not, perhaps, be uninteresting to name here a few
other species which I observed in that island, during a stay
of three months, in August, September, and October, 1833.
I saw there no sort of butterfly that was not common in
Britain. The other European species of C61ia5 I sought for
much, but in vain.

Hipparchi« Mgevia swarmed in unusual abundance, far be-
yond what I had ever seen in England ; the numerous shady
lanes there being peculiarly adapted to its habits. H. MegaeV^
was also extremely plentiful; it was unusually common in the
vicinity of London that season. H. pilosellae and PamphiJus
were there as abundant as here ; as were the different autumnal
P6nti<^. Lycae^nfl^ Phlae^as was very plentiful, also Polyom-
matus Alexi5; this last mostly retiring to roost in small
clusters, chiefly on the sea holly (£Jryngium maritimum), or
on rushes ; a habit which may be observed in several of our

Insects, 4:15

British Polyommati, and which furnishes the best mode of
procuring unrubbed specimens of them, where they occur in
sufficient abundance. I noticed P. Argiolus, which was rare,
but no other member of this genus. Cynthia cardui was
rather common ; Vanessa urticae exceedingly so ; V. Vo some-
what rare; V. Atalanta^ very abundant; and I witnessed there
a very large concourse of this last-mentioned butterfly, and
of common wasps (Fespa vulgaris), upon the trunk of a dis-
eased pollard oak, from which exuded a saccharine juice. A
similar occurrence has been noticed by Mr. Lukis of the
neighbouring island of Guernsey. (VI. 222. [see also VII.
265.]) In the instance now mentioned, one side of the tree
was completely covered with alderman butterflies ; these are
always readily attracted by any thing sweet.

I heard several times there of a large and very showy blue
butterfly, which I have not since been able to make out. It
decidedly was not the emperor (Apatura Txis) : although it
was about when I was in the island, I did not once succeed
in getting a sight of it.

A very common insect there is the humming-bird hawk-
moth (Macroglossa stellatarum), one of the most interesting
of our native Lepidoptera. I have seen as many as seven or
eight of them together, hovering around the flowers of a
honeysuckle, whisking from bloom to bloom with the rapidity
of thought, suspending themselves in the air around each
blossom, and inserting into the tubes their long proboscides,
then quick as lightning darting out of sight ; though sombre
in their hues, reminding us of the fairy tenants of the western
world. One that I reared from the caterpillar came out in
the short space of four weeks. I observed a favourite resting-
place of this species to be immediately under a small projec-
tion, over the sea beach, formed by the action of high tides
against a crumbling sandy soil, the matted roots of the turf
holding together, while the ground beneath had been washed
away. In this situation I have seen within a very short space
four or five of the M. stellatarum, which would readily suffer
themselves to be transfixed, and this in midday, when others
were flying about in abundance. To this place I have often
seen them fly direct, and, after hovering a little, alight to rest
themselves.

It would here take too much space to note down the various
moths, &c., which I observed. I found the larva of the
S\Anux A'tropo5, but I failed in the endeavour to rear it.
The angle shades moth (Phlogophora) was uncommonly plen-
tiful, as was also the common Plusia gamma, the latter flying
chiefly by day, a feeble miniature of the Macroglossa stella-
tarum. — Edward Blytlu Tootmgy Surrey, May 22. 1834.

476

REVIEWS.

Art. I. Catalogue of Works on Natural History ^ lately published^
•with some Notice of those considered the most interesting to British
Naturalists,

BusHNANi J, 5.,'fF.L.S., &c. : An Introduction to the Study
of Nature ; illustrative of the Attributes of the Almighty,
as displayed in the Creation. 8vo, 310 pages. London,
1834. 95. in boards.

A work of dignified purpose, as is shown in its title ; and
this the author has striven to execute in what he has con-
ceived to be a consistent manner, namely, a vigorous and
lofty one. We honour his purpose ; we applaud his efforts,
that is, his facts, his arguments, his illustrations, his eloquence
in many places, adduced in the elucidation, relevance, and
production of this purpose ; but we do not quite agree with
him in the manner in which many of these are presented, nor
in all the conclusions to which he has directed them. In the
former there is not enough, to our liking, of the suaviter in
modo ; in the latter, quite enough of the Jbrtiter in re ; the re^
in this case, we employ to signify the author's foregone con-
clusions.

The work should, however, be possessed by every natu-
ralist: it includes a very rich collection of scientific facts;
many instructive ones derived from comparative anatomy.

Ha*w1dns, T., F.G.S. : Memoirs of Ichthyosauri and Plesio-
sauri, extinct Monsters of the ancient Earth ; with 28 Plates,
copied from Specimens in the Author's Collection of Fossil
Organic Remains. One volume, folio. London, 1834.
'21. 105.

The extraordinary remains of enormous animals, nearly
allied to the lizard and crocodile, that occur in the secondary
strata of England, above the coal measures, may be regarded
as the peculiar treasures of English fossil geology ; as these
remains occur more abundantly, and in better preservation,
in England than in any other country hitherto examined. It
was in this country, also, that the true character of the animals
to which these fossil remains belong was first ascertained.
The beds of dark stratified limestone intermixed with strata
of dark clay, called lias limestone and clay, which extend into

Hawkhis's Ichthyosauri and Plesiosauri. 477

many of the midland counties, from Dorsetshire to Yorkshire,
are peculiarly rich in these fossil remains ; in some parts the
animals appear to have perished by a sudden catastrophe,
which has broken the bones into numberless fragments, and
scattered them through particular strata, as in the cliffs at
Aust Passage, near Bristol ; in other situations, the remains
of nearly entire skeletons have been found, which are evidently
near the situations in which the animals expired. The bones
are commonly so closely embedded in the stone, that the dif-
ficulty of preserving them entire is often very great, added
to which, the quarrymen frequently destroy large portions of
the skeleton, before they are aware of its occurrence : the
vast size of some of these animals is such, " extending many
a fathom," that the head may be found in one part of the
quarry, while the remote extremities may be buried in another
part which may not be wanted for some years to come. Owing
to these difficulties it is, that good specimens of entire skele-
tons or even of large portions of them, are so rare in collec-
tions at present. Mr. Hawkins, the author of this work, has
for some years distinguished himself as a " mighty hunter,"
a fossil Nimrod. Unlike, however, to the heroes and hunters
of the fabulous ages, whose labours were directed to the de-
struction of monsters, our modern Nimrod is engaged in
restoring their dislocated limbs, and joining heads to their
cervical vertebrae again, after having lain dissevered for
countless ages. The present volume contains an ample ac-
count of the difficulties which Mr. Hawkins has had to en-
counter among the quarries and quarrymen in the county of
Somerset, near Wells and Glastonbury, where his discoveries
have been chiefly made. Many persons may deem the con-
versations with the quarrymen, given in the Somersetshire
dialect, more amusing than instructive, and altogether mis-
placed in a work on science. The author himself confesses
that he has, for his own pleasure, departed occasionally from
the conventional forms of writing, but we would willingly
pardon him on this head, for the very valuable service which
he has rendered to the student of fossil geology.

The lithographic plates in the present volume are of large
size, and well executed, and display with much clearness
the osteology of the several species of fossil Ichthyosauri and
Plesiosauri in the author's possession ; indeed, they convey
almost as distinct information as we could obtain from the
specimens themselves. The anatomical details given in the
description of the plates are good as far as they extend, but
we could have wished them to have been more ample. The
drawing in plate 3, represents an entire skeleton of the Ichthyo-

478 Ha*wMns's Ichthyosauri and Plesiosauri,

satirus (called by the author chiroligostinus), except the
right fore arm and paddle ; the figure measures in the plate
3 ft. 3 in. from the snout to the extremity of the tail : there
are in this skeleton about 500 bones, and the spinal column
contains 150 vertebrae. Plates 7. and 17. contain figures of
skeletons of two other species, nearly as perfect as that in
plate 3., but of smaller dimensions. Plate 24. represents a
very interesting skeleton of the Plesiosaurus, entire except
one of the paddles : in this skeleton the bones of the sternum
and pelvis are beautifully displayed ; there are thirty-two cer-
vical vertebrae, and twenty dorsal ; the neck of this animal
was longer than the whole body, except the tail ; the caudal
vertebrae amount to thirty-three. Several of the other plates
represent large portions of skeletons. The remaining plates
display detached bones and heads, with the paddles or hands
of these animals. The head represented in plate 13. is truly
remarkable for the extreme length of the jaws ; it resembles,
as the author observes, the head and bill of a snipe, " It
possesses 260 long sharp teeth, 140 in the upper jaw, and 120
in the lower jaw."

The author has given a new classification of the species of
both the Ichthyosauri and Plesiosauri, but we cannot think that
he has been happy in his nomenclature, though derived from
the Greek ; it would scarely be possible to select terms that
are less suited to the English ear. The classification of Ich-
thyosauri, which he proposes, is founded on the structure of
the hand or paddle. From the Greek cheir, hand, and osteon,
bone, with the addition of the Greek words for, 1. few, 2. many,
3. round, 4. oblong ; we have the following names for the
four species :— Sp. 1. Ichthyosaurus chiroligostinus ; 2. chiro-
polyostinus ; 3. chirostrongulostinus ; 4. chiroparamekosti-

nus ! I ! !

The specific characters of the Plesiosauri, he says, are to
be discovered " in the posterior extremity, in the tarsus."
Then, from the Greek tarsos, heel, and osteon, bone, with the
Greek numerals for 3, 4, 5, 6, we have the following strange
j^a^t^ies : — Sp. 1. Plesiosaurus triatarsostinus ; 2. tesseratarsos-
tinus ; 3. pentetarsostinus ; 4. extarsostinus.

We could almost suppose that our author intended, by the
invention of these terms, to ridicule the absurd fabrication of
compound Greek words, such as " pliocene," " pecillite,"
&c. &c., which have lately been introduced by some geologists ;
for he cannot expect that the names he has constructed will
ever be used by his countrymen. We sincerely hope that
good sense will ere long free geology from all such pedantic
contamination. In the mean time, we recommend our author

Literary Notices, 479

to confine his terms to the exclusive use of the Somersetshire
quarrymen, as we have little doubt the pronunciation of them
would become more mellifluous by an admixture with the
euphonic tones of the western dialect.

Whatever may be the minor faults of the present volume,
the plates alone, with the descriptions of them, possess such
value as to entitle it to a place in every public library and
institution where science is respected ; and we are fully per-
suaded that a correct translation of the anatomical details, in
the French language, published with the plates, would be
favourably received on the Continent. — B,

Hastings^ C, M.D. : Illustrations of the Natural History of
Worcestershire, with Information on the Statistics, Zoology,
and Geology of the County, including also a short Account
of its Mineral Waters. 8vo, upwards of 200 pages, with
a geological map of Worcestershire. London and Wor-
cester, 1834. 45. 6d.

This tells enough of the natural history, and of the Natural
History Society, of Worcestershire, to be a book to be de-
sired by those who would acquaint themselves with either.

Anon. : The Analyst, and Monthly Journal of Science, Lite-
rature, and the Fine Arts. August, No. I. Svo, 76 pages,
with cuts. London, 1834. \s. 6d,

In the general scope purposed to be embraced by the pro-
ducers of this Review, natural history will not be overlooked ;
as is evident from the first number, in which Mr. Lees's
Affinity of Plants mth Man and Animals, and some other
works on natural history, are noticed. It contains, too,
interesting information on the aurora.

Innes, H. : A New Edition of Goldsmith's Natural History,
with Notes from all the Popular Treatises that have been
issued since the Time of Goldsmith; collected with the
utmost care. In monthly parts (and weekly numbers), 8vo ;
each of 48 pages, with some woodcuts. Limbird, London.

We have seen parts i. and ii. The notes are entertaining
and instructive ; and the work is cheap.

Art. II. Literary Notices^

A History of British Fishes, by William Yarrell, F.L.S.,
is in preparation. .It is to be illustrated by woodcuts of all
the species, and numerous vignettes, subservient to the general
subject; representing teeth, gill-covers, swimming-bladders,

480 Literary Notices-

and other viscera, occasionally, when interesting in structure,
iform, or function. The different boats, nets, or other appa-
ratus in use on the coast, will be figured, and the modes of
employing them described. The work will form two volumes
octavo, uniform in size with Bewick's British Birds. We
have seen a series of impressions of the cuts executed for this
work, and can bear testimony to their accuracy and beauty.

The Third Report of the British Association for the Advance-
merit of Science is published. It contains a Report on phy-
siological botany, by Dr. Lindley ; and other communications,
of interest to naturalists.

No. viii. of the Eritomological Magazine sustains the repu-
tation of this most valuable work ; which, we trust, will ever
henceforth be felt by naturalists to be an indispensable one.

A Grammar of Entomology: being a compendious intro-
duction to the economy, anatomy, classification, and preserv-
ation of insects, by E. Newman, F.L.S., is announced. " As
it is the author's object to render this work generally useful,
it will be published at a very low price ; and no Latin or
technical terms will be used without explanation." [Ent,
Mag,)

An Essay on the Indigenous Fossorial Hymenoptera, com-
prising a description of all the British species of sand wasps
extant in the metropolitan cabinets, by W. E. Shuckard, has
been announced for publication.

Part iii. of Royle's Illustrations of the Botany and other
Branches of the Natural History of the Himalayan Mountains^
and of the Flora of Cashmere, is published. It is as interest-
ing as the preceding ones. In a continuation of the " Intro-
duction," information is given on the relative heights of the
Himalayan Mountains, as compared with each other and the
known heights of those in other countries. A treatise on the
Indian species of Gossypium, or cotton, is given in the text,
descriptive of the plants ; and, in the plates, there are, be-
sides the figures of plants, one plate of " fossil plants from
the Burdwan coal formation," and a plate exhibiting figures
of Cervus Dbdur and C Rutwa Hodgson ; two pretty animals.

A Prodromus of a Flora of the Peninsida of India is in pre-
paration by Dr. Wight and Mr. Arnott. The work is to be
written " in the English language, and will be completed in
two volumes. The first, comprising from 2?anunculaceae to
the end of jRubiaceae, will be ready in a few weeks."

Part iii. of Hooker's Journal ofBotayiy, which has reached
us since the publication of our last, is rich in contents of high
interest to every technical botanist.

THE MAGAZINE

OF

NATURAL HISTORY.

OCTOBER, 1834.

ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.

Art. I. Thoughts on the Question, Why cannot Animals speak
the Language of Man ? By J. J.

A QUERY to this purport is given in I. 299., and I have not
observed a reply to it in any subsequent volume. In order to
state the several points of the question fully and explicitly, it
may be proper to repeat the words of the querist. " Why,"
he observes, " beasts do not speak the language of man, is
not the question I would propose ; but why (as is evident)
they cannot? Whether it is owing, to use a musical phrase,
to their want of ear ; whether, to use a philosophical one, it
results from their want of understanding ; or whether, as I
am apt to think, it arises from the want of a proper conform-
ation of the organs most necessary in speaking ? "

It appears to me, from the mode in which this interrogatory
is expressed, that the writer is of the class of thinkers who
deny to all animals the possession of attributes, or faculties,
with which many of them are unquestionably endowed. It
might be easily proved that the higher orders of the animal
kingdom possess, and some of them in an eminent degree,
faculties which they are here said to " want." " Want of
ear " is an expression vague and obscure enough when applied
to animals ; but if it mean, as I presume it does, the want of
a capability of distinguishing variations, or differences of sound,
it is manifestly false in its application to animals. Were all
animals unable to distinguish the difference between one sound
and another, how could they ever be taught to comprehend
the meanings of various articulate sounds? to understand,
partially, the language of man ? How could they be subjected
to the purposes of domestication ? and of what use, indeed,
would their ears be to them ? How could a dog know his

Vol. VII. — No. 42. ii

482 On the Want of Speech in irrational Animals,

name, and be taught to go or come at the command of his
master ? a horse to proceed forwards or turn backwards, to
turn to the right or left, at a single word of his driver ?

" Want of understanding " must mean want of reason.
It has been asserted, and repeated, thousands of times, that
reason is the exclusive prerogative of man ; that man is the
only rational creature. But how has this ever been proved ?
Assuredly not by facts. I have no inclination to discuss the
question, which has already been treated on at great length,
and with much candour and ability, in Griffiths's edition of
Cuvier's Animal Kingdom, iii. 360. et seq. ; and I shall merely
instance one quality, which, wheresoever it is found, whether
in a man or a goose, appears to me to be undeniably demon-
strative of the existence of the reasoning principle, and that
is, the capability of receiving instruction, or of forming cer-
tain conclusions from previous experience. We recognise
this quality, in a greater or less degree, throughout the
higher orders of animals ; and, view it as we will, we can
conclude it to be the effect of nothing else than reason : and
it is utterly inconsistent with the acknowledged properties of
instinct. It is a combined result of memory and judgment ;
faculties which no one has ever said are not essentially rational,
and which are principally effective in rendering the human
intellect what it actually is. In short, we cannot deny to
animals the possession of that mysterious something which
we call mind ; of a mind similar to ours in kind, although
infinitely inferior to ours in degree.

But to leave this digression, and attempt a direct reply to
the question at the head of this article. For this purpose, I
cannot do better than quote the observations of Mr. Lawrence
(in his Lectures on Physiology, Zoology, and the Vatural His-
tory of Man) on the subject : — " Man," says he, " exhibits,
by external signs, what passes within him; he communicates
his sentiments by words : and this sign is universal. The
savage and the civilised man have the same power of utter-
ance : both speak, naturally, and are equally understood. It
is not owing, as some have imagined, to any defect in their
organs that animals are denied the faculty of speech. The
tongue of a monkey is as perfect as that of a man ; yet mon-
keys cannot speak. Several animals may be taught to pro-
nounce words, and even to repeat sentences ; which proves
clearly that the want of speech is not owing to any defect in
their organs. But to make them conceive the ideas which
these words express is beyond the power of art : they arti-
culate and repeat like an echo or machine. Language implies
a train of thinking ; and, for this reason, brute animals are

On Birds alluring Intruders from their Nest. 483

incapable of speech : for, though their external senses are
not inferior to our own, and though we should allow some of
them to possess a dawning of comparison, reflection, and
judgment, it is certain that they are unable to form that asso-
ciation of ideas in which alone the essence of thought consists."
(p. 199, 200.)

Gelly^ Mo7itgomeryshire, March 1. 1834.

Art. II. Facts and Arguments in relation to the Two Questions,
Are all Birds in the Habit of alluring Intruders from their Nest?
andf Why do Birds sing f By C. Conway, Esq.

Are all Birds in the Habit of alluring Intruders from their
Nests? — The lapwing will fly round and round, tumbling and
tossing in the air, and at the same time making the country
resound with the echoes of its endless pee-wit, and thus lead
the intruder farther and farther from its nest ; the grouse, if
disturbed from hfer nest, will shuffle through the heath in a
very awkward manner, and will not take wing until she has
proceeded a considerable distance. [The partridge will do
the same.] I once found a skylark do the same. Having
been informed of the nest, in a corn field, I proceeded thither
to see the eggs, but, finding the bird on the nest, and having
my butterfly net in my hand, I easily captured her. When
I took the bird into my hand, she feigned death, and allowed
herself to be handled for a considerable time, and that rather
roughly, and when I threw her from me, in the expectation
that she would take wing, she fell to the ground like a stone,
and there she lay for me to push her about with my foot,
until I at last thought that I had injured her in the capture,
and that she was absolutely dead. Remaining quiet, however,
for a very short period, the bird began moving, and, with one
wing trailing along the ground, and shuffling along as if one
of her legs had been broken, she proceeded for a considerable
distance, and then took wing. Is there not here an evident
distinction shown between instinct and reason? Instinct
taught the bird to lure all intruders from her nest, but she
could not reason that, as I had already discovered her nest
and captured her upon it, the lure w^as, in this instance,
useless. But, the circumstance that led to these remarks is
the following. In pursuing an azure blue butterfly, I was
diverted from my object by the melodies of a nightingale
almost close at my side. The singing was in one continuous,
incessant, and uninterrupted melody; there were none of

I I 2

484? Cause of Singing in Birds.

those frequent breaks, which are so characteristic of the song
of the nightingale, when heard at a little distance ; it was one
incessant warble. I can hardly call it a warble either ; it
was an unceasing effort; so much so, that I stood perfectly
astonished, and at a loss to conceive how it was possible for
so small a creature to exert herself so mightily. I began,
however, to think, that the nest of the melodist could not be
far off'; and, as I had never yet seen the nest of the bird, I
determined to watch her closely, in order to discover it. But,
I was nearly giving up the search as useless ; for, as soon as I
entered the copse, no matter at what part I made my en-
trance, there was the nightingale close at my side, delighting
me with her melody, and hopping from spray to spray, and
from bush to bush, and thus leading me the round of the
wood at her pleasure. When, however, all hope of finding
the nest had nearly vanished, I fell in with it by pure accident,
and I then discovered that the singing of the bird had always
led me in a direction from the nest. The question with which
I began, I would therefore again repeat — Are all birds in the
habit of luring intruders from their nests ?

Why do Bii^ds sing P — As I have just been speaking of the
nightingale, perhaps it is the most appropriate place for offer-
ing a few remarks upon the song of birds : a subject, by the
way, of some difficulty. The question, Why do birds sing ?
has never yet been, I think, satisfactorily answered. It was
supposed that the male sang to soothe the female during in-
cubation. (Pennant, quoted in Rennie's Montagu.) There
was plausibility in this ; but then the question would imme-
diately arise, Why are some birds denied song ? Do the females
of some birds require soothing more than others ? Besides,
birds sit during the night as well as the day, yet no bird but
the nightingale sings during the night. The skylark frequently
mounts so high that we not only lose sight of him, but we
also lose all trace of his song : can the female then hear him
and be soothed by his notes ? Barrington (quoted in Rennie's
Montagu) supposed the female to be silent, " lest her song
should discover her nest." A singular conclusion, certainly,
at the same time that it was supposed that the male sang to
soothe the female during the period of incubation. If the
song were poured forth for this soothing purpose, it must of
course have been in the near neighbourhood of the nest, and
consequently would be as likely to discover the nest as if the
female herself sang ; besides, do not the females of some birds
sing occasionally, as well as the males ? Now comes another
theory. " The males of song birds do not, in general, search
for the females, but, on the contrary, their business in the

Cause ofSifigiTig hi Birds. 485

spring is to perch upon some conspicuous spot, breathing out
their full and natural notes, which, by instinct, the female
knows, and repairs to the spot to choose her mate." (Mon-
tagu.) The female amongst birds has evidently the advantage
over the human species, for she is the chooser, and not the
object of choice. The same author tells us, that " birds can-
not discriminate the colours by which their species is known ;"
and this is evidently put forth to account for the male " perch-
ing upon some conspicuous spot." But what say others?
The nightingale sings " concealed in the thickest part of a
bush or small tree." (Field Nat. Mag., i. 201.) Both state-
ments are fact. The nightingale does sing in the concealment
of a thick bush, and the song thrush sings, morning and even-
ing, mounted on the highest spray he can find. I cannot
suppose that he does this to lure the female to him, for I have
never observed it to have that effect ; besides, he does it for
a very considerable portion of spring and summer ; certainly
after he is mated. Neither can I suppose that his song is
poured forth for the purpose of soothing the female during
the period of incubation ; for, if that were the case, the sooth-
ing would be required as much by night as by day, and as
much in the middle of the day as in the morning and the
evening : besides all this, he frequently sings at Christmas,
when he is neither mated nor seeking a mate. Let us come,
however, to a still later opinion. " The songs of birds have
given rise to several curious enquiries of no small interest.
After investigating the subject with considerable attention for
several years, we have come to the conclusion that the notes
of birds, which we denominate singing, may all be referred to
hilarity and joy, or to rivalry and defiance." (Rennie's Habits
of Birds, 260.) In making this theory hold good, I think
we shall find as many difficulties as in any other. Why is
the nightingale more joyous than other birds during the night?
Is the redbreast habitually more joyous than other birds ? for
he sings nearly the whole year round. If it be joy that sti-
mulates to song, why do not the females sing as well as the
males : have they no joy ? And why are some birds altogether
denied song : are they joyless ? The thrush breaks forth into
song frequently in the winter, and the woodlark makes the
December mornings resound with his song. How is it that
these birds are so joyous when all others are gloomy ? The
meadow pipit, again, when disturbed from her nest, will mount
up into the air to a considerable height, and then descend
slowly, warbling with all her powers, until she reaches the
ground. Is it any source of joy to the bird to be thus dis-
turbed from her nest ? This may be said to be " defiance."

II 3 *

486 Imitative Powers of the Sedge Bird,

To this I have only to reply, it is the usual and general note,
and certainly a source of considerable pleasure to the rambler
over our mountains, where they abound. But we must, I am
fearful, conclude where we began : Why do birds sing ?
Pontnensyydd Works, near Newport,
Monmouthshire^ Jan, 20. 1834,

Art. III. A Notice of the Imitative Potvers of the British Mocking'
Birdt or Sedge Bird [Salvia [Cwrrwca] salichria)^ additional to
that in V. 653, 6B^. By T. G., of Clitheroe, Lancashire.

I AM surprised that not any other correspondent has noticed
the wonderful imitative powers of this bird. So far is my
notice in V. 65S, 654. (in that notice, " pelting notes," in
p. 65S, line 8. from the bottom, is a misprint for " fretting
notes") from overrating this bird's imitative powers, that I
have not enumerated above half the notes which it hits off
with such wonderful exactness.

In listening to one the other day for about a quarter of an
hour, I heard it give three notes of the swallow, two of the
martin, two of the spring wagtail ; and, in addition, notes of
the sparrow, whinchat, starling, chaffinch, whitethroat, green-
finch, little redpole, and whin linnet (jPringilla Linota) ; be-
sides the notes of half a dozen birds which I did not know;
at least a reasoning from analogy would induce me to think
them imitations, and I have no right lo suppose that they
were not, because I did not happen to recognise them. I was
not strictly correct when I said (in V. 653.) that it only imi-
tates the alarm notes (called here the fretting notes) of other
birds ; for, although this is generally the case, it is not invari-
ably so. For instance, in addition to producing the alarm
note of the swallow, chiz-zee chiz-zee, it also had the whit whit
which the swallow uses when flying about, and the chatter of
self-satisfaction (not the song) which one often hears in a barn
when two swallows are arranging their plan of operations in
the spring. Again, in addition to the shriek of the martin,
there was the note which it utters when on the wing, in pur-
suit of its food. There was also the chirrup of the green-
finch, and the whee whee whee which is the climax of the
linnet's song, by which it is so irresistible as a call bird, and
which appears to bring down the flock, in fact, in spite of
themselves.

Although the sedge bird imitated all I have mentioned, it
made much more frequent use of the notes of some than of
others : the sparrow, the whinchat, the swallow, and the star-

So?ig of the Bramble Finch, 487

ling appeared to be its chief favourites ; whilst it only touched
once or twice on the notes of the greenfinch and the linnet.
It had been very sparing, also, in its use of the chaffinch's
note, until one in the neighbourhood had begun to twink
twink twink; then the mocking-bird took it up, and tmnked
away for fifty times together. In the next morning the
linnet's note was much more in request; and it also made
more use of notes with which I was not acquainted. On
neither day did it touch upon the notes of the redstart or pied
wagtail, both of which I had heard frequently used by the
mocking-bird before. On the other hand, I had not previously
observed the notes of the starling and whin linnet, which this
bird gave in perfection ; and, therefore, though I have said,
in my former communication (V. 653, 654.), that I had never
heard it make use of the notes of any of the larks or thrushes,
I would not be understood to say that this never happens.
It is difficult to say, perhaps, that it has a note which is not
an imitation ; but there is one which it always makes use of
when any person approaches the nest (intermixed, however,
w^ith the notes of the swallow, whinchat, and whitethroat) :
this is something like chur-r-r chur-r-r, prolonging the sound
of the r very considerably, and in a style which would be quite
an acquisition to the Northumbrians, if they could attain it.
May 29. 1834.

Art. IV. A Notice of the Songs of the Bramble Finch, the Moun-
tain Linnet, and the Tree Sparrow ; with Remarks on each
Species, By Mr. Edward Blyth.

I AM not aware that the songs of these birds have ever yet
been described. Mr. Selby, in his account of the first, observes,
that he is " unable to say whether its notes ever vary in the
spring, or whether it possesses any proper song." I .have
repeatedly heard its song in confinement, and have one now
in my possession which sings frequently. Its song consists
only of a few coarse unmusical notes, generally delivered in
an under tone ; and not the least resembling the chaffinch's
song, nor that of any other bird with which I am acquainted.
I hardly know how to describe the song of the bramble finch :
if a person were to fill his mouth half full of water, and draw
it slowly backwards and forwards through his teeth, the sound
produced would not be much unlike it, at least in part. It
also utters a kind of chuck^ analogous to the twi7ik of the chaf-
finch ; and sometimes a hoarse jay-like call to its companions.

The mountain linnet's song is chattering and inarticulate,

1 1 4

488 Song of the Momitain Linnet and Tree Sparrow.

bearing a harsh resemblance to that of the linnet. Its notes
are always hurried and indistinct ; and are mostly delivered in
successive bursts (if I may be allowed the term), sounding
like several birds singing together, and reminding one of the
firing of bells. I have never heard the sound twite, which it
is alleged to utter ; but its usual notes upon the furze much
resemble those of the common linnet, being either a low
tsur-tsU'tsu, or a loud chit chit, I may take this opportunity
to mention, that, with the twite in confinement, the red on its
rump entirely disappears on the first moult ; as, from analogy
with its congeners, might be anticipated.

The tree sparrow (Passer arb5reus ? P, montanus Anct,)
has been usually described to have no song ; which is incor-
rect, for one in my possession frequently sings ; and its notes
are not altogether despicable, being far superior to those of
the bramblefincb. The tree sparrow, like the common species,
has a great variety of chirrups; one of which is peculiarly
musical and sweet, and may be rendered pee-eu-weep. Its
proper song consists of a number of these chirps intermixed
with some pleasing notes, delivered in a continuous unbroken
strain, sometimes for many minutes together ; very loudly,
and having a characteristic sparrow tone throughout.

This is a wild and untractable species in captivity ; and,
consequently, as birds always closely depress their feathers
when frightened, appears, when looked at, remarkably slen-
der : yet, when at ease, and undisturbed, the tree sparrow
always puffs its plumage so as to appear quite as bulky as the
common species; and the individual which I have in confine-
ment has generally this appearance, having lost much of
its original wildness ; still the species is undoubtedly more
slender than the P. domesticus. The sexes of it may be dis-
tinguished easily by the smaller size, in the female, of the
black spot on the side of the neck : in both, the bill becomes
quite black in summer. I do not know how this bird came
to be called *' mountain sparrow," and " montanus ; " for it
appears to me, both from observation, and from what I have
read of it, only to inhabit valleys ; frequenting low damp
situations where willows grow, and being moi'e abundant in
the flats of Lincolnshire than in any other part of Britain.
The more appropriate term arboreus, therefore, might as well
be substituted for " montanus," if the latter is thus implicatory
of error.

Were I to judge of the temper and disposition of the
bramble finch from one which I kept in confinement last sum-
mer, I should call it one of the most untamable of birds ;
but, were I to form my judgment from the individual which I

Characteristics of the Mountain Linnet, 489

possess at present, I should, on the contrary, deem it to be
very familiar and confiding. This I just cursorily mention as
a caution to those who would infer the general character and
disposition of a species from observation of an individual.
Animals of the same kind often differ greatly in individual
character; and this is remarkably apparent in a brood of
ten young bottletits which I have this season reared : it was
observable even before they had left the nest.

The bramble finch, like many other species, but chiefly
those which have deciduous terminal edgings to their winter
plumage, as the linnets, redstarts, stonechat, pied flycatcher,
and some of the siskins and grosbeaks, is very much hand-
somer when two years old than when in its first summer
livery. The tints of all these birds are considerably brighter
after they have moulted twice, and then (as is particularly
observable in the common redstart) a few only of the new
feathers are fringed with winter edgings.

I cannot exactly reconcile the mountain linnet, or twite,
which, in these parts, is a regular winter visitant, with Mr.
Selby's description of it. That gentleman remarks that " it
is rather larger than the common linnet, being bulkier in the
body, and having a longer tail." Now, all the twites which
I have seen (and they amount to many dozens) have invariably
been considerably smaller than the common linnet, being
intermediate in size between that bird and the redpole. Far-
ther, Mr. Selby*s account of it seems to imply that it exhibits
a marked seasonal change in the tints of its plumage ; " ren-
dering its summer appearance different from that which it bears
through the rest of the year." I have specimens in summer
plumage ; and the only difference I can perceive is an increased
brightness of colour on the rump plumage, the terminal edg-
ings of which have disappeared ; but this is by no means con-
spicuous, being a much slighter difference than is observable
in the common linnet and the redpole. In other respects,
Mr. Selby's description of the mountain linnet entirely agrees
with my birds; only that I see no sexual difference in the
colour of the upper parts, the rump excepted. Montagu
describes the twite to be " rather larger than the linnet ; "
and says, also, " the top of the head and rump red." But
here he is certainly mistaken as regards the head ; for I can
say decidedly that the twite (of these parts) has at no time
any red upon the crown. These discrepancies almost lead
one to suspect that two different species are yet confused
together under the name of mountain linnet ; as, I am quite
convinced, is the case with the redpole. See the Field Na*
turalisfs Magazine for April, 1834, p. 172.

Tooting, Surrej/, May 29. 1834.

490 Zoological Illustratio7is : — Tergipes pulcher

T^rgipes pulcher : o, natural sizej b, magnified.

Art. v. Illustrations in British Zoology. By George John-
ston, M.D., Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edin-
burgh.

22. Te'rgipes pu'lcher. {fig. 59.)

CI. Gasteropoda, Ord. Nudibranchia, Fam. Glaucidae.

The Tdrgipes is a naked sea snail with external branchiae
disposed in two series, one along each side of the back ; they

are of a cylindrical
59 . ^^^ac^s^^U^ ^ . form, and it is sup-

posed that the apex
of each forms a
little sucker by
means of which
the animal can fix
itself to the stalks
and fronds of sea-
weed, and walk
upon its back.
Rang is of opinion
that this fact re-
quires new observ-
ations to assure us of its certainty ; and the species about
to be described never performed any such remarkable feat
during the few hours it was preserved.

One species (D6ri5 maculata Montagu) has already been
described as a native of the coast of Devon, but it differs in
so many particulars from ours, that some may deem it ne-
cessary to arrange them in separate genera, and we, at all
events, may be spared the necessity of elaborating a compara-
tive description to prove their distinctness. Tergipes pulcher
was found in Berwick Bay, upon a piece of wood brought up
by the line from deep water : its motions were slow and glid-
ing, like the rest of its tribe ; but, unlike the greater number
of these, it was ornamented with spots of such warm and
brilliant colours, that it might possibly have attracted the notice
of even those who wonder very much what there is in a snail
that it should have admirers.

Tergipes pulcher is half an inch long, ovate, soft, white,
ornamented with scarlet tubercles scattered over the back,
and with short cylindrical processes tipt with bright orange
arranged round the sides : mouth subinferior, terminal, with
a linear-oblong membranous tongue, set with minute prickles
in close transverse series : tentacula two, dorsal, non-retractile,
short, oval, imbricate, orange- coloured : back even, studded
with many scarlet unequal tubercles, some of which, when

Spdngia stiberia, 491

magnified, appear ocellated : towards the tail are three short
white processes placed in a line across the back, which are
not retractile ; and there are eighteen short obtuse branchial
processes placed on the margins, the smallest in front, and
all tipped with orange ; the apices, perhaps, conformed like
suckers : foot oblong, with plain margins : aperture of gene-
ration lateral and anterior.

When viewed through a magnifier, this pretty mollusc has
a roughish or flocculent appearance. The cloak contains
numerous calcareous spicula interlaced in every direction, the
spicula of unequal sizes, curved, with a sort of knob in the
centre, whence it tapers to each end, the points of some of
them being forked. The latter sort are abundant in the
branchial processes, and the forked end is always pointed
outwards.

The specific character may be thus expressed : —
Tergipes 'pulcher\ Corpore ovato, albo, supra tuberculis coc-

cineis notato ; tentaculis duobus, ovatis, imbricatis, aurantiis ;

branchiis brevibus, apice aurantiis.

23. ? 5po'ngia sube^ria. {fig. 60.)
Our figures of this remarkable production are taken from
a dried specimen, with the loan of which I was favoured by
Mr. Bean of Scarborough. It incrusts a univalve shell,

60

5p6ngia sub^ria, of the natural size.

apparently the Turbo crassior, and entirely covers it. The
zoophytical crust is thin and uniform, and no pores or faecal
orifices are visible on the surface, but the processes are hollow,
and their walls, which are smooth and alike on both surfaces,
appear to be perforated, in a longitudinal direction, with a
circle of small canals which probably open on the rim of the
process ; but this structure is rather inferred from the appear-
ance presented by the spot from which a process has been
broken, and from an obscure vestige of pores on the rim, than
from dissection, and remains, therefore, open to correction.

The sponge is apparently composed of fine particles of sand
closely compacted, and is of a uniform grey or stone colour ;
the surface is even and smooth, but large papillary processes,
from one to six lines in height, cylindrical and tubular, rise up
irregularly from it, the apices of which are circular, cupped.

492 Zoological Illustrations : — Spongia suheria,

with a thick somewhat inflected and plaited rim. Where the
sponge incrusts the shell it is thin, but the tubular processes
are between two and three lines in diameter, and, when re-
moved at the base, they leave a mark exhibiting a circle of
cells radiating to the outer edge.

I am of opinion that this is the 5p6ngia suberia of Mon-
tagu {Wern. Mem., i. 100.), in a perfect state. Montagu
seems to have met with specimens only previous to their pro-
duction of the tubular processes, and, if we subtract these
from our description, it will be found to correspond in other
respects with the description of this excellent observer. He
says that the " sponge is of a corky nature, resembling the
close texture of the stalk of some species of jBoletus. It
has rarely any other pores than what are formed by the fibres,
which are so extremely fine, as not to be visible to the naked
eye, even when broken ; and with the assistance of a pocket
lens, they are not definable on the surface. Its colour is
orange-yellow when fresh, becoming brown when dry : its
shape is indefinite, but it has the singular property of being
attached only (as far as I have been able to ascertain) to old
univalve shells, which it entirely invests. It is also remark-
able, that few instances occur where the hermit crab has not
formed a lodgement in the nucleus shell, and there appears
to be a great struggle between the two parasitical intruders,
as the sponge is continually endeavouring to fill up the aper-
ture of the shell, while the crab, by its occasional motion in
search of prey, frustrates that natural propensity of the sponge.
Notwithstanding the efforts of so active and restless an in-
truder, the gradual and insensible increase of the sponge gains
upon the premises of the crab ; it pushes it on all sides, and
completely lines the interior surface of the shell, so that the
crab soon finds its habitation too small, and is compelled to
search for a more capacious house."

Dr. Fleming has placed this sponge in his genus Halichon-
dra (Brit, Anim,, p. 522.), distinguished from the other
genera of the family by the siliceous spicula which enter so
abundantly into its organisation ; and he says that the spicula
of the species in question, which he has found " incrusting
corallines in the Frith of Forth," are fusiform and slightly
curved. Montagu makes no mention of these spicula, which
probably require a high power of the microscope for their
detection, and hence they also escaped my observation. To
any correspondent of this Magazine I should feel much in-
debted by the communication of specimens of the 5p6ngia
suberia, either dried or preserved in spirits.

Berwick upon Tweed, June 12. 1834.

Fusus Turtdni and Limnea linedta.

493

Art. VI. Fhsus Turtbni Bean, and LimrCea lineata Bean, Two
rare and hitherto undescribed Species of Shells, described and
illustrated. By William Bean, Esq.

FususTurtbm Bean, {Jig, 61,) — Shell fusiform, covered
with slightly elevated spiral lines broader than the intervening

spaces, and crossed by
numerous longitudinal
lines of growth. Length
4J in., and about 2 in.
broad ; volutions 9, a
little raised in the middle,
from which they gradually
slope to the separating
line; aperture ovate, near-
ly of the same length as
the spire ; canal wide and
short; outer lip a little
dilated and very thick;
inner lip smooth, glossy,
and much spread on the
pillar. Colour white,
covered with a brown epi-
dermis, and the inside pale
violet.

This noble and pro-
bably unique shell we have
named after our old and
esteemed friend, Dr. Tur-
ton. It was found among
the rejectamenta of a boat
at Scarborough, and is
one of the " great guns"
of our collection, which
contains (we say it proud-
its operculum. ly) 1050 specics and varie-
ties, and above 50,000 specimens of genuine native shells.

Limriea linedta Bean. {Jig, 62.) — Shell oblong-ovate,
subventricose, with about 12 long and short (often forked)

raised transverse lines on the
^^ ^ ^ body whorl, giving it an an-

gular appearance crossed by
b ^^S^^ numerous longitudinal striae.
Length of the largest spe-

«. Limnea linedta ;^ reversed variety. cimcnS 6 liuCS, breadth 4

a, Ffisus Turtbni

494« Land and Freshwater Shells

lines; volutions 4; spire short and acute; aperture ovate;
outer lip thin; inner lip reflected, forming a small hollow
behind it.

This remarkable shell is only found in one pond in our
neighbourhood ; and the reversed variety is of rare occur-
rence. It differs from our specimens of L. pereger in being
thicker and stronger; is of a darker colour, and only half
the size : it is certainly very like some of the numerous
varieties of this shell, yet most of our scientific friends agree
with us in considering it specifically distinct. The raised lines
on the body whorl are very variable : in some specimens they
are nearly obliterated; but in very few instances are they
wholly wanting. Mr. G. B. Sowerby, in his Genera of Recent
and Fossil Shells, united Physa, Myxas, and Aplexa to the
genus Limnea. He says, " the only describable difference in
the shells, except mere specific differences, consists in the
Aplexa and Physa being heterostrophe shells, while the Lim-
nea and Myxas are dextral. The reversed Limnea found
at Scarborough will certainly prove the correctness of Mr.
Sowerby's views.

Scarborough, July 30. 1834.

Art. VII. A List of some Land and Freshtvater Species of Shells
tvhich have been found in the Neighbourhood of Henley on
Thames, By H. E. Strickland, Esq.

I SEND you a list of land and freshwater shells which I
found, some years ago, in the neighbourhood of Henley on
Thames, a district which furnishes a greater number of spe-
cies than any other with which I am acquainted. This is
doubtless owing to the diversity of hills and valleys, wood
and water, which adorn that charming neighbourhood, and
supply to each species an appropriate habitat. I have thought
it best, in the case of the more rare species, to state exactly
the locality or situation where each occurs ; as, without this
knowledge, a conchologist might search for them a long time
without success : v r mean very rare ; r, rare ; f, frequent ;
c, common.

Mollusca Gasteropoda Pulmonifera Terricola, — Cyclos-
toma elegans, beech woods,y^ Carocolla lapicida, adhering
to beech trees, yi Helix aspersa, c; nemoralis, c\ hortensis,
/; arbustorum, moist plantations, r ; ericet6rum, dry chalky
banks, c ; virgata,y ; caperata,^; rufescens, c ; hispida Drap,
(not of Montagu), c, cantiana (Carthusiana Drap.), hedges
and plantations, c ; fusca, Fawley Woods, v r ; alliaria, damp

found near Henley on Thames, 495

places, f\ lucida Drap.^ c; radiata, c; pygmaeV, roots of
grass and wet leaves, &c., r; A'ochiformis (fulva Drap.), osier
beds, and in the Thames rejectamenta, r ; spinulosa, moss and
fir leaves in Fawley Woods, r ; crystallina, wet leaves, &c.,y;
pulchella, roots of grass, &c., c. Bulimiis lackhamensis
(montanus Drap.), on the stems of beech trees; obscurus,
beech woods, &c., c; lubricus, wet places, c; fuscus (lineatus
Drap.), in moss at Pining Hill, Fawley Woods, v r. Achatina
acicula, under stones in chalky and grassy places, r. Succinea
putris (amphibia Drap.), c. Vitrina pellucida, wet leaves,
&c., n Pupa juniperi (secale Drap.), dry chalky places, c;
marginata, grassy places, f; pygmae^a, roots of grass and
plantains,/"; edentula, under stones, &Cc, Henley Park, r;
musc^rum (umbilicata Drap.), among ivy on the arch on the
Wargrave road, r, Azeca tridens, at the roots of dog's
mercury, at Pining Bottom in Fawley Woods, r. Carychium
minimum, roots of grass, &c., c. Balea perversa (fragilis
Leac/i), Thames rejectamenta, r. Clausilia laminata, on the
bark of beech trees, J"; nigricans (rugosa Drop.), in woods,
&c., c.

Mollusca Gasteropoda Pulmonifera Aqudtica, — Limnae^a
stagnalis, in ditches, c ; fragilis, on weeds in the Thames, r ;
palustris, Thames, c, fossaria, c; peregra, c; auricularia,
Thames, r, Physa fontinalis, Thames and ditches,/! Plan-
orbis corneus, ditches, f-, carinatus Drap., ditches near
Thames, r; complanatus (marginata Drap.), c; vortex, c;
contortus, ditches, r ; albus, Thames, r ; wautileus, in a pond
near Bix, r; fontanus, pond near the Grange on the Marlow
road, V r.

Mollusca Gasteropoda Branchifera NudihrancJiia. — Valvata
fontinalis (obtusa Turton), f\ cristata (spirorbis Drap.),
Thames, r.

Mollusca Gasteropoda Branchifera Pectinibrdnchia. —
Paludina Achatina, Thames, f\ tentaculata (impura Drap.),
c, acuta (similis Turton ?), Thames, r. Neritina fluviatilis,
Thames, c.

Mollusca Bivalvia. — A'nodon «natinus, Thames, c. U^nio
pictorum (of Turton's Manual, fig. 11.)? Thames, c; ovata
{Turton, fig. 12.), Thames, r. Cyclas amnica, Thames,/;
HenslowaW, Thames, r ; pusilla, Thames, r; rivicola, Thames,
r; cornea, ditches, &c., c, lacustris (caliculata Z)m^.), ponds
at Fawley, r.

Aug. 12. 1834.

496 Cane Fly of Grenada,

Art. VIII. Information on the Cane Fly qf Grenada (Delphax
saccharivora) additional to that given in VI. 407 — 4-13. By
J. O. Westwood, Esq. F.L.S., &c.

The ravages of this minute but destructive species of insect,
detailed in VI. 407 — 413., are continued with undiminished
severity in the Island of Grenada. At the July meeting of
the Entomological Society, the subject was brought before the
notice of the meeting by J. C, Johnstone, Esq., of that island,
who entered into various statements relative to the nature of
its attacks; from whose remarks it is evident, as I had indeed
presumed (VI. 410.), that the great mischief done to plants
originates in the constant suction of the plants by myriads of
these insects in all their stages. It has been stated [in VI.
407, 408.) that the eggs are deposited in the midrib of the
leaves, on the under side, in those plants which had gained con-
siderable height, the spots in which they are introduced being
covered with a fine downy white matter. This account, with
the drawing given in VI. 413. fig. 54. b, of the position of
these eggs in the leaf, is calculated to give an erroneous
idea ; since, from a microscopic examination of some infested
leaves preserved in spirits, brought over by Mr. Johnstone, I
have ascertained that the eggs are long and kidney-shaped,
and are introduced lengthwise into the substance of the mid-
rib of the leaf to a considerable depth. It is, however, upon
the young and very tender plants that the greatest injury is
inflicted; since, evidently from their affording a more de-
licious repast to the fly, they are so completely overpowered
with its numbers as to be unable to overcome the injury : they
bleed to death, and wither into a blackened mass. It is notice-
able that the north-east side of the island, which is the most
fruitful, and which has acquired the name of the garden of
the island, is more especially subject to the fly ; which, in
some instances, has destroyed two fifths, and even, in some
plantations, two thirds, of the entire produce.

It is only within the last few years that this pest has been
observed in Grenada; and, indeed, it has not yet made its
appearance in some of the adjacent islands. It has been
noticed that the first observance of it in the former island was
preceded by a very violent hurricane.

A committee has been appointed by the Entomological
Society to take the subject into consideration, with a view to
the proposal of the most efficient remedies ; and a report,
containing a great variety of suggestions, has been prepared
and sent over to the Agricultural Society of Grenada.

l^he Grove, Hammersmith, July 30. 1834.

Rare Itisects found on Parley Heath, 497

Art. IX. A List of the more rare of the Species of Insects found
on Parley Heathy on the Borders of Hampshire and Dorsetshire,
and Neighbourhood not exceeding Five Miles. By J. C. Dale,
Esq. A.M. F.L.S. &c.

The following list is but a small selection from the entire
list of the species captured in the places named. Some of
them, though so local, are there in plenty sometimes, as the
numbers appended to some of them below will serve to show :
these numbers are expressive of fewer than those I have given
away. The names are arranged according to Mr. Curtis's
Guide : —

Coleopfera, — Cicindela sylvatica, 100; maritima. Bourne
Mouth, not found on Parley Heath : Carabus arvensis, 50 ;
nitens, 200 : Pog5nus littoralis, Calathus angustatus, Steno-
lophus vaporariorum, O^cys currens; Anomala Frisch^V, 30,
one on Parley Heath, the rest on the sea coast ; E^mus hir-
tus : Cistela ceramboides ; fulvipes, 2 : Trachys minuta, 1 :
E'later ephippium, 7 ; ae^ieus, 5 : Scirtes chrysomeloides ;
Ceutorhynchus comari, 20 ; Sibinia prismita, 30 ; Grypidius
equiseti, 5 ; Hylobius abietis, 8 ; Cleonus nebulosus, 200 ;
A'pion genistae, 20 ; Sphaeriestes 4-pustulatus, 2 : Leptura
nigra, 40; femorato, 30: Luperus flavipes, 10; brassicse, 20 ;
Haltica 4-pustulata, 10; Macrocnema cyanea, 1: Cryptoce-
phalus bipustulatus, 5 ; lineola, 10 ; pusillus, 20 : Chrysomela
geminata, 2: Coccinella 19-punctata, 5; 12-punctata, 10;
oblongo-guttata, 20: Endomychus coccineus, 10.

Dermaptera, — Labidura gigantea, by the late Mr. Bingley,
under the sea shore near Christchurch.

Dictyoptera, — jBlatta Panzer/, 100.

Orthoptera. — y^cheta campestris : Acrida BinglezV ; grisea,
40 ; KirbzV, 40 ; dorsata, 20 : Z/0c6sta flavipes, 20.

Hymenoptera, — Hylotoma caerulescens, ] 0 : Selandria
ephippium, 6 ; ovata, 4 : Croe^su5 septentrionalis, 3 ; Nematus
grandis, 1 ; Evania minuta, 3 ; Peltastes dentatus, 2 ; Ano-
malon obscuratorius?; J5anchus compressus?; Chelonus
oculator, 4 : Helorus anomalipes, Hedychrum imperiale :
Chrysis succincta, 10; rufa, 10: Mutilla europseX 3 : Pom-
pllus rufipes, pulcher ; Ceropales maculatus, 6 ; A'porus bi-
color, Lyrops dimidiatus, 1 ; Astata victor, 2 ; Philanthus
androgynus; Ox^^belus uniglumis, 20; Ps^n ajuestris, 1;
Cerceris 5-cincta, 20 ; Eumenes atricornis, 40 ; Colletes fo-
diens, 50: Andrena rosae ; Schrank^7/<2, 10; affinis, 5; tho-
racica, 3 ; nitida, 7 : Sphecodes piceus ? : Xalictus xanthopus ;
Panurgus z^rsinus, 5 ; Coelioxys conica, 20 ; Epeolus varie-
gatus, 30 ; Nomada solidaginis ; Saropoda t^ulplna ?, 5.

VoL.VlI. — No. 42. KK

498 Rare Insects found on Parley Heath,

Neuroptera, — Libdllula conspurcata/ 30 ; Cordulia Cur-
tiszV, 12; Gomphus vulgatissimus, 50; ^'sJina juncea, 1;
A^nax imperator, 12; A^grion rubella, 60: Chrysopa fulvi-
ceps, 4; viridis, 12; rhomboidalis : O'smylus maculatus, 20;
Hemerobius fuse us ? 10; Perla bicaudata, 5 ; Nemoura pili-
cornis, 5.

Trichoptera. < — ■ Limnephilus villosus, 10 : Phryganea gran-
dis, 1; minor, 5: Leptocerus ochraceus, 1.

Lepidoptera, — Limenitis Camilla, 20 ; Argynnis Adipp^,
20 ; Sesia Z>ombyliif6rmis, 50 ; Deilephila j^orcellus, 5 ; La-
siocampa trifcMii, 5 ; Laria fascelina, 5 ; Penthophora nigri-
cans ; Eulepia cribrum, 50 ; Deiopeia pulchra : A'grotis
ocellina ; pyrophila : Caradrina neglecta, 2 ; Dipterygia
pinastri, 3; Achatea spreta, 10: Leucania comma, 8; litto-
ralis, 1 : Cucullia cliamomillse ; Heliothis dipsacea, 7 ; Anarta
myrtilli, 20; Stilbia anomalata, 4; A'lcis cinctaria, 13: Bu-
palu5 piniarius, 30; ericetarius, 40; favillace{\rius, 100:
Hipparchu5 bajularius, 3 ; jpapilionarius, 7 : Eubolia cervi-
naria, 4; Chariss« obscuraria, 100; Pachycnemia hippocas-
tanaria, 20 ; Lobophora sexalata, 6 : Eupithecia strobilata,
12; subumbrata; succenturiata, 3; centaureata, 12; nanata,
20: Hyri« auroraria, 12; Ypsipetes impluviata, 7: Ptycho-
poda m^rgine-punctata, 3 ; subsericeata, 9 ; contiguata, 4 :
Macaria liturata, 33 ; alternata, 4 : Halias chlorana, 2; Tortrix
galiana, 10; Spilonota piceana, 4; Zeiraphera atromargana,
1 ; Anchylopera fractifasciana, 7 ; Cnephasia aurofasciana ;
Orthotae^nia Turionella ; Argyrotoza mixtana, 40 : Peronea
albicostana, 4 ; nova species ? : Simaethis Myilerflwa, 20 ;
Scopula sticticalis, 2; Asopia flammealis, 10: Crambus ar-
gyreus, 40 ; latistrius, 30 ; geniculeus, 40 ; hamellus, 30 :
Onc6cera marisci, 4 : Phycita abietella ; ^alumbea : Depres-
saria umbellana, Pancallia Merian^//«, Glyphipteryx Roesel/flJ,
Lampronia bistrigella, Pterophorus parvidactylus.

Homoptera, — A'phis quercus, 2 ; Ulopa erica?, 12; Ledra
aurita, 2 ; y4siraca pulchella, 30.

Hemiptera. — Corixa lacustris ? 50 ; fossarum, 20 : Gerris
apicalis, 12; (Novum genus) capitata; A'radus cortical is, SO
Aneurus IseVis, 2: Acanthia zosterae, 12; a species allied
marginalis, 1 : Reduvius subapterus, 1 : Kleidocerys capitatus
magnicornis, 10 : Alydus calcaratus, 5 ; C()reus quadratus, 2
Pentatoma perlata, 2 ; caerulea, 6.

Diptera. — ^'nthrax flava, 1 ; ornata, 200 ; Dioctria atri-
capilla ? ; Hemerodromyia Mantispa, 10 ; Microdon «pif6rmis,
20; Helophilus trivittatus, 3 ; Eristalis nubilipennis; Rha-
phium longicorne, 1 ; Conops macrocephala, Gasterophilus
liaemorrhoidalis ; Sarcophaga mortu6rum,4 ; Cordylura livens,

Swiss Habitat ofQdrex heleondstes Ehrh. 499

Tephritis stellata Bcemer ? ; Actora ae'stuum, 8 ; Platycephala
planifrons ; Octhera Mantis, 4.

Omaloptera. — Ornithomyia viridula.

Of the species enumerated in this list, I believe Conops
macrocephala, Penthophora nigricans, and Anomalon obscu-
ratorius ? to be unique as British ; and Acrida Binglei/,
Cryptocephalus bipustulatus, Astata victor, Deiopeia pulchra,
Leucania littoralis, and Calathus angustatus have been so till
lately.

I have, this season, also taken

Lyccsrm Arion. and A\is, and Hesperia Adcson in plenty ;
especially the last, at Lulworth ; and have learned that it has
been found also at the Burning Cliff, near Weymouth : and it
is remarkable that it should have escaped observation pre-
viously. In the end of May, 1833, 1 took a single specimen,
only, of Actae^o^z; and, had it not been found in plenty at
other times, it might have joined company with liesperifl^
Oileu5, Vitelliu5, and Bucephalus, in the drawers of doubtful
and imported species of some sceptical entomologists.

August 5, 1834.

Art. X. Information on the Habitat ofCarex heleonastes Ehrhart
in Switzerland, and on the Circumstances connected tvith the Dis"
covery and Identification of this Species ; tvith like Injbrmation
on the Qarex Gaudiniana Hoppe, By P. J. Brown, Esq., Thun,
Canton of Berne, Switzerland.

The discovery of the rare Swedish Carex heleonastes (VI.
469.) on the turf grounds of the Schwarzenegg, near Thun,
in Switzerland, a spot strikingly similar to many portions of
the Scottish Highlands, encourages me to hope that this plant
may ere long be added to the British flora: and it has oc-
curred to me that the chances of its being detected may be
much increased by my placing at your disposal the few speci-
mens still remaining of those which I brought with me to
England. I therefore take the liberty of troubling you with
the accompanying small packet, the contents of which you
will perhaps have the goodness to distribute among your
botanical friends, more especially those resident in the north.

The unexpected discovery of the above plant, in Switzer-
land, is due to the arrival at Thun of M. Guthnick of
Cologne, a zealous and quicksighted botanist. He, being
apprised that the same leisure which had enabled me to be-
come better acquainted than any other person with the distri-
bution of plants in our neighbourhood, would also allow me

K K 2

500 Swiss Habitat ofQdrex Gaiidhiikna Hoppe.

to lead him to the richest spots, proposed to become the com-
panion of some of my herborisations ; and, as the Carices
had formed his favourite study, we were naturally led to the
peat grounds and marshes. The Schwarzenegg is situated
at about two leagues n. e. of Thun, at an elevation of proba-
bly 2500 ft. above the sea, and is chiefly covered with fir
forests, interspersed with large open spaces of deep wet peat,
which is dug for fuel. On this spot the Carex heleonastes was
first found on June 1. 1830, covering the bottom of a ditch
or drain about 2 ft. wide, and IJft. deep, the soil of which
is always saturated with water, the surplus of which passes
off to a deep watercourse at a short distance : the ditch in
question skirts the edge of a fir forest at the distance of about
30 yds. or 40 yds. Not being satisfied as to the identity of
the plant, numerous specimens were distributed, by M. Guth-
nick and myself, to our various friends in both France and
Germany, without any intimation of our opinion as to its
species ; all those who had access to the chief collections
pronounced it nem. con, to be C. heleonastes ; Dr. Hoppe (a
botanist of great authority for the genus) confirming his
opinion by the transmission of an original specimen from the
herbarium of Ehrhart, by whom the species was established.
This circumstance is merely mentioned to show that reliance
may be placed on the correctness of the determination.

iCdrex Gaudinmna Hoppe.'] On June 7. 1830, an un-
known Carex was met with near the edge of the small lake of
Amsoldingen, about a league from Thun : specimens of this
also were distributed, and produced a variety of opinions too
long to be detailed : plants in a living state were demanded
by many; and, after having been studied from fresh specimens
both wild and cultivated, it was pronounced to be an unde-
scribed species, and named by Dr. Hoppe Carex Gaudlmdna,
in honour of the late M. Gaudin of Nyon, author of an in-
valuable Flora Helvetica. Dr. Hoppe's notice of the plant
was published in thei^/or«, a small periodical work, in German,
printed at Ratisbon, and in the number dated April 28. 1832,
he gives the following character : —

" Cdrea: (Vigfiea) Gaudi?iikna. C. stigmatibus binis; spica
terminali mascula vel pseudo-androgyna, lineari-oblonga;
foemineis duabus, sessilibus, approximatis, ovatis, paucifloris;
fructibits ovato-oblongis, apice bifidis, acuminatis, squama
ovata longioribus ; caule tereti, glabro; foliis linearibus, ca-
naliculatis; radice stolonifera." The species is inserted by
Gaudin in the Appendix to his Flora^ published shortly before
his death ; and, having two or three individuals still in London,
eg leave to place them also in your hands.
6. Davies Street, Berlrlcy Scpiare.^ Jnne 21. 1834.

Short Communications : — Zoology, 501

[We have imparted the specimens, a small number of
them, to William Christy, jun., Esq., Clapham Road, and
the remainder to George Johnston, Esq., M.D., Berwick
upon Tweed, who will, we are sure, have pleasure, in sending
them farther north, to botanists who may be resident near
localities which assimilate to the Swiss one.

Of Scheuchzena palustris L., of which Mr. Brown has
spoken in VI. 469., he has also given specimens. We erred
in speaking, in VI. 470., of " its Swiss habitat," as this species
has many habitats in Switzerland. The particular specimens
given by Mr. Brown have their habitat marked, " Schwar-
zenegg prope Thun, Junio, 1832."]

Art. XI. Short Communications,

Zoology. — Reason versus Instinct. — I have never felt
convinced, nor satisfied, with the limitation to which the
actions of animals are confined by the term instinct, as applied
to them. True, a chicken, for example, if hatched by steam,
and brought up by an " artificial mother," as Mowbray styles
the flannel succedaneum for a hen, would perform its offices
of incubation perfectly, and in due season, although it should
never have received instructions from its mother, or by com-
munication with any of its congeners : this is instinct. But
when circumstances occur which could never have been con-
templated as likely to befall it, by what name shall we desig-
nate the cause or motive which actuates its movements ?
A neighbour of ours, on whose word, I believe, I may safely
rely, related the following anecdote to me the other day.
His amateur farmyard, I should premise, is beautifully ar-
ranged, and always reminds me of that belonging to Joshua
Geddes, the glorious quaker in Redgauntlet, My neigh-
bour's pigsties are railed off on two sides of the yard, where
food in abundance awaits the happy y«r niente inmates; but,
as it was discovered that the fowls partook too largely of that
which was intended only for pigs, their wings were clipped,
in order to prevent them from flying over; and the operation
produced the desired result. One of the fowls, however,
discovered a method by which to baffle the contrivers of its
disappointment. Several pigs were loose in the yard, whose
movements were watched by the bird, and, as one of them
wandered near the intervening rail, it flew upon the back of
the animal, and thence easily gained the tops, over which it
fluttered into the enclosure, and thus obtained the desired

K K 3

502 Short Communications : —

but interdicted banquet. Was this the result of forethought,
combining of circumstances, or, in short, reason ? Could it
be instinct ? — Campanella, Berhsliire, \_Received, Jan, 9.
1834.]

Upon this subject, see IV. 498.; V. 276. ; VII. 481. ; acts
of birds, 518.; acts of the hare, 506. I had once a fine
young cat, which I had brought up in an uninhabited house,
in a garden, whither I, in most mornings, carried from my
own place of residence, milk for " Mas " (the name I had
given to my cat). A bell was so hung over the door of the
private entrance to the garden as to be struck, and made to
sound pretty loudly, every time the door was opened. Mas
would sometimes be along with my fellow-workmen in the
garden at a good distance from the door ; but, on the bell's
sounding at the usual time of Mas's receiving his breakfast,
he would quit my fellow-workmen instantly, and gallop like
a greyhound towards the door. — J. D,

A Communication of Ideas in Animals of different Genera,
— Last spring an old mare (she has, I believe, completed her
twentieth year, and has lost an eye), being relieved, in con-
sideration of age and infirmity, from heavy labour, was turned
out, in company with a cow and four or five heifers, into a
small field at a distance from their former companions. The
grass in this enclosure was not very plentiful, and the adjoin-
ing pasture being adorned ivith luxuriant vegetation, and
divided by an indifferent fences they frequently took the
liberty of trespassing upon the neighbouring property. This,
indeed, occurred so often, that a watch was obliged to be set
upon their actions; and one day a singular instance of ani-
mal instinct was observed. The mare, doubtless tired of
staying so long at home, made the circuit of the field, with a
view to escape from her confinement; and, having discovered
a place suited for her exit, she returned to her horned com-
panions, who were ruminating at a little distance, and, having
approached the cow, she gently struck her on the shoulder,
first with her hoof, and then with her head. The cow being
roused from her revery, the loving friends advanced toge-
ther to the gap, and, having jointly reconnoitred it, returned
to the rest, and then, the old mare leading the way, the
whole company leaped over in succession after her. —
W» G. Barker. East Wilton, near Middleham, Bedale, York'
shire, Sept. 14. 1834.

A cat and dog of my father's, brought up together from
their infancy, would, when they had grown up, amuse them-
selves for an hour together in chasing, in company, wild
rabbits, which were successively straying into the garden.

Mamrnifer^ous Animals, 503

The foraging couple would be off the first thing in the morn-
ing, and again in the evening; and a near relative, from
w^hom I learn this, has known them, in one instance, to bring
home a half-grown rabbit. — J. D.

The Ccmimunication of Ideas in Animals of the same Species
is instanced daily to all observers. I saw a very clear case of
it on September 15. 1833. I was crossing two meadows, or
paddocks, divided by a hedgerow, but connected by a gate-
way from which the gate was absent. Several cows were
grazing in the farther meadow, from whom a bull was coming
into the nearer meadow, to fetch up, as soon appeared,
two cows that had strayed behind, and were still grazing in
the nearer. He called to them at the gateway, and then
walked to them, when they ceased grazing, and walked before
him to the main party in the farther meadow. — J. D.

Mammiferous Animals. — Listances of depraved Appetite
in Mammiferous Animals. (135 — 137.) — I have known a
male cat to steal away a young cat two months old, and de-
stroy it, and eat it almost entirely. I know not if this be a
frequent occurrence. I have, too, known a bull-bitch to eat
every one of her young ones as soon as they were born. —
J. J. Gelly, Montgomeryshire, March 1. 1834.

The Marten {MustelaldmB) , — The gamekeeper of Peter
Du Cane, Esq., Braxted Lodge, tells me that he has caught
several specimens of the marten during the last few years :
he captured the last in a trap baited with a young rabbit. —
J. C. Witham, Essex, March 20. 1834.

In The Whitehaven Herald of May 20. 1834, there is,
under the title of " A Scrap of Natural History," a delectable
description of the " personal appearance and habits " of " the
mart, martin, yellow-breasted mart, or sweet mart." The
"scrap'' occupies nearly a column. We wish the writer
would narrate the natural history of all the British animals
in like manner. This remarkable fact is mentioned : —
" There is at present in the possession of an inhabitant of
this town a couple of young marts, to which the cat belong-
ing to the house is performing all the tender offices of a
parent. . . The little creatures were blind, and about the size of
kittens of a corresponding age ; and, when first caught, sucked
milk readily, through a quill, on which they were supported
for two or three days, until a cat was found to discharge the
office of their hapless parent [which had been chased to her
nast or bield, driven out of it with smoke, and killed]. Puss
had a kitten of her own at the time, which was taken from
her to make room for the intruders, whom she has cherished
with true maternal affection. Since their capture, they have

K K 4

504^ Short Commu7iications : —

opened their eyes, and are daily improving in size and appear-
ance."

T/ie Stoat {Mustela erminea). — It seems to have been
commonly imagined that change of colour from the usual
tint to white is the invariable effect of cold. [V. 718.; VI. 79.]
Yet this change occurs in the mild climate of Cornwall as
often as in other parts of England ; and not always in winter.
Mr. C. Jackson of East Looe had, at one time, in his pos-
session, three specimens that were all over white, except on
the back of the neck and shoulder, which was brown, and the
black tip of the tail. They were proved not to be young by
the canine teeth being worn down. — J. Couch. PolperrOy
Cornwall, May 29. 1834. [On the stoat, see, besides,
VI. 202., and the references given in VI. 208.]

The Weasel sucks the Blood of its Prey, — Rusticus of Go-
dalming (VI. 197.) denies this, and says that " the weasel
only eats the brain." This is a bold assertion, at variance
with the opinions of most, if not all, modern (and, as far as
I am aware, ancient) naturalists (but no matter for that;
they are all mere copyists, at least since the flood, according
to Rusticus ; Linnaeus, Jussieu, Cuvier, &c., are only copyists,
in other words, plagiarists) : and, before it can be received as
a fact applicable to the species generally, it must be ascer-
tained by proofs much more evident and convincing than the
single one brought forward by Rusticus. Presumption and
invective have little weight nowadays. That the weasel will
eat the brain of its prey, I have no doubt; and it will devour
the blood, flesh, and all (except the bones), when hungry.
When satiated, or little hungry, it will generally only suck
the blood ; but should it, during the conflict with the subject
of its attack, injure the skull so as to cause an extrusion of
medullary matter, it will frequently devour this as well as the
blood. But the weasel, like the polecat, and the other Po-
marii of Cuvier, is decidedly sanguinary in its habits, and
prefers blood to everything else. It generally destroys its
victim by attacking it in its head or neck ; most frequently in
the latter part, when its prey is much inferior to it in strength,
and can, consequently, make little resistance ; the animal being
probably instinctively inclined to attach itself to this part,
owing to a large artery (the carotid) being situated there.
I have seen the weasel kill four young ducks in just half an
hour : it attacked them in the throat, sucked their blood, and
afterwards left them. — J. Jones, Gelly, Montgomeryshire,
March 28. 1834. [To the list of the weasel's objects oT' prey,
the mole may now (see Mr. Couch, in p. 458.) be added.]

White Hares, — I find the following remarks in my journal,

Mammiferous Animals, 50B

under date of January, 1829: — -A gentleman informs me
that the hounds with which he was hunting yesterday chased,
for a considerable time, a white hare; that one was killed,
not long since, near the same place ; and that some young
ones of the same colour have been seen. It is supposed that
there are seven in the same neighbourhood ; and it is certain
they have been seen in summer as well as winter. Indeed,
cold cannot now have caused the change, since we have had
none until within these few days. The gentleman upon whose
estate they are wishes to preserve the breed; on which
account the hounds were drawn off before they had killed
that which they had hunted. Again, under the date of Fe-
bruary, 1832, I jfind I have noted as follows : — Many white
hares have been seen in the same neighbourhood during
several years. One that I have now examined was white,
but with a perceptible universal tinge of brown ; the ears
whitish without black tips ; under the feet, brown, as in com-
mon hares. Another, examined by Mr. Jackson, was of a
pure white ; ears of the ordinary length, not tipped with
black ; lips white. Thus, it appears that these were only
specimens of a variety of the common hare; but it is singular
that it should have existed and propagated on one estate for
several years ; and, it would appear, without varying accord-
ing to the season. — J, Couch. Polperro, Cornwall, May 29.
1834.

A dateless scrap lying by us advises us of a fine white hare,
shot in Bleasdale, which had been put into a state of preserv-
ation for the owner, Mr. Hall.

A Two-coloured Hare was, some years ago, shot upon the
lawn, about The Mount, near Bury St. Edmunds, by M. T.
Cocksedge, Esq., since deceased, then resident at The Mount,
and proprietor of the estate. This was stuffed, and placed in
a glass case over the fireplace in his gun-room, where it
remained as lately as January, 1834, when I saw it there.
As nearly as I remember, the greater proportion of the fore
half of the body was white ; the remainder, of the usual colour
of hares, or, perhaps, rather lighter. — J, D,

A veryjine Black Hare was killed on January 15. 1833, on
the estate of Wm. Selby Lowndes, Esq., called Tuckey Hill
Farm, in the parish of Winslow, Bucks. The head and legs
were as black as jet, and had much the appearance of black
silk velvet. Its weight was nearly 7 lbs. {BelVs Life in Lon-
don^ Feb. 10. 1833.) — James Fennell.

The fact of the capture of a black hare, in January or
February, 1828, at Combe, near Coventry, is registered in
I. 84. ; and the occurrence of a wild black variety of the

506 Short Communications : —

rabbits on the northern coast of the county of Donegal, in
Ireland, in V. 579. The editorial query adduced in the latter
place, on the wildness of the black variety in this locality, is,
doubtless, quite superfluous. Looking on the months in which
the black hares were captured, the thought arises that snow
was probably on the ground, and gave the blackness of the
hares that conspicuousness which led to the destruction of
them. — J, D.

Sagacity of the Hare. — The French Manuel du Chasseur,
quoting Jacques du Fouilloux, the author of a celebrated
Treatise on Hunting, first printed in 1561 (folio, at Poitiers)
says, — "I have seen a hare, when meaning to practise a de-
ception, quit its seat without being alarmed by a dog, go to a
pond, at the distance of a quarter of a league, wash itself,
and pass off again from the water through a quantity of
rushes. I have seen a hare, that has been chased for full two
hours by the hounds, thrust another hare from its seat, and
take its place. I have seen hares swim successively through
two or three ponds, of which the smallest was fourscore
paces round. I have also seen them, after having been
chased for ten hours, creep under the door of a sheep-house
{d^un toit a hrebis\ and rest itself among the cattle. I have
seen them, when before the dogs, get into the middle of a
flock of sheep, and accompany them in all their motions over
the field, avoiding to quit them by any means. 1 have seen
them pass forward on one side of a hedge, and return by the
other, there being only the breadth of the hedge between
the hare and the hounds. I have also seen them, after half
an hour's chase, spring on the top of an old wall, 6 ft. in
height, and there settle on the narrow^ covering of ivy." —
J, Couch. Polperro, Cmmtmll, May 29. 1834.

Monstrosity in a Hare. — On Monday, a young hare,
nearly a month old, was found near the Hay (having been
killed by a stone), which presented a most singular conform-
ation. The head and fore feet were perfect down to the
back, where two separate bodies commenced, each completed
with legs and tails, but separate from the navel, and of the
male genus, the two bodies appearing equally strong and
perfect. This singular curiosity is now in the possession of
Mr. T. Cooke, auctioneer, of Hereford. {Bath Herald,
quoted in the Morning Herald, August 1. 1825.)

The Otter {hutra vulgaris Flem.). — The Manuel du Chas-
seur affords the following information respecting the habits of
the otter : — " It does not dig the hole in which it lives ; but
occupies the first convenient cavity, among the roots of trees,
or crevices of rocks. It feeds on fish and crabs ; and when

Mammiferous Animals, 507

it is desirable to entrap it, in a river or place where fish are
common, but not crabs, the latter should be chosen for bait.
A white stone, or some rubbish [of old mortar, plaster, &c.]
sufficiently conspicuous, should be placed on the sand; the
animal will be attracted to examine this ; and it ends by
depositing on it its excrement. Within two or three feet of
this, a bank of sand should be raised, 1 ft. in width, and 1 in.
high ; on this the bait is to be set ; which bait, whether fish
or crab, must be fresh, for if it have been dead but a few
hours, the otter will not touch it. If it is found that the bait
has been taken, we next proceed to set the trap. This is a
common gin ; and, if baited with a crab, it should be alive,
somewhat ci'ushed, to prevent its struggles, and fastened on
its back. [We hope that not any naturalist will practise
this.] The gin should be secured, that the otter may not
drag it away. This animal has a singular habit of constantly
dropping its excrement in the same spot, and commonly near
a white stone that chance may have thrown on the shore.
The dung may be known by the remains of fishes and of
crabs' claws which it contains ; and, if it be found fresh, the
otter may certainly be taken the same evening. If not, how-
ever, a white stone or old plastering should be placed in the
road it is known to take. As night approaches, the hunter
should silently advance to his station, behind the shelter of a
tree or other blind, within fifteen or twenty paces of the
mark. A moonlight night should be chosen, as the otter is
slow to quit its hole. The sportsman will be informed of the
approach of the animal rather by his ears than his eyes ; its
diving to fish and rising again may be heard at a considerable
distance. At this time the eyes must be kept fixed on the
white mark on the sand ; for to that the animal will come at
last. If the creature be only wounded by the shot, so that
it retains strength to throw itself into the water, it is useless
to search for it in the morning ; for it certainly will not be
found. If it escape mortally wounded, it gets among the
immersed roots of trees or stones, and there continues at-
tached." The following notes are derived from my own
observation. The otter occupies, in the summer, and when
the weather will permit, a retired and quiet station near
where the land stretches into the ocean. Here it is able to
discover danger while at a distance, and to retreat in what-
ever direction it seems fit. It swims low in the water, and
will go a mile or more after prey. The neighbourhood of a
populous harbour is a frequent station ; and I have known it
repeatedly pass up the little river at Polperro, beneath my
parlour window^, undeterred by the numerous noisy children

508 Short Communications : —

at play close to its track, but apparently trusting for security
to the dusk of a summer's evening. The young ones are
playful and active. Fishes seem to have a peculiar dread of
the otter ; for I am credibly informed that it has been seen to
collect into a scull [shoal] a vast number of trouts in a river,
and to drive them before it, until the greater part have thrown
themselves on shore.

An Individual of the Great Seal P (Fhbca barbdta) taken at
Padstow, Cornwall. — The specimen was 38 in. long, and
25 in. round close behind the fore flippers ; but the measure-
ments were made after it had been stuffed, and it had shrunk
in the drying. From snout to eye, 3 in. ; from the front of
the mouth to its angle, 2J in. ; teeth conical, pointed, a little
curved ; front teeth shorter ; canine teeth numerous, those of
the upper and lower jaw interlocking ; the grinders could not
be examined. Upper lip broad, rounded, in two lobes.
Nostrils separated by a black and naked channel. Whiskers
on the lobes of the upper lip, long and numerous; one row
contracted in many parts of their course, as I have seen in
the sea lion of Tristan d'Acunha. From the snout to the
orifice of the ear, 5\ in. ; no external ear : from the snout to
the shoulder, 14jin. ; consequently the neck is long: from
the heel of the hand of the fore flipper to the point of the toe,
8jin. ; tail, 2J in. long; hind flippers, 7 in. long; breadth
of the hind foot at the claws, 8 in. ; body, 1 3 in. round just
before the tail. Five claws on each foot, long, sharps curved.
Hair straight, silky, abundant. Three whiskers a little above
the hinder angle of each eye. Colour white, with numerous
black spots and patches. This specimen was taken in a net,
near Padstow, in Cornwall, in January, 1832. The only
figure I am able to find is in Gesner, where the likeness is
good, except the forehead, which is too high. I suppose the
specimen to be of the species Ph^ca barbata, which Turton
says is white when young, and dark when old. It is probable
that this specimen is in the intermediate state, with the dark
appearing through the white ground. - — J» Couch Polperro^
May 29. 1834. [Mr. Couch has sent us a sketch along
with this description.]

Birds. — Notices on a few of the Birds of Lower Canada. —
The following notices on a few of the birds of Lower Canada
were written during a residence at the He aux Noix, a small
island, containing an English garrison, on Lake Champlain,
near the mouth of the river Richelieu, a tributary of the
magnificent St. Lawrence, and from personal observation.

The very few birds that pass the winter in this part of
Canada, and the difiiculty there is in finding them, make the

Birds. 509

shooting not so good as is generally imagined ; though a
good shot may bag his three brace of grouse a day. The
only bird here in winter, that can be called game, is what the
natives call a partridge ; but, in England, we should pro-
nounce it a ptarmigan : it is the wood partridge ( Zetrao
umbellus) of Wilson's American Ornithology. In very severe
weather, the birds of this species perch on the tall hemlock
spruce trees (^^bies canadensis) ; and, from their white plu-
mage, and their remaining perfectly stationary, are very difficult
to see ; but, in the evening and early in the morning, they
fly to the stunted birches for the buds, which, while the snow
covers the ground, constitute their principal food. In mode-
rate weather, and particularly when the ground is free from
snow, they fly into the low brushwood, in flocks of five
or six ; and then, with a good dog to spring them, and
back immediately, they will fly to the first tree; when it
requires only a sharp eye and a steady aim to transfer them
to your game-bag. They are not only splendid birds
in appearance, but, when dressed secundum artem (with a
cook's skill), will tickle the palate of the most determined
gourmand. The cock bird has a singular call for its mate.
Alighting on the stump of a tree, he strikes it violently and
quickly with his wings, which produces a loud hollow sound ;
and, from the noise having some resemblance to that of a
mufiied drum when beaten, it is called " drumming." This
may be heard, on a still evening, at the distance of nearly
half a mile. I have said before that these birds are very
difficult to see in trees. Shooting one day, I saw, as well as
a boy who accompanied me, one of them fly into a fir tree :
we looked for a long time without being able to find it ; and
were on the point of giving up the search, when we fancied
we saw it sitting on the flat part of a branch near the trunk.
I gave the boy my double-barreled gun, who fired ; but the
bird never stirred. Feeling satisfied, however, that it was
there, I fired the second barrel ; when it fell to the ground
dead. Like the ptarmigan of Europe, they are but little
alarmed at the noise of a gun ; and are so stupid, that, if
three or four perch in a tree, they may be all shot by simply
taking care to fire at the lowest bird first. The cock of this
species of grouse weighs 1 9 oz., and the hen nearly as much.
A speckled woodpecker, with a red head, and of about the
size of our redwing (Turdus zliacus); the common blue jay;
a tomtit, somewhat larger than our Parus major ; a large
brown owl (a singularly beautiful bird); and a bird of the
pie kind, constitute, as fiir as I have been able to observe,
the catalogue of birds that pass the winter in this part of

510 Short Commtinicaiions : —

Lower Canada. I should, however, except the snow bunting,
or snow flake (Emberiza nivalis). This hardy little fellow is
said to build in Greenland ; and is found not only upon the
hoary mountains of Spitzbergen, and upon the inhospitable
shores of Hudson^s Bay, but in the highest northern latitudes
that our navigators have reached. It feeds on the ground ;
and, from having the long claw of the lark (^lauda arvensis),
and not perching in trees [see VI. 486.], has frequently been
mistaken for a white variety of that bird.

The immense flights of the passenger pigeons that pass
over here must be seen to be credited. We are, however, all
famihar with Wilson's and Audubon's descriptions of them.
They seem to migrate with a south-west wind.

The martins (-&irundo urbica) arrive hereabout the middle
of March ; and are soon followed by another and larger spe-
cies, called here the black martin. This I take to be the
H. melba. The inhabitants prepare small houses for them ;
and they take possession of them as soon as they arrive.

The only humming-bird here or in the States is the red-
throated species ( Ti'ochilus Colubris). They come about the
end of April, and depart the latest of the summer birds.
During the hot weather, they are seldom much about in the
middle of the day. From the early part of June to near the
end of August, they retire into the most impenetrable parts of
the woods, where they breed ; and are never seen, except in
the morning and evening. One reason of this absence during
the day appears to be, that, while the sun is shining hot upon
the flowers, very little honey is secreted : and, as their food
chiefly consists of honey [see I. 371., V. 473. 475. 675.], they
cannot obtain it ; but, when the weather is moist and cloudy,
they may then be seen busily engaged in extracting their food
from the flowers. I have seen as many as eight or ten hum-
ming and hovering round the blossoms of the scarlet runners.
The young ones fly about the first week in August ; and,
from that time until the middle of September, they perch in
the sticks [placed to support the stems and branches] of the
above plants. Here they will remain for hours, being fed by
the old birds ; whose affection for them is so great, that they
will not allow any bird to come near them. The male of this
species of humming-bird does not assume its full plumage
until the spring ; the female is a beautiful bird, but greatly
inferior in splendour to the male. By remaining quite still
near a flower they frequent, they will come within a yard of
you. A friend of mine, on whose fidelity and accuracy I can
depend, witnessed the following scene ; which I relate in illus-
tration of the pugnacious habits of these birds ; — There is,

Birds, 511

in the West Indies, a* bird called the chicken-hawk : one of
them had attempted to carry off a young humming-bird ;
when the parent bird flew with the rapidity of an arrow, and
brought the hawk in agony to the ground, having pierced the
posterior part of its body with its bill.

The last bird of passage that arrives here is the goatsucker,
which appears by the middle of May. They are very nume-
rous ; and resemble the one in England, but are larger. On
fine still nights, they fly very high, and make a loud humming
noise with their wings as they rapidly descend. They call
them in this country the mosquito hawk ; a more appropriate
name, as relates to the habits of the bird, than that of goat-
sucker. — O. Clapton^ Feb, 1834.

Of the ForJced-tail Kite, we have a few about us : it is pro-
vincially called the " crotched-tail puddock." One flew over
the garden a few days ago, mobbed by several rooks. The
gardener, on seeing this bird, remarked, " What fierce things
they are when they 've got nests ! I was along with a boy
once, who got up to one ; and the old one picked a hole smack
through his hat, and scratched his hand properly, before he
could make her go off the nest. There used to be a good
many of them about here once, but there are not many of them
now." The latter part of the last remark is perfectly correct.
— J.C. Witkam, Essex, March 20. 1834.

A Bittern was shot at Maldon, about six weeks ago. Bit-
terns are not unfrequently met with upon the marshes by the
side of the river which runs to that town. — Id,

Some of the Habits of the Lesser Black-backed Gull (Ldrus
fiiscus); as shown by an Individual of this Species in partial
Confinement, — The individual to be spoken of is at present
in the grey or immature plumage, which, we are told, these
birds retain for several years. He has the full range of a
large garden, his escape being only prevented by having his
wing cut; but he constantly prefers the neighbourhood of a
large network cage, the residence of a pair of silver pheasants :
not very congenial companions, one would suppose, for a
roamer of the ocean. But such is the fondness of almost all
animated beings for society of some kind or other, that, when
that of their own species is out of reach, they will often
attach themselves to creatures of a very foreign character.
Near his gallinaceous friends our gull always sleeps, seldom
straying to any considerable distance; though he seems to
enjoy, at times, using his wings to the utmost of his ability ;
half-flying, half-running, in all directions, apparently for mere
amusement. He is, however, very tame ; and will, when
hungry, follow any of the family about the garden, uttering a

512 Short Communicatwns : —

peculiar cry, which always means that he is quite ready for a
meal. Indeed, he has a most voracious appetite, and the
capacity of his throat is truly astonishing : he has repeatedly
swallowed, quite whole, with bill, claws, and feathers, various
small birds which had been shot and thrown to him. Mice
or other small quadrupeds appear equally to suit his taste ;
and, though he has no objection to butcher's meat, he seems
rather to prefer small animals, notwithstanding the hair, fea-
thers, &c., which sometimes give him not a little trouble to
dispose of satisfactorily. The way in which he remedies this
difficulty suggested itself the first time a bird was given him :
I believe it was a skylark. After some ineffectual efforts to
swallow it, he paused for a moment; and then, as if suddenly
recollecting something, he ran off at full speed to a pan of
water, shook the bird about in it until well soaked, and imme-
diately gulped it down without farther trouble. Since that
time, he invariably has recourse to the same expedient 'in
similar cases, however distant he may be from the pan when
any difficulty arises. He once, by this means, managed to
swallow the head of a fowl ; bill, bones, feathers, and all.
He does not appear particularly to prefer fish, which we may
suppose his more natural food ; though he will eat it plenti-
fully when hungry ; and he is generally by no means nice in
his diet, having lately eaten, with apparent pleasure, a putrid
weasel, taking, however, especial care that it should not go
down " tail foremost." I have some reason to believe that
he casts up the bones, fur, and feathers of what he swallows,
in the manner of the owls, &c. ; as I have occasionally found
a little bunch of very white bones, mixed with fur, near his
sleeping-place. Whether or not this bird would have had
any inclination to feast on his winged neighbours, had they
never been given him when dead, I cannot say ; but I have
frequently observed him not only earnestly watching the
small birds as they were hopping near him, but actually
pursuing them for some distance : and, in one instance, almost
successfully, for a chaffinch had nearly fallen a victim to his
predatorial propensity, after he had chased it a considerable
way. Altogether, he is an amusing fellow ; but, as he has
shown no small inclination to mischief, in plucking off the
flowers, pulling up the labels, emptying the flower-pots, and
scattering the mould over the walks, his fate is somewhat
doubtful : and I fear it is more than probable that his life
will have to pay the forfeit of his crimes. — S. K. Sudbury ^
S?ifolk [April, 1834].

An Attack of a large Sea Gull, in the Manner of a Species
of rapacious Bird, upon a Kittiwake Gull. — As the following

Birds, 513

circumstance seems rather extraordinary, perhaps some corre-
spondent will please to inform me whether it is known usually
to occur among birds of the gull kind : — As I was returning
from collecting fossils in the neighbourhood of Charmouth,
Dorsetshire, my attention was drawn to a large seagull dart-
ing down into the river, and taking up in its feet (or bill ?) a
small gull (which afterwards proved to be akittiwake) to some
height in the air ; when it let it drop, and caught it again,
several times, till it came at last down towards the river : when
I ran to the spot, and shouted as loud as I could ; and made
the large gull drop the bird, which I secured at last, in a
dying state, by jumping into the river ; and, having taken it
home, preserved it for my brother's collection. The large
one, however, hovered over for some time, with the view of
obtaining it again. As the captured bird has, instead of a
fourth toe, only a small warty protuberance, so remarkable,
that we noticed it before we referred to Montagu or Bewick,
it is impossible to mistake this for any other species than the
kittiwake.

[The Kittmake is common on the Coast of Dorsetshire J\—^
It is rather remarkable that Montagu should mention the
kittiwake as a rare bird in the south of England, he having
stated only one instance as occurring, in which three birds of
this species were washed ashore in Devonshire. My brother
and myself shoot them more commonly than those of any
other species of gull. I may also mention

A few rather rare Bii^ds that are met with in this neigh-
bourhood; namely: — Purple sandpiper (Tringa maritima),
grey phalarope (Phalaropus lobatus), bee-eater (Merops
apiaster), whimbrel (Numenius minor), ash-coloured falcon
(Circus cinerarius), merlin (Falco ^'salon), cirl bunting
(Emberiza Ctrlus), red-legged crow (Graculus rufipes), red-
necked grebe (Podiceps rubricollis), stone curlew (Charadrius
cedicnemus ; and the forked-tail petrel (Procellaria LeachzV),
which was found dead in a field at Charmouth. All of these,
except the Merops, are in our collection. The Merops is
now in the collection of Dr, Roberts, at Bridport : it was shot
at Chidcock some years since.

In the Sherborne paper, another instance is mentioned of
this bird having been shot, somewhere near Plymouth, on
April 1. 1818. It is now, I believe, in the British Museum.
— Beverley B. Morris. Charmouth, Dorsetshire, Feb. 1. 1834.

A common Heron, which I kept for some months in my
garden, would, when disturbed, disgorge the contents of its
stomach. This is probably a provision of nature to aid the

Vol, VII. — No. 42. ll

5 14» Short Communications : —

escape of the bird by flight when pursued. — J. G. Lexden,
Essex, 3d of 4th mo., 1834.

[The disgorgement may subserve to this effect, but is not
fear the operating cause of it? We have been told, or have
read of a vulture, or some bird, which, on being carried in the
arms of some one, disgorged upon the dress, or person, of the
carrier. A heron, disabled of flight, and captured, which we
once saw carried in the arms, did not so (its stomach might
be empty), but made a somewhat vigorous unexpected peck
at the face of the person carrying it.]

The Falconidce, all of them, like the Owls, return hy the Mouth
the indigestible Remains of the Food they have swallowed, and
generally just before they go to look for a fresh supply.

Insectivorous Birds also reject or disgorge the indurated
parts of coleopterous insects. — Y. May 25. 1834.

[The Gulls, it would seem (p. 512.), and the Rook (244.
460.), also return by the Mouth the indigestible Remains of their
Food.-]

The Eggs of the Carrion Crow are sometimes covered, (VI.
209.) — I am nothing of an ornithologist, and feel by no
means inclined to question the allegations of such a writer as
Mr. Waterton, but I think the following remark (VI. 209.),
in reference to the nest and eggs of the carrion crow, should
be received with some qualification : — " Not a single particle
of the lining of the nest is ever seen betwixt the eggs and the
eye of him who has ascended the tree to take a view of them."
This, I am bound to believe, had I no other authority than
that of Mr. Waterton, is generally the case ; yet, certainly,
not universally. I climbed a birch tree last year, on which
was situated a carrion crow's nest: it contained four eggs,
and of these two only were visible, the others being covered
by a quantity of loose moss, and wool, contained in the in-
terior of the nest. This is the only instance I have seen, but
I am persuaded that it is an occasional occurrence, or it
would not, probably, have fallen under my observation, during
the few opportunities I have taken of examining crows' nests.
I presume, however, that the nest of the carrion crow is most
frequently perfectly smooth, as Mr. Waterton says ; but I
have observed it in two or three instances to contain more or
less loose materials, such as wool, hair, moss, &c. — J.Jones,
Gelly, Llanfair, Montgomeryshire, March 28. 1834.

A pair of crows take up, generally speaking, a certain
district, from which they beat all intruders ; and woe betide
the unfortunate straggler that chances to search for a dinner
upon their domain. If one of the pair that is thus located
be killed, another partner is immediately procured, and domi-

Birds. 515

nion exercised as before. I once observed a pair of crows
using the materials of the nest of a former year, in constructing
a new one; and it struck me as a specimen of much fore-
thought, for there certainly must remain a considerable por-
tion of the old nest perfectly efficient for the construction of
the new, and in thus using those materials much extra-labour
must evidently be spared. — C Conway, Pontnewydd WorJcSf
near Newport, Monmouthshire, Jan, 20, 1834. [In IV. 412.
the notion that every robin has a distinct range of pasture is
expressed. In VII. 245. is an instance, in the redstart, of
a parent, widowed one day, having a second partner the next.
Do not rooks, every spring, in building their nests, use part of
the materials of the old nests ?]

A tame Jackdaw so attached to its Protector as to accompany
him wherever he may go, — Six weeks or two months ago I at-
tended a coursing meeting, composed, altogether, of at least
two hundred persons, where I was very much struck with a
tame jackdaw that kept flying one minute close over our heads,
the next perching on some bush or tree not ten yards off, and
every now and then fearlessly lighting on the ground in the
midst of the crowd of footmen and horsemen. Upon enquiry,
I found that Jack belonged to a poor boy, six or seven years
old, who had come to see the coursing, and who, wherever
he went, was constantly accompanied by his faithful follower.
Let him wander from home as far as he might. Jack never
failed to attend him ; perpetually hovering about and repeating
his cry of affectionate glee. Others might approach him, but
he would suffer none to touch him, save his master only.—
Tiro. March 6. 1834. [^Post mark, Wrexham,"]

The Song of the Jay described, — Jays are, unfortunately for
our pea-growers, numerous in this neighbourhood. I had
never, however, heard a jay sing until last April (1833), and
had become rather inclined to doubt Montagu's statement
regarding its singing. On April 19., I took a walk to the
mountain side, and, passing through one of our shadowy over-
hung mountain lanes, in search of mosses, it led me through
a small wood far away from human intrusion. Here my at-
tention was arrested by a rustling in the wood, accompanied
by a great clatter, and occasionally interspersed with more
sonorous tones. Directing my attention closely to the part
of the wood whence the sounds came, I at last descried a jay
in continued action, fluttering and shuffling, and leaping from
spray to spray in continued motion, and in uninterrupted
song. My presence, at first, disturbed the bird, but it soon
got the better of its timidity, and again fell to singing. It
mocked the greenfinch most inimitably, and it was a consi-

L L 2

516 Short Communications : —

derable time before I could persuade myself that it was an
imitation. But what amused me most of all was its produc-
tion of the neighing of the horse. This was so near the
truth, that some companions who were with me were a long
time before they would be convinced that the sounds pro-
ceeded from the bird. The neighing was very subdued and
suppressed, but it bore the most striking resemblance to the
neighing of a colt heard at a distance ; indeed, so close was
the imitation, that, without a sight of the bird, no person
could possibly, I think, be persuaded that the sound proceeded
from such an agent. These imitations were accompanied,
occasionally, with more subdued and very melodious notes.
Before I had parted with my mocking friend, I wished to
have farther proof of its skill ; I therefore whistled in different
notes, and was immediately answered in exactly the same
strain. I was disappointed in the object of my ramble ; but
was abundantly satisfied in being so fortunate as to hear the
song of the jay. — C Cofiwm/. Fontnewydd Works, near New-
port, Monmouthshire, Jan, 20. 1834.

Ducks with the Toes not connected hy a Weh or Membrane,
and the Upper Mandible imperfect : presumed to have proceeded
from a Union between the Domestic Duck and Domestic Fowl,
— The notice on hybrid birds, in p. 153., recalled to my mind
the seeing once some apparently hybrid ducks about the
aquarium in the Cambridge Botanic Garden, and led me to
apply to Mr. Arthur Biggs, the curator of that establishment,
for some information on them. He has obligingly replied (in
a communication dated April 19. I834<) to the following
amount : — ■" The ducks were three : they were bred at a small
farm at Gamlingay, Cambs, and were bought, about seven
years ago, by Mr. Bowles, veterinary surgeon, Cambridge,
who sent them to the Botanic Garden, and, after they had
remained here some time, presented them to the London
Zoological Society : they were added to the Society's farm at
Kingston, Surrey. I have not heard any thing of them since.
All that I can recollect about them is, that they differed from
common ducks in the upper part of their beak being twisted
and jagged, and so much smaller than the lower part, that it
was with some difficulty that they could gather up their food ;
and in being not web-footed, but having feet like those of a
hen. The colour of one of them was a dark brown, like that
of some hens ; the other two were nearly of the usual colour
of common ducks. One of them manifested a dislike to go
into water ; so much so, that, when driven to the water, it would
turn away. The general appearance, and the habits of all
were such as to induce many persons to suppose that they

Birds, 517

were mule beings which had been produced from a union
between the common species of duck and the common species
of fowl." It will be observed that it is not intimated of what
species the supposed male and female parent were conjectured
to be. We have ascertained, however, that at the examina-
tion, after death, of one of the specimens sent to the Zoological
Society, the form and character of the bones, and of all the
viscera, were those of a true duck.]

The Ringdove [Qolumba Valumbus) in a good Degree do-
mesticated, (p. 332.) — As it is stated in all the ornithological
works that it is impossible to domesticate this bird, I was de-
termined to make the experiment myself, in order to ascertain
the truth or falsity of the assertion. I accordingly procured
a pair of fledged ringdoves from a nest, confined them in an
aviary, and fed them on young peas and barley. When I
had kept them about a month, the female died, and I turned
the survivor out : he immediately flew to a neighbouring
wood, and I expected that I was then seeing him for the last
time ; but, to my great astonishment, I found him a few hours
afterwards, perched upon a box inside an open shed in which
my pigeons were kept. This was ever afterwards his favourite
station, and he never showed any inclination to repair to his
native haunts (as it is said they invariably do, when turned
loose), but always remained with the other pigeons, and fol-
lowed them in all their windings and circuits. On the 12th
of January, 1833, he fell ill, and died a few days afterwards :
he was in my possession six months. — W, H. H, Burton on
Trent, July 5. 1834.

Facts on the Quail {Coturnix vulgaris Fleming). — I found,
on August 12. 1833, a quail's nest in the middle of a field
which had been of barley, but in which clover was then grow-
ing. The nest, placed upon the ground, was made of grass
and a few straws and clover stalks ; it contained ten eggs,
which were pear-shaped, with large and small brown blotches,
upon an ash ground. This bird's natural shyness was much
diminished during incubation ; so much so, that she would
almost allow herself to be caught, without quitting the nest;
she was, however, so frequently disturbed that she entirely
forsook it after sitting about a week. Pennant says that
quails resort to Essex in considerable numbers, and remain
during the winter; I think, nevertheless, that the bird is
rather an uncommon one in this part of the county. — J. C,
Witham, Essex, March 20. 1834.

^n Instance of the Robin's building its Nest in a Festoon of
a Bed, and rearing a Brood of Young there. — I have a friend
who resides a few miles from town, and during the late fine

LL 3

518 Short Communications : —

dry weather the windows of some of the upper rooms in his
house were seldom closed. A robin took advantage of this
circumstance to pry into one of the apartments, one which
was seldom used, and, finding no opposition here, she began
to build her nest in a festoon of the bed. It happened that,
during the time of sitting, the gentleman's son came from
school on a visit, and the bed was wanted ; but this did not in
the slightest degree disconcert the robin ; she seemed not in
the least afraid, kept possession of her nest, and successfully
reared her brood. The family, of course, felt interested in the
bird's fate, and therefore as little disturbance as possible was
given ; but one would have imagined that the mere fact of a
person bringing a candle into the room, dressing and un-
dressing, would have been sufficient to have effectually driven
the creature away. — William Fowler, 49. Poland Street,
May! 5, 18S4.

The Mountain Sparrow (Pyrgita montdna) has been re-
peatedly shot here this winter. — J, G. Leocden, near Col-
chester, Essex, 1834.

A Pair of the Greater Titmouse [Pdrus major) has built in
a Pump (VI. 34. notes * and f ) ; exhibited seeming Foresight
there (V. 660, 661.) ; and has had, there, a Nest of Young and
a Nest of Eggs at the same Time. — A pair of this species occu-
pied, last summer (1833), for the purpose of incubation, a
pump standing in my yard. Their nests were placed between
the barrel and the outside casing, and, as the pump was not
in use during the summer, the birds were very rarely disturbed.
The edges of the nests being on a level with the rim of the
barrel of the pump, these little birds exhibited a degree of
foresight equivalent to that which is related of a pair of this
species in V. 660, 661., by filling the barrel with a mixture of
moss, hair, &c., to prevent, no doubt, their young from pre-
cipitating themselves into it. Some time previous to the first
brood being able to fly, in fact, only a few days after they were
hatched, the old birds commenced building a second nest on
the opposite side ; in which, in due time, were deposited nine
beautiful eggs, on which the female began to sit a day or two
previous to the other brood leaving their domicile. From
daily observation, I found that there was always an additional
egg deposited early each morning, and although I often visited
the old bird during the period of incubation, still she never
offered to leave her nest, but merely puffed herself out, and
exhibited every appearance of great irritation. This is the
first instance of a pair of birds having a brood of young
ones, and a nest of eggs at the same time, which has come
under my observation, except the instances of this in the do-

Reptiles, 619

mestic pigeon. — J. />. Salmon. Stoke Ferry ^ Norfolk^ May
28. 1834.

Reptiles. — The Fascination of Birds hy Reptiles has often
been heard of. A curious instance of it was witnessed by a friend
of mine, an officer in the Madras army (Lieut.-CoL Ross, then
captain in the 10th Native Infantry), where the operator
was not a snake, as is usual in such cases, but a crocodile,
or, as we improperly call it in India, an alligator. My friend,
while taking a stroll round the works at Vellore, had his atten-
tion attracted by the strange restlessness and apparent distress
of a kingfisher bird (^Icedo smyrnensis), perched upon one
of the pinnacled battlements of the fausse-braye : on his
cautiously approaching near enough to ascertain the cause,
he observed in the ditch immediately underneath, a crocodile
lying perfectly quiet in the water, and intently watching the
bird with open jaws : in the mean time the victim's agitation
continued to increase : it fluttered down to a projecting point
of the works, then rapidly again and again farther and farther
down, till at last it actually dropped into the gaping mouth
waiting ready to receive it. Although I had this account at
second hand only, I have not the slightest doubt of its truth.
— A Subscriber, Vale of Alford^ Aberdeenshire^ Nov. 20. 1833.

Toads have the Po'wer of compressing themselves so as to pass
through a small Aperture. — Staying some time since with an
acquaintance, his servant one day brought in, from an outhouse
in the garden, an old tin canister which had been used for
containing gunpowder, in which was composedly seated a very
large toad of dimensions thrice the size of the aperture through
which he must have entered. From his appearance, we con-
cluded that he had located himself there in his younger days,
and was now too large to extricate himself. The canister
was placed carefully by, as an interesting exhibition to future
visiters ; but, on an inspection of the canister in the following
morning, the prisoner had made his escape ; and, as the mouth
of the canister was in the same state as before, we could only
account for the toad's absence on the supposition of the ani-
mal's being able to squeeze itself through. Has this fact
been noticed before ? It may, perhaps, help to explain some
of the well-known instances of the occurrence of toads in
apparently close prisons either of trees or rocks. [Some in-
stances are given in VI. 458, 459.]--^. Bloxam, Rugby^
Warwickshire, Jan. 1834.

" A toad in a hole," is a proverbial expression, of which
literal instances are not, I believe, rare in upland pastures.
One was once, in 1832, and, I believe, in July, shown to me,
the circumstances of which were these : — There was a circular

L L 4

520 Short Communications ; —

aperture in the turf, scarcely 1 in. in diameter, below which
the head and eyes of a toad were observable : its body was
too much in the dark to be readily seen. This, it now occurs
to me, was a very pleasant cool grot for a place of residence
at this season. How long had the creature been there ? and
upon what did it subsist? As the earth and turf would yield
to pressure, the toad could scarcely have, in this instance,
squeezed itself in and out occasionally. Enough, possibly, of
insects to sustain it might attempt to pass over the aperture
and fall in. Earwigs, I have been told, are eaten by the toad.
From what I learned from the companion who showed this
instance to me, it seems to be the practice of the boys to irri-
tate the toad which they find thus circumstanced by applying
to it the end of a stiff straight straw, and provoking the
toad to grasp it in its mouth, when they lift it up, although
not, so far as I understood, out of its hole. — J. D,

Fishes. — The Salmon enters and ascends Rivers for other
Purposes besides Propagation, (p. 211.) — In addition to the
objections which I have offered, in p. 211. *, to the seeming
doubt of Dr. Fleming, whether salmon enter rivers for any
other purpose besides propagation, the following have come
to mind ; and, though they do not apply to the salmon, they
confirm me in the opinion that there are reasons, of which we
know nothing, for fish ascending rivers, and others not at all
connected with propagation. One is the habit of (what is here
called) streaming. In the winter, the fish not engaged in
spawning (I speak of trouts, grayling, chub, dace, &c.) leave
the streams, and go into deep water ; either because the water
is warmer there, or because they there find more food ; and it
is well known to fly-fishers that they do not catch many fish
in the streams if they begin early, say in February. It is
proverbial here, that fish begin stream when the great grey
(in other districts, the devil dule crook, March brown, or
brown drake [an insect]) comes upon the water ; and I have
seen trout by scores leaping at a weir at the beginning of
May. Whether this is in search of food, or an instinct
implanted in them to keep all parts equally stocked with
them, I do not know ; but it had certainly nothing to do with

• In p. 213. line 15. for " to the side" read " to side." The phrase
" to side " is a local one, probably, and ought to have been explained.
It means that the salmon endeavours to conceal itself under a large stone,
root, or any object which appears to offer it a shelter from its pursuers ;
and it may be either at " the side" or in the middle. If there is no place
of concealment in the pool, the poacher provides one, by placing the branch
of a tree, well covered with leaves, or with the rubbish left by the floods ;
and the silly fish, seeing this, darts there for security, and is easily leis-
tered [speared].

Tishes, 521

their spawning. Is it presumptuous to suppose that God, in
his providence, has implanted this instinct in the salmon for
our good ? that we might have a supply of excellent and
wholesome food ; which, without this, would be in a great
measure unattainable. Whether this is the true cause, and
the only one, I am unable to determine; but this is the effect
produced : and, in the absence of other reasons, it is, in my
opinion, one that ought to be admitted.

Another reason why fish ascend rivers is, their impatience
of heat : I speak now more particularly about grayling. If
the weather is very hot at the end of May or the beginning
of June, the grayling in the Wharfe (they are almost unknown
in this part of the Ribble) ascend the mill-streams by hun-
dreds, and go up the wheel-races as far as they can get; and
stay there until the stoppage of the wheels (many a ducking
have I had in pursuit of them), when they are obliged to
beat a retreat : and this often proves a disastrous one to many
of them. The ascent of young eels by millions, and the
ascent of the flounder, are neither of them connected with the
propagation of their kind ; and, though I cannot say for what
purposes they do ascend, I am, I think, justified in doubting
assertions which seem to have nothing to support them but
the positive manner in which they are made. — Tl G. Cli-
theroe, Lancashire^ May 29. 1834.

The Salmon Par is neither a Hybrid, nor a distinct Species,
of the Genus Salmo, but a State of the common Salmon, {p. 904}.)
— The author of Wild Sports (^the West says, of the par (as
I have noticed in p. 204.), that it has very much the appear-
ance of a hybrid between the salmon and the trout ; and (in
a note) that the natural history of this fish is doubtful. Some
conjecture that it is a hybrid between the salmon and the
trout, because it is only found in rivers frequented by salmon ;
others think it a cross [breed] between the sea [trout] and
river trout : and he speaks of this " hybridous diminutive '*
as if he thought one of these opinions correct. That the par
is not the result of a cross between the sea trout and river
trout is proved by the fact, that there are no sea trouts in the
Wharfe; the salmon, par (admitting it to be a distinct spe-
cies, which I do not), and trout being the only kinds of *Salmo
which are found in that river, at least where I am acquainted
with it. If the par be the result of a cross between the salmon
and the trout, what becomes of it in the spring ? and where
are all the par, which were so abundant in October, gone to
in April ? Did they migrate to the sea, the shoals would be
met with by somebody ; and, did they stay in the river, they
would be caught at one time or other. As, however, it is well

522 Short Communications : —

known that neither of these cases is ever realised, we must
suppose another, which I have already done in my former
communication, (p. 202 — 217.) In fact, in angling in the
beginning of March, fish are often caught, which it would
puzzle the most experienced fisherman to determine whether
they are par or smelts, especially after they have been caught
some time ; and, in a large number caught at that time, there
are all the intermediate shades of appearance between the
perfect par and the real blue smelt. — Idem.

Insects. — Eoctrerne Cold does not destroy the Life in the
JEggs, Sfc, of Insects ; with some Facts on Lycce'na. dispar. —
Mr. Browne relates some interesting facts (p. 246.) in proof
of the little effect produced by extreme cold in destroying life
in insect eggs.* The vulgar notion is (and a priori it seems
a probable one), that a severe winter is destructive of insects ;
and, consequently, that there will be fewer than usual during
the succeeding summer. Experience, however, shows that
this is not the case ; and that the scarcity or abundance of
insects has little or nothing to do with the severity or mild-
ness of the preceding winter. The fact is, insects, either in
the egg, larva, pupa, or perfect state, are, in the ordinary
course of things, liable to be exposed to severe cold ; and,
therefore, nature has provided for them accordingly, endowing
them with constitutions calculated to endure the degree of
cold which they will have to encounter. It may be added,
that these little creatures seem to be proof also against some
other vicissitudes of nature less regular in their occurrence
than the periodical returns of winter's cold. The following
fact, communicated to me by the late Mr. Haworth, may
serve as an illustration : — Some entomologists once made an
excursion into the fen countries, for the purpose of taking the
beautiful Lycae^n« dispar, or large copper butterfly ; which, it
is well known, frequents low marshy grounds. The coppers
were captured in good abundance. It so happened that the
following winter proved to be a wet one ; and the entire tract
of land where the coppers had been found was completely
inundated, and actually lay under water for a considerable
time. The entomologists deemed that the flood would cer-
tainly destroy the coppers, and that the race would become
extinct in that part of the country. The next summer, how-
ever, the butterflies were found again, in the very same spot,
as plentifully as before. Subsequently, as Mr. Haworth in-

* [In giving Mr. Brown's communication, we have blundered, in p. 246,
247., by omitting the minus mark from the statement of the compared
degrees of temperature indicated by the thermometers of Reaumur and
Fahrenheit : the cited temperatures were all below zero. — J. D.]

Lisects, 52S

formed me, the tract of land was submitted ,to the action of
fire, and the whole surface burnt with a view to agricultural
improvement. I need hardly add, that, after this operation,
the coppers were no longer to be met with in that particular
locality. I am not sufficiently acquainted with the natural
history of the insect to say in what particular state the insect
passes through the winter ; probably in the egg or larva state,
as the butterfly appears in July.

2'he earliest Vernal Appearance of certain Species of Butter-^
Jiy in Britain, (p. 249.) — Mr. Brown alludes (p. 249.) to my
having instanced the 18th of March as the earliest date at
which I had ever known a papilio issue from the chrysalis.
This year an earlier instance presented itself. A small spe-
cimen of Pontic rapae (P. Metr« Stephens) was discovered in
my scullery window on the 27th or 28th of February, evi-
dently fresh from the chrysalis. Being introduced into the
drawingroom by a very young entomologist, it was lost sight
of for a few days ; so that I did not myself see it till the 3d
of March, when it was again discovered and turned up. The
same individual specimen, known by a peculiar mark on the
wing, was observed flying about at large, in the garden, on
the 15th of March.

With respect to the Butterflies *which appear in the early
Spring (p. 247.), I am disposed to think that, with us, the
majority of them are such as have been produced late in the
autumn, and have survived the winter in the winged state.
Mr. Brown is led to the conclusion that, in Switzerland, at
least, " the early flight of Gonepteryx rhamni consists
entirely of newly excluded males." I am not prepared to say
that the case may not be the same also with this species here
in England. Possibly, however, some of our early specimens
may be such as have hybernated ; while others may have burst
from the chrysalis in the spring. The earliest specimen of
G. rhamni I observed in 1833 was on the 31st of March ; a
female, which, from its worn condition, I should not judge to
have been a newly excluded fly. I feel confident that Vanessa
To, c. ^Ibum, Polychl6ro5, and urticae hybernate, at least in
this country. A winter seldom passes without an example or
two of the latter insect being found in a half torpid state in
our windows. If these insects be in good condition when they
retire to rest in autumn, there will be but little wear and tear
to injure their wings during their brumal retreat, and prevent
them appearing fresh when they come forth again in spring.
So far as my observation goes, the early specimens of Va-
ness<^ generally seem somewhat faded in their colours, and to
want the exquisite freshness and brilliancy of newly excluded

524? Short Communications : —

flies. Hipparchia JEghna, Polyommatus Argiolus, Pontic
br^ssicae, rapae, napi, and cardamines, which appear in April,
and some of them occasionally earlier, all assume the winged
state in spring. But, with the single exception of Gonepteryx
rhamni, the Vaness<^are the^r^^ butterflies that present them-
selves in the season. Colias Ediisa is said to hybernate (see
Lepidoptera Britannica) ; and I think it highly probable, as
well for other reasons as from having taken it in a perfectly
fresh state so late as the 1st of October. But the species is
so rarely met with in this part of the country, that I cannot
speak, from my own experience, to its vernal appearances.

Mr. Brown would be conferring a favour on myself, and,
perhaps, on some other of your readers, if, through the me-
dium of your Magazine, he would give a list of the papilios
of Switzerland ; noting the times and places of their appear-
ance, and their comparative scarcity or abundance. It hap-
pens, I believe, with insects, as with plants, that some of the
European species are less known in this country than those
of South America, the West and East Indies, China, the
Cape, &c. — ^. T. Bree, Allesley Rectory^ May 12. 1834-.

[The conductors of botanic gardens on the continent of
Europe, in the interchange which they practise with the con-
ductors of botanic gardens, &c., in Britain, say, in effect,
" Accept from us seeds of the plants of Europe : return to
us seeds of plants of the two Indies, the Cape of Good Hope,
Australia, and South America, &c. ; for your easy acqui-
sition of these, by means of your extended facilities, renders
it more practicable for us to obtain them intermediately
through you, than immediately from the native countries."
This state of things is in accordance with Mr. Bree's view.]

Maldchius bipunctdtus Babington is a disti7ict Species,
(p. 378.) — Messrs. Babington and Westwood have given,
in p. 378., figures, &c., of Scolytus ae^neus Pz, !, Malachius
rw^collis Pz., and M. bipunctatus Bab. $ and $ ? for which
I am much obliged, as other entomologists probably are, as
they tend to remove all doubts on the subject. From the
figures 49. b and r, they certainly appear distinct from ^;
although Mr. Stephens (who multiplies species on less cha-
racters than these) does not consider it so in the last edition
of his Guide, genus 280. sp. 10., by putting bipunctatus Bab.
between brackets. The reference made by me, in MS. to
Panzer, was copied from Stephens's Catalogue, viz., f. 2. pi. 8.* ;
which is merely changed by [J. D., he] thinking f. meant fig.

* And in Panzer's Index Systemdticus to his Faunce Ins, Germ, Initia,
in p. 9'> under Malachius, is 7. rz(/?c611is ii. 8. (not 10.)

Insects,

525

instead of fauna. It is well that Mr. Babington has called
fig. 49. a Scolytus ae^neus, otherwise tyroes might have thought
he intended it for the true rtificoWis ; as Mr. Babington, in
V. 330., describes the red part of the elytra as exceeding one
half, which is not the case in his figure of rz^c611is d, Mr.
Babington also describes bipunctatus Bab. as having, near the
apex of each elytron (V. 329.), " an impressed slightly lunate
black spot; " but, Mr. Westwood (VII. 379.) says, " of the
extremity of the elytra, which thus appear to be appendix
culated in both sexes of this species," as in bituberculatus.
I have taken four individuals of a species nearer to rw^collis
Pz, than the others, at different times, near the Meres ; one
last year, near Ugg Mere. They all appear to be ? : but the
red part of the elytra is scarcely so much [large] as in Panzer's
figure ; and at the extremity of one of them is a dusky spot,
which approaches so near Mr. Babington's description, except
the impression, that I had thought [VII. 178.] it was the
same ; but I now find it to be distinct. I have taken three
of M. bituberculatus in the New Forest : one in May last. —
J. C. Dale. Blandford, Aug. 3. 1834.

Helbbia Mars/iallkna. — Specimens of this species were
found under stones, on the summit of Skiddaw, in great
abundance, on Aug. 27. 1832, by our correspondent E. Wil-
son, jun. For the state of the weather at the time, see p. 539.
Scolytus destructor Olivier (Jig. 63. a, natural size ; d, mag-
nified) is not a Destroyer of healthy Trees. The Trees into

whose Bark the parent Scolytus per^
forates to deposit her Eggs, that the
Larvce hatched from those Eggs may
feed upon that Bark, are diseased
dying Trees. — The grounds of this
opinion are detailed in IV. 153.
(Letter B.) — 156. An opportunity
for testing it now offers itself to any
entomologist of London, in a case
to which the following circumstances
appertain. On the north side of
Hyde Park, a belt of trees is situate
alongside the boundary fence in the
Park, and of the length of it. This
northern boundary fence was, so
lately as 1832, constituted in a cer-
tain part by an old brick wall, now
removed. The point atwhich the old wall commenced may
be stated at about 300 yards west of Park Lane, and it

526 Short Communications : -^

extended farther west, a length of about 1 50 yards : it was
opposite the interval included between the street which leads
off the Oxford Road into Connaught Square, and the Hano-
ver Square burying-ground, and extended, perhaps, even a
little farther west than the frontage of the burying-ground
does. This length of wall was, in about August, 1832,
taken down ; the foundation of it was cleared away, and
a new wall, dwarfer, and surmounted by an iron palisade,
has been erected in its site and stead, and uniform with the
fence (using this term to imply both wall and palisade) which
had been previously erected at each end of it. Of the trees
contiguous to the specified length of wall, there are twenty-
two (twenty elm trees, one oak tree, one ash tree), standing
within from 5 ft. to 8 ft. of the foot of it. In digging out
scope of access to the foundation of the old wall, in removing
the old materials, and providing scope for the foundation of
the new wall, it will be plain, on reflection, that no small in-
jury must be occasioned to trees growing so near as this, from
both the exposure and the mutilation to which their roots
must be subject. The erection of the new fence was com-
pleted in about October, 1832; when I presume that the
soil was levelled down at its foot, and all left finished as we
now find it. Of the twenty-two trees standing so near to the
wall as I have stated, fourteen are now (Sept. 1834) so
mortally affected that most of this number will, when their
present leaves have fallen, never more bear others. The crop
of leaves which they this year bear is a full one ; and to the
passing eye their leafy heads exhibit so little dissimilarity to
those of the neighbouring trees, that, up to August 22., I had
not observed, in passing them occasionally, any difference in
their condition. On this day my attention was drawn, in
passing, to first one, and then another of them, by the buzz-
ing and the bustling of numerous large flies upon and about
the stems of some of them. Since that time I have examined
the trees several times, and acquired the following facts and
notions respecting them. The bark of fourteen of them (all
elm trees) has been perforated by the Scolytus destructor ;
the perforations in some of them are rather numerous, but in
nearly all of them have been made by the parent female
Sc61yti, to effect their ingress for the purpose of depositing
their eggs. The holes of ingress made from without by the
entering female Scolyti are usually most readily distinguish-
able from those made from within by the Scolyti developed
from the introduced eggs in gnawing their way out; those
made by the former are larger, less uniform in figure, and
less definite in outline, than those made by the latter : the

Insects,

527

former have, too, not rarely a powdery matter, derived from
the gnawed bark, discernible near them. I premise this for
the sake of stating that the perforations observable in nearly
all the fourteen trees have been made this summer by entering
parent Scolyti ; and I say " nearly all the fourteen," to pre-
clude it being objected that a few of the perforations to be
found upon two or three of the trees have been made by
Scolyti making egress from within in a previous season. About
fifty larvae it seems {Jig. Q^. b, c) are hatched from the quantity
of eggs introduced by a single parent Sc61ytus, and as every
perfect Scolytus which is developed from these larvae gnaws,
for its own egress, a distinct hole, plenty of these holes may
be expected to be visible after May, in 1835. {Jig. 64.)

Seven of the fourteen trees, be-
sides being perforated by the
parent Scolyti, have been sub-
ject to a considerable extrava-
sation of sap : this, one is led
to perceive, by observing the ac-
tions of the flies so abundant, as
noticed above, upon the surface
of the bark of the stems and
larger branches. Those of the
flies which are alive are busily
occupied in licking the sap from
the natural fissures of the bark,
from larger openings in it occa-
sioned by past wounds or de-
fects, and some, also, it is right
to state, from the orifices of the
perforations made by the parent
Scolyti. Those of the flies which are dead are, however,
more numerous than the living ones, and they adhere, in the
posture of life, over all parts of the bark of the trees, here
scatteredly, there in clusters in the neighbourhood of some
opening which had yielded an effusion of sap, and they are
in all stages of decay, from those fresh dead, to those with
loosened wings shaken by the breeze, to those without wings,
and those a mere whitened mass, in which scarcely the form
of a fly remains. There were some dead flies attached to the
under surface of a few of the leaves. The flavour of the sap
is, to my taste, much that of slightly sugared water, and it is
probable that the great number of flies which have died here
have died of repletion, rather than of any poisonous property
in this sap taken by them as food. Of the clusters of flies,
it should be observed, that there w^ere also some clusters or

528 Short Commimications : -^

groups of living ones, where the wound in the bark was large
enough to admit a group to pasture together. Nearly the
whole of the flies were of the common blow-fly species (Musca
vomitoria), but a not uncommon brassy-green species was
there, and another small species or two, and a few wasps, and
always one or more hornets : at one time I saw three, and I
think four, of the latter animal. Of the seven trees into
which the parent Scoly ti had perforated, out of which the sap
had extravasated, and upon which the flies, wasps, and hornets
have been and are (Sept. 10.) feasting, I think I may state
that, although their leaves are not, as I have already stated,
strikingly dissimilar to those upon neighbouring healthy trees,
they yet, to a close inspection, seem somewhat flaccid and
drooping, and as if tending to earlier sereness than those of
their neighbours.

To return to the Scolytus. Those who will have it that
this poor pretty little beetle is the formidable foe to healthy
living trees, and to the interests and wishes of man, that it
is represented to be, have now, to account for the facts I have
stated, it seems to me, only to say, that " the perforations of
the Scolytus induced the extravasation of the sap, and the per-
forations and the extravasation have brought the trees into
the dying condition in which you describe them to be." To
this conclusion, should any one incline to it, there are these
objections : — First, as to Scolytus perforating healthy trees at
all ; none of the healthy trees neighbouring to those whose
roots have been, as I have argued, injured, are at all per-
forated. And, were it admitted that the Scolytus does perforate
into healthy growing trees, and occasion their death, it would
surely be too much to admit that the symptoms of mortality
would be induced, in trees healthy and growing, within the
very same year or season in which the perforations were made.
The erosions of the numerous larvae (which, it is said in IV.
152., are hatched, in September, from the eggs introduced by
the perforating parent in June and July) subsisting upon the
inner bark, and, perhaps, alburnum, of the tree, and eating
their way out, might induce, in the year following, death in-
deed. Under this view, the particular trees I have cited,
should live through, at least part of, 1835, which I anticipate
they will not. Next, as to the perforations of the Scolytus
inducing the extravasation of sap. The period at which the
parent Scolytus bores into trees is intimated, in IV. 152., to
be June and July. From the decayed state of the remains
of some of the dead flies observed on August 22., it is not
too much to infer, that the flies had drunk of the sap of the
trees by about this time, and that, this admitted, it was effused

Insects. 529

to them, independently of the effects of the perforations of
the Scolyti. Again, of the fourteen trees perforated by Sco-
lyti, although seven show extravasation of sap, the remaining
seven do not show it at all.

" Give a dog an ill name and hang him." I cannot help
thinking that the Scolytus is deserving of much more respect
than is bespoken for it in the epithet destructor; and I had, in
this belief, called it, in my own vocabulary, insons, as early as
ill the index to Vol. IV.— J. D.

The Hornets {Vespa Crdbro, ^Jig, 65.), spoken of above,
fed upon the sap with diligence and earnestness. One, that I

observed more than once,
kept its head partly immersed
in a crevice for a long time
together. The wedge-shaped
figure of the lower part of
the head causes it to fit a
crevice aptly ; and then I he
lateral action of the mandi-
bles, if these be used in feed-
ing upon sap (some of the
sap was of a pulpy consist-
ence), in such a situation,
must be very convenient
indeed. Of the flies, eager to share every good, some would
gather about any of the hornets to partake of the feast it had
found, and, in their eagerness, prove too intrusive; when the
hornet would lash them with its antennae to drive them off (and,
thought I, this is at least one use of antennae, about the office
of which entomologists have never been agreed). When this
would not do, the hornet would leave off feeding, and run a
few steps at the flies, open-mouthed : the flies scampered away
quickly. The hornet's mouth almost frightened me, and well
it might the flies. I found, too, that the flies had real reason
to be a little fearful ; for I saw two instances of a fly being in
the jaws of a hornet. In one, the hornet was alighting, I
think, with the fly in its mouth (if not, it captured it on alight-
ing) ; and, curving its body round the fly, as if to prevent its
escape, and while itself hanging but by a single toe (as one
might say), bit off the fly's head, whose body fell to the
ground. It may be right here to note, that the heads and
bodies of flies were somewhat numerous upon the ground, at
the foot of the trunks of the trees ; but I suppose that these,
or most of these, were fallen portions of some of the nume-
rous dead flies which were sticking over the surface of the
bark. The other instance was this : — A hornet flew down
Vol. VII. — No. 42. m m

530 Short Communications: —

with a fly in its hold ; and, after standing still a moment, then
walking over the grass with it, mangling it the while, it flew
off" with it. The hornets seemed to be on good terms with
each other : it was a clear case of " parcit cognatis maculis
similis fera." Of

Wasps here, although there were some, there were scarcely
so many as one might expect to find at such a banquet. It is
not unlikely that, had an entomologist been present, he would
have noted more species than one. I 'observed one small one
with its abdomen so pubescent as to seem almost hoary with
it. As a wasp flew round a tree, the flies flew up ; and I
thought that they did this more to a wasp than a hornet.
Was this from fear ? Had it been from the vibration caused
by the wasp's or hornet's wings, it would have been done most
to the hornet ; but my observation did not extend to a suffi-
cient number of instances. — J. D.

The Dung Fly dead in the Posture of Life, (61.) — I have,
for many years, observed, in August and September, flies of
this species fixed in the manner Mr. Fennell mentions, in
p. 61., upon the leaves of a lilac tree near to the door of a
convenient outbuilding in my garden. They are, however,
invariably fixed by the proboscis alone, which seems to be
agglutinated to the leaf: every other part is free. I have
never found one so fixed which had any life remaining in it.
They are all precisely in the same attitude ; and are covered
with the mould Mr. Fennell mentions. I have at times
removed all I could discover; but found them replaced, on
the morrow, by others equally mouldy, and in similar atti-
tudes. Although I have watched, I have never been able to
discover one in the act of affixing itself; and have often
puzzled myself with attempting to discover the object nature
has in view by causing this fly to terminate its existence in so
singular a manner. As nature does nothing without an object,
I should presume that there is some reason why this particular
fly should die, and be fixed, in this manner, instead of ter-
minating its existence like other flies. — Thos. Thompson.
Hull, Jan, 9. 1834..

\_Flies, of various Species, dead in the Posture of Life. (61.)]
— This condition is not peculiar to the dung fly. I have often
seen the house fly in its natural posture, on the windows,
dead, and covered with the same sort of white substance as
that to be found on the dead dung flies. This last does not,
under the microscope, present any peculiar appearance. I
have not been able to quite satisfy myself whether it is a
fungus growing on the dead animal, or is produced by dis-
ease. ^E. T. S. Feb. 1 7. J 834.

Insects. 531

E. T. S. seems not to have observed the dung fly's being
affixed by its proboscis only, as Mr. Thompson has. In
Kirby and Spence's Introd. (ed. 1826), iv. 203., mention is
made of " several specimens of a fly related to Eiimerus
pipiens Meig." which, dead, adhered by their proboscis to a
panicle of grass. I know of one fact, which may or may not
have a relation to the explanation of this : — Among the flies
which I have noticed above (p. 527.)? as abounding dead upon
the bark of the ehn trees, I noticed, at two different times,
two live flies (it might, possibly, be one seen twice), whose
condition may afford some relevance of this question : per-
haps, however, none at all. Though alive, they seemed in
an incipiently morbid state ; but were capable of flying off
when approached very close. At the tip of the proboscis of
each, there was a globule of transparent whitish fluid ; the
globule was not larger than the head of a pin, and appeared,
disappeared, and reappeared at least once, perhaps more. I
leave this fact without an attempt to account for it; but have
cited it, in the thought that cases may happen where this
regurgitated fluid may, in the fly's dying, and the proboscis
falling into contact with an object, gum it to that object. It
is, however, right to state, that, in the countless instances of
flies dead in the posture of life, adhering to the surface of the
bark of the elms, I did not see one attached by its proboscis
only ; and, I think, not one with its proboscis attached at all.
They all rested upon their legs and upon the terminal half of
their abdomen, which was, in some degree, and by some
means, affixed to the bark ; and, in cases not a few, plainly
by means of a whitish matter that seemed to have erupted
from the last few rings of the body on the ventral surface.
Fibres of mould seemed, in some cases, to have farther
affixed the abdomen to the bark ; and the dorsal surface of
the posterior part of the abdomen wore, at least, in some
points of light, a glaucous hue. In other dead flies, in a
more advanced state of decay, increased degrees of whiteness
were obvious ; produced either from an increase in the quan-
tity of mould or of the erupted matter : and this was accom-
panied by some distortion of the component parts of the fly,
which were enlarged, and made to seem farther asunder and
less compactly connected. See farther in p. 527.

In the latter part of 1833, Mr. Fennell sent us two flies,
found dead, I think in the posture of life, upon a plant; and
these, Mr. Westwood informed us, were individuals " of a
species of Anthomyia ; " and that they had " died of the
disease which Messrs. Kirby and Spence call plethora. (In-
trod, fed. 1826], iv. 202.) The circumstance is of verycom-

M ?r 2

53St Short Communications : —

mon occurrence." In these flies there was not (so far as 1
remember) any sign of transfusion or eruption of juices; and,
perhaps, as flies are sometimes poisoned, it may not be very
unreasonable to suppose symptoms of an eruption of juices to
mark death from plethora ; and non-appearance of eruption,
death from poison. The following case, judged by this
assumed rule, may be one of death from poison : — Mr.
Godsall, nurseryman, of Hereford, has observed the pavement,
under a blooming plant of Periploca grae^ca, to be literally
covered with dead flies, of the species of Afusca domestica;
and, at the same time, a great quantity of the same species
swarming and settling on the blossoms of the same plant.
He attributes, in consequence, some quality deleterious to
flies to the flowers of this plant. {Gardener' sMagazine^iyi, 586.)

Timdrcha coridria F. — The dates and places of capture
which I have, in VI. 533., ascribed to Timdrcha tenebric5sa
i^., belong to T. coriaria F. — James FennelL Mai/, 1834.

Polyommatus Alexis, — My remarks, in V. 768., on " Poly-
ommatus Argiolus double-brooded,'* belong, not to P. Argio-
lu5, but to P. Alexia, as a better acquaintance with natural
history has convinced me. — Id.

The Colour of the Eggs of the Puss Moth (Cerura vinula), —
Professor Rennie has stated, in his Insect Transformations,
p. 35., that Cerura vinula lays " shining brown eggs." I
have twice found them, and, on each occasion, of a pale
green colour ; and have observed that they do not become
of a " shining brown" colour until they are near hatching, —
J. H.F.

The Moth Agldia tail is of active Habits. — " Moths are
always indolent." (Author of The British Naturalist as
quoted by A. R. Y. in V. 60.) From this remark I presume
that the author had never had what the schoolboys call " a
regular chevy" after Aglaia tau. - P. J. Brown, Thun, Canton
of Berne, Switzerland, April, 5. 1833.

\_Habits of the Maeroglossa stellatdrum observed, July, 1833,
at Little Hampton, on the Coast of Sussex. (475.)] — There is,
in front of the beach houses, a piece of sandy heath, of some
acres in extent, which forms a very agreeable promenade for
the visiters. I here observed the humming-bird hawk moth ;
not one only here and there, but numbers dashing about in
various directions. The first I captured was hovering over a
flower, and extracting the nectar from it with its curiously
long tubular proboscis. They frequented much a stone wall
at the end of Lord Surrey*s grounds, along which they were
constantly flying, and apparently examining it with great
attention. As there were no flowers there, I was at a loss to

Insects, By^

discover what their object was in so industriously haunting
this spot. They were not depositing eggs ; for this operation
I saw the female moth perform in a different place. On the
heath there are many heaps of stones, and the insect, poising
itself on its wings over them, with a slight bend of the body,
deposited her eggs on a species of Galium (probably the G.
saxatile) which springs up between the stones, and on which
plant the larvae feed. This moth, from its restless habits, is
not very readily caught; it dashes off the instant you approach ;
but, by stationing yourself near a flower it frequents, and,
remaining perfectly still, it will come close [see VI. 223.], and
enable you to see its long proboscis, which, except when feed-
ing, is always curled up. Like many other insects, it counter-
feits death ; but, the instant an opportunity offers for escape,
it never fails to take advantage of it. — O. Clapton, January,
1834

Tortiix viridana on the Foliage of Oak Trees. (V. 669.
753.) — The oak woods in the Beulah grounds at Norwood
have, for the last three years, suffered from this insect ; and,
besides the beauty of the foliage not being restored until
past midsummer, the growth of the oaks has, of course, been
greatly retarded. — J. D, Smith, Beulah Park, Norwood,
Jan, 9. 1833.

A writer in the Gardener's Magazine (v. 610.) describes the
ravages, in June, 1829, of an immense number of insects of
this species, on the foliage of a fine coppice of natural oak, in
the mountains beyond Machynlleth in Wales.

Sir William Jardine, in his edition of White's Seldom c,
p. 114-., states that this insect, *' while in the larva state, does
considerable damage to the young oak copses in Scotland ; "
and he names, as places, " about Inverary, and near Loch
Katrine." White himself has accurately spoken on this
insect and its habits and ravages, but by the name of Pha-
lae^na quercus. Markwick, in his notes on the History of
Selhorne, has shown the identity of the Phalae^na quercus of
White with the Phalae^na (T6rtrix) viridana of authors. He
supplies, too, additional facts on the insect's habits. In
Brown's edition of White's Selhorne (noticed VI. 133.), Mark-
wick's identification is printed in p. 311., and not disputed ;
and yet a cut (not a good one) of the Phalae^na quercus (La-
siocampa quercus) is introduced into the text (in p. 310.). A
cut of the Tortrix viridana would surely have been more
judicious, useful, and correlative, either alone, to the exclusioi.
of that of the Phalae^na quercus, for the sake of illustrating
the text and note, or in company with that of the Phalae'na

M M 3

534 Short Communications : —

quercus, both for the sake of illustrating the text and note,
and of exhibiting the two insects contradistinctorily.

These remarks on synonymy adjusted, it will be fair to
exhibit the question, which arboriculturists have not omitted
to propose, — By what means can the extensive and injurious
ravages on the leaves of oak trees, &c., of the larvse or cater-
pillars of the Tortrix viridana be prevented? A question
worthy of answer. With regard to the perfect insect, White
observes, " I saw a flight of swifts busied in catching their
prey near the ground, and found they were hawking after
these phalaenae;" that is, moths of the Tortrix viridana. — J. Z>.

The Five-spotted Burnet Moth {jLygce'na Ibti). — The spe-
cimens sent were taken, last summer (1833), near Thorparch.
In a field near that place, so plentiful was this insect, that
almost every prominent stalk of grass, &c., had a cocoon
upon it. — E, Wilso7i,jun. Chapel Allerto??, Mai/ 5. 1834.
^ The Lacejly [Chrysbpa Perla L.) attaches its pedunculated
Eggs to ahnost any Object, — Many years since, I met with a
group of them on a twig, cut off, dead, and lying on the
ground, of a gooseberry bush. In the summer of this year
(1833), numerous groups of the eggs have been disposed
upon the leaves and branches of a large hop plant growing by
my place of abode. One group was affixed to the painted
surface of a wooden eaves* water-spout ; another to the under
surface of the leaf of a plant of passion flower. I did not
happen to see (for I did not search) any egg before about
July 4., although I had seen a pair of perfect chrysopas on
about June 26. The eggs were to be met with through July
and August. The first hatched eggs which I saw were seen
on July 15. For information on the habits of the insects of
this genus, see Samouelle's Entomological Cabinet^ No. ii. ;
and Rusticus of Godalming, in Ent, Mag.^ i. 223. — J, Z).

The preceding paragraph, (which has been long in type)
does but tell a fact probably most familiarly known to those
experienced in the ways of insects. We may perhaps safely
connect with it a general inference to the extent that all in-
sects employ, indifferently, any mechanical object for a merely
mechanical end. A Syrphus, most probably S. balteatus, as it
is near the same hop plant off" which we obtained this species
in 1833 (see p. 184.), is now sticking to the inner face of the
door of an outbuilding close by the hop plant. Six cocoons
of the 2Jygae'na loti, kindly sent us by E. Wilson, jun. (see
above), are attached, three to portions of the stem of an
umbelliferous plant ; two, each to the branch, near the flower-
bead, of Centaur^a nigra ; and one to the culm of a J5r6mus,

Shells, 535

Shells. — A List of Species qf Land and Freshwater Shells
collected^ during the Summer of ISS3, at JVitham, Essex, — They
are named according to Turton*s excellent Manual, In the
river : Cyclas cornea, amnica ; A'nodon cygneus ; Physa fonti-
nalis, hypnorum ; Paludina impura,viridis ; Neritina fluviatilis ;
A'ncylus fluviatilis. In ponds and ditches : Cyclas lacustris,
calyculata ; Mysca pictorum ; Succinea amphibia, oblonga ;
Planorbis marginatus, vortex, corneus, contortus, spirorbis;
Limn^Lis auricularius, pereger, fragilis, palustris. Brougiit
up by floods : Helix pulchella, Bulimus liibricus, Cyclostoma
elegans, Vertigo sexdentata, Valvata obtusa. In hedges
and gardens : Limacellus Parma ; Helix nemoralis, hortensis,
arbustorum, carthusiana, rufescens, caperata, aspersa, erice-
torum, nitens, liispida, pura, radiata; Carocolla lapicida;
Clausilia rugc^sa ; Bulimus obscurus. Upon the bark of old
trees : Balea fragilis. I also found one specimen, a dead one,
of a shell very much resembling Paludina similis ; but it had
several more whorls, and, consequently, was longer. — J, C,
Witham, Essex, March 20. 1834.

Botany and Geology. — Affinities between Plants and
subjacent Rocks, (VI. 335. 424.; VII. 274.) — Mr. Cau-
trell (VII. 274.) says that he believes the foxglove (Digitalis
purpurea) never grows upon limestone ; and from this I pre-
sume that he infers the affinity between geological stratum and
botanical productions. Before I refer to the second part of
this subject, however, it is necessary that I should say, that
here the foxglove grows abundantly upon the limestone. I
am situated just on the verge of the great South Wales coal-
field : in the hills to the west that coalfield terminates,
bounded by a very narrow band of mountain limestone, to
this succeeds the old red sandstone, which I call the strata of
the district; and a mile or two to the east, the transition
limestone shows itself, running nearly north and south, from
within a few miles of Caerleon to Clyther House, a distance
of about fifteen miles. When I read Mr. CautrelPs remark,
I determined to put the fact to the test, and consequently
took a day's walk over a part of this limestone district ; and
I can now assert, that, in this limestone district (transition
limestone), the foxglove grows luxuriantly and abundantly,
as it does likewise in every other part of my neighbourhood.

With regard to the peculiarity of certain botanical pro-
ductions to certain geological districts, I think that this must
be a matter of some doubt ; at least, the evidence which I at
present possess is not sufficient to confirm me in the belief of
the fact. For instance, I call my locality the old red sand-
stone district ; and, undoubtedly, that rock is the substratum

M M 4

SS6 Short Commiinicatiuns : — ■

of the whole neighbourhood ; but it is traversed by innumer-
able little rivulets, v^^hose valleys are formed of the alluvium
which they bring down. Again, some of the eminences
which divide these valleys are evidently formed of diluvial
gravel, bearing indubitable traces of having been transported
to their present positions from the rock that overlies the coal.
Then we have abundance of cold, wet, spongy bog, which
lies upon a yellow, sandy, stiff, and, as the Tarmers argue,
poisonous clay : and, finally, we have considerable quantities
of peat. Now, in arranging a flora of my neighbourhood
according to its geological strata, I should find some dif-
ficulty; for, surely, I am not to reckon all those flowers which
grow in the bogs, on the peat, upon the gravel, and in the
rich alluvial meadows, as belonging to the old red sandstone
formation. Bog plants, peat plants, and meadow plants are,
I presume, nearly the same, whatever may be the substratum
upon which those bogs, meadows,. or peat districts may rest;
and if this be the case, then it is the superincumbent soil,
more than the substratum of rock upon which that soil rests
(modified, of course, and considerably affected, by elevation
and climate), that gives the character to the botanical pro-
ductions of any district. The old red sandstone also forms
considerable hills, in fact, mountains. Am I, therefore, be-
cause these mountains are formed of the old red sandstone,
to call the alpine plants, which grow upon them, the pro-
ductions of the old red sandstone ?

As I am upon the subject of plants, I would say a few
words upon

Plants with White Flowers, lists of which have been given
in many parts of this Magazine [I. 392, 393.; II. 268.;
III. 161. 190.]? and which lists I could augment, by the
account of the like productions in this locality. Mr. Edwin
Lees (III. 190.) endeavours to account for the deviation in
colour, from a variety of soil or shade, or from accidental
manuring of the root of the plant. That these circumstances
may affect the colour of flowers, I will not deny; but I think
they are not sufficient to account for the white blossoms which
sometimes appear. Last year, for instance, I found but one
hyacinth (»Scilla nutans) with white blossoms ; this year I found
twenty-four specimens, in less than half an hour, without
scarcely giving myself the trouble of looking for them. In-
deed, the present season, as far as it has already advanced,
has been unusually rich in flowers with white blossoms. The
hyacinths of which I have spoken were, in every instance, sur-
rounded with a profusion of others of the usual colour. But
what has decided me in rejecting the explanation offered, as

Planls. 537

an insufficient cause for the effect produced, is, that I last
year gathered specimens of ling (Calliina vulgaris), some of
which I have still by me, in which the flowers on one part
were white, while, on other parts, they were of the usual
colour ; and these various-coloured flowers grew upon dif-
ferent branches of the same plant, the produce of one root.
This specimen was exposed to the same light and shade, and
to the same degree of drought and moisture, as all the other
ling, which grew so abundantly about it; and, certainly, I
think it is impossible that any accidental manuring, which
would affect its root, could cause the flowers of one part of
the stem to take a different hue from those of another : any
such cause must have affected the whole plant alike. —
C Conway, Pontnemydd Works, near Newport, Monmouth'
shire. May 16. 1834.

A Search for a repoi^ted curious Plant which grows in the
Level that conveys the Water from Auchenbowie Coal Works,
and from the old Coal Workings of Bannockburn. — At the
time we set off' on our journey, the sun was glancing from
behind the Ochils, and with his fiery rays making darkness
retreat to its gloomy caverns. We bade a temporary fare-
well to the glorious luminary, lighted our lamps, and de-
scended to the regions below; not where Orpheus went in
search of his Eurydice, but only to the secondary formation
of the earth. To give, however, an account of all the strata
we passed through, the angles of the rocks, and the point of
the compass they dip to, and of the dikes, troubles, and faults
that are met with in the coal formation, would be to write
an article on geology. We descended a pit fifty-five fathoms
deep ; and when we had arrived at the bottom, we

" Glower'd about wi' canny care.
Lest bogles catch us unaware."

The passage for our feet was sometimes rough, sometimes
smooth ; that for our back and head, sometimes high, some-
times low. In some places, as we went along, we saw

" Where, gloomily retir'd.
The villain spider lives, cunning and fierce.'*

with his net spread out to entrap his unsuspecting victims.
We think the spider was of the species ^ranea labyrinthica.
We thought that it had " come to the goat/s house to thig
woo' ; " but, as we proceeded, several species of TipMidae were
seen : these would, no doubt, occasionally come into the net ;
and the fine feeling of the ^ranea would, in the dark, be as
good as eyes. We met with beautiful specimens of the Raco-
dium cellare, as white as snow : whether this was owing to

538 Short Communications : —

the want of light, or whether it was, rather, a different speciesj
we will not venture to determine. Several of the Polypori
were seen on wooden posts which supported part of the roof.
Having proceeded about half a mile, we came to the banks
of a beautiful stream, clear as crystal, cool, and refreshing ;
and, although its banks were not adorned with velvet moss
and fragrant flowers, they were far from being unadorned;
for there the lichens were spread in pleasing forms, inter-
mixed with the oxide of iron oozing from the metallic stra-
tum. We were much in need of ablution, alter passing
through such a blackened region. We were now to travel
up the stream ; but, before entering it, it was thought neces-
sary to rest a little, that our bodies might acquire a cooler
temperature ; for the sweat was pouring copiously off" us. We
supplied our lamps with oil, and trimmed their wicks. The
light had a pleasing effect upon the numerous water-drops
suspended from the roof: these, mingling with the iron
pyrites, had the appearance of diamonds set in gold. When
we went into the water, it felt very cold ; but, after wading
for a quarter of an hour, we began to be more reconciled to
it, and to resume our observations. In some places the
water was contracted, and ran with great force ; in other
places it was more shallow : it appeared as if it had its floods,
like other streams ; for there were large sandbanks in
several places, on which could be seen the recent footsteps of
the otter (Z/Utra vulgaris Flem.), How otters manage to
procure their food in the dark, we know not ; but one thing
is certain, there are fish in the stream, particularly the eel
(^nguilla vulgaris Flem.). The otter had fled at our ap-
proach ; for the noise that we made was tremendous ; our
plunging in the water echoed through the gloomy wastes,
like the roar of the ocean in a storm. In some parts, the
roof rose to the height of 20 ft., and from it hung beautiful
stalactites ; in other parts its height was only from 3 ft. to
4 ft. ; and, in one place, which was about 60 ft. or 70 ft. long,
we had to proceed on all fours, with scarcely room for our
head between the water and the roof. Our lights, during
our passage through this part, were placed upon our heads,
to preserve them from being extinguished. After clearing
this narrow passage, we soon arrived at the place where the
plant which we were in search of grows. We got it in tufts
attached to old wood in the water. After procuring some
fine specimens of it, we began to retrace our steps, well
pleased with our journey, and hoping, at some future period,
to make more extensive researches in these interesting ex-
cavations. By the help of the Encydopcedia of Plants, we

Geology^ Meteorology. 539

litive, we think, identified the plant as the Vauch^rm dich6-
toma. Some of the specimens measured between 120 ft. and
30 ft. M. Vaucher, 1 dare say, would not have shunned
such an immersion as we got, to have seen such fine plants.
— Peter Mackenzie ^ Gardener to Robert Lowis, Esq., of Wester
Plea7i, Stirlingshire. Nov. 7. 1833.

The Soils which form the Bed of the Shannon^ a little above
Killaloe Bridge ; aNotice qfthem^ and the Fact of Bones being
found in them : connexible with the notice that " several
skeletons of elks have been found in the neighbourhood of
Killaloe," published in VI. 462. — In sinking for a dock on
the Shannon, a little above Killaloe bridge, the workmen have,
from time to time, dug up bones ; I cannot now say, for cer-
tain, of what animal. They lie in a stratum of white marl, con-
taining shells, which is from 2 ft. to 3 ft. thick, and above it
is a layer of bog of the same thickness, and over that several
feet of alluvial soil. Under the white marl is a stratum of
grey marl, of the texture of pipe clay, of a violet grey colour,
not containing any shells, but mixed with small pebbles, of
what depth is not yet known. The bones are probably those
of the fossil elk (Cervus meg^ceros) : among them there is a
small jawbone containing grinder teeth, besides several de-
tached teeth, of a much larger size. — T. K. Toomavara,
Ireland, Oct. 4. 1833.

Meteorology. — The Temperature of the Atmosphere and
Earth, in Britain, relatively to Elevation above the Sea Level.
(p. 443 — 448.) — In ascending Skiddaw, on August 27. 1832,
I observed the range of the thermometer. At the bridge
over the Greta, which flows at the foot of Skiddaw, at 8 o'clock
in the morning, the mercury stood at 58°. At the well on the
side of the mountain, where refreshment is usually taken by
lakers in their ascent, I found that it had fallen to 47°? while
the temperature of the water in the well was 50°. When the
thermometer was hung upon the flag-pole upon the summit
of the mountain, it stood at 40°. This was at noon. The
day was most beautifully clear and fine. Otley says, in his
Guide to the Lakes, that Skiddaw is 3022 ft. above the level of
the sea : he also observes that the average temperature at its
summit is 12° lower than that in the valley. — Edward Wilson,
Jun. Chapel Allerton, May 5. 1834. [See p. 445.]

Adages on the 2d of February. (IV. 264. 469., and VI. 570.)
— The popular opinion, in this part of the country, is ex-
pressed in the following couplet, which is almost a translation
of the Latin couplet quoted (in IV. 469.) by Mr. Bree : —

" If Candlemas day be clear and fair,
Half the winter 's to come and mair."

— A Subscriber. Vale of Alford, Aberdeenshire, Nov. 20. 1833.

540 (:lueriai and A/isii:r}.s.

MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE.

Art. I. Queries and Answers.

Cats possess the Faculty of imitating the Voice ofBirds^for
the Purpose of Enticement. — This is an interesting fact ; which,
as far as I know, has not been noticed in any work on natural
history. It has been previously observed during my life ; but
I have at present a young cat, which, placing herself on the
window-seat, and watching intently the birds, utters a chirping
chirruping sound, bearing a close resemblance to the note of
the sparrows, accompanied by a peculiar tremulous motion of
the under jaw. It is undoubtedly one of those marvellous
methods which the wisdom of the Creator, who " gives to all
their meat in due season," has devised for bringing the prey
within their reach. That it has not been commonly remarked,
may be ascribed to the successful ventriloquism of the per-
former. Although some highly accomplished cats have been
lately exhibited in the metropolis, people are sceptical as to
their musical talents ; so I should be glad to have my state-
ment corroborated by some correspondent. — A Bachelor,
Lincolnshire, March 24. 1834. [We have noticed, in young
cats pursuing a bird in a tree, &c., a tremulous motion of the
under jaw ; accompanied by the utterance of a faint cry, yet
one denotive of intense anxiety, and, with the gesture, express-
ing the sentiment, " Come, let me clutch thee ! " In the cry,
however, we have never been struck with a resemblance to
the note of a bird.]

The Water Ouzel. (IL 301. 400., V. 734.; and its song,
VII. 183.) — The water ouzel does sing very frequently, and
as much in the winter as at any time. Perched on a stone or
a piece of ice, it chirps away at a famous rate ; but its song
consists almost entirely of its note zeet zeet, which it hashes
up in all sorts of ways : lengthening and shortening ; now a
crotchet, then a semiquaver ; raising an octave or so, and
then descending again ; it makes as much of it as can be
made. But, with all its efforts, its song is a very so-so affair ;
all its syllables beginning with z, and almost ending with it
too. Yet, although it is not much of a songster, it is almost
a sacred bird with me, in consequence of the associations
connected with it. A pair built for forty years, according to
tradition, in a wheel-race near to where I was born ; and had
never been molested by any body, until a gentleman in the
neighbourhood, who was a great ornithologist, employed his

Queiies atid Afisurrs, 541

gamekeeper to shoot this pair. I think that the natives of
Calcutta were not more indignant when an unlucky English-
man got one of their sacred bulls into his compound, and
baited him, than was our little community at what we con-
sidered so great an outrage. The gamekeeper narrowly
escaped being stoned by myself and some more lads ; any of
whom would have shot fifty blackbirds or fieldfares without
any misgivings.

Mr. Dovaston's remark, in II. 400., that this bird resembles
the wren in its habits and motions, is strikingly correct : it
nods and curtsies, and cocks its tail, in exactly the same man-
ner. Its nest, also, is similar in form to that of the wren.

As some correspondents say that it is impossible for the
water ouzel to walk at the bottom of the water, owing to its
being of less specific gravity, I will not argue the point with
them ; but, disbelieving my own eyes, endeavour to submit
with a good grace : otherwise, I should have said that I have
repeatedly seen it doing so from a situation where I had an
excellent opportunity of observing it, the window of a build-
ing directly over the place where it was feeding. It walked
in, began to turn over the pebbles with its bill, rooting almost
like a pig ; and it seemed to have no difficulty whatever in
keeping at the bottom, at all depths where I could see it ;
and I have frequently observed it when the water just covered
it, and its head appeared above every time it lifted it up^
which it did incessantly ; turning over a pebble or two, then
lifting its head, and again putting it below to seize the creepers
[larvae of insects] it had disturbed. Besides, its speed was
too slow for diving. Every aquatic bird with which I am
acquainted moves much faster when diving than when either
swimming or walking, and its course is generally in a straight
line, or nearly so ; but the water ouzel, when feeding, turns
to the right or left, or back again to where it started ; stops
and goes on, just as it does when out of the water. Yet,
when it wished, it seemed to have the power of altering its
own gravity ; as, after wading about two, or perhaps five,
minutes, where it could just get its head out, it would sud-
denly rise to the surface and begin to swim, which it does
quite as well as the water hen. The awkward, tumbling,
shuffling wriggle, which Mr. Dovaston speaks of [II. 400.],
is occasioned by the incessant motion of its head as it turns
over the gravel in search of creepers ; which, it appears to me,
form the whole of its food.

Sir George Mackenzie says, or seems to think, that these
birds destroy salmon spawn; which, if correct, would go far
towards putting an end to my partiality for them : but I radier

542 Queries and Answers,

think that they are unjustly accused in this instance, and
believe that they were catching creepers when he supposed
they were eating spawn. If this were the case (and it is a
fact well worth ascertaining), they were rendering an essential
service to the fisheries, when he supposed they were injuring
them, because these creepers (the larvae of the May fly, bank
fl}^, and all the drakes) are exceedingly destructive to spawn-
ing beds : and, as the water ouzel feeds on them at all other
times, and as they are more abundant in the winter than at
any other season, I think this is the more probable supposi-
tion. Of course, if he has shot the bird, and speaks from
knowledge after dissecting it, there can be no doubt of the
fact ; but, if he merely supposes it so, because the water ouzel
feeds in the same streams where the salmon are spawning, it
is very probable that he is mistaken, for the reasons before
mentioned. — T", G. Clitheroe, Lancashire^ May 29. 1834.

The Water Ouzel; its Song (VII. 183.), a7id Nest (II.
400.): in reply to the query in VII. 183. — I answer, un-
hesitatingly, that it has a very sweet song. I live in a
neighbourhood where water ouzels are common ; so common,
indeed, that it would be difficult to pursue any stony stream-
let a couple of miles, without observing several of them.
Their song is rapid and vigorous ; continued often two or three
minutes at a time ; and, to my ear, resembling a good deal,
in its execution, the song of the wren; from which it, how-
ever, differs materially in this respect, that it is not charac-
terised by a loud shrillness, but by a certain subdued and
warbly richness. The water ouzel never sings more sweetly
than on a bright frosty-aired morning in January or February.

A word or two on its nest. This is generally affixed to
some rough moist rock or bank, rising perpendicularly from
a river's margin. In bulk, I should say, it was nearly the
size of a hat ; in shape, more or less semicircular, with a firm
compact sloping roof made of moss ; beneath which, as under
eaves, and completely concealed from the sight, is the en-
trance, a hole just large enough to allow the bird free ingress
and egress. The apartment within is domed and commo-
dious ; and invariably lined with withered oak leaves, in which
I find deposited commonly five white eggs, remarkable for
their brittleness, transparency, and purity. Once I found a
water ouzel's nest among some slender boughs overhanging a
stream ; and once beneath a waterfall, at a point where the
rock retreated a little in the middle ; the water falling in a
sheet just over the nest, and forming, as it were, a kind of
crystal veil to it. Indeed, the eaves of the nest (as I call
them) were always dripping tvet; whereas the oak lining

'^ J forks on Natural Hhtory. 543

within remained always perfectly dry. The art with which
this nest was accommodated to its situation was consummate :
no one could have possibly discovered it but by the bird. —
Tiro. March 6. ISS^. \_PostmarJc., IVrexharn.'] The water ouzel
or dipper occurs about Dundee. — W, Gardiiier, jun.^ 1833.
The water ouzel is plentiful among our little brooks ; but has
been driven from my more immediate neighbourhood by the
ceaseless persecution of wanton sportsmen. — C. Conway.
Pontnemydd Works, near Newport, Monmouthshire, Jan, 20.
1834.

A succinct and clear account of the nest and eggs, and
something of the habits, of the water ouzel, are given in
Hewitson's British Oology, t. 72. An ample account of the
bird's habits, and a figure of it and of its nest and eggs, are
given in Mudie's Feathered Tribes, vol. i.

REVIEWS.

Art. I. Catalogue of Works on Natural History^ lately published,
with some Notice ofthose considered the most interesting to British
Naturalists.

KiNGy Thomas, M.D., M.R.C.S., &c. The Substance of a
Lecture designed as an Introduction to the Study of Ana-
tomy as considered as the Science of Organisation ; and
delivered at the Reopening of the School founded by the
late Joshua Brookes, Esq., in Blenheim Street, Oct. 1. 1833.
8vo, thirty pages. London, 1834. \s.6d.

The relations of anatomy are herein mapped, as it were,
and shown to be most comprehensive ; and are defined and
denominated, and in some instances farther explained. The
book is one of ordination and definitions ; and these have been
carefully considered, and are cautiously and clearly expressed.
Some of Blainville's views and definitions are exhibited.

The Committee of the Doncaster Agricultural Association : A
Report on the Turnip Fly, and the Means of its Preven-
tion : founded on Returns received to the Questions of the
Committee, from 102 Correspondents in different Parts of
England and Scotland. 8vo, 89 pages. London, Ridgway,
1834.

Interesting to the agriculturist: to the naturalist, scarcely
at all so. Next to nothing, we believe quite nothing, on the
turnip beetle, that was not known before, is told us. More is
taught us, as we think, in three pages by the recently deceased

54' 4 Litei-ary Notices. *

Mr. G. Sinclciir, in a detail of some experiments on the habits
of the beetle, made by himself, published in 27?^ British
Farmer's Magazine, vii. 496 — 498. Mr. Sinclair had never
witnessed the flight of the insect. Mr. Main has : see his
Illustrations of Vegetable Physiology, p. 297. The Don caster
Agricultural Society deserves, we think, great credit for one
thing, and that is, instituting so comprehensive a method of
learning what was known on this subject : it is useful to have
shown what is not known.

Transactions of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec.
8vo. Vol. III. Part I., July, 1832; Vol. 111. Part IL,
April, 1833.

The treatises contained are, Dr. Kelly on Mirage; Dr.
Kelly on the Climate of Canada ; Rev. Dr. Wilkie on Paral-
lel Lines ; Wm. Shepherd Esq., on some of the Plants of
Lower Canada ; Reports on the Magdalen Islands, by Lieut.
Baddeley, with a chart, and a geological outline ; W. Green,
on the Pigments of Canada.

Art. II. Literary Notices.

A Manual of Mineralogy, by Robert Allan, F.R.S.E.,
F.G.S.L., &c., comprehending the more recent discoveries in
the mineral kingdom, was announced on Sept. 1., to be that
day published : its price 105. 6d. : illustrated by 174 figures.

Of LyeWs Principles of Geology, a new (the third) and
cheap edition is announced for publication. It is to consist
of 4 vols. 12mo., illustrated with 147 woodcuts, and 13 plates
and maps : price 245.

*' Since the publication of the former editions of this work,
the author has travelled over a large part of the Continent of
Europe, for the purpose of verifying facts, and collecting new
materials. In the present edition he has embodied all his
own observations, together with a vast quantity of new facts,
brought to light since the first appearance of the work, which
has been most materially improved by these corrections and
additions. Several new illustrations have been added, and
the glossary at the end of the fourth volume will considerably
assist those readers who are unacquainted with the elements
of geology."

An Alphabet of Electricity, by our correspondent W. M.
Higgins, F.G.S., Lecturer on Natural Philosophy to Guy's
Hospital, is announced as in the press : it is to be pubUshed
by Orr and Smith.

THE MAGAZINE

OF

NATURAL HISTORY,

NOVEMBER, 1834.

ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.

Art. I. Notices of certain Omens and Superstitions connected mtk
Natural Objects, By the Rev. W. T. Bree, M.A.

Observing, in a former Number (V. 209.), an essay of
Mr. J, C. Farmer's, entitled, " Contributions towards an
account of omens and superstitions connected with natural
history," I venture to add a few similar instances, which have
come under my own observation, in the hope that they may
prove not unacceptable ; and the more so, as Mr. Farmer
invites others to follow his example. Many of these super-
stitious fancies are, 1 take it, of great antiquity; and, of some
of them, it is, perhaps, next to impossible to trace the origin.
But I am not going to write a treatise on the subject, but
merely to give a few examples in point.

The Cat.* — Sailors, as I am informed on the authority of
a naval officer, have a great dislike to see the cat, on board
ship, unusually playful and frolicsome: such an event, they
consider, prognosticates a storm ; and they have a saying on

* " The cat is the sine qua non of a witch," Warburton, on the pas-
sage in Macbeth,

" Thrice the brindled cat hath mew*^d,"^

observes, that a cat, from time immemorial, has been the agent and
favourite of witches. This superstitious fancy is pagan, and very ancient ;
and the original, perhaps, this : — When Galinthia was changed into a cat
by the Fates (says Antonius Liberalis, Metam., c. xxix.), by witches
(says Pausanias, in his Bceotics), Hecate took pity of her, and made her
her priestess ; in which office she continues to this day.. Hecate herselfj
too, when Typhon forced all the gods and goddesses to hide themselves
in animals, assumed the shape of a cat. So Ovid,
" Fele soror Phoebi latuit."
[The sister of Phoebus lay hid under the form of a cat.]

See Brand's Observations on Popular Antiquities, by Ellis, ii. 394, 395.;
a work which may be usefully consulted, as containing a great fund of
curious information on the subject of omens and superstitions.

- ' VII, _ No. 4^3. ' t^N

54>6 Some Superstitions appertaining

these occasions, that " the cat has a gale of wind in her tail."
There may, in this, be something better than mere supersti-
tion. The fur of the cat is known to be highly electrical : pos-
sibly, therefore, the change which takes place in the state of
the atmosphere, previously to a storm, may have some power-
ful effect on the animal's body, and elate her spirits to a more
than usual degree. The playfulness of the cat, therefore,
may, perhaps, be a natural sign of the coming weather, and
to be accounted for on just and philosophical principles.

T/ie Horseshoe Superstition, alluded to by Mr. Farmer
[V. 212.], as practised by sailors, is not confined to men of
that profession ; I believe it obtains universally, more or less.
Hence, we continually see horseshoes nailed over the door,
threshold, or fireplace, &c., in cottages.* Some years ago, I
happened to pick up a spare horseshoe on my premises ;
and, thinking that it might possibly be employed again as a
useful shoe, I hung it loose over the top bar of a wicket-gate
leading from the foldyard to the orchard, in order that it
might be seen, and converted to whatever purpose it would
serve. In this position (though the gate was constantly used
by people passing through it) the horseshoe hung undis-
turbed for several years. 1 think I am within compass when
I say four or five at the least: indeed, it is only within these
few months that I have missed it ; and I dare venture to say,
that, had any other article, not regarded with any degree of
superstitious veneration, been so deposited, it would scarcely
have remained in the same place for as many weeks.

Weasel. — In some parts of the country, it is looked upon
as an unfavourable omen for a weasel to have crossed one's
path t ; and ill success, on any particular occasion, is some-

* See Brand, ii. 379. It is esteemed good luck to find old iron gene-
rally; and, in particular, a horseshoe.

f Brand observes, that the meeting of a weasel is a bad omen ; also, on
the authority of older writers, that " it is very ill luck to have

A Hare cross one in the Highway"

" Nor did we meet, with nimble feet.
One little fearful Lepus;
That certain sign, as some divine,
Of fortune bad, to keep us."

See Brand, ii. 518, &c., where several other curious instances of the
same kind are recorded ; as, e. g., that " it is accounted good luck if

A Wolf cross our Way." The following explanation is thus given from
A Helpe to Discourse: — "Our ancestors, in times past, as they were
merry-conceited, so were they witty : and thence it grew that they held it
good lucke if a wolf crost the way, and was gone without any more danger
or trouble ; but ill lucke, if a hare crost and escaped them, that they had
not taken her."

to certain Natural Objects, ^4f

times absurdly attributed to this cause. On the other hand,
I have lately been informed, that, if the first time you see

A Lamb in the Spring, it stand with its head towards you,
it is considered a lucky circumstance ; and still more so, if it
happen to be a black one. Black lambs, indeed, I find, have
a sort of superstitious preference sometimes shown them ;
and, on account of their colour alone, are often reserved to
form part of the flock, instead of being disposed of to the
butcher.

The Raven and the Owl have been regarded as birds o f
ominous portent, time out of mind.

" Is it not ominous, in all countries,
When crows and ravens croak upon trees ? "

HudibraSy part ii. canto iii. 707. '

" The raven himself is hoarse.

That croaks the fatal enterance of Duncan

Under my battlements." Macbeth,

" Came he right now to sing a raven's note, :.s

Whose disi^al tune bereft my vital powers."

Henry VL, part ii«

" O I it comes o'er my memory.

As doth the raven o'er the infected house.

Boding to all." * Othello.

So harsh and mournful is the ordinary voice of the raven,
that this alone may, perhaps, be sufficient to account for the
bird's being looked upon, by ignorant and superstitious minds,
as presaging ill. It has often occurred to me, when exploring
the more inaccessible parts of the British mountains (though
without feeling any superstitious dread on the occasion), that
the ravens, whose "ancient solitary reign" I had invaded,
uttered their harsh croak, as they soared over my head, in
expectation, as it were, of my falling down the ravines and

* See Brand, ii. 527. ; where several other passages relating to the raven

are quoted.

It is essential that we do not confound the raven of the poets with their
Night Raven; although they attribute enough of nocturnal bodings to

the former. The night raven (Mr. Dovaston tells us, in VI. 9.) is the

bittern ; and the nightly " boomps " of this bird agree very well with the

** trompe of doleful dreere " of Spenser : —

" The ill-fac'd owle, death's dreadful messengere,
The hoarse night raven, trompe of dolefull dreere." Spenser.

Is the night croiv another name for the night raven f or is it merely a
bird of the poets ?

" Now croaks the toad, and night crowes screech aloud."

Second part o^ Antonio and Mellida (Marston's Works,
quoted by Brand, as above).

N N 2

548 Some Superstitions appertaining

precipices, and of their chance of becoming my "executors,"*
and having to feed on my lifeless carcass. Pennant tells us
that " a vulgar respect is paid to the raven, as being the bird
appointed by heaven to feed the prophet Elijah, when he fled
from the rage of Ahab." (1 Kings, xvii. See Brand, vol. ii.
p. 526.) From whatever source the notion may have derived
its origin, I find that it is considered bad luck to kill a raven.
I happened once to be in conversation, on this subject, with
a countryman, who seemed to regard the perpetration of such
an act in a very serious light. On my questioning him far-
ther, he told me that a friend of his once shot a raven, and
that, " somehow or another (he did not know how it was),
his best cow died within a week after; and he had made
up his mind that nothing should ever induce him to shoot
another." This instance affords an apt illustration of one of
the fallacies enumerated by Sir Thomas Brown : *' collecting
presages from voice or food of birds, and conjoining events
unto causes of no connection." (See Vulgar Errors, book i.
chap. 4-.)

iThe Owl.^ — From a similar cause, perhaps, to that just
mentioned in the case of the raven, the discordant screech of
the pwl has probably come to be regarded with no little super-
stitious dread, as foreboding evil ; and the more so, perhaps,
from the circumstance of its being heard only in the dark or
twilight,

" The obscure bird

Clamour'd the livelong night." Macbeth.

** Deep night, dark night, the silent of the night.

The time when scritch-owls cry, and ban-dogs howl.

That time best fits the work we have in hand."

Henri/ F/., part ii.

" The owl shriek'd at thy birth, an evil sign."

Henri/ VL, part iii.

** The Roman senate, when within
The city walls an owl was seen.
Did cause their clergy, with lustrations
(Our synod calls humiliations).
The round-faced prodigy t' avert
From doing town or country hurt." f

Hudibrasy part ii. canto iii. 709.

* " Their executors, the knavish crows.

Fly o'er them all, impatient for their hour." Henri/ V.

•j- Quoted by Brand, ii. 523., along with other passages. See, also,
Mr.Waterton's amusing article on " the habits of the barn owl" (V. 9.,
&c.), for classical quotations.

to certain Natural Objects, 549

So well known and established was the character of the
owl as a bird of omen, that Shakspeare uses the term meta-
phorically, applying it to inauspicious persons : —

" Thou ominous and fearful owl of death.
Our nation's terror, and their bloody scourge ! '*

Henry F/., part i.

Again, in the Third Part of Henry F/., Edward, speaking of
Clifford, says : —

" Bring forth that fatal scritch-owt to our house,
That nothing sung but death to us and ours."

Speaking once, in defence of these birds, to a very respectable
man-servant, who disliked them so much as to express a wish
that they should be destroyed, I said I thought them very
inoffensive and amusing, if not useful, creatures. '* I don't
know. Sir, for that," he replied ; " but I know I find them
very bad company, when I get up at four or five o'clock on a
winter's morning to brew." [See Mr. Bree in continuation,
in p. 593.]

\_RooJcs are reputed to leave a Rookery at the Death of the
Owner of it^ Sj-c.^ — A medical friend has lately informed me
that a notion prevails with some, that the rooks will leave the
rookery on the death of the owner or other member of the
family. Being, on one occasion, in professional attendance
on a lady during her last illness, he tells me, that, shortly
before her dissolution, when it became apparent that she
could not survive many hours, it was remarked to him by
some one in the house : — "I wonder whether the rooks will
leave the rookery on this occasion : they did so on. the decease

of the late — (the former possessor); and likewise on that

of his brother, who preceded him." The birds in the present
instance, I am told, were only a trifle out in their calculation :
they quitted the next morning ; though the patient, contrary
to all expectation, lingered through the day, and was not
released (if 1 rightly remember) till the evening of the day
following. I do not know at what period of the year the
above-mentioned circumstance took place ; and this is an
important point in the present case, as the rooks (except,
perhaps, in very large rookeries), do not abide constantly in
their breeding-places, but merely pay them occasional visits.

[ Toads found incarcerated.'] — We are for ever seeing
accounts in the newspapers, and elsewhere, of toads being
found alive embedded in solid wood or stone, or even in blocks
of marble [see VI. 458—459.] : it is not for me to say that
such reports are altogether without foundation, or unworthy
of credit. [See in VII. 519.] In felling a tree, when the
axe comes in contact (as it frequently does) with a more than

NN 3

550 Some Superstitions appertaining

usually tough and gnarled portion of timber, it will sometimes
rebound at the stroke, without making any incision. On
such occasions, the woodmen in this part of the country say
the axe " buffs ; " and they have, some of them, a sort of
floating traditionary notion, handed down to them from their
forefathers, that this rebounding of the axe is attributable to
a toad which lies enclosed within the root of the tree, and
which, accordingly, they may expect to find there. I remem-
ber an old woodman, the father of a man who now works for
me, who seemed to entertain a more than half belief in this
notion ; though, upon enquiry, I could not learn that he had
ever known it verified by fact. The similarity in sound be-
tween the verb " buiF," and " bufo," the Latin for a toad, is
here remarkable ; and the coincidence might induce some
etymologists to derive the one word from the other. But it
strikes me as hardly probable that these simple woodmen
should be indebted to the learned languages, and should have
borrowed their provincial term from the Latin ; still less do
I suppose that they have ever read the line in Virgil,

. " Inventusque cavis bufo." Georg. i. ]84.

" And toads in crannies found." Trapp's Translation,

Superstition and credulity are by no means confined to the
vulgar and illiterate; the minds of the better informed are
often powerfully biased by such influence. I knew a gentle-
man of liberal education, who maintained that it was

Easy toforetel what Sort of Summer it would be hy the Posi'
tion in which the Larva of Cicada {Aphrophora) spumdria
was found to lie in the Froth {Cuckoo-spit) in which it is enxie^
loped. If the insect lay with its head upwards, it infallibly
denoted a dry summer ; if downwards, a wet one ! * An
old lady of my acquaintance entertained an opinion that

The Jelly-like Substance (a Species of Tremella P), which is
frequently to be found, after rain, upon turf or neglected
pathways, was the remains of a fallen star ; the snuff, as it
were, of the extinguished luminary ! f The same lady also
deemed it hazardous to walk abroad in the shrubbery or the
garden after dusk, for fear of

The Bats; which, she maintained, had a villanous pro-
pensity of striking at people's eyes ! I need hardly observe,

* Is there any foundation in fact for the following proverbial saying,
which is common in this neighbourhood, viz. : —

" A good bark harvest, a good corn harvest ? "

This year (1832), the two seasons have certainly corresponded pretty
accurately: the earlier part of each was very favourable; afterwards, in
both cases, came heavy rains.
f For " spittle of stars," and " shot stars," see Brand, ii. 684.

to certain Natural Objects, 551

that the bat evinces admirable dexterity and adroitness in
avoiding to come in contact with any moving object, like the
human figure, &c. ; though it will flutter close around us as
we pace the avenue or the more confined and closely shaded
walk.

Anglers^ when they have baited their hook, have a supersti-
tious practice of spitting upon the worm, &c., for good luck,
before they lay it in the water.*

" In setting a Hen^^ says Grose, " the good women hold
it an indispensable rule to put an odd number of eggs. This
predilection for odd numbers is very ancient ; and is men-
tioned by Virgil in his eighth Eclogue : —

" Numero Deus impare gaudet." f

" Heav'n uneven numbers loves." Trapp's Translation.

The IReformation of the Calendar^ in the Year 1752, or the
Change (f Style, as it is called (an event which we of the pre-
sent day are sometimes apt entirely to overlook J), was long
recollected with much dissatisfaction by many among the
lower orders. It appeared to them to be a sort of sacrilegious
interference, a profane attempt to alter the course of nature.
In, perilous times, and in the hands of artful and designing
men, such an event might have been employed too success-
fully as a powerful engine for promoting all kinds of political
discontent. By the help of that most common fallacy, post
hoc, ergo propter hoc ; according to which, whatever happens
after this or that circumstance is therefore said to have hap-

* See Brand, ii. 570., lustrating children by spittle. f Ibid., 574.

X An instance in point came under my observation very lately. Appli-
cation was made to me for some extracts from the parish register, of about
the date of 1742, i. e. ten years previously to the change of style. Among
other entries, of which I was requested to furnish copies, were the mar-
riage of A. B. and C. D., which took place on April 20. 1742; and the
baptism of the eldest son of the same parties, which took place on Jan. 27.
of the same year. Shortly after I had furnished the above extracts, I
received a second visit from the applicant, with a request that I would
reexamine the registers ; for that there must be some mistake in copying
the extracts, since, according to them, it would appear that the child was
illegitimate, as the baptism took place three months before the solemnis-
ation of the marriage. Had this gentleman borne in mind, that, previously
to the alteration of the style, the year commenced on the 25th of March,
and that, accordingly, January came towards the latter end of the year,
not (as now) at the beginning, he might have saved himself the trouble of
a second perusal of the parish documents: they, and the extracts made
from them, were quite correct, and as they should be, and the child no
bastard ; for the marriage was solemnised on the 20th of April, and on the
27th of January following (i. e. nine months after) the child was born, or
at least baptised. The same blunder, and with reference to the selfsame
entries, I recollect to have been made by a solicitor in the time of my pre-
decessor, who received a second application to reexamine the registers
after he had furnished copies of the entries above mentioned.

N N 4

552 Some Superstitions appertaining

pened on account of it, there is scarce any conceivable public
evil, such as unfruitful seasons, pestilential diseases, bad
government, disastrous warfare, &c., &c., which might not
have been attributed to this innovation as the cause ; and the
minds of many would have been amply prepared to give
credence to such absurdities. I knew an old labourer, a
native of an obscure village in this county (Warwickshire),
who recollected the alteration of the style ; and who, to the
last, was never reconciled to it: he stoutly maintained that
the nation had never prospered since. " I did not wish,"
said he, '* to make mischief; so I never said anything about
it to my son : but you may depend upon it. Sir, the nation
has ne'er prospered sin the style were changed. If you '11
observe. Sir, the cuckoo and the swallows, and everything
else, they don't care for the change : they all come and go by
the old time, not by the new. I don't know," continued he,
" what use it were of, unless it were to make the parson tell
lies on a Sunday." " How so. Master Caister?" " Why,
Sir, he says it is the tenth day of the month, when it isn't the
tenth." He assured me that the inhabitants of his native
parish were so disgusted with the change, that they were at
the pains of procuring a minister, at their own private expense,
to perform divine service upon old Christmas day ; and that
they made a point of going about their ordinary occupations,
and setting their servants to work, on the new. Moreover, a
deputation, opnsisting of two of these simple vilJagers, was
actually sent down to Glastonbury for the purpose of consult-
ing the holy thorn * upon the occasion : a sprig of which,
gathered on old Christmas day, in leaf (or else in flower, I
forget which), was brought back in triumph to the village.
The old adage,

" Better, better ne'er be born.
Than on the Sabbath pare the horn" (L e. the nails), f

was probably invented with the view to discountenance the
desecration of the Lord's day by the performance of a variety
of little odd jobs ; which, however improper an occupation

* Pilgnmages to Glastonburyy upon a like errand, were, it seems, by no
means unusual. " Certain it is that the Glastonbury thorn has preserved
its inflexibility, and observed its old anniversary. Many thousand specta-
tors visited it on the Parliamentary Christmas day ; not a bud vv^as to be
seen ! On the true nativity it was covered with blossoms. One must be
an infidel indeed to spurn at such authority." " A vast concourse of
people attended the noted thorn on Christmas eve, new style ; but, to their
great disappointment, there was no appearance of its blowing ; which made
them watch it narrowly the 5th of January, the Christmas day, old style,
when it blowed as usual." See Brand, ii. 663.

f Brand mentions Friday also as an unlucky day for this purpose, (ii. ^^^ ^

to certain Natural Objects, 553

they may constitute for the Christian Sabbath, do not strictly
come within the literal meaning of the word " work." In
like manner, the practice, among schoolboys, of always

Giving away One of Two Kernels, which are occasionally
found within the Shell of the same Nut, because it is unlucky
to eat both, may have originated from a desire to inculcate
the moral lesson of liberality, and the duty of imparting to
others a portion of what one possesses. But I know not how
to account for the belief in the efficacy of

Swallowing the Germ of a Walnut, and, at the same Moment^
wishing for some desired Object, in order to its attainment.
Hence the germ, or vital apex, of the walnut is sometimes
called *' the wish ; " and, unless it be swallowed entire, the
charm is broken, and the thing wished for will not be
accomplished.

A Peascod, with Nine Peas in it, is supposed to be of potent
efficacy in discovering a damsel's matrimonial lot in life. The
peascod is to be placed over the door; and the man who first
takes it down, if single, is to become the husband of the fair
depositor. This practice, though somewhat varied in par-
ticulars, is mentioned by Gay in the following lines * ; —

" As peascods once I pluck'd, I chanced to see
One that was closelj fill'd with three times three j
Which, when I cropp'd, I safely home convey'd,
And o'er the door the spell in secret laid :
The latch moved up, when who should first come in.
But, in his proper person, — Lubberkin ! "

The country youths, of both sexes, adopt the following
method of ascertaining whether the objects of their affections
entertain for them a mutual regard : —

The Flower qfCentaurea nigra, or Knapweed \ (here called
hard-head), is gathered, and the entire upper portion is
shaved off' with a knife or scissors, exactly on a level with the
top of the calyx ; the calyx, together with the remainder of
its contents, is then put in the pocket: if, by the following
day, the stumps of the florets (as I may call them) shall have
shot out, so as to protrude beyond the extremity of the calyx
(as they are almost certain to do from the warmth of the
pocket), it is regarded as a favourable omen, a sure sign that
love is reciprocal. This is one of those instances in which
the mind readily lends itself to a manifest self-deception, and
is willing to believe in the truth of what it hopes for. It
were to be wished that the same kind of delusion never ope-

* Quoted in Brand, i. 303.

f A similar method of divination by bachelor's buttons (Xychnis
dioica) is mentioned by Brand, ii. 629.

554 Some Superstitions appertaining

rated in cases of greater importance. In Cornwall, I have
heard a proverbial saying, of a nearly opposite tendency to
the superstition just mentioned: — ''If rain fall upon the
clothes which women hang out to dry after a wash, it is a sign
that their sweethearts do not love them." Let me not be
suspected of treason or disloyalty for narrating another absurd
notion : —

" If there are no Keys (?'. e. Seed-vessels) upon the Ash Trees,
it is a Sign that, within a Twelvemonth, there will be no King"
— William the Fourth and his royal successors need be under
no alarm on this account. The proverb supposes two events
which never take place : for as, according to the genius of
our constitution, the king never dies ; so, no season, I believe,
ever occurs in which the ash trees are wholly destitute of keys.
The vulgar saying, that

" When Gorse {\Tlex europcea) is out of Blossom, Kissing is
out of Season" I should suppose, is only a proverbial mode of
expressing the length of time which gorse continues in bloom.

\_Plants of the Fennel, if we would have them grow in a Gar-
den, must he stolen.'] — Some of our horticultural friends may,
perhaps, be surprised to be told, that, " if they want fennel to
grow in their gardens, they must steal it; for, if it be either
given or bought, it will not grow." Of a like character is the
old distich relating to marum {Tehcrium Marum), for which
cats are known to have so strong a partiality [they have, too,
for Valeriana officinalis, and for ^epeta Cataria ; to which
last I have known the lines applied, perhaps by mistake] : —

" If you set it, the cats will eat it ;
But if you sow it, the cats wo'n't know it."

Formerly, it used to be considered that the Efficacy of many
Recipes was the more powerful and certain, where somethirig of
Mystery was employed in the Manner of preparing them. — An
old man in this village (a former parish clerk) possessed a
really valuable (I believe, infallible) recipe for the cure of that
loathsome disease the itch ; one ingredient of which was the
root of the common dock, I well remember to have heard,
as a boy, that, the better to effect a cure, it was thought (if
not indispensable, at least desirable) that the dock roots
should be gathered in the night; or, at all events, that the
person gathering them should not be observed while so
employed. The reader will at once call to mind one of the
ingredients of the witches' caldron : —

" Root of hemlock, digg'd i' the dark." Macbeth.

The present possessor of the receipt, however, I find, on
enquiry, knows nothing of any necessity or virtue attached to

to certain 'Natural Objects. 555

the nocturnal culling of the simples: and it is not improbable
that the secrecy, formerly supposed to be requisite, was, in this
instance, adopted in order to obviate the chance of any one
discovering the ingredients of a nostrum from which the pro-
prietor derived considerable profit.

[^Superstitions connected with Plants: with the Cyclamen,'] —
Of the supposed virtues which, in the olden time, were super-
stitiously attributed to plants, it would be tedious to enter
into a minute description.* They who are curious on such
subjects, may be referred to the quaint pages of our old
herbalists. (See Gerarde and Parkinson, passim.) As a spe-
cimen, however, I extract the following salutary caution,
relative to the virtues, or rather dangers, of the cyclamen,
from Gerarde's Herbal; just remarking, by the way, that the
extreme absurdity of attributing such extraordinary proper-
ties to plants may possibly, and very naturally, have brought
their real properties somewhat into disrepute : and, accord-
ingly, while our forefathers undoubtedly attributed far too
much efficacy to various articles of the vegetable kingdom, it
may admit of a question, whether we of the present day do
not incline rather to the opposite extreme, and attribute to
them too little. " It is not good," says this grave disciple of
-^sculapius, " for women with childe to touch or take this
herbe (cyclamen), or to come neere unto it, or stride over
the same where it groweth ; for the naturall attractive vertue
therein contained is such, that, without controversie, they
that attempt it in manner above said, shall be delivered before
their time : which danger and inconvenience to avoid, I have
(about the place where it groweth in my garden) fastened
stickes in the ground, and some other stickes I have fastened
also cross-waies over them, lest any woman should, by lament-
able experiment, finde my words to bee true, by their stepping
over the same." f In Johnson's Gerarde is appended the fol-

* The following passage occurs in Sir Thomas Brown's works : — " We
omit to recite the many virtues and endless faculties ascribed unto plants,
which sometime occur in grave and serious authors ; and we shall make a
bad transaction for truth to concede a verity in half. To reckon up all, it
were imployment for Archimedes, who undertook to write the number of
the sands. Swarms of others there are, some whereof our future endea-
vours may discover; common reason, I hope, will save us a labour in many ;
whose absurdities stand naked unto every eye ; errors not able to deceive
the embleme of justice, and need no Argus to descry them. Herein there
surely wants expurgatory animadversions, whereby we might strike out
great numbers of hidden qualities ; and, having once a serious and con-
ceded list, we might, with more encouragement and safety, attempt their
reasons." {Vulgar Errors^ book ii. ch. 7.)

f The same property has been ascribed to " brake, or female fern "
(Pteris aquilina?). See Brown's Vulgar Errors^ b i. chap. 8.

556 Some Supet-stitions appertaining

lowing editorial note : — "I judge our author something too
womanish in this ; that is, led more by vain opinion than by
any reason or experience, to confirme this his assertion ;
which frequent experience shews to be vaine and frivolous,
especially for the touching, striding over, or comming neere
to this herbe." (Johnson's Gerarde, p. 846.)

Charms or Superstitious Ceremonies for the Cure of the Ague
were much employed of old ; and " abacadabra," or
similar gibberish, written in fantastic shapes, and with much
formality, constituted, with our ancestors, most potent reme-
dies.* Another infallible remedy was as follows : — A lock
of hair was to be cut from the nape of the patient's neck,
which he was himself to take to a particular aspen tree,
pointed out for the purpose. An incision was then made in
the bark, under which the severed lock of hair was to be left
deposited, and the bark closed up, and restored to its natural
position. All this (as I have said) was to be performed by
the patient himself; and it is not for me to say that the
exertion occasioned by the performance of this ceremony
might not induce perspiration, e. g., or other salutary effects,
having a natural tendency to mitigate the disorder ; or, what
is, perhaps, still more probable, the disorder abated of itself,
and not so much in consequence of the treatment as in spite of
it. The aspen tree (Populus tr^mula) was, of course, selected
on these occasions on account of the trembling propensity of
its leaves, between which and the quaking and shivering of
the patient it was obvious to trace a fanciful analogy.

To cure the Hooping-Cough^ we are recommended to meet
with a man on a skewbald horse, and to enquire of him what
is good for the complaint f ; the remedy, whatever it may be,
which he recommends, will prove infallible. Within my
recollection, a near relative of my own, out of pure curiosity,
put the question to an honest countryman mounted on a
horse of the above description : the answer was returned off
hand, and without hesitation : — " Give them sugared bread
and butter. Sir." The readiness of the man's reply was
proof sufficient that the question had been often put to him,
as, indeed, he acknowledged it had been, and that he had
always given the same inoffensive answer. For the same
complaint in a child, it is recommended that the little suf-

* See Brand, ii. 579. " In the Diary of Elias Ashmole, Esq.,
April 11. 1681, is preserved the following curious incident: — * I took,
early in the morning, a good dose of elixir, and hung three spiders about
my neck, and they drove my ague away.' " — Ihid.y p. 590.

-j- This superstition is mentioned by Brand as still remaining in Devon-
shire and Cornwall, (ii. 581.)

to certain Natural Objects* 557

ferer be drawn, nine mornings, fasting, through the arch
formed by a briar that is rooted into the soil at both ends ;
i. e., the young shoot of a bramble (jR^bus), which, when it
comes in contact with the ground, usually takes root again
at the end, like the runner of a strawberry.

[^ recent Instance of constituting a Rupture- Ash."] — One
other instance of credulity and superstition I must mention,
which fell under my own observation within these few years.
In a plantation which I had made and nursed with some in-
terest, I observed a thriving young ash plant carefully lapped
round with a taching end, i. e., a shoemaker's waxed string..
On closer examination I perceived that the tree had been
cut through in a horizontal direction to the centre, and then
split upwards perpendicularly to the length of about 2 ft. I
was not a little puzzled even to conjecture for what purpose
the tree had been subjected to such severe treatment. The
injury sustained, it was plain, could not have been done acci-
dentally ; and, had it been done for mere mischiePs sake, the
perpetrator, I thought, would hardly have been at the pains
carefully to lap the injured stem round with a taching end.
After some enquiry, the whole history came to light : a neigh-
bouring shoemaker had a child badly ruptured; and, in order
to effect a cure, the tree had been split, and the infant passed
between the two halves thus separated for the purpose ; these
were then bound together, as already described ; and if the
parts finally united (so the belief goes), the child would
recover I * With the knowledge of so ready and effectual a
remedy, who need ever again apply to Sir Astley Cooper, or
any of his fraternity, in a case of strangulated hernia ?

Such are among the superstitious usages and opinions which
obtained in former times, and which, it seems, even yet, in
these enlightened days, have not quite lost their influence over
tjae minds of men. While we smile, however, as well we
may, at the ignorance and credulity of past ages, and plume
ourselves, perhaps, with no little self-complacency, on our
own superior knowledge, it becomes us not to sit down lazily
satisfied with present acquirements, as if we ourselves had
already attained the very pinnacle of wisdom. The advance
of knowledge should only stimulate us to farther exertions.

* According to Brand, " this is a very ancient and extensive piece of
superstition." See Brand, ii. 591., where an account is given from the
Gentleman^ s Magazine ^ for October, 1804, of the ceremony having been
practised in the parish of Solihull, in Warwickshire. See also Gilbert
White's account of this superstition, and of the " shrew-ash." (Letter 28.
to Daines Barrington.)

558 Nature an exhaustless Source of Intelligence.

If it be the first step to distinguish the false from the true*,
there still remains, when this is done, a wide and immeasur-
able field open before us for diligent research and investiga-
tion. The mine we work in is inexhaustible ; and immense
stores of rich and unwrought ore yet await and solicit the
labours of our hands. " Multum adhuc restat operis, mul-
tumque restabit : nee ulli nato post mille saecula, praecludetur
occasio aliquid adhuc adjiciendi." Much work remains to be
done, and will remain ; nor will any one, born after the lapse
of a thousand ages, be precluded from the opportunity of
adding something to the general stock.
Allesley Recton/, Sept. 1832.

[^The Anatomical Treatise of M. Lyonnet on the Caterpillar
of the Cossus ligniperda has, from the period of the publication
of it, 70 years ago, been considered as a production quite
unrivalled for minute and accurate research. (From a mention
of the works of Lyonnet in I. 282.)

The late Rev. Lansdown Guilding had connected the fol-
lowing forcible remark with that mention, in a collection of
notes which he had made in relation to subjects contained in
Vols. I. and II. of this Magazine, and had sent to us before
his death (see p. 355.). (There is but one date to the whole
collection ; it is at the end, and is, " St. Vincent, May 1,
1830.")]

How many thousands of animals are there equally worthy
of an anatomical treatise as the Cossus described by Lyonnet :
but were all the inhabitants of our globe employed in the
task, when would they furnish illustrations of the countless
works of nature, in their various stages of growth and per-
fection ? In a higher and nobler sphere of existence, all that
is now hidden, or beyond the industry of man, may be made
known to us.

" O Nature ! how in every charm supreme !
Whose votaries feast on raptures ever new ;
Oh for the voice and fire of seraphim,
Tc sing thy glories with devotion due I "

[L. Guilding. St. Vincent, Mai/ 1. 1830.]

* " Primus sapientiae gradus est, falsa intelligere." — Quoted by Sir
T. Brown at the conclusion of his Vulgar Eirors.

Some remarkable Vulgar Prejudices. 559

Art. II. A short Sketch of the most remarkable of the Vulgar
Prejudices connected with Objects of Natural History, By
W. G. Barker, Esq.

It is surprising that, in all ages, some birds and quadrupeds
have most undeservedly fallen into an almost general dislike,
while others have been elevated, v^^ith as little reason, high
in the regard of the vulgar.

The Nightjar [Caprirnulgus eiirojpceus) has been peculiarly
unfortunate in the former of these respects : its common names,
** goatsucker," and " puckeridge," have been given to it in
consequence of its supposed evil habits. It is accused, in
Italy, of sucking the teats of goats : hence the origin of the
appellation Caprimulgus [goat-milker] ; and this term has, in
consequence of the imagined crimes of an individual species,
been foolishly applied to the w^hole genus. It is unaccount-
able how such a charge could arise. The other accusation
against the nightjar is, that of its inflicting upon weanling
calves the disorder known by the name of puckeridge ; and
this it is supposed to do by striking at them. The absurdity
of this makes any refutation of it unnecessary.

The Hedgehog (Ftrindceus europcv'us) has been charged with
sucking the teats of cows and sheep ; a charge as unfounded,
and as unjust, as that against the nightjar. The sages by
whom the alleged guilt of the hedgehog, in this particular,
was discovered, had forgotten to examine the mouth of this
animal : had they only taken the trouble to do this, they would
have found that it is utterly impossible for so small an animal
to take the teat of a cow, or even that of a sheep, between its
jaws ; and, without this means of contact, they would not,
surely, assert that the deed could be possibly committed.
The liedgehog is, too, accused of ascending trees for the pur-
pose of carrying off fruit on the points of its spines. Persons
who have kept these animals in gardens deny the charge, and
say that they have never seen them attempt to climb into fruit
trees, or to even carry off fallen fruit upon their spines. In-
deed, if the hedgehog ever did the latter, it is to me a mystery
how it would act to disengage the fruit again. Count de
Buffon kept a litter of young ones, with their mother, for some
time, and these refused to touch cherries and fruit when offered
to them. In the summer of 1830, a great many carnations
withered away and died. A gardener, the greater portion of
whose stock had perished in this manner, observing that a
number of hedgehogs frequented his grounds, immediately
fixed upon them as the depredators, and, communicating the
idea to others, who, like himself, had been sufferers, a general

560 Some remarkable Vulgar Prejudices

persecution against these animals was commenced. I was not
very well pleased with this, and endeavoured to persuade a
person, who was thoroughly convinced of the guilt of the
hedgehog, that these creatures did him, in reality, more ser-
vice than injury; and that the true motive of their visiting the
garden grounds was to feed on the slugs, which abounded
that year, and did great injury to the vegetables, flowers, &c.
Argument was, however, useless. He assured me that hedge-
hogs had actually been caught in the carnation beds ; and this,
though far from satisfactory to me, was in his mind at once a
proof of their guilt. Finding it hopeless to convince him of
his error, I gave up the attempt as useless. [Had the con-
tents of the stomachs of a few of the killed hedgehogs been
shown to him, he might, it is not very improbable, have been
convinced. See on the hedgehog, farther, in No. 44.]

The hedgehog and nightjar are disliked on account of their
supposed evil habits ; but the antipathy entertained in America
by some towards a bird which inhabits there, of the same
genus.

The Whip-poor- Will {Qaprimulgus vociferus), seems to have
originated in superstition. This bird is never seen during
the daytime. Its chosen haunts, like those of the nightjar of
Europe, are in the most retired, solitary, and deep-shaded
parts of the woods, and here it reposes in silence till the dusk
of evening calls it out to the more cultivated parts of the
country, in search of its food, which consists of moths, grass-
hoppers, and ants [and coleopterous insects : see in No. 44.].
Such being its habits, no wonder that it should be regarded
by the ignorant and unlearned as the dread concomitant of
supernatural beings. Wilson thus describes its visits: — " At
first it issues from some retired part of the woods, the glen,
or the mountain ; in a few evenings, perhaps, we hear them
from the adjoining coppice, the garden fence, the road before
the door, and even from the roof of the dwelling-house, long
after the family have retired to rest. Some of the more igno-
rant or superstitious consider this near approach as foreboding
no good to the family ; nothing less than sickness, misfortune,
or death, to some of its members : these visits, however, so
often occur without any bad consequences, that this super-
stitious dread seems on the decline." It is to be hoped, indeed,
that, as science advances, these foolish notions will be entirely
eradicated. [For Mr. Waterton's account of the goatsuckers
in Demerara, and the superstitions there connected with them,
see his Wafiderings ; or see this account quoted by Dr. Drum-
mond, in his delightful Letters to a Young Naturalist, p. 129.
For a description of some of the habits of a species of nightjar

connected *with Objects of Natural History, 561

which inhabits near Limjr, see in our Number for Decem-
ber.]

The same Dread has been entertained tou^ards the Owl, arid
has been extended to all nocturnal Birds. — They appear only
at dark and twilight, when the feathered choir, which during
the day made the woods and vales reecho to their cheerful
notes, are slumbering in the recesses of the grove ; when

** The seafowl is gone to her nest,

And the beast is laid down in his lair j"

the flowers, whose rising incense had perfumed the air, have
closed their petals and are at rest ; the frolicksome lamb sleeps
by its parent ; and nature is hushed to universal repose ; night
moths flit shadowy through the silent air ; and the bat on
leathern wing glides by : this is the calm, the silent, hour,
when imagination sees the forms of bygone years pass dreadful
before her view ; superstition adds terror to the darkness, and
beholds, horror-struck, the spirits of the departed glide by :
then it is that the nocturnal bird, which wanders lonely for its
food, is linked as the partner of those tremendous beings.
The owl flitting by the ivy-mantled tower of the village church,
and haunting the cemetery in the hours of darkness, is regarded
with suspicion and awe ; and hence it is detested as the omen
of sorrow, and is feared as the forerunner of the death of
men. If Mr. Waterton's example (V. 12.) were followed,
the dread of the owl, which is still entertained in remote places,
would be entirely removed. His sketch of the habits of this
bird, his plea in defence of it, and his evidence of the benefits
man receives from it, in V. 9 — 15., have done so much to
explode the vulgar notion, that all addition here would be
useless.

iThe Yellowhammer [Emberiza Citrinella),'] — There is a
bird universally disliked by the British countryfolk, and, as
far as I can discover, without any reason ; I mean, the yellow-
hammer. Many persons who would not molest or injure the
nest and young of other birds, will invariably take, and even
ill-use, those of the yellowhammer. This prejudice appears
to be utterly unfounded. It is one of the prettiest of the
English birds, and at the same time one of the tamest. In
its appearance there is nothing to excite disgust, nor in its
conduct any thing that deserves punishment: its familiarity
with man seems the only cause of the unjust persecution of it ;
for it will be found that in all ages the birds which have excitedl
man's admiration are those which, by their lofty port and
their high and uncontrolled spirit, have prevented his too near

Vol. VII.— No. 43. o o

^6^ Some remarkable Vulgar Prejudices

approach, and scorned the benefits of civilisation. The little
yellowhammer, on the contrary, flies not from our presence;
it rather seeks it; it is the companion of our walks, and flits
from branch to branch beside us ; it is generally to be seen in
the hedges by the roadside, and I think is not often to be
met with in retired fields, at least, I have never observed it in
such situations. With these habits, it might be reasonably
expected to be a favourite bird with the generality of people ;
but, unfortunately, it is quite the contrary, and I cannot dis-
cover any reason for so foolish a prejudice. [Mr. Barker
has, since writing the preceding, sent us the following: — Ac-
cording to Mudie's British Naturalist, the reason why the
peasantry dislike the Emberiza Citrinella is on account of three
drops of the devil's blood which they suppose it receives on
the morning of May-day. I can only say that I have never
met with any traces of this folly in Yorkshire. — March 22.
1833.]

The Catbird of America (Turdus lividus) may be adduced
as another instance of the folly of prejudice. This species is
very -common and numerous in Pennsylvania. " In spring
or summer," says Wilson, the self-taught and elegant historian
of the birds of America, " the first salutation you receive, on
approaching thickets of bramble, is from the catbird ; and a
stranger, unacquainted with its note, would instantly conclude
that some vagrant orphan kitten had got bewildered amongst
the briers, and wanted assistance ; so exactly does the call of
the bird resemble the note of that animal. W^ith every amiable
quality to recommend him, ^evr people in the country respect
itjie catbird : on the contrary, it is generally the object of dis-
like; and the boys of the United States entertain the same
prejudice and contempt for this bird, its nest and young, as
those of Britain do for the yellowhammer, and its nest, eggs,
and young. I am at a loss to account for this cruel prejudice.
Even those by whom it is entertained can scarcely tell you
why, only they ' hate catbirds,' as some persons tell you
they hate Frenchmen, &c. ; expressions that bespeak their
own narrowness of understanding and want of liberality. Yet,
after ruminating over in my own mind all the probable causes,
I think I have at last hit on some of them ; the principal of
which seems to me to be a certain similarity of taste, and
clashing of interest, between the catbird and the farmer. The
catbird is fond of large ripe garden strawberries ; so is the
farmer, for the good price they bring in the market. The
catbird loves the best and richest early cherries ; so does the
fermerj for they are sometimes the most profitable of his

connected mth Objects of Natural History. 563

early fruit. The catbird has a particular partiality for the
finest mellow pears, which are also particular favourites with
the farmer; but the catbird has frequently the advantage of
the farmer by snatching off the first-fruits of these delicious
productions, and the farmer takes revenge by shooting him
down with his gun, as he finds old hats, windmills, and scare-
crows are no impediment in his way to these forbidden fruits ;
and nothing but this resource, the ultimatum of farmers as
well as kings, can restrain his visits. The boys are now set
to watch the cherry trees with the gun, and thus commence a
train of prejudices and antipathies that commonly continue
through life. Perhaps, too, the common note of the catbird,
so like the mewing of the animal whose name it bears, and
who itself sustains no small share of prejudice ; the homeliness
of its plumage ; and even its familiarity, so proverbially known
to breed contempt, may also contribute to this mean, illiberal,
and persecuting prejudice: but with the generous and the
good, the lovers of nature and of rural charms, the confi-
dence which this familiar bird places in man, by building in
his garden under his eye, the music of his song, and the
interesting playfulness of his manners, will always be more
than a recompense for any little stolen morsels^ he snatches."
(Wilson's Amer. Ornith.^ Professor Jameson's- edit., ii, 100.)
[The amiable feeling expressed in the latter of these remarks
of Wilson's is quite kindred to that breathed throughout that
delightful poem, " An Invitation to the Feathered Race, by
the Rev. Mr. Graves : " of this poem the last stanza is,

" Let then this league betwixt us made
Our mutual interests guard.
Mine be the gift of fruit and shade ;
Your songs be my reward."]

The Storm Petrel is one of those luckless birds which, having
been once associated with superstitious ideas, can never after-
wards regain the good name they have undeservedly lost.
Storm petrels are generally seen either dusring the continu-
ance of, or immediately previously to, a storm. Their low and
wailing cry of weet, weet, mingled with the dashing of the
wild and foaming surges, and the roar of the rushing blast,
inspires the minds of the hardiest seamen with a momentary
awe. Termed emphatically the bird of storm, it faces the
northern tempest when raging with its utmost fury, and seats
itself on the agitated crest of the mountain wave as calmly as
if resting on the surface of an untroubled lake. This harm-
less bird is universally regarded by sailors with distrust and

o o 2

564' Some remarkable Vulgar Prejudices

dread : far from considering it as a friendly monitor, whose
approach forewarns them of the coming storm, they absurdly
imagine that it possesses the power of raising the tempest,
and delights in overwhelming in the depths of ocean the help-
less wanderers of the deep. " As well might they curse the
midnight lighthouse, that starlike guides them on their watery
way, or the buoy that warns them of the sunken rocks below."
( Wilson.)

The curing of Rupture in Children was formerly attempted
by passing the affected children, naked, through the two split
portions, held open by a wedge, of young living ash trees.
For the details, see White's Natural History of Selborne, letter
to Daines Harrington, dated Jan. 8. 1776. [See also Mr.
Bree, in the preceding communication, in p. 557., where he
relates a recent instance of the practical observance of this
superstition.]

The Field Shrew {Shrex ardneus) was formerly accused of
injuring horses, either by biting or running over them ; and
whenever a horse in the field was seized with numbness in the
limbs, he was immediately judged by the old farriers to be
either planet-struck or shrew-run. The mode of cure they
prescribed, and considered as in all cases infallible, was to
drag the animal through an arch of a bramble, formed by a
shoot which had rooted into the ground at the extremity : a
method, I am told, formerly practised, and even now occasion-
ally made use of, for the purpose of curing children of the
hooping-cough, [See Mr. Bree in p. bSQ.'\ Another mode
of curing shrew-run animals was applying gently to the part
of them affected the twigs or branches of a shrew- ash. Re-
specting this superstition, and the mode of constituting a shrew-
ash, see White's Natural History of Selhorne, in the letter
before cited. The shrew-ash at Selborne seems to have been
cut down about the year 1758; so that we may refer the
superstition relative to it to the time when bezoar stone [see
IV. 285.], theriace, unicorn's horn, and bone of a stag's
heart pounded small, were held in high repute for curing
disorders.

The more we look into the present subject, the more objects
yte find against which superstition and folly have directed
their deadly shafts ; and were I to bring forward all those
animals which, from the earliest records, have been so unfor-
tunate as to fall into this class, I must trespass still farther
upon the space of the Magazine, and the reader's time. I
would incidentally add, in relation to Mr. Farmer's notice of

Superstitions connected with the Magpie^ in V. 210., that I
have never heard this bird styled either piannet or pianne :

connected mtk Objects of Natural History. 565

in Yorkshire it is generally called nanpie, which name is
also applied to the paeony.

East Wilto?i, Yorkshire, May 7. 1832.

[The word " piannet " is given, in Bailey's Dictionary, as
a name of " the lesser woodpecker."]

Additional Superstitions. Love -fortune ascertained by
Means of the Leaves of the common Ash Tree (Frdxinus excel-
sior W.). — Mr. Bree has informed us, in p. 553., that the
lads and lasses of Warwickshire ascertain their love-fortune
by the growth of the shorn florets of Centaurea nigra. In
Cambridgeshire, I remember that the same end was attained
playfully, and seemingly by much younger parties, by the help
of the leaves of the common ash. Such leaves were sought, and
sought till found, as consisted of as many leaflets as the boy
was years of age ; and the first lassie met, or perhaps seen,
after the leaf had been acquired, was to be the future partner.
The leaflets of the leaf of the ash vary in number, from five
to eleven, and, upon quite young vigorous-growing ash trees
(ashlings) to even thirteen; and very rarely the number is
an even one, from one of the last pair of leaflets and the ter-
minal leaflet having been produced grown together. The
search for the required leaves was at least amusing, and not
uninstructive. The children of Suffolk have, I have been
told, several playful phrases which they, in their sports, recite
in application to

The alternate Spikelets of the Perennial Darnel (Lolium
perenne L.) : the issue of the recitation depends on the word
which happens to correspond, in the order of succession, with
the terminal spikelet of the spike.

A home-made Kind of Salve was, as lately as within the
first fifteen years of the present century, in use with some of
the good grandmothers in Cambridgeshire for curing burns
or scalds, it is not unlikely for curing both. One of the in-
gredients in this salve was

" Grave-stone Moss," that is, moss off* grave-stones ; and I
believe that, in collecting it, less heed was paid to the species
of the moss, or even to whether it were a moss or a lichen,
than to the condition that it was taken off" a grave-stone or
grave-stones. I remember one young woman who wore un-
seemly scars after, although I cannot say assuredly in con-
sequence of the use of this salve.

Witch-Stones were once in use. These were stones naturally
traversed by a hole through which a string could be passed ;
such as one now at times sees appended to a bunch of keys.

0 0 3

566 Some remarkable Vulgar Prejudices,

A string was passed through the hole of such a stone, which
was tied by the string to some part of the bedstead, and
deemed adequate to preserve the occupant of the bed from
visits from any witch.

A " Lucky Sto7ie^^ with the boys of Cambridgeshire, is the
lower or curved half or valve of a fossil species of Gryphaij^a,
a genus of fossil bivalve shells: see II. 31, 32. Instances of
the occurence of this valve in the gravel used for the roads
and other purposes are not very rare ; and when a boy meets
with one, the practice is this: to spit into it and throw it be-
hind him, over his shoulder, without looking what becomes
of it : and this to the end of promoting good-fortune to him-
self. I think that this ceremony is done, however, by the
boys, more " according to custom " than in deference to any
serious belief in good resuUs from it. " The devil's toe-nail "
is a name for this valve of the GryphaeX either in Cambridge-
shire or Suffolk *^ probably in both, and this name itself
implies a superstition.

A Species of Belemnifes, a genus of multilocular univalve
fossil shells (see II. 35.), occurs not very rarely among the
gravel in Cambridgeshire ; the individuals of which species
the boys call " thunderbolts ;" and have in this case, I believe,
some real credence of their having been derived to the earth
from thunderstorms. For Notices of Superstitions of a higher
order connected mth Recent^ notFossil, Shells, see III. 256 — 26 1.

The Nest o/rfhe Robin sacred even to Boys. — Of the boyish
superstitions vvihich I remember, that with the best tendency
(all superstitions are bad in themselves, as they afflict the
mind with an enslaving fear) was one enjoining the leaving
unrobbed the nest of the robin : whatever boy robbed a robin's
nest would be punished by having an arm or a leg taken off
him ; and this^ one " Tom Moody," or somebody who came
occasionally with powers irresistible^ would effect.

A Superstition connected mth the Ass. — The neck, withers,
and ridge of the back of the ass are traversed by a black
line of sufficient breadth to make it very obvious, and this
line is crossed by a similar line which is extended some dis-
tance down each shoulder ; so that from the two lines the
figure of a crucifix is fairly presented : this, I was told in
boyhood, has been the case with the ass, in all individuals of
the species must be meant, ever since Christ rode upon one,
on his entry into Jerusalem. [Matthew, xxi.)

* A cartload (perhaps several cartloads) of fossil shells of a species
of Gryphae'^a, were found, in about 1825, in a pit at Chedberg, Suffolk : we
wish some Suffolk correspondent would enable us to register authentic
particulars respecting them.

Origin of the Song of Birds, 567

T/ie Milky Thistle, — The fable which accounts for the
origin of the milky way has been oft admired for its beauty;
and those of rural observers,

" Whose souls proud science never taught to stray
Far as the solar walk, or milky way,"

associate a similar idea, and one of equal interest to them,
with the milky thistle, or Virgin Mary's thistle ( Card u us
Mana^?W5 L., «Silybum Maria^/ww Gaertner) : its leaves exhibit
a beautiful tracery of milk-coloured marking, and the plant
is reputed to have derived this condition of its leaves from an
accident assumed to have occurred to the person of the second
fable, like to that which has been assumed to have happened
to the ideal person of the first.

The Leaves of Polygonum Persicdria, a plant common in
most damp ground in which the soil is stirred occasionally, are
usually marked towards the centre with a dark-coloured spot,
and those of the P, /apathifolium sometimes are ; and I have
been told that, in Scotland, a traditionary legend prevails
regarding one of these species, most probably it is the P.
Persicaria, which ascribes the origin of the spot-mark in its
leaves to the accident of a drop of blood having fallen, at the
crucifixion, upon a plant of this species which was then grow-
ing near to the foot of the cross.

Of Superstitions relative to the Application of the Human
Spittle, there are many, as is shown in the York Courant news-
paper of Sept. 11. 1834, in an extract from " Dalyell on the
Superstitions of Scotland." Reference is made to those re-
corded by Pliny and other ancient writers, and it is added,
that, " with equal confidence, the moderns spit into their
hands when they fight, and spit under the humiliation of dis-
comfiture ; they spit on money received in traffic, on throwing
aside the combings of their hair, on wounds in the flesh, and
on the bite of venomous snakes to cure it ; they spit as a token
of the most sovereign contempt ; and, in one of the remotest
Scottish islets, spitting into the grave forms part of the funeral
ceremony." — J. D.

Art. III. Thoughts in relation to the Questions on the Mode of
Origin of Song in Birds (III. 145. 447.; IV. 420. ; VII. 245.
484.). By W. H. Y.

The Song of Birds is innate. — I am surprised to find
(III. 447.) that Mr. Sweet is of opinion [as are Bingley and
other naturalists] that the song of birds is acquired, and not
innate : if he were a phrenologist, as well as an ornithologist,

o 0 4

568 Origin of the Song of Birds*

he would know that birds have an innate organ of tune,
which will, of course, lie dormant when the bird is not
excited to exercise it, as in the case of the nightingale men-
tioned by Mr. Sweet, and as shown in the experiments of
Daines Barrington (Pennant's British Zoology^ vol. ii. Ap-
pendix) on the sparrow and linnet, which were put into
rooms where they neither saw nor heard any other bird : no
wonder if they did not sing ! A man who had been shut up
in a room by himself from his infancy, as in the case of Caspar
Hauser [see The Penny Magazine^ Nos. 118, 119, and 120.:
the case of " Peter the Wild Boy, caught in the Woods near
Aveyron" as detailed in a work of this title, may be added],
would, of course, not be able to speak a word, having no
occasion for language : but place several persons together in
a similar situation, and there is no doubt that they would
make out a language of some kind or other, as they would
have the desire of communicating, and possess the necessary
organs for accomplishing it, within themselves. It is the
same with birds; the parents do not sing: while the young
remain with them, nor are they taught by their parents. They
are first invited to sing by the genial warmth of spring, as
well as for the purpose of attracting a mate ; and emulation
and an innate organ of imitation doubtless assist in giving
the bird a desire to sing. The first of these makes them
cheerful ; the last two give them the desire of doing as the
other choristers of the woods do ; and an innate organ of tune
dictates their song. In the experiments before alluded to,
none of these could be felt. If birds only learn to chirp and
sing by hearing their parents chirp and sing, how does it
happen that the duckling and chicken are able to chirp, which
they begin to do even before the shell is cracked. Surely it
will not be maintained that their mother taught them ! As
Mr. Thugarton very justly remarks (III. 145.), " if birds
were not ' true to their song,* we might hear strange ano-
malies. The chattering starling might entrance us with Phi-
lomela's strains, or the hoary-headed daw might, in midwinter,
surprise us with ' the welcome voice of the harbinger of
spring.' " But it is now time to finish these observations,
which may, perhaps, be tiresome to your correspondents, as
what I have endeavoured to prove may have been long familiar
to most of them : but, in this as in many other cases, phreno-
logy clears up every thing; whereas, without its aid, the dis-
pute might be maintained on both sides with apparently equal
plausibility. For farther observations on this subject, see
Mudie's British Naturalist, i. 2S,^Sept. 10.1834. \_Post'
mark, Burton on Trent.']

Facts on Hummiiig-B?'rds. 569

Art. IV. Fads on Humming-Birds, their FoodL, the Manner in
•which they take it, and on their Habits ; with Directions Jbr pre-
serving the Eggs of Hurnming- Birds, and the Forms of the
Bodies of Spiders, and Pjip<^ and Larvce of Insects, By the
late Rev. Lansdown Guilding, B.A. F.L.S. &c.

[In the collection of notes by Mr. Guilding, which we have
spoken of in p. 558., there are the following, in relation to
Professor Rennie's remarks on the " Food of the Humming-
bird," published in I. 371.]

By far the greater portion of the food of the Trochilidae
consists of honey. I have often shot humming-birds, through
whose beaks, when not wounded in the throat, I have sucked
a teaspoonful of the purest nectar. When the fluid is hard to
reach, as in the flowers of the i^ibiscus 226sa sinensis, I have
known the calyx pushed aside or perforated ; or the tongue
passed along the calyx through the petals, when the corolla is
large and deep, or closed up by the internal organs. They
do sometimes, indeed, feed on soft insects ; but it must be a
food rarely sought for. In twelve years, I have only seen a
single instance of a Tiochilus poised in the centre of a dancing
swarm of gnats; which, for a considerable time, it continued
to peck at and devour, though my garden had the blossoms
in perfection about which it is commonly found.

Mr. Rennie asserts that birds have little power of suction,
in consequence of the rigidity of the tongue : he will be sur-
prised to find how differently constructed is that of the
humming-bird. I am preparing a drawing to repiesent the
details of this organ (so beautiful, complex, and perfect in
this family) ; which I must send to the Linnaean Society, as it
cannot be well represented by a wood-engraving.

The tongue is long, sublinear, and capable of considerable
protrusion. Its principal /r^^ portion consists of two diapha-
nous united tubes (fistulae vel tubi nectariferi [Mr. Guilding
has added, in a footnote : like the tubes in the antlia of le-
pidopterous insects]), pouring the nectar, by suction and
capillary attraction, through a common aperture (foramen
nectariferum), into the oesophagus. At the apex, the tubes
terminate in two distinct, flattened, acuminate, elastic pro-
cesses, cut into liplets (labrella), by which the nectar is
wiped up from the vegetable organs which contain it.

It may not be improper to add here a few observations
which occur to me when writing of these splendid ornaments
of the tropical landscape.

The spider sometimes proves an enemy to the humming-

'570 Pacts on Hum7nmg- Birds.

bird. I have seen the small Trochilus cristatus caught, and
nearly perishiifg, in the nets of a spider (which I purpose to
describe, from its pretty coat of burnished silver, and the
singularity of its characters). This bird, though remarkable
for strength of v^ing, was unable to extricate itself: indeed,
the yellow threads of this spider, pressing across the face,
or touched by the finger, afford a resistance which would
hardly be credited by those who have only noticed [the nets
of] the smaller species of Europe. [The net of the Euro-
pean Epeira diadema has the spiral lines of it studded with
globules of gum : see V. 691, 692. This gum contributes
very much to the detention of objects which have come in
contact with the net : the nets of some tropical species may
be similarly gummed.] Small birds are sometimes, also, held
in captivity, as well as hosts of insects, by the seeds of various
plants furnished with pedunculated glutiniferous glands ; or
those singular microscopic multiform prickles and hooks by
which nature has intended they shall adhere to passing ani-
mals, and be thus scattered over the earth.

It has not been noticed how these humming-birds connect
their nests. These ingenious mechanics would find it impos-
sible to construct their egg-shell nidus, as other birds do, from
grasses and sticks, on account of its minuteness ; but in
stolen cobwebs an admirable substitute is found. The interior
is softened with the silken pappus [down] of the ^sclepias
curassavica, and the exterior defended by a coating of moss
and lichens : the whole being bound together by the webs of
spiders. In my stable, I often see the bird poised in the air,
and collecting these necessary materials.

Ti'ochilus cristatus sometimes deviates from its usual
habits. In general it is remarkably wild, and soon disturbed ;
when it darts away through the air with the velocity of an
arrow, I once, however, saw a pair of this species almost
domesticated, in the house of a gentleman, whose kindness
and humanity had brought round him many a lizard and
winged pet. They built for many years on the chain of the
lamp suspended over the dinner-table; and here they edu-
cated several broods, in a room occupied hourly by the family.
I have been seated with a large party at the table, when the
parent bird has entered; and, passing along the faces of the
visiters, displaying his gorgeous crest, has ascended to the
young without alarm or molestation.

Mr. Rennie's supposition [I. 372.], that all nectariphagous
birds will be found, on proper scrutiny, to feed on insects
exclusively^ is equally void of foundation. The tongue of the

Facts on Humtning- Birds, 571

Nectarinese, though much more simple, is well adapted, from
its expanded, ciliate, or spinose tip, for taking up the nec-
tareous juices, which are yielded by plants much more pro-
fusely than Mr. Rennie supposes [I. 371.]'
iSf, Vincent, May 1. 1830.].

[Mr. Sells has related, in V. 473, 474., two instances of
humming-birds nidificating in domestic situations. He has
also presented, in p. 474., facts, and argument from them, in
proof that the humming-birds feed on the nectar of flowers.
Mr. Waterton has remarked, in his Wanderings in South
America (see an extract from them in our V. 475, 476.), that
" it seems to be an erroneous opinion that the humming-
bird feeds entirely on honey-dew," that is, the nectar of
flowers ; and that, " on opening the stomach of the humming-
bird, dead insects are almost always found there." Mr.
Waterton, besides using, in these remarks, the words " en-
tirely " and " almost," has also this observation, quoted in
our V. 475. : — " See it [the humming-bird] darting through
the air almost as quick as thought ! Now it is within a yard of
your face : in an instant, gone ! Now it flutters from flower
to flower, to sip the silver dew," &c. From these expressions,
we may learn that, while Mr. Waterton has taught that the
humming-birds feed on insects, he has not denied that they
also partake of the nectareous juices of flowers.

Wilson, also, according to Professor Rennie, in our I.
371., " found, upon repeated dissection, that the Trochilus
colubris had a quantity of insects in its stomach, either whole
or in fragments."

Our correspondent O. has communicated, in VII. 510.,
some facts on the habits of the Tiochilus colubris, as observed
by him in Lower Canada. We believe, with him, " that
very little honey is secreted in flowers while the sun is shining
hot upon them ; " but the absence of the humming-bird during
the middle of the day, which he has attributed to this cause,
is ascribed to another by Mr. Waterton : see in V. 476.

Other information on humming-birds will be found in V.
676., VII. 71. 90. For notices of Sir William Jardine's
Natural History of Humming- Birds, in two volumes, with
coloured figures of many of the species, see VI. 259., VII. 90.

Humming- Birds perforate Flowers to obtain the Nectar they
include, when this is not otherwise accessible. See in p. 569.

Insects perforate Flowers to obtain the Nectar they include,
when this is not otherwise accessible. See in IV. 93. 479. ; V.
74. 86. 753.; VI. 469. ; and The Entomological Magazine, ii.
328. The perforator in this last case was " the great humble

572 Preserving Humming- Bir (V s Eggs, Spiders, S^c,

bee (Bombus terrestris)," " the nectaries of the common co-
lumbine " were the subject of its perforations, and the mode
in which it perforated them, this : — " The bee settles on the
outside of the flower lookin^r upwards, then bites a small hole
in the nectary with its mandibles, and instantly thrusts its pro-
boscis into the aperture." The observer of this fact has
added : — " On examining a number of flowers, not less than
250, I found that at least two thirds of them were thus per-
forated."]

[^Preserving the Eggs of Humming-Birds and those of other
Birdsr\ — The eggs even of the smallest humming-birds cannot
be long kept in hot countries. They retain for some time in
our cabinets their natural colour, but afterwards become dis-
coloured, and burst : they should all be emptied, and injected
with plaster of Paris, or chalk made into a paste. Small
perforated brass or silver points of this shape should be always
at hand. [The drawings represent two miniature funnels;
one about an inch long, with the upper or receiving part
cylindrical, but the greater portion of its length composed of
the conducting part, which is gracefully tapered to a fine point ;
the other funnel is shorter, less slenderly tapered, and its point
not so fine : each is represented as banded with a ring in relief
round the centre of the cylindrical portion of its length, as if
to render holding by the finger and thumb more ready.] A
small aperture is to be made at each end of the ^gg, rather
laterally, and, one of the tubes being fixed on a goose quill,
the contents are to be expelled by blowing. A common pewter
syringe is then to be filled with the paste, and, the tube being
pressed on its point, the ^gg is filled in a moment. Any
ingenious silversmith could make them neatly : the only dif-
ficulty is in filing away the metal carefully from the point.
They are very useful at all times ; in

The Injection of PupcB and La7^ce, the Bodies of Spidet^s,
and other fieshy and perishable Objects. [Mr. Guilding has,
in another note relative to the query on preserving spiders, in
II. 291., pursued this subject.]

Spiders, I find, are easily preserved by means of the per-
forated pointed tubes I have above alluded to. Sand, or
any heavy substance, should be avoided in distending them.
Process: — Puncture the abdomen rather laterally beneath ;
gently press out the contents on a rag, and with the forceps
remove the remaining viscera : place the pin in the thorax
on the right side ; take the tube on a quill, and distend the
abdominal skin with air : fill the syringe, with its tube, with
any size-preparation (see Pole's Anatomical Instructor) used

Rock Birds of Britain, 573

for fine injections, or with thick flour-paste, or even [paste of]
pounded chalk, and inject gently till every part is plump and
well extended. Let the specimen hang up to dry for a few
hours till the injection is firm ; then clean the aperture with a
penknife, and extend the legs as you would those of insects.
I have minute spiders as well as the giant ^ranea «vicularia
L, [ikfygale avicularia W.'] ; dull-coloured kinds, as well
as those clad in robes of gold and silver [see in p. 570.]j
so well preserved, that they could not be told from living
specimens ; and all is done in less time than is taken to describe
the process. In my case of preserving instruments, I have
coloured powders to tinge the injections : but they are seldom
used. A small portion of corrosive sublimate or arsenic
mixed with it would expel mites, but this would not be ne-
cessary in well-kept camphorated cabinets.
St, Vincent, May 1. 1830.

\_0n preserving the Shells of Eggs for Cabinets, see, besides
the advice above by Mr. Guilding, that of Mr. Waterton in

V. 515.: see, also, in IV. 145., An Observer of Nature's
figure and description of an instrument (similar in principle
to that of Mr. Guilding) which he had had made for with-
drawing from egg-shells their contents : see in VI. 171., Mr.
Murray's suggestion of the employment of the air-pump for
this purpose : see in I. 492.

On the Preservation of the Colours of the Fleshy Bodies of
certain Insects, see Mr. W^aterton in VI. 90. On the pre-
servation of dead insects generally, see V. 495. 683.746.;

VI. 90, 91. 554, 555.']

Art. V. The Accumulation of all possible Information respecting
the Habits of the Rock Birds of Britain, by the cooperative
Agency of Naturalists residing near Headlands on the Coasts,
suggested. By J. D. Salmon, Esq.

In the notices with which naturalists have favoured us of
the arrival in, and departure from, Britain of the birds of
passage, they have confined themselves, for the most part, to
the species which visit, for the purpose of incubation, during
summer, the interior of the country ; while scarcely any
information has been published on the migratory movements
of the equally numerous species of rock birds ; although some
of these, like a greater part of the others, leave, on the
approach of autumn, their place of nidification, to migrate to
other countries, from north to south, or vice versa.

I wish to draw the attention of those who reside nearest

574? Arrival, Breeding, Departure, and

the different headlands along the coast to this latter subject,
as these are the places usually resorted to by these birds.
To this end I have drawn up, from Martin's Voyage to St.
Kilda, the annexed statements ; and, although I am aware
that they may be very imperfect, I am induced, by the re-
flection that no other work offers so much information upon
the subject proposed, to submit them ; and I hope that they
will prove a means of inducing a contribution of much inform-
ation, additional, and, where necessary, corrective.

It will be perceived that the inhabitants of St. Kilda con-
sider the state of the wind and weather as having a great in-
fluence on the arrival, &c., of some of the birds.

In relation to the subject generally, 1 may quote as follows,
from a letter received, this summer, from a friend at the Isle
of Wight: — "The birds never leave the cliffs altogether,
but keep coming, through the winter and spring, at short
intervals, up to the time of breeding. The first eggs taken
this year of the guillemots and razorbills were obtained on
May 1.; eggs of the herring gull, on May 4. On May 13.,
I procured eggs of these in abundance, quite fresh. Puffins
and shags sitting, the former having ceased laying." Is it
not probable that these short intervals are caused by the state
of the weather, which may more or less affect their acquisition
of food ?

Many species that are supposed to inhabit only the sea
shore are to be found in other situations : the ring dottrel
(Charadrius hiaticula), provincially called the stonehatch, is to
be met with abundantly on all the rabbit warrens in the in-
terior of this county [Norfolk] during the breeding season,
usually making its appearance in the middle of February, and
taking its departure in about the end of August. The first
appearance of birds of this species, last spring, upon an
adjoining warren was on Feb. 16.; they were sitting on
March 30. ; and had all taken their departure previously to
August 25., to the sea coast, I presume.

Thetford, Norfolk, Sept. 10. 18 34-.

Dates of the Arrival, Breeding, and Departure of the Rock
Birds at the Island of St. Kilda, isoith some other Facts relative
to them, as ascertained by M. Martin, Gent., during a Fisit
to that Island, in the Spring of 1697.

Fulmar [Procelldria glacidlis Lin.). — Arrival. In Novem-
ber ; the sure messenger of evil tidings, being always accom-
panied with boisterous west winds, great snow, rain, or hail.
Breeding. Commonly lays its egg about the 1st, 2d, or 3d
day of May. The young ones are hatched in the middle of

Habits of the Bock Birds of Britain, 575

June, and are ready to take wing before July 20. Departure,
Stays there all the year, except the month of September, and
part of October. Remarks. A sure prognosticator of the
west wind. If it comes to land, no west wind is to be ex-
pected for some time ; but if it keeps at sea, or goes to sea
from the land, whether the wind blows from the south, north,
or east, or there is a perfect calm, its keeping the sea is
always a certain presage of an approaching west wind.

Lavy^ or Foolish Guillemot (UVm Troile Lath.). — Arrival.
With a south-west wind, if fair, Feb. 20. Breeding, No
remark. Departure. Depends upon the inhabitants' taking
or leaving its first, second, or third egg. Remarks. If it stays
upon land for the space of three days without intermission, it
is a sign of southerly wind and fair weather ; but, if it goes to
sea before the third expires, it is then a sign of a storm.

Falk, or Razorbill {K'tca Torda Lin,), — Arrival, No
remark. Breeding. Lays its egg in May ; its young take
wing in the middle of July. Departure, No remark.

Solan Goose {Velecdnus Bassdnus Lin.). — Arrival, About
the middle of March, with a south-west wind, warm snow
or rain. Breeding, They continue to pluck grass for their
nests from their coming till the young fowl is ready to fly
in August or in September. Departure, According as
the inhabitants determine the time, i. e., by taking away or
leaving its first, second, or third egg. Remarks, There is a
tribe of barren Solan geese, which have no nests, and sit upon
the bare rock ; these are not the young fowls of a year old,
whose dark colour would soon distinguish them, but old ones,
in all things like the rest.

Bowger^ or Puffin [A!lca arctica Lin.). — Arrival, With a
south-west wind, about March 22. Breeding, Lay their egg
April 22., and produce a fowl May 22., if their first egg be
not taken away. Departure, No remark.

Scraber^ or Shearwater {^Procelldria PufFinus Lin.), — Ar^
rival. In March, and in the nighttime, without regard to any
wind. Breeding, Its nest is very far under ground, whence
the bird never comes in daylight. Departure, Goes away in
August, if its first egg be spared. Remarks. It is never to
be seen but in the night, being all the day either abroad
fishing, or upon its nest.

Assilag^ or Storm Petr^el {Procellaria peldgica Lin.). —
Arrival, About March 22., without any regard to winds.
Breeding, Produces the fowl towards the middle of October.
Departure, Goes away about the end of November.

Reddag, {supposed) Kittiwake (Ldrus Rissa Lin.). — Arrival.
April 15., with a south-west wind. Breeding. Lays its egg

576 ^ock Birds of Britain.

about the middle of May. Departure. Goes away in the
month of August. Remarks. There are three sorts of sea
malls (gulls) here ; the first of a grey colour, Hke a goose ;
the second considerably less, and of a grey colour; and the
third sort white, and less in size than a tame duck, called
reddag.

Gair Fowl, or Great Auk {A'lca impennis Lin.). — Arrival.
May 1., without regard to any wind. Breeding. Lays its egg
upon the bare rock ; and, if it be taken away, it lays no more
for that year. Departure. Goes away about the middle of
June.

Jirma^ or Oyster-Catclier [Hcemdtopus ostrdlegus.). — Arrival.
In May. Breeding. No remark. Departure. Goes away in
August. Remarks. If it comes the beginning of May, it is a
sign of a good summer ; if later, the contrary is observed.

The inhabitants observe, that, when the April moon goes
far into May, the fowls are ten or twelve days later in laying
their eggs than they usually are. Every fowl lays an egg
three different times, except the gair fowl (great auk) and
fulmar, which lay but once. If the first or second egg be
taken away, every fowl lays but one other egg that year, ex-
cept the sea malls (gulls), and they usually lay the third egg,
whether the first or second egg be taken away or not.

[In V. 415 — 425. there is a communication of much in-
terest by Mr. Salmon himself, consisting of " Observations
on the Eggs and Birds which were met with in a Three
Weeks' Sojourn in the Orkney Islands."]

[The state of weather must much influence the movement??
of the rock birds. Mr. Macgillivray (in his account of
the Outer Hebrides in Cheek's Edin. Journ. of' Nat. and
Geograph. Science, i. 249.), in a sketch of a winter tempest
witnessed from a headland of the west coast of Harris, has
these words : — " No sign of life is to be seen, save when a
gull, labouring hard to bear itself up against the blast, hovers
overhead, or shoots athwart the gloom like a meteor. Long
ranges of giant waves rush in succession towards the shores.
The thunder of the shock echoes among the crevices and
caves; the spray mounts along the face of the cliffs to an
astonishing height; the rocks shake to their summit, and the
baffled wave rolls back to meet its advancing successor. If
one, at this season, venture, by some slippery path, to peep
into the haunts of the cormorant and rock pigeon, he finds
them huddled together in melancholy silence. For whole
days and nights they are sometimes doomed to feel the gnaw-

Notes of the Grey and Spring Wagtails, 577

ings of hunger, unable to make way against the storm ; and
often, during the winter, they can only make a short daily
excursion in quest of a precarious morsel of food."

Similar storms may obtain at the time and place of the
intended departure of any species of bird, and cause it to
defer its migration until a more conducive state of weather is
established.]

Art. VI. On the Habits and Note of the Grey Wagtail^ and on
the Note of the Spring Wagtail, By T. G., of Clitheroe, Lan-
cashire.

We have the grey wagtail with us the whole year ; but it
is rather a rare bird at all times, and in all the localities for it
with which I am acquainted. I very strongly suspect that
Selby is mistaken about this bird when he says, that, " pre-
vious to its departure in September, it assembles in small
flocks or families, which haunt the meadows or bare pas-
tures." This does not agree with my observations on it ;
although it is quite true, if applied to the spring wagtail.
On the contrary, the grey wagtail, which stays with us through
the winter, is a solitary bird, except in the breeding season ;
and the young ones, which certainly associate in broods for a
month or two after leaving the nest, are dispersed before
September. As to their frequenting the meadows and bare
pastures, although I see them at all times of the year (and a
pair or two breed, every year, near my house), and although
they are birds with whose peculiar note and habits I am as
well acquainted as I am with those of the house sparrow, yet
I have never known them frequent the fields at any time. As
far as I have observed them, they invariably seek their food
on the beds of the rivers, brooks, and ditches ; where their
shrill note often betrays them to persons who would otherwise
never see them.

This bird may be distinguished from the spring wagtail,
very easily, by its note, at any time, but particularly when
flying ; yet, notwithstanding that the difference is very appa-
rent to a person who hears both, it is not so easy to describe it.
In attempting to do this, I hope, therefore, I shall be excused
if I do not make it so obvious in the description as it is in
reality. The latter part of the note of the grey wagtail is a
little higher in the musical scale than the former part; and it
is very staccato. Thus : —
Vol, VII.~No.43. pp

578

Notes of the Grey and Spring Wagtails.

i

t

3:£

P

5*=fe

Chiz chiz

chizzct chizzet

it being usually altered as the bird makes a spring in the air. *
While the latter part of the note of the summer bird is
lower in the scale than the former part ; which is more pro-
longed than in the note of the grey wagtail, and is slurred
into the latter part something in the following manner : —

fejJLI

?

ItE:

t-

#:

Che - u

che - u

It is also softer and sweeter than the note of the grey wagtail ;
which bird, like the water ouzel, is fond of the letter z, I do
not, of course, mean it to be understood that these notes are
either of the same pitch, or that they bear the same relation to
each other that the notes of the birds do, but intend the
sketches as rude attempts at illustrating what I could not so
well explain in any other way.

I have been amused with a singular habit which I have
noticed in several individuals of the grey wagtail. They were
fond of looking at their own images in the windows, and
attacking them ; uttering their peculiar cry, pecking, and flut-
tering against the glass, as earnestly as if the object they saw
had been a real rival, instead of an imaginary one : or, per-
haps, they were only admiring themselves, and testifying
their satisfaction in this way. It is remarkable that tw^o of
these instances were in the autumn, when the same motives
for either love or animosity, which would be likely to actuate
them in the spring, would no longer exist. The first of these
instances occurred when I was a boy, and was repeated daily,
and almost hourly, both against the windows of my father's
house, and those of that of our neighbour ; who, being rather
superstitious, was alarmed about it, and came to consult my
mother on the subject. She said there was a bird, which, her
brother had told her, was a barley-bird (Mbtacilla flava),
which was continually flying against her windows ; and, as

* Persons conversant with the habits of birds will readily comprehend
me : for the sake of those who are not, I will just observe that the flight
of all the wagtails is very peculiar ; being a succession of great leaps in
the air (if I may be allowed the expression), which form a series of curves ;
the bird rising considerably at the commencement of each effort, and sinking
again at the close. [See, in IV. 418., Mr. Main's remarks on the mode
of flight of the families " of L6xia> Pyrrhula, Emberiza, and i-Vingilla."]

Lumiiious Insects, 579

birds were not in the habit of doing so at any other time,
she thought some serious calamity was portended by it. My
mother comforted her as well as she could ; and I undertook
to rid her of the annoyance. By setting a horse-hair noose
on one of the window-ledges which it was in the habit of fre-
quenting, I soon caught it ; and, by plucking out the under tail-
coverts, which I wanted to dress yellow duns with, I effectually
cured it of the propensity, whether the stimulus had been
love or hatred; whether, Narcissus-like [see VI. 51.3, 514.],
it was in an ecstasy of self-admiration ; or whether, like the
cock which attacked its own image in the boot (and which
Mr. Robert Warren's poet and painter have exalted to lasting
fame), it would admit of no rival.

CUtheroe^ Lancashire, May 29. 1834.

Art. VII. Notes on Luminous Insects, chiefly of the West Indies ;
on Luminous Meteors ; on Lgnes Fatui ; on the Luminousness
of the Sea ; and on the Powers possessed by the Races oj' Lizards,
oj X}oluntarily changing their Colour : tvith other Information on
the Habits of Lizards, By the late Rev. Lansdown Guilding,
B.A. F.L.S. &c.

The Luminous Matter of the J^ampyridce of the Tropics
seems to afford a much stronger and more durable light than
that of the glowworm of England (I. 156. ; VII. 250.) ; which
faintly sheds

" A beam of soften'd splendour through the gloom.

And feeds his lamp in solitude's recess."

The matter taken from the vesicles, and rubbed on the wall,
long retains its brilliance, after the manner of phosphoric pre-
parations. The occurrence, too, of luminous insects in Britain
is more rare. Seldom does the same bank support a dozen
of these inactive midnight sparklers : but what can equal the
splendour of those fairy scenes which the inhabitant of the
tropics has nightly before his eyes ? The fireflies of the
West Indies,

" Stars of the earth, and diamonds of the night,"

are said to be more numerous in rainy weather : the truth,
perhaps, is, that, in dark and cloudy evenings, their tiny lamps
and coruscations are more visible, and attract greater notice.
As twilight dies away you see, at one step, some gigantic tree
peopled by these magic rovers glowing with all the green,
the gold, and emerald lustre of precious stones.

580 Liimiiious Meteors.

Around

Myriads of insect meteors, living lamps
People the glittering air j a fairy world.'*

At another step, some long lane in the darkness of night
seems to have been consumed by fire, and to be throwing up
its last expiring sparks. The insects, as they present their
backs, conceal their floating lantern for a moment, and render
the resemblance perfect,

" And every hedge and copse is bright.
With the quick firefly's playful light ;
Like thousands of the sparkling gems.
Which blaze in Eastern diadems."

Presently, with a steady and bold sweeping course, the lumi-
nous E'later (E. noctilucus L.) crosses your path,

— " A meteor swift and bright

And the wide space around, on high,
* Gleams with his emerald light."

It forms a strong contrast to the twinkling phosphoric fires of
the lesser stars, and resembles a wax taper borne rapidly
through the gloom, by some invisible hand : while the ear is
assailed by countless tribes of sonorous insects, and frogs
raising their nuptial cries.

How glorious is such a scene ! From the innumerable
host of insects which light up the earth, and from their proxi-
mity to the eye of the spectator, they have all the brilliance
of real stars. Above our heads is the broad firmament of
stationary lights ; below is a second firmament of luminous
points, moving with all the eccentric courses of comets and
meteoric balls, and with all the glory that tracks the shooting
stars. [See V. 672.]

\_Luminous Meteors, (A note made in relation to the remarks
on ^^ Falling Star s^^' in II. 305.).] — The meteors called falling
stars are very common in these islands. I lately observed
one of vast magnitude traversing slowly the Bay of Kingston,
a most splendid body, and at a very trifling elevation.

Ignes Fatui. (I. 156.) — The reviewer is undoubtedly right
in his supposition that the far-famed ignes fatui,

" Which dance and glimmer on the marshy mead,"
may sometimes owe their origin to the phenomena attending
the gaseous exhalations of the earth. They sometimes also
proceed [as the reviewer has deemed probable] from the
lanterns of luminous insects. When a boy in Worcester-
shire, I have repeatedly seen these

aerial lights betray

And charm th' unwary wanderer from his way ', '

and from comparison with the motions of luminous animals,

Change of Colour in Lizards. 58 1

which I have since seen in other lands, I have no doubt what-
ever of their origin. In the generality of cases, perhaps,
these lights proceed from orthopterous ? or other insects at-
tached to swampy grounds, and luminous only during the
season of their nuptials.

Lumiiiortsness of the Sea. (I. 156.) — The most satisfactory
information on the luminousness of the sea, and the animals
producing these lovely sparks, will be found m one of the
numbers of Thomson's Zoological Researches [see IV. 256.],
a work, of course, in the hands of all naturalists. While sailing
in the more shallow parts of the Caribbean Sea, and looking
over the vessel's side when becalmed in these dangerous waters,
in the midst of reefs, I have seen at the bottom huge molluscous
or radiate animals emitting the splendour of a lamp, but could
never ascertain the species.

Putrescent matter is occasionally highly luminous in the
West Indies. [Mr. Guilding has a note, in another part, upon
the remarks of some correspondents given in II. 209. — The
gelatinous mass containing portions of the frog was probably
vomited by the heron. I have known similar matter in the
West Indies to become highly phosphorescent.]

It has been already observed that the larvae of some insects
emit light. The larva of an E'later ? as far as I can determine,
was lately sent to me, which was said, by the respectable
person from whom I obtained it, to have been very luminous
between every segment of the abdomen.

The Voluntary Changing of Colour i?i Several Genera of
Lizards^ and more especially in QhamcBleon and Anblis. (1. 157.)
— There is not in nature a more singular phenomenon than this.
The mode of effecting this miraculous change does not seem
to have been yet fully determined. It may depend upon some
small, peculiar, and supplementary system of vessels pouring
a coloured fluid to the integuments, or withdrawing it from
the skin; or it may proceed from the more simple action of
the arterial system, from the rapidity or lethargy of the cir-
culation : though one would suppose a temporary stagnation
would deprive the creature of all activity. It is strange that
the power is within the perfect control of the lizard, and is not
abandoned even at the eager moment of springing on the prey.

The passions of the human mind do indeed change the
colour of the face, and distort the countenance ; but these
changes indicative of strong feeling are transitory, if not mo-
mentary, and almost in all cases involuntary : whereas the
lizards can regulate this protean power for hours, days, or
months. By inflating the body, the numerous scales might be
separated to certain degrees, and thus affect the general colon r-

pp 3

582 Change of Colour in Lizards.

ing : but I do not observe that the outline of the Anolidae is at
all altered, however great may be the varying of the tints.

The number of a green species of AncMis (i^acerta bullaris
Z>., from its throat being sujjposed to be inflated into a ball:
the Anolis variabilis Guild.^ variable) is, in some of our
islands perfectly incredible, and one only wonders that the
race of insects is not extinct. Indeed, one never sees here
moths and other objects settling on walls and trees, as in
England : from the danger of such exposure, it often happens
that insects whose larvae are readily obtained for breeding are
never taken in a state of liberty.

On large trees whole families of lizards are actively employed
in their insect chase, while every rock, fence, or smaller tree,
has one at least resting in readiness for its prey, or jumping
from spray to spray with its sucker-bearing toes. Yet few
will be found alike in colouring, though there are some toler-
ably permanent varieties. The general unassumed colour is a
lively yellowish green : yet this is varied at will, and changed
to grey, dark dirty brownish green, or is curiously varied.
The aspect of each individual is adapted admirably to the spot
it chooses as a cruising ground, which it commonly retains,
unless disturbed, for very long periods ; a fact which is easily
determined by the notice of mutilated individuals.

But, whatever may be the assumed colouring of the indi-
vidual, place it in confinement, and its mask is withdrawn as
if by magic, and the bright green of nature is restored.

If a dark mass of volcanic trap [rock] is selected for a
-cruising station, the darkest colour is adopted : if the light
foliage of trees and plants is preferred, a tint is acquired
resembling its resting-place, and calculated for concealment
and deception.

[In another place, Mr. Guilding has noted thus ; in relation
to the remarks, in II. 469., on " the chamaeleon's antipathy
to black :'* — Many of our lizards reside constantly on the
darkest rocks blackened by the air, and decayed cryptogamic
plants : in which case the skin assumes a corresponding tint.]

In these cases the mute sexes separated from each other
would have difficulty in meeting during the season of their
loves ; but nature, without enforcing the necessity of their
returning to their proper colour, which would betray them to
their prey and their enemies, has given to the diurnal species,
which alone can need it, a retractile dewlap process, of a light
and striking colour, which is never altered ; of larger size in
the males, which, with a vertical motion of the head, is often
extended into a broad membrane to attract the notice of the
other sex, as birds are known to display their plumose and
other ornamental appendages for the like object.

Guana, Lizards, 583

I had once thought that at the time of developemeait from
the egg, the colour was determined, and the animal had only
to proceed in search of a spot suited to the natural varieties
of its coat : but this idea is immediately contradicted by a
captured specimen placed under a vase.

The Guana has in its youth much more lovely colours than
its parents ; and, during the periods of casting off the cutaneous
exuviae, the tints of lizards are affected : but the power of
change in the chamaeleons and the Anolidae is altogether as
voluntary and premeditated as it is inexplicable. In the latter
tribe it is not, perhaps, so rapid as it is said to be in the
former.

[In another part of Mr. Guilding's notes, there is the fol-
lowing remark on the guana, made in reply to the query on
«« edible lizards " in I. 495.

The common guana is eaten over the whole West Indies,
and is reckoned equal in delicacy to a rabbit or fricasseed
chicken. The eggs, also, are said to be delicious. I have a
friend who shoots all he can find, and purchases every one
brought to him, for his table.]

I may probably institute a course of experiments on our
lizards, and communicate the results in a future Number.

[These results have not been communicated to us. As this
remark was written in 1830, and the author died in 1832, he
might not have instituted the experiments.]

iLizards like Music.'] — The assertion that spiders are at-
tracted by music (I. 158.) is by no means incredible. Every
child in the West Indies is aware how much the lizards are
delighted with musical sounds, and how quickly they are
drawn from distant spots to listen to the melody. I often
whistle to some curious listener, and can easily discern his
delight at my rude attempts : his ears are turned in mute
attention, his eyes are soon closed, and he is totally absorbed
and absent. In this state it is of course easily destroyed.

Our Common Green Species is a harmless, pretty, graceful,
and useful animal : in houses where they are protected and
caressed, I have known them tame enough to eat sugar from
one's hand. As in other species, the mutilated tail soon buds,
and is restored, and sometimes with monstrous appendages,
or multiplication. Cats which feed on them, on my grape
arbours, where they are troublesome among the ripe fruit,
grow lean and sickly.

ISt. Vincent, May 1. 1830.]

[For other facts on the habits of lizards, in Jamaica, see
Mr. Sells in V. 476, 477. 653.]

r p 4

S84! Zoological Illustrations : —

Art. VIII. Illustrations in British Zoology, By George John-
ston, M.D., Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edin-
burgh.

24. MuLLE^R/^ PAPiLLO^SA (^fig. 66.). ^olothuria papillosa Mtiller,
Turt. Lin. iv. 110.

a, Mullferm papillbsa, in a state of contraction : b, with the tentacula expanded, c. The ten-
tacula and alimentary canal, as they appeared after being vomited by the animal : the liga-
mentous band, binding the oral apparatus together, is shown, and the ends of the salivary
glands projecting underneath, d. The oral apparatus, detached, e. The eviscerated body
laid open, to show the longitudinal bands, transverse fibres, and pores, and a cluster of
ovaries. /, A single ovary, magnified, g. An egg^magnified.

This Mullerm is cylindrical or pear-shaped, according to
its degree of extension ; generally bellied in the middle, and
tapered towards the posterior extremity ; of an earthy or
cinereous colour. The skin thick, coriaceous, and rough ;
with numerous small tubular papillae, which clothe the whole
surface, and follow no pattern in their arrangement. When
contracted, nothing more is to be seen than a small circular

Mullena pa;pillbsa. 585

orifice at both ends ; but, if the creature is carefully watched
for some time, it may be observed to shorten and dimple the
anterior by an involution of the skin, and again protrude it ;
and then it may, perchance, to your amazement, suddenly
evolve and display its circle of tentacula (b). Of these there
are eight large and equal, and two very small ones placed
together : they originate in the circumference of the cir-
cular lip, by a thick round stalk, which sends off numerous
divided branchlets, so that each assumes an arborescent form,
of a brown colour, speckled with darker dots. In the centre
of these beautiful organs we find the mouth, an aperture of
considerable size, and armed with an apparatus of bones
somewhat similar to that of those of the Echinus : it consists
of ten pieces, five of which seem divisible into halves by a fine
scarcely visible longitudinal suture, and are prolonged below
into two slender prongs ; but the other five which alternate
with them, are truncate below, being pointed above with a
tooth ; the first pieces having two similar teeth in close appo-
sition. The margins of the pieces are minutely serrulate to
favour their firmer union, which is principally effected by
ligaments ; and the whole are bound together by a strong
broad ligamentous band, which completely encircles them ;
tendons passing on the inner surface of it to the roots of the
tentacula, and others to and between the upper extremities of
the osseous pieces, for the purpose, undoubtedly, of moving
and contracting them. Between this band and the osseous ap-
paratus, there are five oblong compressed fleshy glands, free
beneath, but with a narrow^ pedicel at their origins, probably
a canal leadhig to the gullet, for these are presumed to be
the salivary organs, although their size and number would
seem to indicate a function more important to the animal's
welfare than the salivary glands are deemed to be in higher
organisms. * The stomach is placed immediately under the
oral apparatus : it is about half an inch in length, and very little
wider than the intestine, but of a whiter colour, and with
much stronger coats, the inner surface being strongly plaited
and puckered in a longitudinal direction. The intestinal
canal is about twice the length of the body, and must con-
sequently have a tortuous course ; it is furnished with a
narrow mesentery, is of a brown colour, equal in calibre
throughout, or only slightly dilated towards its termination,
which is circular and plain, with a stricture immediately above
it. The coats are smooth on both surfaces, but, under a mag-

* [The whole assemblage of the organs which consist in any being is an

organism.] • :

586 Zooloorical Illustrations : —

nifier, circular fibres become very visible, and numerous
minute dots are sprinkled among them.

The surface of the body was at first partially covered with
fragments of shells and corallines, which were evidently re-
tained by the suctorial property of the papillae ; and the
animal, on being kept a day in sea water, threw them off. It
had a slow progressive motion, slower than the shadow on
the dial, which was effected by elongating the papillae of one
part, fixing them to the plate, and then drawing itself forward
by again contracting these elongated parts ; but the papillae
were much oftener used for the purpose of anchors than of
feet, the creature being of an indolent and immovable cha-
racter. When stationary, it was ever slowly changing its
outward form ; it was now shortened, and swollen in the
centre; then it would relax itself, and become cylindrical;
again, one part would be blown out and another drawn in,
with a deep stricture, as if a thread had been tied round ; or,
again, the contraction would begin near the head, which is
then made very narrow, and would spread backwards, the
anterior portion recovering its original diameter as the wane
of constriction passed away ; and sometimes the contraction
will spread in the opposite direction. It often raised the
posterior extremity a little from the surface of the plate, and
to one side, but I never saw any current to flow from this
aperture. To effect these varied motions, we must suppose
the existence of muscular bands or fibres in the coriaceous
skin, both in a longitudinal and circular direction; and, on
opening the body, we find such to be the case (e) : five strong
white raised bands run from one end to the other, radiating
from the circular apertures ; and numerous fibres pass be-
tween them transversely, among which minute pores open
everywhere, which are the inner orifices of the cuticular
papillae.

The ovaries (y), which are of a flesh colour, lie towards
the centre of the body, attached to the sides in a large cluster,
or, at least, there was one cluster only left in the specimen be-
fore us, for it had ejected many ovaries before dissection. Each
ovary {J') is half an inch long, cylindrical, with a short
narrow pedicel at the end of attachment; and the ova are
very visible through the thin membranous coat. They lie
without any order, are somewhat globular, and enveloped in
a transparent pellicle of nutritive jelly ; and on one side there
was a drop of an amber-coloured and apparently oily
fluid.

.' Towards the posterior end, and reaching from the anus
about one third up the body, there was a thin membrane laid

Phylline grossa.

587

over, and, of course, internal to the muscular bands, which
was spread over with a small quantity of brown grumous
matter ; but I saw no organs which could be supposed sub-
servient to the office of respiration there.

The worm, having been kept in sea water unchanged for
two or three days, sickened, and, by the more frequent in-
volutions and evolutions of its oral end, evidenced its uneasi-
ness. Being left unobserved in this state for an hour or so, I
found, on my return, that it had vomited up its tentacula, its
oral apparatus, its intestinal tube entire and as exhibited in
our figure (c), and a large cluster of ovaries, which lay
about the plate ! The muscular convulsion must have been
very great that thus so completely embowelled the creature ;
and yet life was not extinct, for the tentacula contracted them-
selves on being touched; and the empty skin appeared, by its
motions, to have lost little of its irritability. It is true, as
the poet has long since sung, that

" Nature's store

Of majesty appeareth more
In waters, than in all the rest
Of elements."

25. Phy'lline gro'ssa. (/g,. 67.) i/iriido grossa Muller, Turt. Lin.

iv. 70.

Description, — Body ItV in. long, about six tenths of an
inch in breadth where broadest; oblong, flat, soft, exannulose,

roughish, with little granu-

67

lations, and of a uniform
flesh colour. On the upper
side a small vessel is seen dis-
tinctly, running down the
middle of the body, having a
tortuous course, and termi-
nating near the sucker; and
it lies over a much larger in-
testine, following the same
direction, and alone visible
on the ventral aspect. The
anterior extremity is rounded,
somewhat raised above the mouth, which is placed in a
sinus here, and opens chiefly on the under side; it is wide,
edentulous; but, when opened, the inner surface appears
flocculent, being clothed with longish papillae, which are
arranged in close longitudinal series, and cover the whole
intestinal canal. This organ is nearly of uniform width and
structure throughout ; but the papillag appear to be longer
towards its termination, which is by a small aperture on the

Ph;f nine gr6ssa : a, u^per side ; b, under side.

588 Causes of Volcaiiic Aclion,

back, just above the sucker. The dorsal vessel begins in a
sort of swelling above the mouth ; and, after it has passed
beyond the middle of the body, it becomes sensibly attenuated.
It is not fibrous, and, indeed, exhibits no marked structure
beyond a very fine and faint reticulation of the surface when
exposed under a high magnifier. The space between the
intestine and margins of the body is compactly filled with
myriads of oviform bodies, which seem to lie, without any
particular order, in a gelatinous fluid : they are roundish,
opaque, and encircled with a rim or pellicle of transparent

jelly.

I have twice found this leech in specimens of Cyprina
islandica dredged up in Berwick Bay. They were lurking
between the cloak and branchiae, and doubtless had sought
out the site for a less harmless purpose than shelter from foes ;
but, so far as I could judge from external appearances, the
oyster had not suffered any material injury.

On the suggestion of Lamarck, it has been here considered
a species of Phylline ; but it will not correspond with the
character of the genus, for the large terminal disk or sucker
is not armed with hooks, as Lamarck's definition expresses,
but is quite smooth. Nor has the skin the slightest appear-
ance of circular rings, or rugae, even when contracted and
hardened by spirits ; and its whole anatomy is so unlike that
of Annelides, and more especially of the true leeches, that it
strengthens an opinion of Lamarck's, of there being a class of
animals, yet unestablished, between the Annelides and the
worms.

Art. IX. On the Cause of Volcanic Action ; a Reply to Professor
Higginss Revietv, in p. 434, 4-35., of Dr. Daubenys Theory.
By Dr. Daubeny, King's Professor of Botany and Chemistry in
the University of Oxford.

Sir,
If your correspondent, Mr. Higgins, will consult the forth-
coming Part of the EncyclopcEdia Metropolitana (namely.
Part xxxix.) when it appears, I flatter myself he will find, in
the course of the article on Geology, which it is to contain,
an answer to most of the objections brought forward, as
applicable to that theory, by which I have attempted to ex-
plain the phenomena alluded to. He will at least see discussed
at considerable length the question, whether the bases of the
ordinary constituents of lava are likely to be so acted upon
by water, as to produce the requisite degree of heat in con-
sequence of its presence.

TVhite Negro, 589

With regard to the supposed impossibility of water pene-
trating to the depths at which these inflammable substances
may be imagined to exist, and likewise to the improbability
of air finding admittance to the same spots, I shall be ready
to discuss the reasonableness of such a conjecture, when the
facts, that volumes of steam are constantly issuing from all
volcanoes, and that azotic gas, either pure or combined with
hydrogen, is so generally present during all the phases of
volcanic action, are shown to be referable to other causes than
the presence of water and air at the spots in which volcanic
action occurs.

I have, however, neither time nor inclination at present to
go over the details of the argument a second time, especially
as the curiosity of those of your readers who may feel an
interest in the discussion may be gratified very speedily, if
you will only transfer to the pages of your Magazine some
few paragraphs of the article on volcanoes, which will appear
in the Encyclopcedia Metropolitana ; and this, probably, quite
as soon as any remarks with which I might at present trouble
you would find their way into print.

I am. Sir, &c.
Oxford, Sept, 17. 1834. Charles Daubeny.

Art. X. Short Communications,

Mammiferous Animals. — Species of Animals of *which
Individuals with their external Covering of an anomalous Colour^,
permanent, have been known, — It is not improbable that the
registering instances of this anomalousness may avail, when
the facts registered shall have become numerous, some lucid
general inferences regarding it. As we entertain this opinion,
we shall be happy to insert all notices of marked cases which
may be sent to us ; and shall feel additionally interested, as
our readers, doubtless, will also, if any facts appertaining to
what we may call the physiological conditions, parentage, &c.,
of the creatures noted on be supplied in connection.

A curious Variety of the Human Race was lately to be seen
in my parish. The two parents, who were negroes, had
several children of their own colour, but the one alluded to
had a skin uniformly as fair as that of the European. The
child's hair was white, but curly, as in the negro race ; the
nose and lips were European, and the iris of the eye blue.
It was a healthy, fine child. These varieties, which depend
on some disease or thinness of the rete mucosum, are some-

590 Animals of atiomalous Colour,

times onl}' partially affected, and are then spotted and disgust-
ing objects. — Lansdown Guilding. St. Vincent, Maij 1. 183Q.
[For a notice of three instances of unusual conditions of the
exterior of the human person, see I. 286.]

The common Hare, White, — Instances of this are given in
504., 505.

The common Hare, BlacJc. — Examples of this are regis-
tered in I. 84. ; VII. 505.

The common Hare, Brown and WJiite, — See in p. 505.

The common Rabbit, BlacJc, in a wild State. — See in
V. 579. ; VII. 505, 506. W^ild rabbits, perfectly black, I
have occasionally met with in the woods about Gloucester. —
Lansdown Guilding, St. Vincent, May 1. 1830.

71ie common Mole of a Cream Colour, — Instances will be
found noted in the Number for December.

The common Mole of a White Colour. — See p. 143.

A Mole of a Silvery Ash- Grey Colour with an Orange Mark
tinder the Lower Jaw, and a Line of the same Colour down the
Belly. — See in p. 143,

The Porpoise, White, — On Monday forenoon, a porpoise
was shot off Millport, and brought on shore. It was pure
white. {Morning Herald, Aug. 29. 1825.)

The common Ass, White, aiid yiearly White, — See VI. 67.,
for interesting particulars on one " perfectly white." We
add notices of two others nearly white.

About a month ago, a common English ass, the property
of Mr. Watson of Green Hammerton, foaled a colt foal,
which is perfectly white, with the exception of a red tinge near
its tail, and another near one of its shoulders. It is a very
large one, and likely to live. What is very remarkable, it is
without those stripes on its shoulders which are seen on all
other asses. ( Tyne Mercury, Bury and Suffolk Post, June 2G,
1833).

A Donkey almost wholly Wliite, — The mention (VI. 67.) of
a white donkey induces me to state that, on July 6., my-
self and companions observed, on Hampstead Heath, a
donkey milkwhite all over, with the exception of a trifling
sprinkling of light brown upon its back. Did the unusual
colour of these individuals originate in disease, as is stated to
have been the case of the king of Siam's

White Elephant, described and figured in the Menageries,
vol. ii. ? — Ja7nes Fennell, Leytonstone, July 11. 1833.

Crawfurd gives, in his Embassy to Siam and Cochin-China^
an account of four of the six white elephants then kept by
the king of Siam, and says of them, " they showed no sign of
disease, debility, or imperfection.". ..." Two of them were

White-furred Stoats^ 591

described as so vicious, that it was considered unsafe to exhibit
them." These, we presume, are the two which, added to the
four mentioned, constitute the six. ..." Each of those which
we saw had a separate stable, and no less than ten keepers to
wait upon it," &c. ..." In the stables of the white elephants
we were shown

" 2 TOO IwMte^Mon/cei/si whose presence, the keepers insisted,
preserved their royal charges [the white elephants] from sick-
ness. These were of a perfectly pure 'white colour^ and of the
tribe of monkeys with long tails. They were in perfect health,
and had been long caught ; but we were advised not to play
with them, as they were of a sullen and mischievous disposi-
tion. These were both taken in the forest of Pisiluk, about
ten days' journey up the Menam. On enquiry, we found all
the white elephants were either from the kingdom of Lao or
Kamboja, and none from Siam itself, nor from the Malay
countries tributary to it ; which last, indeed, had never been
known to afford a white elephant." In England it is believed
that allowing a goat to subsist among horses promotes the
health of these.

Species of Birds, of which Individuals in Plumage of a Colour
anomalous to that of the Species, and permanent, have been knoison,
— See in p. 593 — 598.

The Stoats seen in TVhite Fur are Individuals of a White-
furred Variety. (V. 77. 293—295. 393. 718.) — • Zoophilus
states, in V. 718 — 722., that stoats change their colour at a
certain period of the year, and become white. I am convinced
that this is a mistake, and that the white is a distinct variety.
I have seen them of this colour in every season of the year,
on what are called the mosses, on the western coast of Lanca-
shire ; and I particularly recollect that, while resident in Wor-
cestershire, one of these white animals seldom allowed a week
to pass without showing himself in front of my house, while
threading the mazes of a fence, which he entered from the
nearest point of a coppice from which he always sallied.
This animal would not have excited so much attention, but
that he invariably pursued his course over a gate-post which
stood in the fence ; and this constant observance of a singular
practice obtained him the honour to be distinguished as " tlie
stoat." The common stoat abounded in the same neighbour-
hood ; and I, with a clever terrier, captured them at all seasons,
and always of the same colour. It is possible that the stoat
changes colour ; but, if he does, I am convinced that it is purely
an occasional and rare occurrence. — Henry Berry, Bootle,
near Liverpool, August 27. 1834-. . ,

The Stoat in its White Garb not frecpiently seen near Stam-

592 Otters, Rats,

ford, — I was rather surprised to see, last winter (1832), which
was a remarkably mild one, a stoat (Mustela erminea) which
had donned its snowy garb. I had never seen a white one
here before. — A. Clifford, Near Stamford, \_Received Dec.
13. 1833.]

The Otter domesticated in a Degree, and employed by Man in
capturing Fish, — " We passed, to my surprise, a row of no
less than nine or ten large and very beautiful otters, tethered
with straw collars and long strings to bamboo stakes on the
bank (of the Matta Colly). Some were swimming about at
the full extent of their strings, or lying half in and half out of
the water ; others w^ere rolling themselves in the sun, on the
sandy bank, uttering a shrill whistling noise, as if in play. I
was told that most of the fishermen in this neighbourhood
kept one or more of these animals, who were almost as tame
as dogs, and of great use in fishing ; sometimes driving the
shoals into the nets, sometimes bringing out the larger fish
with their teeth. I was much pleased and interested with the
sight. It has always been a fancy of mine that the poor crea-
tures whom we waste and prosecute to death, for no cause
but the gratification of our cruelty, might, by reasonable
treatment, be made the sources of abundant amusement and
advantage to us. The simple Hindoo shows here a better
taste and judgment than half the otter-hunting and badger-
baiting gentry of England." (Bishop Heber,)

[For information on the habits of the otter, wild in Britain,
see p. 507, 508. 538. A fine otter was killed on Jan. 1.
1828, in the old river Deben, at Letheringham, after seven
hours' hunt by a bull terrier and a spaniel : its weight was
29 lbs. ; length, 4 ft. 2 in. ; girth of neck, 1 ft. 2 in. ; pads, or
feet, 3 in. wide. {Bury and Norwich Post, Jan. 9. 1828.) ]

Perforation of a Leaden Pipe by Rats (455). — E. S. has
been, surely, too inattentive to proportions : there is an in-
consistency in the dimensions of " a leaden pipe about 1^ in.
in external diameter, with a bore of about j in. in diameter ;
thus leaving a solid circumference of metal varying from J in.
to fin. in thickness." (p. 455.)— J". R- Sept. 1834.

[_Rats mil pass under Water upon the Mud at the Bottom of the
Water, — I have seen several instances of this, not in the water
rat or water campagnol only, but some in the field rat as
well. The instance which I more particularly remember re-
lates to two or three of the latter kind of rat, which had shel-
tered among the large roots, &c., of a couple of elm trees
which were growing beside a watercourse, of, say, about 10 ft.
wide. The rats, on being disturbed in the elms, crossed the
stream beneath the water, and were both visible in their

Birds of anomalous Plumage, 593

course, and traceable by the track of stirred mud which they
had occasioned.]

Birds. — [ShaJcspear^e was an exact Ohserver of Nature : his
Notice of the OwVs Manner of Flight, — Mr. Bree had sent us
the following note for insertion in the proof of his communica-
tion, in p. 54-8., but want of space excluded it there.]

Though the remark may be here somewhat out of place, I
cannot resist the inclination I feel to draw attention to one
instance out of very many, in proof of the exquisite accuracy
and exactness, with which Shakspeare observed objects of
natural history. The passage I allude to occurs in Part iii. of
Hemy VI., where Warwick is narrating to Edward the dis-
astrous result of the battle of St. Albans, and the little effect
which his troops made on those of Queen Margaret: —

" Our soldiers' [weapons] — Me the nighl-owrs lazy flighty
Or like an idle thresher with a flail, —
Fell gently down, as if they struck their friends."

None but a nice observer of nature could have made such a
simile (the force of which lies, too, in a single epithet), nor
can any reader fully enjoy the passage, who has not noted the
owl's flight, and the slow, soft, faint strokes of her wings. —
W, T, Bree, Oct. 8. 1834.

Species of Birds of which Individuals in Plumage anomalous
to that of the Species, and permanent, have been known,

A White Coalhood {Demirostra atricapilla W.). — On Sept.
5. 1834, a bird of a very unusual appearance was observed in
a hedge near the house, which was at first taken for a canary
finch (i^ringilla canaria L.), but on a nearer approach he
proved to be a coalhood (Loxia Pyrrhula of Linnaeus). A
gun was speedily procured and he was shot. He was pure
white, without a single feather of any other colour, not even
on the head, the fine glossy black of which gives rise to the
expressive name " coalhood." [See p. 148., note *.] Bewick
mentions a similar case, and Selby records an instance of one
with white wings. There are also instances of

White Yellowbills \_BlackUrd.s'\ (Turdus Merula Z.).— In
our collection here, we have one with as much white as black.
I have also seen

A Wren {Anorthura communis Rennie) Streaked with White.
— A friend of mine informs me that some time since he saw

A Wagtail (Motacilla) pure Snow-White : he joined with
me in regretting that he had not his gun with him at the time.

With regard to the Scientifc Name of the Coalhood, I have
ventured to suggest Densirostra atricapilla, as being more de-
finite and expressive than either the name of Linnaeus, Loxia
Pyrrhula, or that of Temminck, Pyrrhula vulgaris. The

Vol, VII. — No. 43. Q Q

594 Birds of anomalous Plumage.

only other British species might then be called (instead of
Loxia enucleator) Densirostra enucleator, the pine thick-
bill. The name Loxia has been employed by different authors
to denote several genera : in Shaw's General Zoology it is ap-
plied to the thickbills and to the grosbeaks ; by Temminck it
is applied to the crossbills, and by Linnaeus to all three ! This
confusion might easily be avoided, if the thickbills (of which
there are only two British species) were called Densirostra :
the grosbeaks (of which the haw grosbeak may be mentioned
as an example) might be called Coccothraustes [this name
Selby adopts], and to the crossbills might be applied the ap-
pellation Crucirostra, which name is adopted in Shaw's Zoo-
logy* Of this genus there are, I believe, only three species,
the common crossbill (C. vulgaris Shaw), the parrot cross-
bill (C. pinetorum Meyer), and the white-winged crossbill,
(C. leucoptera Shaw). Selby, in the first edition of his
British Ornithology, calls the coalhood " bullfinch grosbeak,'*
and in the second " common bullfinch ;" thus in the first
instance making bullfinch the specific, and in the second
the generic, name : but either way the name is improper, for
the bird is not a finch at all, and has no more right to the
appellation than the storm petrel (Thalassidroma pelagica) oir
the pied flycatcher (Muscicapa luctu^sa), both of which have
been called finches 1 In these days of wholesale changes
there may be some who look on (or rather perhaps away from)
every alteration with suspicion or dislike; but it is but fair
that they should state their reasons for discarding any new
proposal, and not do so because it is new. — S, D. W, Sept,
1834'. \_Post'marh, Burton on Trent, Sept, 16.]

A Nest of Bull/inches \_Coalhood Thickbills, as S. D. W,
above' advises to name them"], in which there were Three Snow-
white young ones, and One of the Common Colour, was once
found, by a person whom I know, in his garden : I believe
that he had them preserved. — A. Clifford, Near Stamford,
{Received, Dec. 13. 1833.]

A Live Young Rook, almost perfectly White, was last year
brought to me. It was of a dirty white colour, and, what
rather surprised me, its beak and legs were also of this colour.
I had wished to bring it up ; but, to my great disappointment,
it was killed by accident. It was quite young, and I have
little doubt that, had it lived to attain its full plumage, it
would have been milk-white. The person who had brought
it to me said, that he had taken one or two other young ones
of the natural colour out of the same nest. — A. Clifford. Near
Stamford. {Received, Dec. 13. 1833.]

White, in the letter to Pennant, dated " Selborne, March

Birds of anomalous Plumage. 595

30. 1768," has remarked, " A gentleman in this neighbour-
hood had two milk-white rooks in one nest. I saw the birds
myself, and was surprised to find that their bills, legs, feet,
and claws, were milk-white." Sir William Jardine, in a note
on this subject, to his edition of White's Natural History of
Selborne, has these remarks : — " The common rook seems to be
more subject to a white variation than its other British con-
geners. Specimens entirely white are not often seen, but in-
dividuals, with parts of the wings and tail pure white, occur
in almost every rookery."

JVhite Croivs we have seen very often, says Captain Thomas
Brown, in a note to his edition of White's Selborne.

The Haven in WJiite and Pied Plumage. — The raven " is
sometimes found quite white or pied." {Montagu in Rennie^s
Mont, Orn. Diet.)

" A Pair of Magpies^ entirely of a Cream Colour, were
hatched at a farm-steading in Eskdale, Dumfriesshire, and,
being much thought of by the tenant, were strictly preserved,
and continued near the spot for many years." (Sir William
Jardine^ in a note to his White's Selborne.)

A White Jackdaw has been known, as is clear from this
remark by Montagu, in Rennie's edition of the Orn. Diet. : —
'* Several varieties of this species are given by different au-
thors; some entirely black, without the grey on theiiead and
neck : others quite white, or mixed black and white." Captain
Brown has seen a white jackdaw: see his notes in his edition
of White's Selborne. Mr. Waterton has thus noted, in our
VI. 396., a jackdaw with white in one of its wings, which had
occurred in the park of Walton Hall: — " A jackdaw once
appeared here with a remarkable portion of white in one of
the wings ; it tarried with us for two years, and then disap-
peared for ever. Probably the singularity of its wing had
attracted the fatal notice of some experienced gunner, in its
peregrinations beyond this vale of safety."

Of the Starling i7i White Plumage, instances will be found
noted in I. 494., V. 284.

Of the Grey Hefi, the Female of the Tetrao Tetria:, a variety
is noted in II. 90., the ground colour of whose whole plumage
was " a dusky yellowish white, paler on the under parts, with
the dark markings of the feathers umber brown." The in-
dividual was shot: Sir William Jardine had the specimen.

On the Pheasant in White or Varied Plumage, Mr. Water-
ton has, in VI. 308., noted the fact of the occurrence of some
instances, and, in VI. 314., has remarked, that " a white male
pheasant has taken up his abode here, for seven years, without
having been once seen to wander half a mile from the house."

596 Birds of anomalous Plumage,

In the Montrose Review there appeared, a good while ago, a
notice of a perfectly white male pheasant, that had been re-
cently shot at the Hill of Woodstow, and was then in Mr.
Malleson's museum.

A White Woodcoclc was seen three successive winters In
Penrice Wood, Glamorganshire. {Professor Rennie in p.
562. of his Mont. Orn. Diet.) The fact is quoted from Bewick,
who had derived it from Sir John Trevelyan, Bart.

A White Snipe was once met with by two gentlemen shoot-
ing in Ireland, as one of them has told me. — J. D.

Of a Water Rail, every Feather of which was of a pure
White, an instance is registered in V. 384. " The rich coral
colour of the beak formed a singular and beautiful contrast
to the delicate hue of the plumage."

White Blackbirds (or Yellowbills, as S. D. W. has ingeni-
ously called them above, to avoid a contradiction in terms)
seem not of very rare occurrence. Besides the instances re-
lated by S. D. W., in p. 593., another is registered in III.
146. A correspondent has supplied the following additional
one.

In 1829, a blackbird's nest, containing four or five young
ones, was found at Rougham, near Bury St. Edmunds, Suf-
folk. One of the young ones differed in colour materially from
the rest. Its eyes were red, its bill was yellow (which is not
usual in very young blackbirds). The nest was not taken till
the young were fully fledged. On attempting to capture them,
two or three made their escape ; the white one was safely
caught : another was captured, after its thigh had been broken ;
this soon died. The red-eyed bird afterwards became nearly
or wholly white, and it still retains this colour. Mr. Ely of
Bury St. Edmunds, the person who reared the bird [in whose
possession it was anteriorly to May 27. 1829], had received
repeated offers of a guinea for it ; he ultimately sold it to Mr.
S. Middleditch; of whom Mr. Partridge of London pur-
chased it for 21. 10s. It is worth noticing that the bird, which
died with a broken limb, was remarkably black ; much more
so than young blackbirds usually are. — Henry Turner. Bury
St. Edmunds, March 1. 1833. [Mr. Partridge brought the
bird to London : I happened to make the journey with him
and it on Jan. 4. 1833. — J. D.

Captain Brown, in the same note, in his edition of White's
Selhorne, from which we have before quoted, relates these
instances of blackbirds of unusual colour: — " In the summer
of 1831, a blackbird's nest was found at Newbottle, near
Edinburgh, containing four young, two of which were of the
ordinary colour, and two perfectly white. The former turned

Birds of anomalous Plumage, 597

out females, and the latter were both male bh'ds. On the
grounds of Drumsheugh, the property of our friend Sir Patrick
Walker, there was, some years ago, a beautifully mottled
blackbird, which became so tame that it fed along with the
domestic fowls. ... It is now in the museum of Sir Patrick.
Another motded blackbird was, some years ago, kept in a
cage by Mr. Veitch, optician, Inchbonny." Prol'essor Rennie
in his Mont, Orn, Diet, mentions the fact of the occurrence of
white blackbirds.]

The Barhadoes Blackbird is here no'w and then seen Mottled.^
and, rarely, quite White ; while

The tropic Bird, Phaeton, varies in the markings of its
plumage to a greater extent. — Lansdown Guilding, St, Vin-
cent. May 1. 1830.

A Black Thrush. — A person residing in Liverpool is in pos-
session of a living thrush, now nearly two years old, which has
changed the colour of its feathers three times. This singular
bird, which is of the ordinary size and form of thrushes ge-
nerally, was taken along with four others from the same nest
early in the spring, and before it was quite fledged. It was
then of the usual colour of young thrushes ; but at the end
of three months its feathers became black, and remained so
for about nine months, when it again resumed its original
colour, namely, that of a common thrush. It has always been
a very healthy bird, and is a famous musician. This singu-
larity was not exhibited by any of the other birds of the same
nest, nor have I ever before seen or heard of an instance of
the , kind. — Thomas Weatherill, M.D. Liverpool, Dec, 7.
1833.

{Tor a Notice of Birds, Natural Hybrids, produced between
the Throstle and the Blackbird, see in p. 598.

A White Lark, — Notice of one, shot, is given in II. 267.
A White, or nearly White, Titlark, stuffed, is among the spe-
cimens of British birds in the British Museum. It is labelled
*« Titlark, variety ^lauda pratensis L., London Market."

The Common Sparroiv, White, — An instance of a female is
given in I. 494'. ; of another female, in V. 583, note * : this
last is an interesting case. Montagu has remarked of the
sparrow, "accidental varieties occur, such as white, black,
and yellowish." Captain Brown has seen " white birds of many
British species," and a white sparrow is one of these.

A Greenfnch, extraordiriary in the Colours of its Plumage, is
described in IL 64.

The Goldfinch's Colours are known to vary with its food.
(II. 64., V. 398.)
A White Swallow. — Morier mentions having seen a white

Q Q^

598 Change of Colour in confined Birds.

swallow at Bushire. (J. B. Fraser, in note * to p. 471. of
his Histojical and Descriptive Account of Persia,)

The Robin, White, — A white robin was caught, in June,
3825, in the garden of the rectory at Writhlington, near Rad-
stock, and it is now in the possession of the Rev. G. Cookson,
at Writhlington : its eyes are red, its legs and bill yellow.
{Morning Herald, July 4. 1825.) Captain Brown has seen
** a white robin,Vith red eyes."

All Albinos have Red Eyes,

The Colour of Plumage of the Ringdove is remarlcably cofi-
slant, — " I know of no British bird," says Mr. Waterton,
in p. 332., " which has the colour of its plumage so constant
as is that of the ringdove."

The Change in the Colours of Birds kept in Confinement is
referable to the Confinement and the Nature of the Food upon
mohich they are fed. — This seems generally agreed upon. Facts
in proof of it are given in the case of a goldfinch, in II. 64. ;
in the case of the Senegal sparrow, goldfinch, and bullfinch,
in V. 398. : hempseed is marked as the food most conducive
to the change. Mr. Yarrell, the author of " Observations
on the laws which appear to influence the assumption and
changes of plumage in birds,'' treatise third, in the Zoological
Society's Transactions, has concluded, as we have stated in VI.
502., that " feathers are influenced by constitutional power,
and their colour affected as the secretions alter under constitu-
tional changes." Those who can make access to this excellent
treatise will not omit to peruse it. It may be objected that
all this has rather little to do with birds produced white from
the egg ; but the case of these is inseparable ; there must have
been a cause for the whiteness, whatever may have been that
cause.]

Throstles hwve built their Nests, when pressed by Necessity, in
a surprisingly short Space of Time. — I have known throstles,
which had been robbed of their nests after one or two eggs
had been laid, rebuild in a surprisingly short period ; and even
upon the old foundation. I once took a nest, containing three
eggs, but accidentally left behind the coarse external part of
the nest ; circumstances led me by the place on the following
morning, when I observed the throstle seated on the remnant
of her nest, in which she had deposited her fourth egg, having,
since the day before (that of the robbery), plastered it with
the usual coating of rotten wood, moist earth, and, perhaps, a
little cow-dung. ■ — Henry Berry, Bootle, near Liverpool, Aug,
27. 1834.

Hybrid Birds produced between the Throstle and Blackbird
in a State of Nature, — With respect to the throstle, I recollect

Purre. Sticklebacks 599

a singular case : — In the garden of James Hankin, a nursery-
man at Ormskirk, in Lancashire, a throstle and blackbird had
paired ; this was well known to a number of individuals, my-
self amongst them. During two successive years the birds
reared their broods, which were permitted to fly, and evinced,
in all respects, the features of strongly marked hybrids. —
Henry Berry, Bootle, near Liver^pool, Aug. 27. 1834<.

The Purre Breeds at Martin Mere, an extensive Water and
Swamp in Lancashire. — Bewick, in his account of the purre,
remarks that at present it is not known where this bird breeds.
I have shot the female with eggs fully matured, and found
several nests from which I had driven the old birds, at Martin
Mere, an extensive water and swamp in Lancashire. — Id,

Fishes. — Facts on the Habits of Two Species of SticJdeback,
additional to the Facts in 111, 329. — Since the publication,
in in. 329., of some observations of mine on the habits of
the stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus Lin.), I have had an
opportunity, not only of confirming the remarks there re-
corded, but of enquiring farther into the habits of this curious
fish ; and have a few more facts to communicate.

The fry of this fish were, this year, in abundance in the
ponds and ditches in this neighbourhood. [Clapton] as early
as April ; but I was unable to procure any full-grown fish,
earlier than the first week in June, except a few of the black
species, with ten dorsal spines (Gasterosteus pungitius) [see
III. 332.]. These, on being placed in a tub of water, did not
evince their ordinary pugnacity of character. However, I
confined about eight of the common species in the early part
of June ; and they, as usual, took possession of different sta-
tions in the tub, and fought with their wonted fury. This
disposition continued till the end of the month ; when, from
some cause which baffled all my efforts to discover, they
became sickly, the colours of the fighters faded, and they
gradually died, notwithstanding I occasionally fed them, and
gave them fresh water ever^^ week. I was more than ever
surprised at their rapid change of colour : simply removing
them into another vessel, during the process of changing the
water, caused a marked difference in the beauty of their
colours. That this fighting propensity is connected with
sexual desire, appears obvious from their different treatment
of the female fish. On introducing a female distended with
spawn into the tub, they did not attack her as they would have
attacked another ; but they rubbed up against her, and pushed
her about with their mouths : with a view, in all probability,
to make her deposit her spawn ; which, I suspect, they eat;

Q Q i

600 IHhe,

for they are very voracious, and will seize the minute fry of
their own species with the fury of a pike.

^Argiilus folidceus Jurine, fils. (VI. 94.)] They suffer, in
common with some other river fish, very much from a flat-
shaped parasitical insect, which adheres closely to them;
and, from the tenacity of its hold, frustrates every effort of
the fish to remove it. This insect is, I believe, the A'rgulus
foliaceus of Jurine, fils. Several times during the period of
my keeping the fish, this summer, I detached as many as six
of these troublesome insects from one fish.

When the fishes are fighting, it is difficult to perceive them
use their side spines (unless they are very closely observed) ;
they strike so quickly, and often so fatally, with them. I had,
this summer, one determined fellow, which, although con-
stantly worsted, never failed to attack its neighbour whenever
a fair opportunity offered. I turned it in where four others
had their respective stations in the tub ; and it successively,
but in vain, tried to take possession of their places : at last, it
fixed itself in an unoccupied part of the tub, and effectually
resisted every effort of the others to depose it.

I have always failed in my attempts to keep these fish
through the winter ; therefore, I am uncertain how long they
live: but I suspect that they do not live longer than two
years. They disappeared here, from their usual haunts, by
the end of June ; since which, I have not seen any. — O,
Clapton^ Sept., 1834.

[See, in III. 521 — 523., descriptions by Mr. Yarrell, illus-
trated by figures, of three British species of stickleback.]

The Pike has been seen to capture a live Rat nsohen this nsoas
tm)imming on the Surface of the Water. — An informant has
witnessed, at Tottenham Mills, an incident to this amount : —
One day, while parties concerned were unloading a large
barge of corn, two or three persons, with their dogs, were
looking out for the rats, which made their appearance every
now and then ; and, by being driven overboard, afforded
sport for the dogs. While these were in chase of one, and
swimming and barking, and the men on shore shouting and
urging them on, up rose a large jack, and, within a yard of
the dogs, collared poor Nibble, and carried him down to the
shades below, flapping its tail, in a very significant manner,
in the faces of dogs and men ; to their no small astonish-
ment, for they never saw more of either the captured or
captor. — John Reynolds, 23. Chadwell Street, Middleton
Square, Sept., 1834.

A Pike stated to have caught a Swallow on the Wing. -— A
young gentleman, walking in Mr. Longster's garden, Malton,

Insects of extraordinary Configuration, 601

on the bank of the Derwent, saw a fine pike suddenly dart
out of the river, and seize a swallow that was gliding along
the surface of the water. (Morning Herald^ July 4. 1824.)
Swallows nearly touch the water sometimes; and pass slowly
over the surface sometimes : and it is not difficult to suppose
that the sun might be so low as to give the bird*s shadow in
advance of the bird itself, and thus give the pike an advantage.

Eels (V. 313. 744., VII. 283.); the Places in which they
breed, — I taken them of all sizes (from that of a needle
upwards), in ponds totally unconnected with, and far distant
from, either river or brook. ■ — Henry Berry. Bootle, near
Liverpool^ Aug, 27. 1834.

Insects. — {The external Configuration of some Species of
Insects is very extraordinary (II. 20., V. 318. 591.): Conjee-
tures on some of the Purposes of this Configuratio7i in some
Species, — The following remarks, by Mr. Guilding, he had
written in relation to Mr. Kirby's figures and descriptions of
the astonishing centrotuses in our II. 20 — 22.] : —

Among my West Indian insects are several species which
have these wonderful dorsal appendages : my collection con-
tains several new genera, which I am about to publish ;
and among them is a species without appendages, but having
the promuscis [a form of mouth resembling a horn : see II.
20, 21.] curved backwards over the head. This peculiarity
of structure would enable the insect to obtain the nectareous
juices of flowers which have a bended corolla ; and for this
purpose it was doubtless given. Mr. Swainson has figured,
in the first series of his Zoological Illustrations, a lovely little
humming-bird, whose bill is, in a slight degree, similarly con-
structed. The specimens I obtained from Demerara, and one
of them was sent to my valued friend Mr. Kirby. The use of
the processes, Mr. Kirby notices [in our II. 20.], are given for
concealment and deception ; and they imitate, in a singular
manner, the Clavariae and other i^ungi which spring from the
bodies of dead insects in damp places.

One genus here^ is remarkable for the curious manner in
which it protects its eggs from the rapacious ants; which
compel the larvae to offer them for food, on their extensile
tubiform anus, their drops of saccharine excrement. The
eggs have, under the microscope, the appearance of red
cherries enclosed in one of those open white china basketwork
fruit-dishes so common in the last century. — Lansdawn
Guilding. St, Vincent, May 1. 1830.

[Mr. Westwood's very interesting figures and descriptions
of insects remarkable in form, published in V. 318 — 327.
591, 592., should be cited in connection with the above.

602 Membrdcis, Coccidce,

To these we here add, from the Encydojpcedia of Garden--
ing, now being published,

Figures of Three Species of Membrdcis. {fg.6S.) — aa^
M. ensata ; b, M. fuscata ; c, M. spinosa. The appendages,
unusual to insects generally, which give
these creatures so striking a form, are,
according to Kirby and Spence [Introd.^
ed. 1827, iii. 537.)5 processes of the pro-
thorax. See the Introd, of these authors,
in ii. 225., iii. 537., for notices of various
species of insects remarkable for their
exterior form, armature, or vesture. In
the ILncyclopcedia of Gardenings J 3071.,
it is stated, from Mr. Swainson, that he
has " never met with the A'phides in
South America ; but that their place in
nature is there supplied by numerous species of Mem-
bracis [see fig. 68.], Centrotus [see figures and descrip-
tions of six species in II. 20 — 22.], &c., which are, in fact,
the plant-lice of that continent." This last remark advises
us, in a general way, of the habits of these creatures ; and
this may be learned more particularly by a perusal of the
communications on Z)elphax saccharivora JVestwood, by our
Grenada correspondent and Mr. Westwood, in VI. 407. 409.,
VII. 496., as the genera Z)elph ax and Centrotus are allied ones ;
and the genera Centrotus and Membracis are so closely allied,
that some of the species of them have been interchanged.
The Centrotus cornutus and genistae of Curtis's Guide
(1829), two British species, are the Membracis corniata and
genistae of Samouelle's Entomologist^ s Co?npe?idium (1824).
It must he interesting to learn, by a comparison of the Bri-
tish species with the figures of American ones, in what degree
their forms assimilate or differ. Centrotus genistae is, accord-
ing to Mr. Curtis's Guide^ figured in his British Entomology^
t.313.

The Coccidce of the West Indies^ exclusive of insects there
of the affinities just remarked on, are, it seems, agents there
of the same effects in the economy of nature, as the aphides
are in Europe. Mr. Guilding had remarked, in a note rela-
tive to the mention, in II. 104., of aphides on the roots of
plants of endive and lettuce in England, that " We have
several of the Coccidae attached to the loose roots of plants,
which soon die or droop from their attacks."

Nearly all, it may be said quite all, collections of tropical
plants cultivated in Europe are attended by a species of
coccus, which English gardeners have named the scale.

Walker's Nervous System. 603

the scaly bug, and the turtle insect ; names expressive of the
insect's appearance and shape. It is, I have understood,
of ihe species C. hesperidum ; and, perhaps, has been thought
to have been imported with golden apples, that is, oranges,
from the Hesperides : it affects, in Europe, the whole foliage
of the citron tribe. Whencesoever it may have been derived,
it demands, in plant stoves, the gardener's best attention to
prevent its increase ; and thereby the injuries which it would
effect, if allowed to live, upon the herbage of the plants.
Another species of insect, called, by English gardeners, the
mealy bug, is equally or even more troublesome upon tro-
pical plants cultivated in Europe. This is the species which
Dr. Gorman had met with in the Cambridge Botanic Gar-
den, and had supposed to be identical with "the wild species
of cochineal." (See II. 386.) Upon this subject, the follow-
ing note had been made by Mr. Guilding : — "I doubt alto-
gether whether the Coccus in the Cambridge garden is the
Grana sylvestris of South America, both from the trees to
which the insects were attached, and from the tenacity with
which they adhered. Many species yield the dye; though
they are too small and too little productive to be worthy pro-
pagation for commercial purposes. Is it likely that any [of
the] Cacti would answer in the open air of England ? "

Some very minute Ants were exhibited, by Mr. Spence, at
the Entomological Society's ninth sitting, on June 2. ; which,
he said, had swarmed to so great a degree at Brighton, and
some parts of London, that, in several instances which had
come to his knowledge, the inhabitants had found no other
alternative than entirely quitting their houses. [Ent. Mag,,
ii. 312.) [We have quoted this for the sake of identifying
them with the very minute species of ant which we had pre-
viously mentioned, in p. 269., as occurring in a house at Ken-
sington gravel-pits. For " 1833," in that mention, read
" 1832." The house was that of Mr. Bayley, bookbinder and
bookseller. — J, /).]

REVIEWS.

Art. I. Catalogue of Works on Natural History, lately published,
with some Notice of those considered the most interesting to British
Naturalists.

Walker, Alexander, Author of " Physiognomy founded on
Physiology: " The Nervous System, Anatomical and Phy-
siological J in which the Functions of the various Parts of

604f Walker* s Nervous System.

the Brain are for the first Time assigned : and to which is
prefixed some Account of the Author's earliest Discoveries ;
of which the more recent Doctrine of Bell, Magendie, &c.,
is shown to be at once a Plagiarism, an Inversion, and a
Blunder associated with useless Experiments, which they
have neither understood nor explained. Being the First
Volume of an Original System of Physiology, adapted to
the advanced State of Anatomy. 8vo, 704 pages. Lon-
don, 1834. Smith, Elder, and Co., Cornhill.

" With the view of adapting the work, as far as possible,
to the general reader as well as to the professional student,
the author, wherever he could, has avoided mere technicali-
ties, and those statements which suppose things to be known
which are unknown ; while he has sought to render minutiae
impressive, and complexities simple, by explaining the im-
portant and interesting functions in which they are associated.

" Of all the objects of knowledge, the most important and
interesting are certainly those here considered ; the functions
of man, and especially those of his nervous or mental system.
It is, indeed, only in relation to man and his mind that aught
besides can possibly have [to him] even its subordinate in-
terest : and, until this most important branch of physiology is
thoroughly reformed, the very bases of moral and political
science will be unfixed."

The study of zoology leads to a knowledge of comparative
anatomy, and comparative anatomy necessitates a knowledge
of the anatomy and physiology of man. Hence, not any
zoologist can be incurious on the subject embraced in the
book whose title is given above. This subject is the high and
difficult one of the agency of mind ; and more particularly of
the mode and nature of the mind's relations, passive and
active, to those corporeal organs which are the functional
instruments of its operations. The views which the author
has offered upon these themes are, it is advertised in the
title, different from those which others have offered upon
them. Which author has offered the most accurate ones, we
are unable to say : we have only seen those in the work
under notice. We shall content ourselves in apprising our
readers of the existence of the work ; and, in remarking on
it, that we deem it valuable, independently of the author's
conclusions, though the accuracy and merit of these may be
unequalled, in the store of information on anatomy, compara-
tive anatomy, and physiology, which is supplied in the pre-
mises from which the author has deduced his conclusions.
The author has written vigorously and lucidly. He condemns
utterly the performing of anatomical experiments upon living

Macgillivrai/s Eminent Zoologists, 608

animals ; and impugns all observations as fallacious acquired
by means of them. The work is dedicated to Sir Anthony
Carlisle.

Macgillivray, TV., A.M. F.R.S.E., &c., Author of « A Nar-
rative of the Travels and Researches of Alexander von
Humboldt : " Lives of Eminent Zoologists, from Aristotle
to Linnaeus ; with Introductory Remarks on the Study of
Natural History, and Occasional Observations on the Pro-
gress of Zoology. Small 8vo, 390 pages, with a Portrait
of Linnaeus. Edinburgh and London, 1834. 5s,
Aristotle, Pliny the Elder, Gesner, Belon, Salviani, Ron-
delet, Aldrovandi, Jonston, Goedart, Redi, Swammerdam,
Ray, Reaumur, Linnaeus, and Linnaeus the Younger, are
the naturalists memorialised. One hundred and ninety-three
pages are occupied by the memoir of Linnaeus; and this
memoir is one which, as we think, does justice to the charac-
ter of this great man. Mr. Macgillivray seems quite free from
the blind zeal of a partisan, and possessed of the candour and
discrimination requisite in a judicious estimator. The work
will be of real use to younger students of the science of natu-
ral history, whatever may be their age, in enabling them to
blend, with their progressive acquirements in the science,
associations of the men, and of events in the lives of these
men, who have contributed so much to render this science
what it is.

Partington, C F., Professor of Mechanical Philosophy, Au-
^ thor of various Works on Natural and Experimental Phi-
losophy, &c.. Editor : The British Cyclopaedia of Natural
History ; combining a Scientific Classification of Animals,
Plants, and Minerals ; with a Popular View of their Habits,
Economy, and Structure. In Parts each of 64< pages,
with Two Plates by Landseer, and several Woodcuts. Is,
" The various articles are written expressly for this work,
by Authors eminent in their particular department." The
Parts with the Plates coloured, 2s, each.
Part vi. of this work is, we think, a favourable, although
we know not that it is more than a fair, specimen of it.
Treatises on the bats, the bears, and the beaver, and on the
bearded reed-bird (titmouse), are the main of those included
in it ; but those treatises are such as cannot fail to gratify
lovers of nature, and make them think the inconsiderable
price to be paid for them as nothing. We wish the obtain-
ing of this part may lead to the purchase of the entire work.
Although this work will be a long way from what we consider
the words «« cyclopaedia of natural history " to mean, it bids

606 Cuvier^s Animal Kingdom,

fair to be the instrument of placing before the public such a
store of information (some of it, too, addressed with force to
the heart and understanding) on natural objects, as has not
ever previously been generally accessible.

Cuvier, Baron, and Lalreille, P. A, : The Animal Kingdom
arranged according to its Organisation, serving as a Found-
ation for the Natural History of Animals, and an Intro-
duction to Comparative Anatomy ; by Baron Cuvier. With
Figures designed after Nature. The Crustacea, Arach-
nides, and Insects, by M. Latreille. Translated from the
latest French Edition; with additional Notes, and illus-
trated by nearly 500 Plates on Steel. 8vo, in 36 Numbers,
l5. each : to form Four Volumes. Number L, published on
July 1. 1833. London, 1833.

The above words are a copy of those in our VI. 432. (in
the Number for September, 1833), where we have farther
pointed out the work to the notice of our readers. The fol-
lowing communication remarks on the subsequent conducting
of the undertaking : —

I will thank you to insert, in an early Number of your
Magazine of Natural Historij, the following extracts from the
advertisements on the cover of the Translation of Baron Cu-
vier's JRegne Animal, published by G. Henderson ; and a
statement of facts, which proves the falsehood of the extracts
quoted : —

From No. 1. — " The work will consist of 36 numbers ;
each will be sold at one shilling: it will appear," &c.

I have already received 37 numbers: for the first 27? I

paid l5. each ; and for the 10 subsequent numbers, 2s» each.

" The plates, which constitute the most important source
of expense, will amount to no fewer than 500," &c.

The third volume is not yet completed: the numbers

already published contain only 164 out of the 500 plates

promised.

" The advantages of the new work will at once be demon-
strated, when it is stated that, for the sum of 365., the version
of a celebrated standard work, richly illustrated, will be ob-
tained ; which, in the original, with its plates, costs more
than 36/."

The work is to consist of four volumes ; it was to cost

\L 165. : 336 plates, and more than one volume of letterpress

still remain unpublished; and, for what I have already

received, I have paid 2/. 75.

From No. 4. — " The work will consist of 90 numbers ;
each will be sold at sixpence^'' &c.

arranged accordmg to its Organisation, 607

" The advantages of the new work will at once be demon-
strated, when it is stated that, for a very trifling sum," &c.

From No. 5. — " The work will consist of 36 numbers ;
each will be sold at one shilling^^ &c.
" The plates," &c.

" The advantages of the new work will at once be demon-
strated, when it is stated that, for a very trifling sum," &c.
The advertisement on the cover continued unaltered
from No. 5. to No. 21. inclusive. On the cover of Nos. 22.
and 23., which were published in one, appeared the fol-
lowing

" Address, — The public will immediately see, that, accord-
ing to the ordinary plan of issuing the plates which illustrate
' Cuvier's Animal Kingdom,* the proprietor could never fulfil
his engagement to supply the complete quantity. He begs,
therefore, to apprise the public, that he will take the oppor-
tunity, during the ensuing months, of preparing numbers
which shall consist wholly of plates. By this method alone
will the public be able to complete the first volume ; and, for
that purpose, the plates illustrating that volume will be issued
in uninterrupted succession. The public is also informed,
that the work will be further enriched with portraits of the
various eminent naturalists who are distinguished respectively
in the several departments of zoology."

I have introduced the extract from the address on the
cover of No. 4., as it contains the only hint that is given
that the price of the work will exceed the stipulated sum :
and this notice relates only to the sixpenny edition. The
statement that the work would consist of 36 one shilling
numbers, was repeated in No. 5. ; and continued to be
printed till No. 21. inclusive. From the commencement
of the work, no notice has appeared that the price of the
numbers would be doubled ; or that the work could not be
completed according to the first arrangement.
These facts require no comment; but, certainly, such
conduct deserves exposure. — John Reynolds Howe, Wim-
borne, Dorsetshire, Sept, 17. 1834.

I should be glad if you could inform me how many num-
bers will complete the edition of Cuvier's Animal Kingdom,
now publishing by Henderson ? At the commencement of
the work, it was distinctly stated that it would consist of
S6 numbers only, at \s. each; but it has already attained to
34 numbers, and the price of 4l5., without being much more
than half completed. — H, E, StricJdand. Aug, 12. 1834.

608 Literary Notices*

Art. II. Literary Notices*

No. ix. of The Lntomological Magazine is a rich one. These
are the main of the subjects : — a Colloquia Entomologica.
Monographia Chalciditum, by Francis Walker ; twenty-nine
pages. Notes on Deilephila euphorbiae. Description of some
Coleopterous Larvae, by Mr. Waterhouse ; illustrated by
figures. Attempted Division of British Insects into Natural
Orders, by Edward Newman. This is the last of the longer
communications, and put so by way of climax, one might
imagine. In it, upwards of 150 orders are proposed, cha-
racterised, named, and their affinities indicated. In the
characters, we observe, that greater cognizance is taken of the
conditions of the larva and pupa than we had previously seen
done. Brief general views of the habits of the insects of each
order are included in the characters of it. This production
of Mr. Newman's must have a comprehensive effect upon
entomology, and must be welcome to all engaged in the study.
The first volume of the Transactions of the Entomological
Society of London will be shortly published.

Of Royle^s Illustrations of the Botany arid other Branches of
the Natural History of the Himalayan Mount ains^ and of the
Flora of Cashmere, Part iv. is published. It includes gene-
ralisations upon the plants of the orders Dipterocarpeas,
TernstromzflV^/^, Olacineae, Aurantiacese, //ypericineae, Gut-
tiferae, Hippocrate^xV^'*^?, Erythroxyleae, MalpighiaV^<^, ^cer-
ineae, Hippocastaneae, and Sapindaceae ; and coloured figures
of nineteen species of plants. In TeYnsXxomidcecE, the author
has presented nineteen pages of collected information on the
question whether the teas of China are derived from plants of
one or of more species, and upon the conditions which relate
to the vegetation and the cultivation of these plants in China.
From it all, the author has concluded that, " in the Hima-
layas, where so great an analogy exists in latitude, elevation,
soil, climate, and the course of the seasons, as well as con-
siderable identity of vegetation, there cannot be a doubt of
success in introducing the cultivation of tea, with the strongest
probability of all its properties remaining unchanged."

A work on The Revolutions of the Globe, in a Series of
Letters addressed to a Lady, to be included in one volume,
post 8vo, is to be published by Ridgway, in November. The
author states his object to be, " to give the public an idea of
the curious results to which the study of the terrestrial globe
has, in these latter times, led our most distinguished natu-
ralists ; and to write so as to be understood by persons even
the least conversant W4th the study of natural history."

THE MAGAZINE

OF

NATURAL HISTORY,

DECEMBER, 1834^.

ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.

Art. I. On certain recent Meteoric Phenomena^ Vicissitudes in
the Seasons, prevalent Disorders, 8^c,, contemporaneous, and in
supposed connection, ivith Volcanic Emanations. No. 4. By the
Rev. W. B. Clarke, A.M. F.G.S. &c. [Continued from p. 390.]

" Quid sit, unde sit, quare sit quod ipsum explorare et eruere sine

universitatis inquisitione non possumus, cum ita cohaerentia, connexa,
concatenata sint." — M. Minutius Felix, xvii.

Before entering farther into the enquiry? we briefly intro-
duce a few additional illustrations of the positions attempted
to be maintained in the preceding articles; especially as,
owing to the circumstances of illness under which the sup-
plemental paper [385 — 390.] was contributed to the Septem-
ber Number of this work (No. 41.), some typographical
errors * and some omissions are to be noted.

With reference to the essay No. 2. (VII. 193 — 202.),
the following facts are highly illustrative, and must not be
neglected : —

The German journals state, that, during the months of
June, July, and August, 1834, immense multitudes of mice
had appeared in the duchy of Baden ; committing dreadful
ravages in the cornfields, and afterwards destroying the
vines. In a small district, 20,000 of these destructive crea-
tures were killed. In the adjoining country, a species of

* In p. 385. [lines 8. and 9. from the bottom], for " Wolokolumsk "
read " Wolokolamsk," or « Wolokolansk." For « 1794" [in line 7. from
the bottom] read " 1799." For " Nov, 17." [in line 2. from the bottom]
read " Nov. 14; " this last being the date erroneously given in p. 293. [line
8. from the top], and rightly corrected to Nov. 19., in p. 385. [line 9. from
the bottom]. In p. 386. [line 16.] for " Mexico," read " Mexico ; ". In
p. 390. [line 2.], after the word " bring," supply the words " into notice."
In p. 301., also [line 8.], for « 1799" read « 1779."

Vol. VII. — No. 44. rr

610 Supposed Connection of Meteoric Phenomena,

hlacJc rat is said to have multiplied in equal proportion. *
(See VII. 193—195.)

The American journals also mention, that in the month of
June, 1834, many parts of the United States were troubled with
an incursion oi locusts; which did much damage, and seemed
to be called up from the earth, in incredible numbers, by the
very means taken to destroy them. The statement is further
increased by the assertion, that a similar inroad of locusts
occurs every seventeen years, (VIL 196., and 308, 309.)

In Hungary, during the same month, miUions of beetles
appeared; devouring the vegetation wherever they came, and
increasing in proportion to the means taken to smoke them
to death.

The Island of Grenada, and some other of the West India
Islands, have also, during the spring of the present year, been
incredibly ravaged by the cane Jly (a species of Cicada L,in,^
[Z)elphax saccharivora Westwood, see VI. 407 — 413., VII.
496.], which has destroyed two thirds of the crops. One
gentleman stated recently, at a meeting of the Entomological
Society, that this pest was immediately preceded by a violent
hurricane, [See VII. 496.]

M. Huber, in his Memoirs of the Natural History of Ge-
neva, states that a huge column of the Vanessa cardui, in
June, 1826, passed over the Canton de Vaud ; traversing the
country, with great rapidity, from n. to s. Professor Bonelli
of Turin, as well as M. Huber, observed, in March of the
same year, a similar swarm of the same species, also directing
their flight from n. to s., in Piedmont, in such immense num-
bers, that, at night, the flowers were literally covered with
them. They had been traced from Coni, Raconi, Susa, &c.
A similar flight, at the end of the last century, is recorded
by M. de Loche, in the Memoif^s of the Academy of Turin,
The fact is the more worthy of notice, because the caterpillars
of this butterfly are not gregarious, but solitary from the
moment they are hatched : and this instinct remains dormant
while generation after generation passes away ; till it suddenly
displays itself in full energy, when their numbers happen to
be in excess." f Mr. Bennett, also, in his Journal of Natural

* It would appear that the assertion of Arnobius (VII. 195.) is not with-
out a comment in various allusions of the poets; for the ancients, who,
like French cooks, dressed up their fables in such a way that they are
scarcely to be recognised as originating in facts, gave to Apollo the name of
Sniintheus (Iliad, i. 39.) ; which, according to the critics, was derived from
the Phrygian word for viice or 7'ats, the god having destroyed a great num-
ber of those creatures which infested that country.

f Mag. Nat. Hist., i. 387.; also Lyell's Geology, \\. 114. [The late
Rev. Lansdown Guilding had thus remarked, in a note, lying by us, on
the mention in our 1. 387.: — " I have lately recorded, in the Zoologi-

prevalent Disorder s, Sfc, "with Volcanic Emanations, 6] 1

History^ relates a similar occurrence which took place at
Colombo in Ceylon, when he was there; and he says the
butterflies were in " incredible numbers ; " and, " for the
greater part of several successive days, passed down the
road in a northerly direction." Mr. Lyell has also observed
the periodical emigration of certain other ungregarious insects ;
an instinct only developed in rare emergencies. (GeoL, ii. 115.)

The country papers mention several instances of extra-
ordinary visitations of very small black flies, so numerous as
to cling by hundreds to the faces and dresses of persons, dur-
ing the end of the month of September, 1834<. They were
noticed at Spalding (Lincolnshire Chronicle) on Sept. 28. ;
and at Colchester and Chelmsford {Essex Standard) on Sept.
29. and 30., and Oct. ]. At the same time, a flight was also
observed at Topsham, Devon, more than three quarters of a
mile in length, travelling in the direction of the wind, which
was blowing gently from the s.e. [Morning Herald,) A
similar flight was noticed at Halifax and York, on Sept. 29. ;
and, about the same time, at Cheltenham, and at Stroud.

Mr. Foster, in his Calendar of Nature, appended to his
work On the Atmosphere^ mentions, in p. 427., that, on July
17. 1822, he "noticed the immense quantity of butterjlies
covering whole fields for miles together, in the neighbourhood
of Boulogne;*' and, on July 26. 1822, at Pont-y-Pani, he
saw Jlies so numerous that, " in some places, the wall was
quite black with their settling on it." 1822 was, as before
named, especially a hot volcanic year.

In farther illustration of No. 3. of these essays [289 — 308.]
and its supplement (385, 390.), we may here, at once, refer to
some additional particulars relating to the meteors of Nov. 13.
1833; which have appeared in the July number of the Ame-
rican Journal (xxvi. 320.), in a very interesting paper on the
subject, by Alexander C. Twining, civil engineer, and late
tutor in Yale College, entitled, " Investigations respecting the
Meteors of Nov. 30. 1833; Remarks upon Professor Olm-
sted's theory respecting the cause."

Mr. Twining states that the whole space yet traced, over
which the meteors were seen, extends from the Lakes to the
middle of the Gulf of Mexico; and from 61°w. to Central
Mexico, in long. 100° ; that there was a tmlight on the morn-
ing of the 1 3//z, between Jive and six o'clock, issuing from the
whole south-eastern and southern quarter, while the western and

cal Journaly a similar instance. A species of Celiac was observed to pass,
in an extended column, across the Island of Trinidad, and the neighbour-
ing Gulf of Paria. — L. Guilding. St. Vincent, May 1. 1830."]

R R 2

612 Supposed Connection of Meteoric Phenomena^

northern quarters were as dark as usual ; that four of the
meteors formed their train into a cloud, and floated away to
the castway^d, as if borne hy m7ids; that the most striking phe-
nomenon is, " the observed Jixedness of the point of radiation in
a particular part of the constellation Leo, He confesses, how-
ever, that there are difficulties respecting this ; and I confess
that I am not quite satisfied with the above conclusion.

He states another fact, viz., that the " radiant " (the point
whence the meteors seemed to radiate) " had a location ma-
nifestly independent of meridians and verticals, and not confined
to geodesic lines^ He remarks, also, that there was " 7iot
only a progressive increase of northern decliriation in southern
latitudes, but the differences of declination, compared mtk
the differences of latitude, were strikingly correspondent,"
amounting to about 1° 54' of north declination for 1° of
north latitude : and to account for this, when there was no
parallax in right ascension, as the effect of parallax, he con-
siders untenable. He adds, that there was neither parallax nor
parallactic motion ; that the radiant point was " everywhere
stationary, or nearly so : " but the evidence certainly goes to
establish the fact, that the radiant was not stationary till about
3 or 4 A.M., it having a motion from w. to e. (or a little south
of east); and that this motion, at first rapid, gradually de-
creased. He says, also, there was, iXiith the exception of
particular accidental coincidences^ no tendency to follow the
magnetic dip.

The conclusions come to by Mr. Twining are similar to
those of Professor Olmsted. [385 — 390.] Other particulars
are given, which are very interesting. One meteor is described
as " if a column of glowing melted metal had been poured
down from the spot whence the meteor issued ; another had
a brilliancy " above the brightness of the sun ; " and several
traversed arcs of 20° and 30°, vanishing in clouds as big as,
and even five times as big as, the moon. The result as to the
height of these meteors is, that " they entered the atmosphere
nsoith a velocity not less, but perhaps greater, than fourteen miles
in a second; that they became luminous above eighty [miles']
from the earth; and became extinct nearly thirty miles from it."
Mr. Twining is obliged, however, to confess, from an examin-
ation of the facts, " that the atmosphere itsef must have its
limit much higher than is generally supposed; " and suggests,
whether it cannot be ascertained by the means of the upper
extremity of " shooting stars," which certainly seem to bear a
close affinity to the meteors of Nov. 13., what is the height of
the atmosphere. (This tallies with my remark in p. 387.)

The above gives, pretty accurately, the principal features
of Mr. Twining's " investigation ; " although compelled, by

prevale7it Disorders, Sj-c, with Volcanic Emanations, 613

want of space, to be compressed and abbreviated. The great
question of the origin of these meteors is considered, I must
say, fairly; but the solution is totally at variance with a vol-
canic hypothesis. The first argument is, that, if the meteors
were " atmospheric, electrical, magnetic, or even unknown and
merely imaginable,^^ they ought to have conformed, in arrange-
ment or motion, to geodesic lines. But, with all deference to
the reasonings of Mr. Twining and Professor Olmsted (who
has considered gravity " an adequate cause " of the motions,
in which I agree with him ; though Mr. Twining disputes it),
it does not at all follow that meteors occasioned by volcanic
emanation should pursue any " geodesic " line. If their com-
posing matter had been pumped upwards into great heights,
in or above what is called " our atmosphere," they might,
after having been, either by attraction or electrical forces,
formed into a mass, be whirled along by the action of wind ;
or might partake of the earth's proper motion, through
restraint of gravity, and appear to have an eastward motion ;
till, becoming stationary, they should be discharged as de-
scribed, the stationary position being determined by the excess
of gravity. I cannot but infer that this position of the radiant
is a powerful argument in favour of a terrestrial origin. It
may also be added, that a want of coincidence with the mag-
netic dip and variation is not a reason why these meteors had
nothing in common with the " north lights " or the auroral
arch; for, though the aurora has frequently (p. 291.) corre-
sponded in these respects, it has not always corresponded;
and the absence of agitation on the part of the needle, during
the display (as noticed by Mr. Twining in his " investigation ; "
Silliman's Journ., July, p. 347.)5 is not a necessary absence ;
for the needle is not always affected by the aurora, though
there are cases where such has been the effect.* Mr. Twining
contradicts himself when he says, " the reverse of such a
coincidence do we find ; " for he has allowed some " parti-
cular accidental coincidences," which, perchance, were not
accidental. Moreover, it has been before stated, in the Ame-
rican Journal (xxv. 356. : see M, N. H., vii. 291.), that the
radiant agreed exactly with the point of magnetic direction ;
and the whole evidence goes to prove that the cessation of
progressive motion corresponds with this point. The change
of declination of the meteors (Mr. Twining allows) may turn
the argument against him : it certainly does so, and by no
means encourages the supposition that " any terrestrial origin
seems to be cut off." {Sil. J. p. 347.) The next argument is,

* Arago noticed it on Feb. 7. 1831 ; and Faraday and Christie, on
April 19. 1831. {Report of the British Association.)

R R 3

614? Supposed Connection of Meteoric Phenomena,

that the meteors having an " independence of the earth's rota-
tion," and the " stationary condition " not being " an instanta-
neous cause," but rather " an ultimate state of motions gra-
dually becoming quiescent, the conclusion seems inevitable, that
our planet owed the brilliant decorations of its atmosphere,
on the morning of Nov, 13., to the presence of foreign and
celestial visitants." The independence of the earth's rotation,
and yet the coincidence of the motion of the radiant with that
of the earth, in direction from w. to e., may, however, toge-
ther with " the stationary condition " of the meteoric cloud,
be reconciled upon the hypothesis before advanced [385 —
S90.] of a volcanic origin ; which influence, we have already
proved almost indubitably, has been known to affect the atmo-
sphere as it was affected after the display in question ; and to
coincide with the occurrence of the aurora, and the exhibition
of meteors scarcely less brilliant or less striking than those of
Nov. 13.

With Mr. Twining's next argument, that these meteors
had no secondary dependence upon our planet (farther than
as alluded to above, and in his denial of any analogy with
meteorites *), I have no controversy ; but, with the last of his
arguments, respecting an " orbit of revolution round the
sun" (for the reasons already stated, in my remarks [385 —
390.] on Professor Olmsted's paper, and on Mr. Twining's), I
can hold no sympathy. They follow the preceding arguments
naturally and properly ; but, doubting the premises, I cannot
approve the deductions. With the truly philosophical and
religious tone of Mr. Twining's " final observations," I do,
however, most warmly sympathise, as they express the feelings
which subjects of this kind must awaken in the bosom of
every reflecting person : nor is the just and beautiful argu-
ment for the ^^ protecting^^ care of the Almighty lessened, in
my opinion, by the result of our speculations ; whether the
meteors were "foreign and celestial," or " of the earth, earthy."
In either case, mercy is mingled with power : and, perhaps,
after all, the argument would be strengthened by the reference
to the " volcano " rather than to the " comet." For, if the
latter be restrained by the invisible hand that launched it into
space, so, also, is the latter made the safety-valve of a planet
which, we must conclude from observation, has all the won-
derful energies of combustion and explosion that might have

* In contradiction of the asserted distinctive character of these meteors,
it is expressly stated by Mr. Jenkins, Principe 1 of Middletown Academy
(Silliman's Journal^ xxvi. 397.), that " the meteoric shower of Nov. 13. last
presented appearances similar to those which have been often described;
except that no particular point of radiation was observed." Middletown is
in lat. 40° 26' N., long. 73° 59' w.

prevalent Disorders^ Sfc^ *mith Volcanic Emanations, 615

been supposed incompatible with a residence for man. It is,
after all, a matter of little practical importance what is the
secondary origin of a meteor ; but thus much do speculation
and theorising avail for good, that no man, with a correct view
of his own insignificance, and with a simple-minded aim, can
explore any of the bountiful fields of science which are spread
out so magnificently above him and around him, and not find
himself a better man, even if he have to acknowledge himself
a worse philosopher than he imagined.

To return, however, to facts in illustration of that with
which I set out: the earthquake at Chichester, on August 27.
1834, was coincident with the most tremendous earthquake
of Vesuvius on record, and was followed by a brilliant aurora
soon after. The shock of Sept. 21., at the same place, was
followed by the aurora on Sept. 30., and by meteors on
Sept. 29., and on Oct. I. and 3., as seen from Hensbury,
near Bristol; Bologna being shaken by an earthquake on
Oct. 4.

I may observe, also, that, on Dec. 20. 1799, there fell, in
the province of Benares, many meteoritic stones, coming from
the westward ; the relations of which are given in Lord Va-
lentia's Travels (i. 468. appendix). These stones were at-
tended with great light ; and, in other respects, the meteor
was of similar character to those of Nov. 12. 1799, in Cu-
mana {Mag. Nat. Hist., vii. 291.), with which it may have
been connected. The meteors seen by Humboldt were cal-
culated to have fallen into the sea between America and
Africa : which was probably an optical deception ; for it is
altogether impossible to ascertain that. The latitudes of
Cumana and Benares, and the eastward motion of the meteor
in India, might rather lead us to infer, that there was as much
connection between it and those of Cumana, as between the
meteors seen at Mocha, on Nov. 14., and in England, on
Nov. 19. 1832; the space travelled by the latter, and the
time of the journey, being taken into account.

In addition to former examples, it may be added, that, in
the year 1832, the volcanoes of the Pacific Ocean were in
unusual action.

On Oct. 31., Etna was violently affected; while, during
March (8. to 14.), violent earthquakes occurred in Calabria,
Modena, and Reggio ; and, on May 26., in the Apennines,
Gulf of Genoa, &c. {Journal de la Belgiqiie, Juin 8 — 11. 1832.)
So that there were ample materials, on my supposition, to
produce the meteors in question. The heat was so great in
some parts of Europe, during the autumn of 1832, that the
ground spontaneously took fire. Such was the case in Swit-

E R 4

616 Supposed Connection of Meteoric Phe7iomena,

zerland ; as at Geneva and Lausanne, where fire appeared.
The same phenomenon occurred at Maglanz in Savoy,
where the trees were consumed below the ground. {A, R.) A
recent number of the Journal of Courland and Livonia (Sept.,
1834) gives an account of a fire in a great moor, caused by
the long drought. Thousands of people were employed in
digging ditches to arrest its progress ; but the moor frequently
began to burn behind them, the fire rising from the earth
having probably spread at a lower depth than the bottom of
the ditches.* Similar events have occurred in Russia, Ca-
rinthia, &c.

As general additional illustrations of foregoing statements,
w^e might refer to Mrs. Graham's [Calcott's] letter to Mr.
Warburton ; in which she says, that, during the evening of
Nov. 19. 1822, when the earthquakes commenced in Chile,
and previously to them, the aurora australis, and lightning over
the Andes, had been seen; that, on Nov. 21., there was a
thick fog while the earth was being shaken ; and, on the 26th,
she says, " we had a violent northerly wind, with rain, which
>was considered very unusual at the season" {GeoL Trans,., i.
415. 2d series.)

The last remark leads naturally to the main subject of the
present essay, namely.

Violent Winds and Hurricanes ; which, as we have seen,
have attended the incursions of ravaging insects in the West
Indies (p. 610.), the meteors in America [296, 297.]5 the
aurora (298.), and earthquakes and volcanic eruptions gene-
rally. But it is impossible to enter on this topic without con-
necting it with another, the temporary changes of climate, the
rains, inundations, and tempests, &c., of the last few years.

During the last year, " tremendous gales " and hurricanes
were most frequent ; and the almost constant position of the
wind in the w. and s.w., during the autumn and winter of
1833, produced distress and destruction amongst mercantile
and nautical interests scarcely ever paralleled. Ships were
detained more than three months in the Channel, whilst ves-
sels from the westward and southward made incredibly short
passages.

On Jan. 26. 1834, the master of the Scilly packet-boat
returned to Penzance for the thirtieth time, having been unable
to get across with the mails. [Shipping List,) The Nimrod

* I am inclined to think that this phenomenon will explain the dubious
statement of Tacitus (Ann. xii.) ; on which Dr. Daubeny has commented
(^Description of Folcanos, p. 62.), as well as Dr. Hibbert (On the Extinct
Volcanos of Neuwiedy p. 254.). The fire in the country of the Juhones is
just as likely to have arisen from the extreme heat of the weather setting
fire to the soil in the. first instance, as from an accidental ignition of gas;
though in both cases, probably, an evolution of inflammable gas occurred.

prevalent Disorder s^ Src, with Volcanic Emanations, 617

frigate, on the contrary, ran from Santander to Plymouth in
50 hours, four days before.

Three solutions have been given of the cause of these
westerly winds, which, in the south of England have, assumed
a somewhat constant character. Some say we are receding
from the sun ; others, that the clearing of the wilds of Canada
has so changed the cUmate, that the n.w. winds will prevail
over to England, causing no winter in the southern counties,
and producing cold at New Orleans ; causing a British westerly
trade wind, and driving the real trades to the south of the
Mexican Gulf; others, again, attempt (as the Qiiarterly Re-
view, xviii. 447.) to account for them by the melting of the
ice in the Atlantic. Let us examine these theories in order.
1. As for the recession of the earth from the sun, of which
certain German philosophers have spoken, we may safely
refer our readers to the calculations of astronomers themselves,
to show how unfounded are any fears connected with a known,
but in this respect unimportant, fact in science.* 2. As to
the clearing of the woods in Canada producing a change in
the climate of England, observation tends to prove that such
a supposition is perfectly erroneous.

Dr. Kelly has shown, in the Transactions of the Literary
and Historical Society of Quebec (iii. part i. 46.), from a com-
parison of recent observations, and an examination of ancient
documents, that the climate of Canada has not altered during
the last two hundred years, and that, consequently, no change
can have been wrought in Europe, within the last few years,
on that account. The winds which prevail in that colony
are, he sa3^s, chiefly from the w. and s.w. ; and Mr. C. R.
Redfield (Silliman's ^wz^r. Jbwr., xxv. 114.) considers these
winds as part of the circuit of the trades to the n.e. from the
Mexican mountains, drifting through the valley of the St.
Lawrence f, and, when not high, causing the heat at Montreal
sometimes to equal 93°. That the climate of Europe, within
the course of centuries, has changed, there is no doubt ; the
vineyard countries of England, France J, and Germany have
most assuredly decreased in temperature ; and, to account for
a recent partial amelioration, certain writers have attributed
it to the clearing of woods nearly 4000 miles from the British

* The earth's annual recession is about a thousandth part of its distance
from the sun. To this the German writers attribute our wet summers and
decreasing vegetation !

f Sir John Herschel accounts for the westerly winds of the Atlantic,
by a compound resultant motion of the earth and the air. (Lardner*s
Cyclopcediay Astronomy ^ p. 132.)

% In 1552-3 the Huguenots drank Muscat wine made at Macon :
it is not now made there. {Arago.) Other examples are given in the
Quarterly Review, xviii. 207,

6 1 8 Supposed Connection of Meteoric Phenomena,

shores ; not considering that, if such could be the cause of
warmth in modern Europe, the clearing of the great forests
of ancient Europe must have heightened the temperature
also.* It has been proved that the climates of Palestine
and Rome, and the adjacent countries, have not changed dur-
ing the last 3000 years ; and, therefore, as the west and the
east have maintained their equilibrium, the recent changes of
climate in Europe must be attributed to another cause. That
cause I consider to be simply the occasional increase or revival
of the volcanic action, which hundreds of extinct craters in
France and Germany prove to have been infinitely more
active than at present. Be it as it may, Canada can have
nothing to do with our prevalent winds, nor with alternations
of climate in England.

3. The third class of writers attribute the cause to the
melting of ice in the Atlantic.f As this hypothesis has been
received almost generally, and been made the agent of results
which I think not referable to it, we must examine it some-
what in detail.

I have made allusion to this as the cause of cold in certain
years (p. 300.) ; but it is impossible to allow some of the ar-
guments drawn from occurrences of the kind, as stated by a
popular writer in the Quarterly Review, to hold good, without
refusing the assent of our senses to a contrary conclusion as
far as affects the year 1833.

" During the winter of 1348, the whole coast of Iceland
was frozen, so that a horseman might have ridden from cape
to cape round the island. Such a circumstance had never
occurred before since the country was discovered ; and it seems
probable that in this winter the accumulation of ice began,
which has blocked up the coast of East Greenland. ( Quarterly
Review, vii. 52.) . . . Having resisted the summer, it took root,
as it were, along the coast, and has continued to increase,
producing effects upon the climate of the north, which we J

* A Mr. Williams published, in 1806, a work on the climate of Great
Britain, in which he attributed our wet summers to the practice of making
fences of hawthorn (Cratae^gus Oxyacantha, X.), instead of holly (7Mex
-4quif61ium L.). He states that, during the 60 or 70 years preceding the
date of his book, the quantity of hawthorn hedges had produced a material
effect on the atmosphere.

•j- Amongst these is M. Arago, who published this theory in the An-
nuaire for 1834, and is, it is said, engaged in writing a work on " climate."

J To show the inconsistencies of reviews, we take the following contra-
diction of the statement in the text : — "It is a common, but we believe
an erroneous opinion, that the temperature of our climate has regularly been
diminishing, and that it is owing to the ice having permanently fixed itself to
the shores of East Greenland, which, in consequence, from being once a
flourishing colony of Denmark, is now become uninhabitable and unap-
proachable. We doubt both the fact and the inference ! " {Quarterly Review,

prevalent Disorders, S^c, mth Volcanic Emanations, 619

ourselves in some degree experienced^ (p. ^^.) " There is good
reason for supposing, that even our own climate has under-
gone some changes since his time" (Horrebow, about 1735).
" Iceland will probably become colder, unless some earth-
quake shoidd break up the belt of ice 'which forms a rampart round
East (jireenlandP (p. 71.)

That, about the time here spoken of, the phenomenon al-
luded to took place, there is, I believe, no question. Arago
says, Greenland was free from ice in the tenth century;
flourished as a colony in 1120; and that in 1408 Bishop
Andrews found the coast so blocked up that he could not
land. {Annuaire, 1834.)

" Towering icebergs formed at the same time (1347-8)
on the coast of East Greenland, in consequence of the general
concussion of the earth's organism; and no mortal, from
that time forward, has ever seen that shore or its inhabitants."
(Hecker, Black Death, p. 75.)

There is an indirect evidence upon the subject, which de-
serves notice. It appears that formerly the Priory of Cha-
monix, in the valley of that name, was in the jurisdiction of
Courmayeur. The Priory was founded in 1099. Chamonix
is on the north side of Mont Blanc, in Savoy ; Courmayeur
on the south side, in Piedmont. The records of the Priory
attest, that there was formerly a direct path between those
places through the valley now filled with the ice and snow of
the glaciers, which form the Mer de Glace, and that it took
eight hours to traverse. {Ebel, ii. 262.) The horizontal
distance between Chamonix and Courmayeur is about two
leagues, the breadth of the base of Mont Blanc. The present
route extends full 18 leagues. In 1787, M. Bourrit ancj^is
son made a hazardous journey over the glacier, by way of the
Col de Geant, occupying 17J hours. Saussure, in 1788, was
t*wo days going from Chamonix to the Col de Geant, 5 J hours
from Courmayeur. But the dangers of this pass are now so
great, that 07ily one Englishman, and that in 1 786, has been
known to attempt it. The height of 10,500 ft. on Mont
Blanc corresponds in the isothermal scale with the level of
the sea under 83° of n. latitude, and above that height there
is nothing but ice and snow.* Now, it certainly appears from
this, that, previously to 1348, the Alps were as free from ice as
the coast of Greenland ; and there are other facts which point
out that there is a coincidence between the highlands of

xvi. 170.) In a subsequent volume the same, review goes into a series of
proofs to establish both fact and inference ! (see xviii, 205.)

* See M. N. H., vii. 84. There is an unintentional error in the word-
ing of the note in that page, which the present allusion will correct.

620 Supposed Connection of Meteoric Phenomena^

Europe and the polar basin.* The coincidence may, how-
ever, and probably does, only belong to the accumulation of
ice and snow. Observation almost establishes this fact : for
the diminution of ice in the Greenland seas, however pro-
duced, by causing an influx of ice into lower latitudes, might
temporar'ily chill, to a limited extent, the European, as it cer-
tainly does the American, continent. If the " earthquake"
alluded to by the reviewer in the Qiiarterly Review (vii. 71.)
should break up the belt of ice round Greenland, or if
volcanic heat should melt away the foundations of the rampart,
the lower latitudes would become cooler within the sphere
of the ice's influence. The popular writer to whom I before
alluded actually asserts that this was the case all over Eu-
rope and America in the year 1818, in consequence of the
breaking up of the ice previous to 1817.f He states, that
for two years America, and the whole of Europe as far as
Malta, were chilled, and that " in New Orleans the ice was
2 in. thick, the ground covered with snow, and the thermo-
meter down to 27°; that Etna was unusually loaded with
snow, and the whole Continent was visited with unusual storms
of wind and torrents of rain ;" and adds, that, " as these phe-
nomena have occurred with wind from the westward^ they are
everywhere ascribed to the approach and melting of ice in
the Atlantic." {Qiiart. Rev., xviii. 147.) It is a certain fact that
the year 1816 was a miserably cold and stormy year, and that
Etna was not alone in the enjoyment of an unusual mantle ;
for Ritter, in his " Beschreihung des Mont Blanc " (p. 1 03.),
says, that, on Mont St. Bernard, '' Im Jahre 1816 verging
Jceine Woche ohne Schnee im ganzen Jahre " (not a single week
passed without snow, throughout the year). (See M. N. i7.,
vii. 440., note %.) But will this warrant the conclusion of the
reviewer. " that the floating and thawing of such vast bodies of
ice in alow latitude have been the causes of those extraordinary
gales of wind from the west and south-west, accompanied with
sleet and snow ; and produced those storms and inundations
which have visited not only these islands, but a great part of
Europe, during the first three months of the year 1818 ; and
that, unfortunately for us, so long as such fields and islands of

* Mr. Bakewell {Travels^ ii. 30.) has remarked a coincidence in the
red snow annually found in the Alps, and on the shores of Baffin's Bay.
The same intelligent writer has alluded to evaporation, in both cases, as the
main agent of nature in preventing unusual augmentation of snow. (p. 33.)
It may be also added, that there is a correspondence in the periodical ad-
vancement and retreat of the glaciers, and the increase and diminution of
the polar ice. On the effects of the increase of the glaciers, see Quarterly
Review, xviii. 205. See also Mr. Brown on Red Snow, M. N. H., VI. 557 .

f M. Arago says the disruption took place in 1813-14.

prevalent Disorders^ Sfc.^ mth Volcanic Emanations, 621

ice continue to be carried away from the polar seas, and
melted in the Atlantic, we have nothing to expect but a raw,
moisty chilly atmosphere, with isoesterly winds both summer and
winter ?^^ i^Qiiarterly Review, xviii. 447.)

If these assertions be correct, the test may be safely applied
to the years 1832, 1833, 1834, during which years " such
fields and islands of ice " have been " carried away from the
polar seas, and melted in the Atlantic," as I shall proceed to
show : yet what becomes of the parallel afforded by these
years to 1816, 1817, 1818, when our atmosphere has not
been " raw and chilly?" To make the parallel as strong as
possible, let us take two or three preliminary facts. In 1818,
there was ice at New Orleans 2 in. thick." {Quart, Review.)
So, in November, 1833, very early frosts set in, and the
crops were ruined. The ice in the ponds was Ijin. thick.
Full 1000 acres of land were in consequence abandoned ;
and, instead of 120,000 hogsheads of sugar, only 50,000
were expected to be produced. {New Orleans Paper.)

It appears, also, that, in 1831, the ice was not removed
from the shores of Newfoundland late in the month of June
(Redfield, in Silliman's Amer. Journ., xxv. 134.); and that it
blocked up the Strait of Belle Isle in the month of August.
(Baddeley, in the Qiiehec Transactions, iii. 144.) In 1833,
the inhabitants of Newfoundland enjoyed no summer. In
May, the thermometer was 21° below the freezing point ; on
May 11., it stood at 19°. In June, it was seven times at or
below 32°. In July, it was only eight times above 50°, three
times below 40°, only ten days above 70°, and it was three
days below temperate. In August, there were only eight
nights above 50°; three were below 40°; and only three days
above 70°. *

Accounts, also, up to Nov. 1 5. 1833, mention, that great cold
had been felt in Canada, in the autumn and summer, which
had prevented the crops from ripening ; and that early frosts
had set in, doing great damage. Capt. Back's despatches
state, that the winter of 1833-4, in the northern parts of
America, was more tremendously cold than ever before known.

On Mont St. Bernard, unusual accumulations of snow took
place in Dec. 1833, and avalanches were frequent, causing
great damage, f On the Pyrenees, however, no snow had
fallen through the winter of 1833, up to Jan. 12. 1834; but
there were there dreadful rains, attended with thunder and
lightning, which, on that day, struck the tower of the church

* These particulars are contained in a letter from a Newfoundland mer-
chant to a friend in Poole, published in the Dorset County Chronicle.

f Journal de Lausanne. The falling of the avalanches would imply a
degree of warmth^ as well as the accumulation of snow a degree of cold.

622 Supposed Connection of Meteoric Phenomena^

at Orthez. {French Papers.) On March 25. 1834, snow fell
on the mountains of Abruzzo, near Rome : there had been
no snow there at that period since 250 years. * In the Ar-
chives of the Academy of Incoronati.^ it is said that snow fell,
and remained a whole day on the ground and houses, on
March 25. 1595. The winter of 1833 was particularly mild
at Rome. These cases are mentioned in order to show that,
as in 1816 — 1818, there have been instances of unusual
cold in these last three years, f We will now try how far
there has been a disengagement of ice, and a melting thereof
in the Atlantic. On reference to the Quarterly Review
(xviii. 447.), the state of the ice in 1817 and 1818 will be
found. The following examples not only parallel, but con-
tinue, the statements there made, J

On Dec. 1. 1832, the Sir E. Codrington and the Jonah
were lost in the ice at the entrance to the St. Lawrence. On
Feb. 26. 1833, the Emulous packet met with field ice off
Nova Scotia, in long. 30° w. ; and, in lat. 43° n., long. 49° w.,
she fell in with packed ice : on March 4., she passed three ice-
bergs in ninety-five miles' run. It is most unusual to meet
with ice in this part of the Atlantic during winter. The
Harvest Home and Mary Ritchie struck on ice, on May 9.,
in lat. 46°, long 45° w. The Martha was sunk by ice, on
May 18., 290 miles from Newfoundland, after being eight
days beset. The Lima was beset, on May 11., 400 miles
off, in lat. N. 46° 20', long. w. 45° 50'. The Waterloo was
lost, on June 14., off the Banks; and the Mary White, on
June 21. On June 29., the British Tar and Alloa left the
Gulf of St. Lawrence : on July 3., they found Belle Isle
blocked up with ice ; they put back : on July 6 ., they passed
through seventy miles of ice, some of the pieces a mile in
length. They found nine brigs, two ships, and a bark stand-
ing off and on at the eastern edge of the ice, waiting for a
passage ; and, as far as the eye could reach, to 48° long, w.,
icebergs were numerous and immensely large. The General
Wolf was lost, on July 6., in 46° n. 48° w. ; and the Francis
and Mary, off the Banks, on July 11. On March 7., the
Maria Elizabeth left Cork for Newfoundland : she fell in with

* Notizie del Giorno di Roma. The whole of Upper Lombardy was
covered with snow, as far as Milan, March 6., at which time snow fell on
the Welsh hills.

f For other cases, see M. N. H.y vii. 299.

^ Surely there must be a mistake in one of them : the reviewer says,
the Funchal left St. John's, Newfoundland, Jan. 17. 1818, and, about
fifteen miles " westward " of that port, fell in with ice ; again, she fell in
with ice in 42° lat., 250 miles " more westerly.^* This is as bad as the
offence which Mr. Waddington committed, when he made the Nile run the
wrong way. See the Quarterly Review^ xviii. 447., and xxvii. 215.

prevalent Disorders, 4c-) "^i^^i Volccmic Emanatio7is. 623

ice, and was dragged * by it to the coast of Greenland (in
attempting a passage through it), where she was detained
three months and a half. She reached St. John's, Sept. 15.
In the spring of 1833, the Banks of Newfoundland were
more crowded with ice than had been ever known ; and I
have memoranda of more than thirty other vessels lost off the
coast of America, or in crossing the Atlantic, by falling in
with ice. We have the authority of Captain Ross, that the
ice broke up in Lancaster Sound on August 14. On Oc-
tober 3., the ship Lancaster was fallen in with abandoned
among ice, in 45° n. 45° w. The Helen Mearns, from Que-
bec to Belfast, passed large icebergs, on October 30., in lat.
55° N. 38° w. ; and, in 55° n. 11° w., quantities of wreck,
with gales from w. n. w. On Feb. 13. 1834, a vessel reached
the West Indies, which had been detained many weeks off
Newfoundland. The President frigate, which took out Sir
Colin Campbell to Halifax, and arrived there in the begin-
ning of July, fell in with icebergs 100 ft. high, in lat. 44° — 46°
N., and long. 44° — 64° w. The thermometer fell from 60®
to 45°. The whole passage was attended with cold, rain, and
*meste7^ly "winds,

Newfoundland, also, during the spring and summer of the
present year, has been suffering most severely from the im-
mense accumulation of ice and snow.

The southern hemisphere has, also, during the same
period, been encumbered with ice to a low latitude. The
following particulars are from the log of the Arethusa, Capt.
Boultonf, which sailed from Van Diemen's Land round
Cape Horn, in Dec. 1832: — From Jan. 4. 1833, till
Jan. 20., she was beset with ice. She fell in with it in lat.
54° 48' s., long. 148° BY w. On the latter day, the ice was
almost impassable in lat. 56° 59' s., long. 93° 46' w. This
was just 5° N. of the spot where ice was seen in 1832. She
left the ice, Jan. 24., in lat. 56° 5V s., long 78° 6' w. The
Tula, in 1832, saw ice 7° nearer the south pole than the
above. In 45° and 44° s., long. 42° and 44° w. the Arethusa

* This word is used in the account (Lloyd's Shipping List) whence I
derived my information. It cannot, however, mean more than is expressed
in the parenthesis.

t JSfaut. Mag., ii. 450. A few notes may be added. On Jan. 20. the
barometer stood at 29°, the thermometer at 51°

Jan. 2. he had a whirlwind, nearing the ice.
Jan. 5., whirlwind, snow, and hail ; wind s. w.
Jan. 6., whirlwind, snow, and hail ; wind w.
Jan. 7., no ice.

Jan. 8., whirlwind j body of ice nearly forty miles in extent.
All the time he was in the ice he had heavy seas, variable ivindsy and hard
gales.

624^ Supposed Connection of Meteoric Phenomena^

saw sea birds, whales, and storm petrels, the usual attendants
on ice.

Mr. Scoresby {Arctic Regions) is the principal authority
respecting the season when the " barrier of ice" first broke
away, and afforded materials for the encumbering of the
Atlantic with the masses which, we see from the above ac-
count, have, since 1816, been met with by vessels sailing to
the westward. He particularises the following seasons : —
1803, open^ weather tempestuous, wind n. e. ; 1804-, close;
1805, as usual; 1806 and 1807, close, wind n. e.; 1808,
nearly open; 1809, close; 1810, as 1804; 1811, uncom-
monly close; 1812, more si^igularly close, most formidable
season [the year of Bonaparte's retreat from Moscow];
1813, open, uncommonly tempestuous, wind e. ; 1814, open,
wind s. and w. ; 1815, open; 1816, partially open; 1817,
especially open ; the coast east of Greenland seen for the first
time since 1607; 1818, less open, but more so than usual.
{Scoresby^ i. 276., and § vii. 284.) " In these two seasons of
1817 and 1818, the sea was more open than on any former
occasion remembered by the oldest fishermen ; an extent of
sea amounting to about 2000 square leagues of surface, in-
cluded between the parallels of 74° and 80° N., being quite
void of ice, which is usually covered by it." (Scoresby, Arctic
Regions, i. 284. See also Quarterly Review, viii. 203.) The
map of the ice appended to Mr. Scoresby's narrative shows
distinctly the extent of the change thus produced, and is very
instructive.

Since the years above named, the Atlantic has never been
entirely free from ice ; but there have been periods, when
the cold has been particularly severe, and the ice in both
hemispheres has been especially disturbed.* From 1826 to
1828, ice was found floating off the Cape of Good Hope as
low as 39° to 36° s. lat. ; and, on April 20. 1828, the Eliza,
from Antwerp to Batavia, met with five icebergs in 37° 31' s.,
and 18° 17' e., against which the sea broke violently. (Hors-
burg, P. T. 1828.) From 1827 to 1829, the coasts of La-
brador and Greenland were more encumbered with ice and
snow than before known, f In April, 1825, also, immense
icebergs were met with, three days' sail from Newfoundland.

The cause of the disruption of the ice from the polar seas
is, by the Quarterly Reviewer, said to be " its own weight ; "
and he states, as a singular coincidence, that the needle became

* Capt. Parry saw the first iceberg, in 1824, on June 16., in 60-75° lat.,
55° long.

f The winter of 1828 commenced at Fahlun, in Sweden, by so great a
fall of snow, in the end of September, that commerce was interrupted.
{Hamburgh Journal^ Oct. 6. 1828.)

prevalent Disorders^ Sr^., with Volcanic Emanatio7is. 625

stationary at the time he alludes to, 1817. (xviii. 203.) Now,
there are reasons, why this is a most unsatisfactory explanation.
That the magnetic needle might be contemporaneously affected,
and that, at the period when its variation altered, a great
change might take place in the earth's organism, is more
than conjectural; and that fact might have pointed out a
cause for the " breaking loose " of the ice less unphilosophical
than has been assigned. The years 1816, 1817, and 1818
were celebrated for earthquakes ; and Mr. Scoresby has
actually mentioned that, on April 29. 1818, Bird (or Egg)
Island, a dependence of Jan Mayen's Island, was smoking;
and it is probable that there were eruptions before ; for the
space whence the ice was removed is volcanic. * In accord-
ance with the state of things a few years later, we find that, in
1828, the glacier of Skideraa Jokul, in Iceland, was in erup-
tion {Griiithuisen, p. 42.) ; and Capt. Ross states that the
winter of 1829 was the mildest on record; that the season of
1831-2 was tremendously cold, and that of 1832-3 very mild.
Capt. Parry states, also, that 1818 and 1825 were unusually
mild. (Third Voyage, p. 151.) Dr. Besserf has furnished
us with some particulars respecting the seasons at Kreminiec
in Volhynia (in lat. 50° 5' n., long. 23° 2r e. from Paris),
four miles from the Austrian and Russian frontiers of Brody,
from 1815 to 1830, by which it appears that 1818 was an
early year, and 1829 a most extraordinary season for mild-
ness; and that, from 1820 to 1830, no frost occurred there,
only snow, in winter; and that the summers were free from
rain, producing famine of usual food. I can only refer, as a
confirmation of my views, to the statements respecting the
numerous earthquakes of 1829, given by me in VI. SOL,
which correspond exactly with the state of the ice at that
period in both hemispheres. J It is easy to show, by the
records of the years 1816, 1817, 1818, that the earth was
generally heated at that time by volcanic agency ; and the

* Arctic Regions, i. 166. There was, it would seem, an eruption or
earthquake in Jan Mayen, on Sept. 8. 1633-4.

f liesponsum ad Quccstiones Consilii Medici Imperii d. Oct. 15. 1830 datas,
ct a Consilio Medico Volhynico d. Nov. 18. 1830 communicatas, cum
W. Besser, M. D. The doctor says, — " Rarissima hyenis fuit a. 1829,
ubi via pro trahis per quatuor menses non interrupta duravit, alias vix per
duo me7ises sine interruptione observatur." " Cerasi avium pleruraque
Aprilis 25. incipiunt florere. Rarus casus fuit a. 1818, ubi jam Aprilis 8.
effloruere." He says, also, that, in 1812, the cold commenced in October ;
that, in 1813, melons were destroyed by frost, on May 12. (24.) j and that,
in 1829, snow fell in November, but melted at sunrise.

:J: One of the Andes was also in eruption in 1829. (Bousaingavlt.)

Vol. VIL — No. 44. ss

626 Supposed Connection of Meteoric Phenomena,

state of the earth in 1827, 1829*, 1833, 1834-, tallies also
with the recent descent of the ice from the poles. To what,
then, can we attribute the " breaking up " and " floating
away" of the ice since 1816, but to the one universal agent,
the influence of an increased terrestrial heat? The year
1833 parallels, as we have seen, in all respects, that of 1818;
and both periods are parallels of that of 1 34-8, when a greater
disruption of ice took place, and, in consequence, the coast,
now partially free, was encumbered. The cause which has
operated recently, doubtless operated in 1348; and the
blocking up was, there is every reason to believe, occasioned
by the same agency as the breaking up. It was accident,
perhaps, which first grounded the foundation ice of the " ram-
part;" and the same accident may occur again. There is no
reason to believe that either cold or mildness are of any fixed
duration in the polar seas; and there is every reason to
believe that the changes of climate there depend, in great
measure, on the developement or inactivity of subaqueous and
subterranean heat.

I will allow that, in 1348, the blocking up of lower lati-
tudes might have chilled Europe to an immense extent ; but
there is no ground for supposing that the more recent alter-
ations in the ice in the Greenland seas, or its frequent melt-
ing in the Atlantic, can produce such an influence on the
climate of England as has been asserted. If the position of
the Quarterly Reviewer be a just one, it could have stood the
test I have put it to in the foregoing remarks; and, therefore,
since the year 1833 has been distinguished by an intensity
and duration of southerly and westerly winds, not paralleled
for twenty-four years : and since those gales have been accom-
panied with a warmth not paralleled for twice that length
of time ; since, also, the present year has been hotter than
perhaps ever known, and the seasons at least a month earlier
than remembered; and since, during both years, ice has been
floating into low latitudes, we ought not to attribute the gales
in question to the ice, which ought to produce " a raw, moist,
chilly atmosphere," but to a cause which, despite the ice, has
set the air in extraordinary motion, and heated the earth
throughout. What that cause is, I have already surmised.

* In 1829, Kirauea, in the South Sea, was in eruption. (Steivarf.) In
1831, there was an earthquake in Owhyhee : the sea is said to have risen
in a pyramid, four or five miles from shore, " higher than the bread-fruit
trees, which are GO ft. or 70 ft. high. (Goodrich, in SilHman's Anier. Journ.,
XXV. 199.) In 1832, Jan. 12., Mouna Kea, in Oahu, erupted with violent
earthquakes; and on June 20., Mouna Loa broke out for three weeks:
the crater was filled up 50 ft. higher than the black ledge in Lord Byron's
account. (I(t.)

prevalent Disorders, S^-c, 'with Volcanic Emanations, 627

That the American continent, to a certain extent, may be
affected by the ice, when this has received a lodgement on her
shores, no one can dispute ; and that a momentary passing
chill may be produced, in the direction of the prevalent wind,
by ice crossing that line, even in England, I would not deny;
but this is the extent of the influence to whicli I would limit it.
The inundations, hurricanes, and tempests of 1 8 16, and even the
accumulation of snow partially, in all probability, owed their
origin to electrical agents, set in motion by the cause which
filled the Atlantic with icebergs. Westerly and southerly
gales, it seems, have blown on the other side of the floating
ice ; and, therefore, unless the American continent has been
much colder than the ice, these winds cannot be caused by it.
But it so happens, that the heat and drought experienced in
Europe have been felt also in America, even in Canada,
although the coasts of Canada and Newfoundland have been
dreadfully chilled by a transported winter. It is said, that
" in Virginia scarcely a night" occurred, in 1816, without
frost, even in summer * ; in New Orleans, the ice was 2 in.
thick, &c. &c. {Quarterly Review, xviii. 447.) Now, can any
man believe that frost in New Orleans is caused by ice melting
in the latitude of 40° ?f We have seen that the south of

* In Virginia, the south-west wind prevails in the summer. {Jefferson.)
\ The latitude of New Orleans is 30° n., and its longitude is 90° W w.,
and it is situated in the Gulf of Mexico, from which a warm current sets
northwards, between the Bahamas and Florida, at the rate of four miles
per hour, " which is not reduced to two miles till the stream has proceeded
a distance of 1800 miles in the direction of Newfoundland, when it meets
with a current setting to the southward from Baffin's Bay, and is thereby
deflected to the east." (Lyell's GeoL^ i. 258.) " It retains, in the pa-
rallel of 38°, nearly 1000 miles from the above straits, a temperature of 10"
Fahr. warmer than the air." (/rf.,p. 108.) Now, it is not pretended that
the ice has come lower than 40°; and, even calculating the distance be-
tween 40° and 30°, in the same meridian, at about half distance between
England and the spot where it was seen on October 30. 1833, still the
difference of climate and the breadth of difference in longitude must upset
the calculation ; for we are told by a recent writer, that, even at Christmas,
the heat at New Orleans is so great, that oranges, peas, and red pepper
grow there in the open air. (Mrs. Trollope's Domestic Mariners of the
Americans y i. 9.) " The extreme limits of the icebergs in the northern
hemisphere appears to be the Azores," or 42° e. (Lyell, Geol.,i. Hi.)
Moreover, Mr. Lyell says, on undoubted authority, that the Gulf stream
" maintains an open sea free from ice in the meridian of East Greenland
and Spitzbergen." (i. 108.) The lowest latitude registered by the Quar-
terly Reviewer (xviii. 446.) is 41° 51', in long. 50° 53' w., which is more
than 1800 miles from the meridian of New Orleans, and consequently the
iceberg in question was more than 2000 miles from New Orleans; the
Gulf stream, the atmosphere above, and the Carib Sea intervening. The
spot is scarcely more than 120 miles from that where the Emulous met
with packed ice on Feb. 26. 1833 ; so that this memorandum will serve
for both cases. Major Rennel estimates the distance between the Gulf of

s s 2

628 Supposed Cwmection of Meteoric Phenomena^

Europe was chilled, in 1832, by some extraordinary cause
(M. i^, H., vi. 292.) : and could that cause which produced ice
at Smyrna, so that skating was practised *, have been the
melting of a few icebergs off' the Azores ? Was the cold, which
was felt after the meteors of Nov. 1833, produced by the ice?
At that time, the coast of America was beset by ice ; yet we
have the evidence of an eyewitness that America was unusually
warm. (VII. 388.) f Was, also, the cold which followed the
meteors in Germany (VII, 299.) occasioned by ice ? Yet surely
so, if the positions in the Qiiarterly Review, respecting 1816,
liold good. How is it to be accounted for on that theory, that,
while great accumulations of snow took place on the Alps
during the last winter, the Pyrenees, so much nearer the melt-
ing ice of the Atlantic, remained free ? And how do the state-
ments respecting the ice in May and June, 1834', agree with
the weather in England during those months ? \ Less rain
and warmer weather than since 1829 marked them; and not
" a raw, moist, chilly atmosphere. ^^ As to the frost at New
Orleans, it may be observed that, in New Grenada, from
Dec. 11. 1808, to the end of Jan. 1809, the cold was greater

Mexico and the Azores at 3000 miles ; and considers the stream to rim
that distance in about eleven or twelve weeks. Now, it is for these
reasons that I conclude, that though the ice, to a certain extent, brought
cold, and tempered the climate it passed through, the effects did not
extend to New Orleans ; but that the cold there, as in Mexico, New Gre-
nada, &c,, at certain seasons, had a different origin, though contem-
poraneous with effects actually produced by ice elsewhere. Ice at New
Orleans is far more likely to be produced by a n. w. wind than a n. e. In
the West Indies, I believe, ice is never naturally formed ; but occasionally,
when the winter in America is very severe, and the wind from the n. w.,
Nevis, Antigua, St. Kitt's, &c., experience sufficient cold to cause the
closing of shutters and doors : but this is all the effect produced.

* The thermometer, at TefSs, in Georgia, durmg the winter of 1832-3,
stood at 35° Fahr. ; at Alexandria, in Feb. 1833, there fell snow and hail;
while it rained in Egypt for six months. (VI. 292.)

\ Maple sugar was made by the Indians on Dec. 31. Mr. Hildreth
(Silliman's Amer. Journ.y xxvi. 84.) states that, at Marietta in Ohio,lat. 30°
25' N., 4° 28' w. of Washington, the year 1833 was even milder than 1832 ;
and that the spring was earlier by a week. After September, westerly
winds were prevalent ; i. e. winds that blew to^ not froviy the ice then melt-
ing off the coast of America. Such was the case, also, in the year 1831,
when the United States were affected with unusual cold during the pre-
valence of westerly winds.

'\. May, 1834, was warmer than any May since twelve years, except that
of 1833: less rain fell than since 1829, though more than in 1833. The
barometer stood higher than in any May since 1829. In June, 1834,
the thermometer was higher than since 1822; and the barometer higher
than in any May since 1827. The rain ivas less than the average, much less
than in 1832 and 1833. The mean of the barometer only once exceeded
'in twelve years, viz. in 1829. From Register kept at High Wycombe.
(^lAterary Gazette.')

prevalent Disorders, Sj-c, "with Volcanic Emanations. 629

than ever known, and *was attended by frosts. The sky was
always hazy, calm, and dry ; the wind always from the south.
This extended over the first twelve degrees of south latitude.
But the climate of New Grenada is subject to severe frosts at
night, even during the season of most scorching heat. The
inhabitants of the country desolated by the earthquakes at
Pasto, &c., in January, 1834, suffered from this most dread-
fully.

Towards the end of August, 1804-, the maize in New Mexico
was so completely destroyed by intense frosts, that famine,
and its attendant pestilence, carried off no less than 300,000
persons. Now, 1804 was a close season, when little ice was
melted in the Atlantic; and the same may be said of 1809.

Were these frosts caused by ice in the Atlantic ? Yet, why
not ? Again, are the horrid frosts in Persia and China, and
in Africa (12° n.), caused by this melted polar ice? As has
been well observed by M. Parrot, the cooling of the sea, by
the melting of the ice, would be like cooling Geneva Lake
with a cubic fathom of water of the temperature of melting
ice : and to cool Europe this way would be still more pre-
posterous.* M. Parrot is contending against Fourrier's theory
of a central fire ; and says, in continuation, that, if such a
fire exists, it would be proved by the increased temperature
of the sea at great depths. He proves that the temperature
at sea decreases with the depth ; and alludes to Mr. Scoresby's
experiments in the deep sea between Greenland and Spitz-
bergen, where the heat increased even amidst ice ; and justly
observes, that this heat was owing to the volcanic mass below.f

M. Parrot rejects in toto the idea of a central heat ; and
considers that all the phenomena connected with terrestrial
heat arise from volcanic actioyi, which has existed from the
earliest times ; and still operates, though with much less
intensity than at ancient eras. In this case I am completely
borne out in my speculations by M, Parrot.

Notwithstanding, in the above remarks, 1 am far from
wishing to deny any indubitable influence that the ice may
have in producing sudden paroxysms of cold in the direction
of the wind blowing across it. The chill, in the spring of
1833 and 1834, and, perhaps, an occasional coldness since,
were, as I believe, occasioned by the wind bringing to our
shores a stratum of " ra'ixi moist air :" but I dispute that the

* Considerations sur la Temperature du Globe, &c. {Memoires de
VAcademie de St. Petersbourg.) There is a paper on the same subject, by
the same author, in the Bulletin de Feritssac.

f Vide Quarterly Revieiv, xviii. 452-8, where are some sensible remarks
on this subject. 8ee, also, De la Beche, Manual of Geology y p. 22.

s s 3

630 Observations on some of

ice was the cause of the wind's direction ; the point I am
endeavouring to explain. Navigators all state, that, in
approaching the ice, the temperature falls ; and that variable
and gusty 'whirlwinds attend it : they give no idea of a constant
breeze from the west. So far, then, I allow, and no farther,
the melting of ice in the Atlantic to be a means of cooling
our atmosphere : and this melting of the ice is, it is almost
certain, the effect of terrestrial heat; so that even our " raw,
moist, chilly" weather is attributable to the same cause as the
dry hot atmosphere which has so recently prevailed. Para-
doxically, this is to maintain that heat may produce cold ;
but cold can 7zever produce heat, I will, in my next paper,
consider the question more fully.
Cli/'ton, Oct, 13. 1834.

Art. II. Observations on some of the Diseases in Poultry. By
J. M. CoBY, Esq., Member of the Royal College of Surgeons in
London, of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, of
the Medical and Philosophical Society of London, &c.

As the diseases of the feathered tribe have not hitherto
attracted much scientific attention in this country, it may not
be uninteresting to the readers of the Magazine of Natural
History to be presented with a few facts and investigations
deduced from the study of comparative morbid anatomy.
The pathology of birds had been slightly entered upon by
Mr. Youatt, the highly talented professor of veterinary medi-
cine at the London University; and it is to be regretted that
his researches, which appear to have been confined to more
valuable animals, have not been extended in this department.
The naturalist may possibly be able to refer to a nosological
system in some of the numerous works on zoology, British or
foreign; but I am not aware of the existence of any such
system. Girard's Anatomie des A7iimaux Domestiques^ 2 vols.
Paris, 1820, which is one of the latest foreign works on the
structure of domestic animals, does not, I believe, enter upon
the subject of pathology.

1. Cerebral A;poplexy or Stroke, — The animal, when attacked
with this disease, suddenly falls, appears senseless, and is
found with the head bent under the neck or thorax. Every
time an attempt is made to place it in a sitting or standing
position, the head is constantly forced downwards below the
breast, the cranium resting on the ground. There is no incli-
nation to take food ; and, when it is artificially introduced
into the pharynx, it passes onward to the crop. In some
instances, death rapidly supervenes ; in others, some days

the Diseases in Poultry, 631

elapse, when convulsions in the voluntary muscles appear,
and continue till life is exhausted.

This disease is, I believe, always considered to be fatal;
but its nature and remote cause are, I apprehend, little known.
I believe, in most, if not all, cases, it is occasioned by some
vegetable poison, received into the stomach, which has the
effect of exciting an engorgement of the vessels of the brain,
and a consequent rupture of one of the veins or sinuses of
that organ.

On the 31st of August, a fine young hen dropped from her
roost almost immediately after she had placed herself upon it.
The apoplectic symptoms, above described, were immediately
observed ; and, at the end of a week, convulsions of the
extremities, and of one or both of the larynges (or vocal
organs), took place ; and, on the eighth day, she died. She
was artificially fed and kept warm during the whole illness,
and deglutition w^as completely effected ; but the crop had
not discharged any of its contents, which had been thus
accumulated within it.

On examining the head, I found a rupture of the longi-
tudinal vein or sinus near that part where in the human
subject the torcular Herophili is situated ; and a considerable
quantity of coagulated blood was lying in contact with the
cerebellum and medulla oblongata, and forced into the mas-
toid cells. The gizzard was distended with Irish ivij^ which
had been picked from a wall covered with it, and bounding
the poultry yard. On enquiry, I find that ivy is well known
to be poisonous to poultry. Its secondary operation on the
vascular system of the brain or cerebellum has probably
never been suspected.

2. Emphysema. — Chickens, when about two weeks or
three weeks old, are subject to an emphysematous swelling,
a collection of air, under the integuments about the neck,
generally preceded by a slight morbid sound in the larynx;
and accompanied with vertigo, closing of the eyelids, droop-
ing or convulsive motion of the wings, and coldness of the
whole body, which ends in death. This is a different disease
from the roup^ which is designated by a mucous or muco-
purulent discharge from the eyelids, mouth, and nasal passages.

Dissection presents no morbid appearance in the lungs, or
injury in the ribs ; and the pharynx, oesophagus, gizzard, and
the rest of the alimentary canal, are free from disease ; except
the ileum, the mucous coat of which I have, in some in-
stances, found in a state of softening (or what the French call
ramollissement\ readily admitting of abrasion, occasionally
attended with perforations; and, in one case, with black

s s 4

632 Diseases i?i Poultry.

marks on the peritoneal coat, opposite the disease in the
internal surface. These black marks, of which the annexed
is a representation, arise from a species of
disorganisation, which is, I believe, pecuhar to '^/////
serous membranes, as I have never observed l L L L L L
them in other structures; and, on that part
of the intestinal tube being immersed in water a few hours,
they disappear, and leave corresponding semiperforations. I
have remarked the same appearance in the human intestines,
accompanied with a softening and abrasion of the mucous
tunic, and a general disease of a specific character affecting
the whole serous covering of the abdominal viscera. The
other morbid phenomena consist of a softening, erosion, and
partial destruction of the spinal marrow, immediately adjoin-
ing the medulla oblongata, accompanied with a considerable
effusion of bloody serum, and preternatural vascularity of the
adjacent parts.

The extravasation of air is probably produced by the rup-
ture of one of the axillary or thoracic air cells into which the
animal has the powder of inflating air from the lungs by means
of numerous large tubes resembling the respiratory organs of
insects. I am disposed to believe that there exists in these
cases a direct communication between the cellular membrane
infiltrated with air and the lungs ; because, whenever I have
punctured the integuments, and produced perfect collapse,
the swelling and crackling have been speedily and repeatedly
restored. I have not been able to trace the exact source
from which the air proceeds, as the cells, even in large birds,
are of delicate structure, and, in some, extend from the
axilla under the skin along the neck ; and, in young poultry,
they are still more delicate. I hope to be able to ascertain
this point, and to direct my enquiries more particularly to the
state of the trachea and inferior larynx.

The morbid condition of the spinal medulla and the adjoin-
ing medullary structure is sufficient to account for the para-
lytic and convulsive affections of the upper extremities ; but
whether this state may be primary or secondary, appears to
me at present uncertain. As I am engaged in the in-
vestigation of some diseases of the nervous system, which has
led me to take advantage of comparative physiology and
pathology, I decline at present entering any farther into this
important subject.

Bridgnorth^ Oct, \^, 1834.

[In V. 207, 208. are figures and particulars of a species of
intestinal worm, of which numerous individuals had been found

Habits of al Cap'imulgus found near Lima. 633

attached to the inner surface of the trachea (windpipe) of a
number of pheasants that had died. In 11. 300, 301., are
particulars on the conditions of the death of a hen, which had
died of strangulation from a lump of cellular substance which
had been formed around the trachea immediately above its
entrance under the breastbone. In I. 300., and II. 288., are
remarks relative to the rearing of young pheasants ; and, in
the remarks in I. 300., it is noticed that certain young phea-
sants had died " very suddenly, as they " were " throwing out
their crop and tail feathers." The late Rev. L. Guilding had
made this note on that fact : — " The destruction of the young
pheasants may have proceeded from parasitic lice and acari.
In the West Indies, these creatures are fatal ; and a single
acarus will sometimes kill a full-grown fowl. An account of
these pests was sent [by me], with a drawing, to the con-
ductors of the Zoological Journal^ several years ago, who have
not yet been able to insert it. — L. Guilding, St, Vincent^
May 1. 1830."

Art. III. Information on the Habits of a Species of Caprimulgus
[or of some closely allied Genus) xvhich inhabits the Neighbourhood
of Lima. By Mr. Andrew Mathews, A.L.S., Travelling Col-
lector of Natural Productions in South America.

The specimen sent is one of the male of a species which is
common in the vicinity of Lima. It visits this neighbourhood
in about the end of October or beginning of November. The
female lays her egg (I have not seen more than one) upon
the bare ground, without the least sign or preparation of a
nest, and at a distance from any vegetation. One which I
had watched daily, this last summer, until the young bird had
become hatched from it, was laid on a " huaca " (a large heap
of stones) planted around the base with grape vines ; so that,
had the bird preferred privacy, she might have placed her
egg where it would have been more secret. The egg is of
about the size of a blackbird's egg, of a dirty white or stone
colour, mottled with olive and brownish green of different
shades. The young is, at first, covered with a greyish down :
as its feathers appear, it assumes the colour and markings of
the parent. The female parent, during the period of incuba-
tion, is remarkably fearless, and will even suffer the hand to
be brought within 2 ft. of her before she will quit her charge.
Her colour is so much that of the ground and stones, that
she, when sitting, is not readily observed. When she does
quit her charge, it is only for the distance of a few yards ;

634; Habits of a'^ Caprmidgus

and if she observes you touch or examine the egg, becomes
restless, keeping her wings in motion, and uttering a low
twitter of uneasiness. The male sits upon the ground during
the day, beneath the branches of the vines, and usually com-
mences his evening flight about five or six o'clock. Whilst
the bird has been on the wing, I have frequently observed a
sudden twist or bend of the head ; but, from the quickness of
its flight, and from its usually flying high, I cannot confirm
or contradict what is advanced in III. 32, 33. [By Mr.
Dillon, on the use of the pectinated claw of the nightjar.
See also III. 188. 296. 449; IV. 275. 425.] That the
South American species have the serrated claw may be seen
by the specimen I send. In its stomach I found, on dis-
section, a quantity of mosquitoes and some coleopterous
insects [this is the instance referred to in p. 560.], which were
taken, probabl}^, while it was on the wing. I do not think
the bill suited to taking beetles upon the ground. These
birds leave the neighbourhood of Lima in April or May.
The specimen I send was shot at Lurin, about twenty miles
from Lima, in the end of July : the species is called " dur-
midero" by the natives. As I am not well supplied with
ornithological books, I shall feel obliged for information
whether it be a described species, and, if it be, what it is
called. I wish the specimen to be presented to the Linnaean
Society for their collection.
Lima, August 22. 1832.

We are sorry that we have so long withheld Mr. Mathews's
communication, and present to him our apology for doing
so. Our motive for the delay has been the wish to get the
species identified with some one already described, or get it
clearly distinguished as an undescribed one. We have not,
even now, succeeded in attaining either object. One orni-
thologist, to whom we had submitted the specimen and account
of it, has replied, — "I have searched the different ornitho-
logical works to which I have access, but without finding Mr.
Mathews's goatsucker. It is probably undescribed." An-
other naturalist, versed in ornithology, to whom we had sent
the specimen and account, has remarked in reply : — "I
have here no means of ascertaining its systematic name ; but
can nevertheless assure you that it is a species very well
known, so that a technical description of it would be unneces-
sary. It is one of those curious vSpecies with pectinated claws,
but without any vibrissas on the rictus, the absence of which
has occasioned many naturalists to doubt that the former

found near Lima, 635

structure is ever used to clear from the mouth the hooked
claws of coleoptera, 8cc. ; but, I think, without sufficient reason,
for the beetles might hitch to the rictus as easily as to the
vibrissas, and more so. Mr. Mathews's account of its habits
is interesting, and in these it resembles very closely the com-
mon species of this country; but one curious circumstance is
mentioned, that of its laying but one egg, which, should it
prove to be invariably the case, would be a remarkable
anomaly in the genus. I wish that its note had been de-
scribed."

To complete our account of the specimen of Caprimulgus
sent by Mr. Mathews, we add a technical description of it,
which the ornithologist first alluded to above has supplied.

Length, from the point of the beak to the end of the tail,
8J in. ; from the point of the beak to the gape (rictus), seven
eighths of an inch ; width of mouth across, 1 in. The whole
of the upper surface of the back, a speckled ash grey, marked
on the top of the head with dashes of black and streaks of
the same colour on the back. The general colour of the
upper surface of the wings rather lighter than that of the
back, beautifully mottled, and various feathers distinctly
marked with black at their bases, and yellow at their points.
The primaries black, dusky towards the tips, with a minute
edging of white. The bird was a male ; and the first four
primaries are marked with an oval spot of white which per-
vades both webs. The wing, from the point of the shoulder
to the end of the second primary, which is the longest, mea-
sures 6 1 in. The two centre tail feathers are of the same
speckled ash-grey colour as tlie back, but are barred ob-
liquely with black ; and, when the tail was closed, these two
feathers hid all the others : the outer, four on each side, are
mottled over their proximal half [the half nearer the body]
with black and white ; the distal half [the half farther from
the body], black, with the sexual white spot in the centre of
the black, extending over both webs. The chin freckled
with reddish brown and black. The throat white ; this
colour extending on both sides to the space behind the open-
ing of the ear. The whole of the under surface of the body
and the wings pale rufous brown, transversely barred with
dusky black. The under surface of the tail primaries alter-
nately barred with black and white. The bird, in smallness
of size, as well as in the want of vibrissas on each side of the
beak, resembles the swallows ; but in every other respect is
a perfect Caprimulgus, and has the middle toes nearly as
long again as the outer ones, with the claw broad and strongly
pectinated.

636 Remarks on Nomenclature,

To keep our clew of the notices in this Magazine on cer-
tain Caprimulgidae, mostly the Caprimulgus europae\is, wound
up, we now add V. 726.; VII. 156. 317. and note *, 511.
559, 560. 633., to the references given in V. 674.

In IV. 424., V. 241., VII. 511. 559., objections are ex-
pressed to the application of the names goatsucker, Capri-
mulgus, and Nyctichelidon, to the species of birds to which
they are applied, as not any species of them either sucks a
goat ; milks a goat, which deed the word Caprimulgus im-
putes ; or is a night-swallow, strictly speaking, which the
word Nyctichelidon, taken literally, implies it to be. O. has
remarked, in VII. 511., that a species which visits Lower
Canada is called by the inhabitants " the mosquito hawk ; "
and he has added, that this is " a more appropriate name, as
relates to the habits of the bird, than goatsucker." Mr.
Mathews has informed us above, that the species which is the
subject of his notice had fed on mosquitoes and coleopterous
insects. In relation to the name of the species which visits
Britain, a correspondent has recently asked as follows : —
"Would not the name Nyctivociferator europae^us be preferable
to Caprimulgus europae^us L., or to Nyctichelidon europae^us
Renriie ? All the kinds of the genus ' Caprimulgus ' are
addicted to screeching : some in the night. — W. H. Y. Sept.

10. 1834." As we suspect that our correspondent's proposed
generic name of seven syllables, the first two Greek, the rest
Latin, will scarcely be well received, we may state that he had
previously proposed, in a communication, dated July 5., " Vo-
ciferator europae\is," as the name of the nightjar which visits
Britain. " Vociferator," as a generic name, is free from the
literary objections to which " Nyctivociferator" is subject.
All these words about names, which we have for once indulged
in, may serve to instance reasons, however humble ones, for
the opinion on generic names which Dr. Lindley has expressed,
and other naturalists have concurred in, (See VI. 232.) His
opinion is this: — " So impossible is it to construct generic
names that will express the peculiarities of the species they
represent, that I quite agree with those who think a good
unmeaning name by far the best that can be contrived."

Previous contributions by Mr. Mathews will be found in

11. 67. and III. 431. In VI. 314 — 319. are figures and de-
scriptions of some marine animals which Mr. Mathews had
discovered, and a notice of the fact of his having collected
many species of plants in South America, some of them not
previously discovered ones, and of Dr. Hooker's having named
a South American plant, Mathewszfl foliosa, in honour of him.
Besides Mr. Mathews's attention to, and acquisition of, objects

Migratio7i of the MacJcerel. 637

of these classes, he collects, he has informed us, " nests, eggs,
and skins of every kind :" and it is a pleasant duty to remark,
that the state of the specimens sent to us fully testifies his
skill ; the Colour and plumage being well preserved, and the
skin entire,, soft, and flexible. Mr. Mathews, at the date of
his communication, stated, that any orders sent to him, mio-ht
be directed for him, to the care of John MacLean, Esq.,
Lima ; " as my letters will be taken care of, whatever part of
Peru I should happen to be in." We received the skin of
the Caprimulgus through Mr. Hunneman, 9. Queen Street,
Soho, who, we believe, is in professional communication with
Mr. Mathews.

Art. IV. Reasons in support of an Opinion advanced, that the
Mackerel is not a Migratory Species of Fish, By O.

The frequent appearance of the mackerel (*Sc6mber ^Scom-
ber L.) in the shops, at periods of the year when it is not
expected, has long induced me to doubt the fact of its being, as
Pennant calls it, " a summer fish of passage.'' By reference
to my journal, I find this fish has been common in the shops
of the London fishmongers, the last winter, during the months
of December (1833), January (1834), and February (1834).
Now, if the species be migratory, as is generally supposed,
these individuals could not, surely, have come from distant
seas to our coasts at an unlooked-for period of the year,
because the season may have been mild, to go back again on
the return of severe weather ; for then, it is to be observed,
they again disappear. The conjecture I have to offer is, that
the mackerel do not, as is the conceived opinion, migrate
into distant seas when the spawning season is over ; but that
ihey then retire into the vast depths of the ocean, near their
spawning quarters, beyond the reach of the lines and nets of
the fishermen. I have, for many years, observed, during the
winter season, after mild or turbulent weather, that mackerel
are invariably to be seen in the shops ; and the reason for
this appears to me to be, that the instinct implanted in them
to visit the shallower water for the important business of
spawning, is either matured by an unusually mild and un-
seasonable state of the weather, or that the violence of the
winds has driven them from their deep retreats in the ocean ;
showing, in either case, that their migrations are not into
remote seas. Reasoning from analogy, in natural history, is
said [V. 499.] not always to be a safe guide ; but the habits
of the char (5almo alpinus L.) bear no small analogy to the

638 Zoological Illustrations : —

habits I impute to the mackerel ; though I am aware I am
comparing a freshwater fi-sh to a saltwater one. When the
char spawn, they are seen in the shallow parts of the rocky
lakes (in which only they are found), and some of the streams
that run into them ; they are then taken in abundance : but
so soon as the spawning is over, they retire into the deepest
parts of the lake, and are but rarely caught. Such, I venture
to suppose, may be the habits of the mackerel. This opinion
is offered with deference ; and it would be a gratification to
have it confirmed by some who may have more opportunities
for pursuing the enquiry than I have.
Clapton, Sept. 1834.

[Our correspondent's opinion is quite in accordance with
that of a naturalist distinguished in his knowledge of fishes ;
who, farther, sees in the law of nature which impels fishes to
visit the shores periodically, a beneficent provision for the
welfare of man, who, without the action of this law, would be
deprived of many of those most valuable to him as food.

Our correspondent, the Rev. W. B. Clarke, has mentioned
unusual dates of the appearance of mackerel, and other species
of fishes, in VI. 291, 292., VII. 197., in his collection of facts
relative to his arguments in proof of his proposition of the con-
nection of meteoric phenomena with volcanic emanations.]

Art. V. Illustrations in British Zoology. By George John-
ston, M.D.J Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edin-
burgh.

26. Rete'pora cellulo^sa. {Jig. 69.)

Synonymes. — Retepora eschara marina Ellls^ Coral]., p. 72, pi. 25. fig. d.
D. F .; Millepora Retepora Pall.^ Elench., p. 243. (exclus. Syn. Rail syn.) ;
Millepora cellulosa Lm., Syst., p. 1284.; Turt,^ Lin., iv. p. 637. (exclus.
syn. Borl. Cornw.); Turt.^ Brit. Faun., p. 205.; Stew.^ Elem., ii. p. 427.
M. foraminosa Soland.y Zooph., p. 138. pi. 26. fig. 2. Retepora cellulosa
Lam.y Anim. s. Vert., ii. p. 182.; RissOy I'Europ. Merid., v. p. 343.

Rete'pora cellulosa has been long known as a production
of the Mediterranean, where, says Ellis, it is " found grow-
ing to shells and rocks, on the Italian shore, in irregular
leafy figures, but very often in the form of a cup or drinking-
glass, irregularly expanded at the brim." The British spe-
cimen here delineated has something of the latter form, and
is about an inch in height with a breadth of nearly three
quarters : it is affixed by a hollow, thick, and very short
stalk, which expands into a shallow cup, with unequal, waved,

llet^pova cellnlbsa Lamarck. 639

69

and sinuous margins. It is pure white, calcareous and beau-
tifully reticulated; the meshes about a line in length, oval,
subequal, regular, and divided by celluliferous spaces rather
wider than their own shortest diameter; the cells immersed,
quincuncial, leaning, with the apertures looking upwards, a
little prominent, round with a small tooth on the distal edge:
they open only on the superior or inner aspect; for the under
surface of the polypidom is imperforate and almost smooth.
Of the polype architects very little is known ; but they are
said to be " very vivacious," and so industrious in their voca-
tion, that their building rises with a rapidity which has ex-
torted an expression of wonder from several observers.

To Mr. Bean of Scarborough I again tender my thanks,
for the liberality and kindness which induced him to entrust
his valuable specimen of this our prettiest zoophyte to my
examination. It may be regarded as a new addition to our
native list; for although, in the History of Zoophytes by Ellis
and Solander, it is said that " this elegant litde coral is
found now and then on our coast," and we find it introduced
into the works of Turton and Stewart, yet the evidence
appeared so slight and unsatisfactory that the Rev. Dr.
Fleming has rejected it; influenced, perhaps, by the fact that
the latter naturalists, at least, had confounded it with the
Retepora reticulata, figured in Borlase's History of Cornwall
Mr. Bean's detection of it in very deep water at Scarborough,
where it is very rare, renders its claim to denizenship indis-
putable ; and I heartily congratulate him on his good fortune ;
for it is just one of those little discoveries over which the
simple naturalist rejoices with feelings which amply repay
him for the toil of much patient research.

Berwick upon Tweed, Oct. 10. 1834.

640 Salt of the Motmtaht of Gem,

Art. VI. Some Account of the Salt of the Mountain of Gem, at
Cardona, m Catalonia, Spain; with some Facts indicative of the
little Esteem entertained by Spaniards for Naturalists, By W.
Perceval Hunter, Esq.

As no description of that curious production of nature the
mountain of Gern salt, at Cardona, in Catalonia, has ever
appeared in any English work, to the best of my knowledge ;
and as, too, the place will not, probably, be visited again for
years, owing to the bloody civil war raging in its environs ;
the following notes, taken down on the spot, however im-
perfect and faulty, may not, perhaps, be altogether devoid of
interest.

This hill, or mountain as it is generally called, is situated
near the foot of the Pyrenees, about sixty miles from Barce-
lona; and is, according to the measurement of Bowles (Intro-
duccion a la Historia Natural de Espana, p. 249.), from 400 ft.
to 500 ft. in height, and one Spanish league, or nearly four
English miles, in circumference. The depth is unknown, as
well as the nature of the rocks on which it rests, but the form-
ation of the surrounding country is red sandstone and red
mark The whole hill is of the purest solid salt, with the
exception of a few mounds of earth scattered about the base
and sides, on which I collected from twenty to thirty species
of plants ; but, from my utter ignorance of botany, I could
not write down their names, and as I was unable to procure
any thing to dry them with, in the wretched dirty little town
of Cardona, they withered up, and I threw them away as use-
less, the next day, on my road to Cervera. The prevailing
colour of the salt, from the foot to the summit of the hill, is
of an icy-coloured white ; in some places, however, is seen a
variety of snowy white, as well as patches of red, green, black,
and blue, which, decked out, as they appear to be, in all the
colours of the rainbow, fluted at the sides, and ending in peaks,
present, when the sun shines, one of the most beautiful sights
imaginable.

All these varieties, when broken with a hammer, and ground
down into powder, become of the same colour, and have the
same delicious flavour as the white ; next to which the red or
rose-coloured is the most common : it is cut up into slabs and
used as a most efficacious remedy against rheumatism, cramps,
and other pains in the body and limbs. When I visited these
saltworks last November, the workmen were busily employed
in cutting these slabs {ladrillos, as they call them ; 1 ft. long,
4 in. wide, and | in. thick), of which 60,000 had already been
sent to Seville as a remedy against the cholera morbus. They

at Cardond^ in Catalonia, 641

are well soaked in brandy, the administrador of the Salinas
informed me, heated as hot as the patient can bear them, and
then apphed to the feet. The red variety also is chiefly em-
ployed in the various ornaments, crosses, rosaries, candle-
sticks, &c., &c., which are manufactured by hand, in the
most elegant manner, by a carpenter of Cardona. Some of
these ornaments I sent to England from Tarragona, and am
happy in having it in my power to contradict the prevalent
notion, that, though in Spain they are as hard and durable as
the vases, &c., made of Derbyshire spar in England, on arriv-
ing in this country they immediately melt, owing to the hu-
midity of the climate. A temple, and a pair of candlesticks,
have been in England since January ; and, on my opening the
case containing them, last week, I found that, though they had
rather a moist feel, they exhibited no signs of decay, and I
hope and trust they will long remain in a sound and perfect
state amonff the other curiosities of mv collection.

A river, or what, like most Spanish rivers, would be termed
in England a trout stream, flows along about a stone's throw
from the salt hill, into which trickles a small streamlet, whether
produced by the dissolving of the salt, or originating in some
spring near, I could not discover, I tasted the water near its
entrance into, and at several places lower down, the river, but
could not discover any thing brackish or unpleasant in it.
During the heavy rains, however, which occasionally fall in
Catalonia, rendering the high roads, which, as in most parts
of Spain, are at other times excellent, more like ploughed
fields than thoroughfares, an immense quantity of salt is, the
administrador informed me, washed down into the Cardonero,
and the fish are destroyed for leagues. The salt, however,
must afterwards evaporate [?], as no deposit can be made of
it in the bed of the river, judging from, as I have before ob-
served, the perfecdy fresh taste of the water.

Bowles, according to Patrin {Histoire Natiirelle des Mi-
meraux^ v. 370.), states that die sal-gemma of Cardona has
the property of decomposing nitre : a kind of aquafortis is
made out of it, and the jewellers of Madrid, who commonly
make use of it, assert that it does not attack gold ; *' une ob-
servation," remarks Patrin, " qui seroitfort singuli^re si elle
seroit confirmee. II seroit a desirer qu'un chimiste voulut
bien verifier ce fait." In order, therefore, that this fact may
be verified by experiment, I enclose a specimen of the rose-
coloured variety, and also one of the salt in its purest, or
rather, I should say (for it is all pure), its most powerful state,
which, as you will observe, is transparent, and in many re-
VoL. VII. — No. 44. T T

642 Salt of the Mountain of Gem,

spects closely resembles ice, in order that it may be analysed
by some competent chemist.

[We purpose to send the specimens, as soon as we have a
printed copy of our correspondent's communication ready to
be sent with them, to some friend versed in chemical analysis,
whose report upon the salts we hope to give in' a future
Number.]

Notwithstanding the immense quantity of salt which might
be drawn from these works, sufficient for the supply, not only
of all Spain, but, I might perhaps say, the whole of Europe,
such are the absurd regulations prevailing in every branch of
industry in that lovely but unfortunate country, that the sale
of it is confined to a circle of about seven leagues, including
the large manufacturing town of Manresa : beyond which it
is contraband. The surrounding country, though patches of
the most beautiful woodland occasionally occur, has, for the
most part, a sad, dreary, desolate look : for miles and miles,
with the exception of here and there a train of asses or mules
laden with sacks containing salt, and the whirr of a covey of
red-legged partridges started up from their heathy roost, not
a sound is heard, not a living creature is seen. The rugged
barren nature of the country, indeed, joined to the fierce vin-
dictive character of its inhabitants, had the effect of scaring
the French off during the Peninsular war ; and the castle of
Cardona, which, though situated on an eminence, and strongly
fortified, is by no means impregnable, was one of the very few
fortresses which never, during that six years' bloody warfare,
received a French garrison within its walls. It was also the
only fortress never taken during the war of succession, but
was delivered up in 1715, after the glorious but fruitless de-
fence of Barcelona by the Catalans, against the united forces
of France and Spain : a defence unparalleled in the annals
of history, save by those of Gerona and Saragossa in later
times.

There are thirty-five labourers employed on these salt-
works, who receive five rials, about 13^. a day; and twenty
guards keep watch night and day in order to prevent any of
the salt being stolen : such is the wretched character for rob-
bery and murder borne by the surrounding inhabitants ; a
character, inueed, which seems vindictive in the extreme. No-
where, in any of my rides in Spain, did I meet with crosses,
those Spanish signs of blood and vengeance, in such numbers
as on the by bridle-road from Cardona to Cervera.

The salt mountain formerly belonged to the Duke of Me-
dina-Celi, and the manner by which it fell into royal hands

at Cardona^ in Catalonia, 64-3

is rather amusing, and was told me with great glee by my
host at Cardona. Charles III., the only wise man in his
family, as the Spaniards call him, hearing of the great value
of the mountain, determined to get it into his own clutches ;
and for that purpose observed carelessly one day to the Duke
of Medina- Celi, that he understood his salt possessions brought
him in a large annual rent. " A mere trifle," replied the duke,
who, like all Spaniards, wished to conceal his wealth, naming
about one third of the actual amount. " If that is the case,"
rejoined the king, " I will give you double, and make as much
more out of them as I can." To hear, in those despotic times,
was to obey ; and thus the Duke of Medina-Celi lost one of
the fairest possessions of his powerful house : for, as may
easily be imagined, from the proverbial good faith of a Bour-
bon, after the death of that king, the promised tribute was
never paid, and they now belong entirely to the queen regent,
who farms them out to a merchant at Barcelona.

" Spain," said Bowles (an Englishman by birth, but a
Spaniard by adoption, who was employed by Charles III. to
inspect and report on the then state of the mines), sixty or
seventy years ago, " is, to the naturalist, a virgin land" {una
tierra virgen); and such — in spite of her beautiful marbles,
unrivalled by those of any country upon earth ; her noble
forests; her numerous mines ; and splendidly plumaged-birds
(among them the roller; the bee-eater, which I met with in
May last, as common as swallows, along the banks of the Tagus,
between Toledo and Aranjuez; the azure-winged jay, &c.),
vying with the most magnificent species of the torrid zone, in
brilliancy and variety of colouring — she has since continued,
and appears still destined to remain. No one, indeed, in their
senses, would naturalise in a country, where, in addition to the
chance of being stripped naked, soundly bastinadoed, and left
tied to a tree all night (for such is the mode of punishment
inflicted by those worthies, Spanish robbers, on any person
who has the misfortune to fall into their clutches, and whose
purse does not appear to them sufficiently well lined with
dollars), a naturalist is subject to such barbarous treatment as
I received, though my passport was perfectly regular, in Ja-
nuary last, in the Catalonian Pyrenees. For four nights I
slept in dungeons on straw; one of these nights with irons of
the most barbarous description on my feet ; for two days and
a half I was marched through the country bound, like a robber
or a cut-throat, hand and foot to my horse with cords ; in
company with my guide, who was treated in a similar manner ;
under a guard of twelve armed men, to Talarn, the capital of

T T 2

644

Facts and Considerations

the district, and the residence of the governor. All this was
owing to a hot-headed captain of volunteers taking it into his
mind that I must needs be one of the two foreigners he had
shortly before (such at least was the excuse made for him by
the authorities, when called to account for such extraordinary
conduct by the British ambassador at Madrid) received orders
to search for, arrest, and send under a strong escort to Talarn
to be shot ! The governor, after examining my passport, and
asking me a great many questions, of course set me at liberty ;
but, on my expressing my indignation at the brutal treatment
to which I had been subjected, he had the audacity to tell me
that I had no right to complain, for Spaniards were every bit
as free as Englishmen, and the same thing might have hap-
pened to himself, had he been travelling in England ; and that,
as I had stated my chief object, in wandering about the moun-
tains, to be, to collect pieles and piedras {skins and stones), he
really did not feel very much surprised at what had happened !
Such an unknown species of biped is a naturalist in Spain.
Sept. 27. 1834.

Art. VII. Facts and Considerations on the Strata of Mont Blanc ;
and on some Instances of Twisted Strata observable in Stoitzer-
land; by J. R. : luith Remarks thereon^ by the Rev. W. B.
Clarke, A.M. F.G.S, &c.

The granite ranges of Mont Blanc are as interesting to the
geologist as they are to the painter. The granite is dark

red, often enclos-
ing veins of quartz,
crystallised and
compact, and like-

y ^.-^^^^r^ fM'iwmWfllBmiil^'''rww '^'^W^'' ^^^^ well-formed
V -^_^_^ "" ' " " "' ' " crystals of schorl.

'-^^m'^\^ KKMIilMXiMIKV^-' / y/ ^ Mil The average ele-
vation of its range
of peaks, which ex-
tends from Mont
Blanc to the Tete
Noire, is about
12,000 English feet
above the level of
the sea. [Its high-
est culminating
point is 15,744

feet] The Aiguille de Servoz (^^.70.), and that of Dru

on the Strata of Mont Blanc.

645

{Jg- Vl.)) are excellent examples of the pyramidal and
splintery formation which these granite ranges in general
*71 _^. _ __ ^ \ assume. They rise

out of immense
fields of snow; but,
being themselves
too steep for snow
to rest upon, form
red, bare, and in-
accessible peaks,
which even the cha-
mois scarcely dares

bases appear some-
times abutted
against (if I may
so speak) by mica
slate, which forms
the south-east side
of the Valley of
Chamonix ; whose
flanks, if inter-
sected, might appear as in^. 72. a. Granite, forming on the
one side (b) the Mont Blanc, on the other (c) the Mont Breven ;

bf mica slate resting

A

\

r^

A' -^^

on the base of Mont
Blanc, and which con-
tains amianthus and
quartz, in which capil-
lary crystals of tita-
nium occur; c, calca-
reous rock ; d, alluvium, forming the Valley of Chamonix.
I should have mentioned that the granite appears to contain
a small quantity of gold, as that metal is found among the
granite debris and siliceous sand of the river Arve \_Bakewell^
i. 375.] ; and I have two or three specimens in which chlorite
(both compact and in minute crystals) occupies the place of
mica. — J. R, March, 1834?.

IRemjrxs, obligingly added by the Rev. W. B. ClarJce, to
'whom we had submitted J. R.'s Notes."]

The granites of the Mont Blanc have already been ably
described by various geologists; as Saussure, De Luc, the
writer in Ebel, Mr. Bakewell, &c. The latter author has given
a coloured view of the Aiguille de Dru as a frontispiece to

T T 3

64:6 Facts and Considerations

vol. ii. of his Travels in the Tare?itaise ; and a description of the
rocks, ii. 12. The granite is not always a "dark red," for the
glaciers are strewed with blocks and fragments of differently
coloured granites ; and, among others, with the peculiar white
granite from the summits of the Aiguilles and of the Mont
Blanc, which are, perhaps, the most common. This granite is
traceable by its character, and may be picked up at the edge
of the ice on Montanvert, as well as all along the route of its
transport, as far as the Jura. See Bakewell, vol. i. p. 375-6.*
J. R.*s sketches give a good idea of the pyramidal forms of
the aiguilles. There is a large lithographic plate of Mont Blanc,
taken from Servoz, by Villeneuve, which is worth the pur-
chasing, if it fall in the way of a collector. It gives the whole
range from Chamonix, with the intermediate mountains, and
the vale between it and Servoz. f Mr. Charles Fellows, a fel-

* [This state of alpine strata has given rise to the two following com-
prehensive speculations. They scarcely consort enough with the present
subject to be very fitly attached herej but they cannot fail to excite
welcomely the imagination of the general reader. On this account we
hope that neither IVIr. Clarke nor J. R. will disapprove our attachment of
them.

" Those naturalists who have seen the glaciers of Savoy, and who have
beheld the prodigious magnitude of some fragments conveyed by them
from the higher regions of Mont Blanc to the valleys below, to a distance
of many leagues, will be prepared to appreciate the effects which a series
of earthquakes might produce in this region, if the peaks, or * needles' as
they are called, of Mont Blanc were shaken as rudely as many parts
of the Andes have been in our times." — Lyell's Principles of Geology,
vol. iii.

" The rapid change which is now going on in the greatest altitudes of
Switzerland, points out to us the mode in which nature is operating by
decomposition, and the attraction of gravitation. When standing on the
borders of the Mer de Glace, and while crossing its frozen bosom, this
operation was brought most forcibly to my mind. Every moment my ears
were saluted with the sound, more or less distant, of rocks precipitated
from some height into the abysses below, and which reverberated over
this frozen sea. The time may come when the pinnacles of Mont Blanc
and other mountains which surround the beautiful valley of Chamouni,
will have been precipitated to their bases, and the debris be so completely
carried off as to leave, perhaps, that beautiful and fertile spot itself, the
highest pinnacle of the country, a naked rock to be gazed at from a dis-
tance."— Lea's Contiibutiom to Geology (Philadelphia, 1833), Introd.
p. 16, 17.]

-j- The allusion to the Valley of Chamonix recalls to my mind that splendid
and beautiful poem, upon which alone the lately deceased Mr. Coleridge
might have rested his fame as one of the greatest of our modern bards.
There is nothing, if we except Milton, in the whole range of English blank
verse, at all comparable with the Hymn whence the following extract is
made : —

" Ye Ice falls ! ye that from the mountain's brow
Adown enormous ravines slope amain —
Torrents, methinks, that heard a mighty Voice,

071 the Strata of Mont Blanc, 647

low-traveller of mine (who, in 1827, ascended Mont Blanc),
has given, in his Narrative of the Ascent^ a good view of it,
with the glaciers and aiguilles, as taken from the Breven with
a camera obscura ; and also another from the Col de Balme ;
both of these convey a perfect idea of the perpendicularity
of the stratification, though the former is out of proportion.
Mr, De la Beche has the best view from the Breven, in his
Sections and Views, Mr. Hawes, who ascended with Mr. Fel-
lows, thinks Mr. Fellows's drawings rather too imaginative ;
and I think so too. The same remarks apply to Mr. Auldjo's
views. J. R.'s sketches {Jigs, 70, 71.) are illustrative; and
are, therefore, though not novel, worth preserving.

The granite of Mont Blanc is said to contain gold. Gold
is very common in all soils and in most river beds ; though
in quantity too minute to be observable. It is universally
distributed, and may be procured from decayed vegetable
matter. It is obtained in small quantities near Simplon, on
the route of that name : most alluvial deposits have traces of
it. See the localities and river beds named by Leonhard and
Phillips and Jameson. The washing of the sand of the Rhine
at Baden produced, in 1827, 2317 kr. 53 J gr. of gold; from
1828 to 1829, 2999 kr. 44l|gr. {Allgemeine Handlung Zei"
tung, Oct. 1829.) Gold is also found in the rivers of the north
of Moldavia ; in the Goldbach near Audel, in Treves ; near
Endkirch on the Moselle ; and in the Guldenbach near Strom-
berg, in the neighbourhood of Coblentz. (Gruithuisen,
Analeldenfur Erd und Himmels-Jcunde, part iii. p. 36.)

The chloritic granite, of which J. R. has spoken, comes
from the Col de Geant : the red granite from the Aiguille de
Blaittiere. A far more striking discovery would be that of
sulphur in the granite, which has been, in some cases, found.
— ^. B. Clarke.

And stopp'd at once amidst their maddest plunge —
Motionless torrents I silent cataracts !
Who made you glorious as the gates of Heaven
Beneath the keen full Moon ? Who bade the Sun
Clothe you with rainbows ? Who, with living flowers
Of loveliest blue *, spread garlands at your feet ? —
God! let the torrents like a shout of nations
Answer ! and let the ice plains echo, God !
God ! sing ye meadow streams with gladsome voice !
Ye pine groves, with your soft and soul-like sounds !
And they, too, have a voice, yon piles of snow.
And in their perilous fall shall thunder— God !

Hymn before Sunrise in the Vale of Chamonix,

* Gentmna major [? acaulis], which grows on the very edge of the ice.
[See p. 249.]

T T 4'

648 Instances of twisted Strata

TwisfED Strata. — The contortions of the limestone at
the fall of the Nant d'Arpenaz, on the road from Geneva to
Chamonix, are somewhat remarkable. [Seey%. 7 5. in p. 65 1 .]
The rock is a hard dark brown limestone, forming part of a
range of secondary cliffs, which rise from 500 ft. to 1000 ft.
above the defile which they border. The fall itself is about
800 ft. high. The strata bend very regularly ; except [at e and
f\ where they appear to have been fractured. — J. R. March,
1834". [.J. R. sent with this communication a small neat copy
of a sketch carefully taken on the spot ; but as this did not
exhibit the stratification so distinctly as one which the Rev.
W. B. Clarke has since supplied {fig. 75.), we have only,
engraved the latter ; into which we have endeavoured to in-
troduce the letters e and^ in the points in which J. R. had,
in his own sketch, exhibited them. The following remarks
are by Mr. Clarke.]

Nant * (TArpenaz. — J. R.'s drawing is too indistinct to
give an idea of the stratification. The curvature of the
strata is a disputed point. Saussure first stated the cir-
cumstance ; subsequently, Mr. Bake well has considered the
appearances an illusion produced by the cleavage. I am
compelled to differ from him, and to adhere to Saussure;
who mentions that the strata, being originally horizontal, are
bent upwards, and then curved backwards. (See Bakewell's
Travels, vol. i. p. 339.) In the year 1825, I spent two days,
in July, in examining the whole of the strata on both sides of
the Nant d'Arpenaz, and, in fact, all that side of the Valley
of Maglanz from CI use to St. Martin ; and I confess that
there are so many instances of contorted and perpendicular
strata in the limestone, that I came to the conclusion that the
rocks at Arpenaz, as well as at Nant d'Orli, are merely por-
tions of a great range of strata, which, owing to vast pressure
and elevation of the subjacent beds, have been forced out of
their horizontal position, f The falls, in both instances, rush
over the face of the rock ; where there is, evidently, a fissure,
apparently caused by a crack upwards through the cliffs.
The real curves in the beds are explained in the appended
diagrams, which were made in 1825.

* Kant^ in the language of the country, means a waterfall.

f The following passage is also corroborative of Saussure's opinion
upon the subject : — *' Ein schones vielfaches Echo empfangt hier den
Reisenden ; weiterhin stiirzt ihm zur Seite von einer Hohe von 800 Fuss
der Gebirgstrom Arpenas {Nant (TArpenaz) als Wasserfall herab, der auch
bei geringerer Wasserf iille eins der sonderbarsten Schauspiele giebt, weil
die gewaltige Felsenmasse, liber die er hinabstiirzt, eine concentrische
Schichtenhildimg hat, die auf das deutlichste in die Augen springt, wie
Schaalen, die sich um einen gemeinsamen Kern aufsetzen, und zu bedeu-
tender Hohe in S-formiger Gestalt sich emporiu'mdcn^^ (Ritter's Beschrei-
buiigzu Kummer's Stereoramades Monlhlanc-Gebirges, Berlin, 1824, p. 31.)

ohservahk in Switzeriand.

6^9

strata of the Rocks at Cluse.
a. Highly inclined rock overhanging the river, under which there is a narrow walk and wall
at b. c. The parapet of the bridge. d, A tongue of land jutting into the river, e. The
river Arve, which comes from behind the rock ; at the foot of which is the tongue of land
and the town of Cluse ; the latter represented by three gable roofs of houses, and a wall
round. /, Trees feathering the whole surface of the rocks on the right-hand side, g. Road-
way from Cluse to Bonneville. — N.B. The Valley of Maglanz is at right angles to the valley
in which the country between it and Bonneville is situated.

At Cluse (Jig, VS.)? the rocks are so curved that they over-
hang the river and road ; and, near Cluse, the mountains are
split from top to bottom, forming the Vale of Reposoir ; and the
same singularities are remarked at various places throughout
the Valley of Maglanz. It had been my intention to draw up
a paper on this valley, as offering some peculiarly interesting
geological features ; but the design was abandoned, from a
pressure of more serious matters. The remarks of J. R. have
reminded me, however, of it, and I shall add a few observ-
ations from my note book. As confirmatory of the views I
have taken on the point, I may quote, at once, the words of
MM. Barbe and Robert; who travelled through Lorraine
and Switzerland in 1830, and published their observations in
the Bulletin de la Societe Geologique de France^ 16mo, tom. i.
p. 89. : — "La montagne schisteuse est singulierement repliee,
d*ou se precipite la cascade d'Arpenaz, la suivante, formee
d'ardoise, enfin une troisieme situee entre elles, au fond d'une
petite gorge, forment par les directions de leurs couches, re-
presentees par des lignes droites, un veritable triangle place
obliquement sur une de ses pointes." Nant d'Orli is the fall
alluded to in the latter part of this observation ; and the first
grand variation from the horizontal position of the strata which
occurs, is at Nant d'Orli. This is a beautiful cascade, which
tumbles down the face of the rocks immediately behind the
little village of Maglanz, from which it sometimes is called
the Cascade of Maglanz. {Jig- 74.) The height of the fall may
be about 500 ft. : it is not of any great breadth, but the water

650

Instances of twisted Strata
74

Nant d'Orli.
12 3 4 5, The road to Nant d'Arpenaz

falls with sufficient volume and force to work a saw-mill, built
across the rivulet which carries it to the Arve.

A vast mass of ruin is accumulated at the foot of the fall, the
debris of the higher rocks, and on the summit of it there are
growing pines of a great age.* We might almost suppose that
these fragments were hurled down by the catastrophe which
caused the fault by which the cascade was formed, and the
size of the fragments affords an additional proof; so vast are
many of them, that some children who were climbing them
in search of wild strawberries, cherries, &c., whose voices
were long heard, and directed us to their situation, were some
time invisible to us, being hidden under the shadow of these
mighty " screes^^ as they would be called in Cumberland.

The strata here are bent downwards on either side of the
fall, so as to form a crevice in the front of the rocks which
presents the more backward strata in the regular order, over
which the water is projected. Fig, 74. will explain this. On
a first inspection, it seems as if the strata had been bent down-
wards, continued horizontally in a lower position, and then
bent upwards again to their former level. The continued

* [" What a noble tree is a mighty pine ! when growing in the situation
it is intended for, on the mountain side ; based on the solid rock, which
its huge roots enfold, and, stretching deep, bind to the parent earth ; its
enormous trunk, unbent by storm or time, reaches towards heaven, * lythe
by degrees and beautifully less ; ' its dependent limbs, laden with persistent
verdure, shake icy winter proudly from their crest. Truly the pine is the
mountain forest king, as the oak is that of the plain." — Robert Mallcty Esq.
in Gard, Mag., ix. 275.]

observable in Switzerland.

6Bi

inclination of these strata would form a considerable angle.
The thickness of the strata varies from 1 ft. to 20 ft., and in
some places the thicker strata are uppermost.

This curious appearance in the strata is however only an

652

Instances of twisted Strata

Bottom of the rocks at Nant d'Arpenaz, to show the buttress-like projections that enclose the
lower part of the fall. The falls go down lower than the road, which is crossed by the
rivulet flowing from the falls into the Arve. a. The river Arve. Rise of strata to south.
Dip of strata to north. Inclination of strata east to west.

indication of a far more singular and striking disarrange-
ment.

About half a league farther, the scene is graced by another
most splendid fall, called Nant d'Arpenaz (Jig. 75. and 76.),
which comes down through a height of 800 ft. or 900 ft. in a
brilliant descent. When the air is calm, and there has been
a continuance of fine weather, the volume of water is by no
means considerable ; but after rain it is magnificent, and, if
by chance a brisk wind should be blowing up or down the
valley, the falling water is borne away along the surface of
the rocks, till it becomes an invisible mist, when by its depo-
sition it is again condensed and accumulated into another fall
of equal beauty, so continuing its descent into its rocky basin
below, whence it is carried, as the waters of Nant d'Orli are,
to the river Arve. The beauty of this fall is not its only
charm : for the extraordinary position of the strata near it
demands equal observation. Approaching it from Nant d'Orli,

observable in Switzerland,

653

a, Nant d'Arpenaz in perspective distance [represented too wide in our engraving],
from St. Martin, passing in the direction of the arrows.

66, Road

upon the summit of the cliffs, which here appear sunk and
shattered, the traveller is greeted with a view of what he
at first believes to be an ancient castle, citadeled in the
mountains. Seen, as the writer and his companion saw it,
lit up by the bright rays of a setting sun, while the neigh-
bouring rocks were in shade, it had a most beautiful and
magical appearance : but it afterwards was found to be pro-
duced by a portion of the rock, which, by some cause, has
been tossed over from its horizontal position, and piled up
perpendicularly into the fanciful forms of turrets, towers, and
bastions : there are even openings in these fragments in the
exact position and shape of windows. (See^. 77.)

Immediately in conjunction with these, the subjacent and
adjacent strata are bent upwards in their centre, at an
angle of about 30°, and then continued regularly to the edge
of the waterfall, which comes from a deep fissure through the
mountain, and probably communicates with the feeders of
Nant d'Orli, of which it may be only another branch: but
of this it is almost impossible to be convinced by actual ob-
servation, on account of the steepness and distance of the
mountains. On the right of the fall, instead of a horizontal
position, the strata are deposited in concentric arches upon a
diameter which forms the right cheek of the fissure. (See^^.
75.) By what extraordinary convulsion this can have been
produced, there is no means of determining: for, although
there are in this neighbourhood unequivocal marks of most ex-
traordinary derangement, the extreme variety of forms which
the strata assume baffles investigation. The concentric arches,
above mentioned, are at first perfectly circular, but, as the
middles of the strata are thicker than the extremities, they
gradually become more and more eccentric, until, as they
appear a few hundred paces farther up the river, they assume

654! Meteors on Nov. 13. ISS*.

so angular a form as to be nearly doubled under each other.
Yet between these and the former, and but little above the
surface, there are other circular arches, which, instead of
being deposited in the same manner as the others, have their
diameter horizontal. Farther up, among the recesses of the
hills, there are fragments of exotic masses, which have been
brought together from various places, and piled one over the
other in " most admired disorder." As far, too, as the eye
can trace and the rocks are bare, the higher strata, as they
recede in perspective, appear to be laid in every irregular
position, some depressed, and others elevated, as if various
powers had been brought to bear upon them from above and
below.

The most natural conclusion is, that there are, probably,
large reservoirs of water on the mountains above, which, at
some early period, whether by an extraordinary accumula-
tion, or by the recession of the subjacent rocks, were preci-
pitated in a flood to the valley, bearing with them the huge
masses which lie about in so many rude fragments. But this
could not have caused the contortions in the strata which are
so remarkable.

The natural colour of the limestone is a deep indigo, but
from meteoric causes the surface has assumed a yellowish and
brownish tint, while fragments are strewed about, which have
passed through the fire of a kiln at the foot of the fall, of a
light gravelly red. At this spot, there is a surprising echo,
which is " shown off" by the discharge of a small cannon ;
for the employment of which, the traveller is charged a fee
which would not be unworthy of the guides who minister in
the Devil's Cave, at Castleton, in the Peak.

The diagrams here given in illustration are not drawn with
a view to proportion ; my only object has been illustration.
^W. B.Clarke.

\_A Postscript to Mr, Clarheh Communication^ ending in
p. 630. — The ajpyearing of Meteors in November, in different
Years, (p. 386, 387.) An Instance for 1834.] — On the return
[in 1834] of the period when the meteors, of which I have
said so much, were seen in 1799, 1832, and 1833, I felt
naturally anxious to watch the atmosphere. My health, how-
ever, did not allow me to remain up all night; but on rising,
at three o'clock in the morning of Nov. 13., I saw from my
window, in fifteen minutes' time by the watch, fifteen falling
stars, in the direction of a line from Leo to the star Miza in
Ursa major. The night was cloudless, and the moon so

JVorks 071 Natural History, Q,S$

bright, that the constellations could be scarcely seen ; but the
meteors were very red and brilliant. The wind blew briskly
from E.N.E., and freshened after every meteor. The coinci-
dence between these and those before seen in America and
Europe (p. 289. 385. 611.) on this day of the month is curious ;
but those which I now mention were decidedly electrical, and
of no uncommon character. One meteor fell to the south of
Ursa major, and appeared to pass between Cor Caroli and
Arcturus. There were no trains. Should any correspondent
of the Magazine have made any farther observations, I shall
be obliged for the statement of them. — W, B, Clarke,

REVIEWS.

Art. I. Titles of Works on Subjects of Natural History ^ published

recently.

Lord, Perceval B., M.B., M.R.C.S. of the Bombay Medical
Establishment : Popular Physiology ; being a Familiar
Explanation of the most interesting Facts connected with
the Nature and Functions of Animals, and particularly of
Man. Adapted for general readers. Small 8vo, 500 pages,
and several woodcuts. ISSi. 75. 6d,

Lea, Isaac, Member of the American Philosophical Society,
&c. : Observations on the Genus Unio, together with De-
scriptions of New Genera and Species in the Families
Naiades, Conchse, Colimacea, Lymnaeana, Melaniana, and
Peristomiana ; consisting of Four Memoirs read before the
American Philosophical Society, from 1827 to 1834, and
originally published in their Transactions. 4to, 232 pages,
with [numerous] coloured plates. Philadelphia, 1834.

Various Contributors : The Transactions of the Entomological
Society of London. Vol.1. Parti. 8vo, 100 pages;
7 copperplates filled with engravings of insects, some of them
coloured. London, 1834. 7^. 6d,

Bagster, Samuel, Jun. : The Management of Bees ; with a
Description of the " Ladies' Safety Hive." With Forty
illustrative Wood Engravings, and a Frontispiece exhibit-
ing the Queen Bee, Worker Bee, and Drone Bee, of the
natural size and colour, and magnified. Small 8vo, 244
pages. London, 1834. 6s. 6d,

Purchas, Samuel, A.M., and Bagster, Samuel, Jun. : Spiritual
Honey from Natural Hives; or, Meditations and Observ-

656 Literary Notices.

ations on the Natural History and Habits of Bees. First
introduced to public notice in 1657, by Samuel Purchas,
A.M. ; now modified and republished by Samuel Bagster,
junior. Small 8vo, 176 pages. London, 1834-. Ss,

Phillips, Professor : A Guide to Geology. 5s,
Higgi?is, W. M., F.G.S., Lecturer on Natural Philosophy at
Guy's Hospital, Author of " The Mineral and Mosaical
Geologies," &c. : Alphabet of Electricity, for the Use of
Beginners. 12mo, 116 pages, and 47 engravings on wood.
London, 1834. tis. 6d,

Art. II. Literary Notices,

The Report of the British Association for the Advancement
of Science, on the contributions to science made at the late
meeting at Edinburgh, is to be put to press immediately.

A Volume on Comparative Anatomy, by Dr. Grant, is to be
published early in 1835, by M. Bailliere: in 8vo, with nume-
rous wood engravings.

Swainson^s Zoological Illustrations, Second Series, We are
requested to state that not any single numbers of this work
can be had after January 1. 1835.

Of the Zoological Journal, part xx. (the 4th of vol. v.) is
very nearly ready. This part will contain several plates ;
and there will be published, at the same time, a part consisting
of supplementary plates.

Of Gould's Birds of Europe, part x. is published, and it is
a most interesting one : the figures of the penduline tit, the
marsh sandpiper, the kite, and the little bittern, are especially
commendable.

The Natural History of Dogs is the subject of the next
volume of the Naturalist's Library, by Sir William Jardine :
the volume is nearly ready. The Deer and Antelopes are to
be the subjects of the successive volume.

Of Thompson's Zoological Researches a fifth Memoir has
been just published; its subject is: — " Developement of
Artemis salinus, or brine shrimp, demonstrative of its re-
lationship to Branchipus and the other Crustaceous Phyllo-
poda, and to those enigmatical fossils the eyeless Trilobites ;
with a new species of Artemis and of Apus. With six plates."

In No. iv. of the Analyst, November, is an entertaining
article on the nidification of the wren, and another on the
plumage, nest, and eggs of the long-tailed titmouse.

657

INDEX TO BOOKS NOTICED AND REVIEWED.

THE GENERAL SUBJECT. '

Analyst, the, noticed, 479. 656.

British Association's Third Report, announced,
480 ; Fourth Report, announced. 656.

Bulletin de la Societe Irap^riale des Natural-
istes de Moscou, noticed, 187.

Bushnan's Introduction to the Study of Nature,
illustrative of the Attributes of the Almighty,
noticed, 476.

Finch's Travels in the United States of America
and in Canada, noticed, 95.

Fraser's Account of Persia, noticed, 186.

Hastings's Illustrations of the Natural History
of Worcestershire, noticed, 186.

Higgins's Alphabet of Electricity, announced.
544. 656.

Jesse's Gleanings in Natural History, Second
Series, noticed, 284.

L'Institut, noticed, 288.

Macgillivray's Memoirs of the Lives of cele-
brated Naturalists, ann., 288 ; not., 605.

Naturalist's, the. Poetical Companion, not., 89.

Parent's, the. Cabinet of Amusement and In-
struction, not., 96.

Partington's British Cyclopeedia, not, 382. 605.

Quebec Literary and Historical Society's Trans-
actions, noticed, 544.

Teacher's, a. First Lessons on Natural Religion,

J. announced, 96.

GENERAL ZOOLOGY.

Bonaparte's Iconografia della Fauna Italica,
announced, 384.

Bushnan's History of a Case in which Animals
were found in Blood drawn from the Veins
of a Boy, noticed, 94.

Cuvier's Animal Kingdom, Henderson's Trans,
lation of, noticed, 607.

Edwards on the Influence of Physical Agents
on Life, noticed, 381.

Grant's Comparative Anatomy, announced, 656.

Gray's Zoological Text Book, announced, 384.

Innes's New Edition of Goldsmith's Natural
History, noticed, 479.

Jardine's Felinse, announced, 196 j Dogs, 656 ;
Deer and Antelopes, 656.

King's Introduction to the Study of the Science
of Organisation, noticed, 543.

Lord's Popular Physiology, announced, 655.

Pritchard's Natural History of Animalcules,
noticed, 285.

Swainson's Zoological Illustrations, Second Se-
ries, announced, 656.

Thompson's Zoological Researches, Memoir 5.,

r announced, 656.

Walker's Treatise on the Nervous System,
Anatomical and Physiological, noticed, 603.

Wells's Lecture on Animal Instinct, not. 185.

Wood's Illustrated Descriptions of the Mam-
malia, announced, 192.

Zoological Journal, Part xx., announced, 656.

ORNITHOLOGY.

Brown's and Dick's Natural History of the

Parrots, noticed, 91.
Gould's Bird's of Europe, announced, 656.
Hewitson's British Oology, 338. note *.
Jardine's Natural History of Gallinaceous Birds,

noticed, 381.
Jardine's Natural History of Humming-Birds,

vol. ii., noticed, 90.
Mudie on the Feathered Tribes of the British

Islands, noticed, 284.
Swainson's Ornithological Drawings, not. 185.

ICHTHYOLOGY.

Wilson's and Duncan's Ichthyology, ann. 96.
Yarrell's History of British Fishes, aim. 479.

CONCHOLOGY.
Lea's Observations on the Genus Unio, &c.

announced, 655.
Swainson's Exotic Conchology, noticed, 86.

ENTOMOLOGY.
Bagster's Management of Bees, announced, 655.
Bagster's Spiritual Honey from Natural Hives,

announced, 6.55.
DnncasteK Agricultural Association's Report

on the Turnip Fly, noticed, 543.
Entomological Magazine, noticed, 91. 480. 608.
Entomological Society's Transactions, 608. 65.5.
Fischer's Notice sur le Phlocerus, noticed, 187.
Gray's Entomologist's Popular Guide to the

Study and Classification of British Insects,

announced, 384.
Newman's Grammar of Entomology, ann. 480.
Shuckard's Essay on th6 Indigenous Fossorial

Hymenoptera, anaouticed, 480.
Westwood's Popular Introduction to the Mo-
dern Classification of Insects, announced, 288.
Wilson's and Duncan's Entomologia Edinensis.

Coleoptera, noticed, 188.

BOTANY.

Babington's Flora Bathonensis, noticed, 191.

Gaillon's Observations sur les Limites qui s^-
parent le Rfegne Vegetal du Rfegne Animal,
noticed, 189.

Hooker's Journal of Botany, noticed, 286. 480.

Lees's Affinities of Plants with Man and Ani-
mals, noticed, 382.

Lindley's Ladies' Botany, noticed, 383.

Nees von Esenbeck's Genera Plantarum Floras
Germanicas Iconibus et Descriptionibus il-
lustrata, noticed, 190.

Paxton's Magazine of Botany, announced, 192.

Rhind's Catechism of Botany, noticed, 191.

Royle's Illustrations of the Botany, and other
Branches of the Natural History, of the
Himalayan Mountains, and of the Flora of
Cashmere, noticed, 285. 480. 608.

Wight and Arnott's Prodromus of the Cha-
racters of the Plants of the Peninsula of India,
announced, 288. 480.

Wyatt's Dried Marine Plants of Devonshire,
noticed, 95.

GEOLOGY.

Ainsworth's Account of the Caves of Bally-

bunian, reviewed, 286.
Allan's Manual of Mineralogy, ann. 544.
Boase's Treatise on Primary Geology, ann. 384.
Bylandt's R^sum^ Pr^liminaire de I'Ouvrage

sur la Thfeorie des Volcans, reviewed, 83. .
Geological Positions in direct Proof of an im.

portant Part of Scripture Chronology, an-
nounced, 96.
Hawkins's Memoir on the Ichthyosauri and

Plesiosauri, noticed, 384 ; reviewed, 476.
Lea's Contributions to Geology, noticed, 383. ""
Lyell's Principles of Geology, vol. iii. of, ann.

191. A new Edition of the whole Work,

announced, 544.
Nicol's Observations on the Structure of Recent

and Fossil Coniferae, announced, 192.
Phillips's Geology of the North and West

Ridings of Yorkshire, announced, 181. 192.
Phillips's Guide to Geology, announced, 656.
Revolutions of the Globe, a work on, ann. G(J8.

U U

658

GENERAL INDEX,

■^ CARi are, in the West Indies, sometimes
fatal to poultry, 633.

Achlysia Audouin deemed identical witii Lim-
n6charis Latr., 161.

^*ga monophthalma Johnston, figures, and a
description of, 233.

JEgferirt, remarks on the characteristics and
synonymes of certain species of, 177.

AgXhia tail is of active habits, 532.

y^'lgae, a notice of M. Gaillon's views on the
physiological attributes of, 189 ; notice of
JMary Wyatt's work on the ,,4'lgaB of Devon-
shire, with a mention of some species, 95.

Albatross, the wandering, dimensions of an in-
dividual of, V*.

.41cybnia, the compound, an incidental noti-
fication of their structural distinctness from
the polypes, 13, 14; illustrations of the struc-
ture of two species of, 15, 16.

.^lyssum marltimum Lam. disseminated by
waves, 272.

Amphibious animals, zoological recollections
on, 404.

Animals : notices of instances of extraordinary
increase, migrations and irruptions of animals,
birds, insects, and fishes, with a referring of
these to terrestrial and atmospherical convul-
sions, 193 ; thoughts on the question. Why
cannot animals speak the language of man ?
481 ; instances of animals of different genera
communicating ideas to one another, 502 ; an
instance of animals of the same species doing
this, 503 ; instances of certain fpecies of ani-
mals of which varieties with their external
covering of a colour anomalous to that of
the species are known, 589.

Annulate animals, essays in explanation of
the structure of, and of its relation to their
economy, 121. 235 ; an explanation of the
process of the circulation of the blood, and of
that of the respiration in, 235.

Anbbium, see Ptfnidae.

Anblis, see Lizards.

Ants, various facts on the habits of various
species of, 266 — 270 ; facts on the parasol ant
of Trinidad, 363 ; a note on a species of very
minute ant, 269- 603.

Apiocrinites, see Crinoidea.

Aplidium fallax Johnston and A. nutans John-
ston, a figure and a description of each, 15, 16.

Appetite, depraved, instances of, in mammi-
ferous animals, 135, 136. 503.

ArAhxdx, Mr. Jenyns's views on the systematic
affinities of the, 98.

A'rgulus foli^ceus Jurine,fils, a note on, 600.

Artesian wells, a request for information on
the temperature of, 81.

Ascldia ? gemina, a figure and a description of,
129; Ascfdia? /folothuria? anceps, a figure
and a description of, 130.

Asp^rula arv^nsis L. not a British plant, 272.

Ass, zoological recollections on the, 313 ; a
notice of a superstition (;onnected with the
ass, 5QQ ; instances of the ass nearly white,
590.

Audubon, Mr., and his work, the Biography of
the Birds of America, Mr. Waterton's re-
marks on, 66—71; Rev. John Bacliman's
defence of Mr. Audubon's account of the
rattlesnake's swallowing squirrels, 164 ; of
his opinion that the turkey buzzard traces
its food by sight and not by smelling, 165 ;
and of Mr. Audubon's claim of the author-
ship ofthe Biography of the Birds of America,

171; a notice by Mr. Bachman of some of
Mr. Audubon's recent contributions to or-
nithology, 174; Mr. Waterton's defence of
his own views on the claim of Mr. Audubon
to the authorship of the Biography of the
Birds of America, 278 ; Mr. Waterton's views
on Mr. Audubon's ornithology, 279 ; Mr-
Waterton's analysis of Mr. Audubon's state-
ments on the passenger pigeon, 281.

Aurora borealis, particulars and .observations
on a very interesting instance of the, wit-
nessed at Hull, on the evening and night of
Oct. 12. 1833, 50.

Badger, zoological recollections on the, 405.

Ballybunian, information on the caves of, 286.

Bear, zoological recollections on the, 400.

Berberry, the, shown to be uninjurious to
wheat, 26.

Birds : facts and arguments in relation to two
questions ; Are all birds in the habit of allur-
ing intruders from their nest ? and. Why do
birds sing ? 483 ; facts and arguments on
the mode of the origin of song in birds, 245 ;
arguments in proof that the song of birds is
innate, 567 ; singing birds are lovers of music,
144; an instance of the effect of the singing
of birds upon the feelings of man, 143; an
opinion on the degree of birds' power of
scent, 170 ; certain species of birds celebrated
for their stupidity and contempt of the de-
stroyer, man, acquire vigilant wariness in
places which man much frequents, 75 ; the
reason why nocturnal birds have become birds
of omen, and subjects of superstitions, 561 ;
insectivorous birds disgorge the indigestible
parts of coleopterous insects, 514 ; most, if
not all, granivorous birds, as well as some
others, swallow grit, to the end of its pro-
moting the trituration of their food, 460 ; the
colour of the irides of some species of birds
varies with the age of the bird, 3+5; the
names of species of birds of which individuals
in plumage anomalous to that of the species,
and permanent, have been known, .593 ; an
opinion that the change in the colours ofthe
plumage of birds kept in confinement is re-
ferable to the confinement and the nature of
the food upon which they feed, 598 ; a notice
of several instances of crossing and preter-
natural lengthening in the mandibles of birds,
of conditions in some ofthe instances, and an
opinion on the cause of all of them, ft7; a
notice of instances of excrescences on the
head and other parts of the common hedge-
chanter and tree pipit, and a notice of con-
ditions in these instances, 58 ; if the mandible
of a bird be cut or broken, so as to induce
extravasation of blood, the bird must die, 57,
58; notices on a few of the birds of Lower
Canada, 508 ; the accumulation of all possible
information on the rock birds of Britain, by
the cooperative agency of naturalists residing
near headlands on the coasts, suggested ; and
some information on the arrival, breeding,
and departure ofthe rock birds in the Island
of St. Kilda, 573 ; notes on the dates of the
arrival of the summer birds of passage about
Tooting, Surrey, with remarks on some of
the species, 338 ; notes on the movements of
the migratory land birds, previous to their
departure from Scotland, 145, 146. note *; a
rrotice of some rare species of birds observed or
killed in the county of Suffolk, and adjoining
borders of Essex, during the winter months of

GENERAL INDEX.

659

1832 and 1833, 52 ; the names of a few rather
rare birds which have been met witli in the
neighbourhood of Charmouth, Dorsetbhire,
513; a notice of the occurrence of certain less
common species of birds in Lexden and its
neighbourhood,; in Essex, 18, 19; " In 1833,
birds increased prodigiously, and, in conse-
quence of the drought,were driven to desperate
measures," 197: see also Poultry; and, for other
kinds of birds, see their English generic names.
Bittern, the, occurs at Maldon, Essex, 511.
Blackbird, a notice of its agency in consuming
grubs in the soil, 459. and note* ; blackbirds
in white plumage, noted, 596.
Boatflies, Noton^ctEe, facts on the habits of, 258.
Bombus terr^stris will perforate flowers to

make way to their nectar, 571.
jBumbyx menthastri,a pupa of, six pupas of the
O^phion vfnulffi, and a pupa of ^umbyx
vlnulus, all found in company within, and
bred from the hard cocOon of the ^6mbyx
vinulus, 60.
Booby, the, identified, 74 ; it acquires wariness

in places frequented by man, 75,
Brambling, or brarable-finch, a description of
the song of, 487 ; a note on the variation in
the plumage of, 489.
56ccinum undatum, a description of the ana-
tomy of the proboscis of, 410 ; B. pal6stre
Mailer, synonymes of, 380 ; figure of a trun-
cated variety of, 161. 380.
Bullfinch, a poetical notice of the, 148. note* ;
instances of the bullfinch in white plumage,
noted, 593, 591 ; an amendment in names for
the bullfinch proposed, 593.
Bustard, information on the great, 458 ; an in-
dividual of the little bustard has been killed
near Chatham, 458.
Butterfly, see Insects.

Canine animals, facts suggesting to man his
fittest mode of defending himself from the
attacks of, 1.
Caprimulgus, see Nightjar.
C^rex heleon&stes Ehrhart, the circumstances
of the discovering it in Switzerland, and a
description of its habitat there, 499 ; Ckxes.
Gaudimdwa Hoppe, characteristics and notice
of a Swiss habitat of, 500.
Cat, the domestic : one of its acts resembles, it
is suggested, one of the lion's, 139 ; sportsman-
like deeds of certain cats, 139. 502; an in-
stance of a cat's cognizance of the sound of a
door-bell, 502 ; the cat can, it is stated, imitate
the voice of birds, and this to the end of en-
ticing them, 540 ; instances of an extraor-
dinary capability of abstinence in cats, 140 ;
notices on the history of the tailless cats of
the Isle of Man, 139. 142 ; zoological recol-
lections on the cat, S'-25 ; notices of certain
omens connected with the cat, 545.
Catbird of N. America, Wilson's defence of,

from the prejudices prevalent against, 562.
Catocila elocJita, stated to be not indigenous to

Britain, 177.
Cerambyx b&julus has eaten way through sheet

lead, 456. note f .
Certira vinula, remarks on the colour of its

eggs, 532.
Chamze^leon, see Lizards.
Char, a fact on the habits of the, 637.
Ch^lifer cancroides, facts on the habits of, 162.
Chough, the red-legged, occurs in Jersey, 462.
Cicada, a notice of the note of a species in St.

Vincent, 371.
Cicind^Ia, synonymy belonging to, 78.
Classification : remarks on the conditions ne-
cessary to be complied with in consociating
species into subgenera, genera, families, and
other groups, 62. 64. 97-
Climate, see Volcanic emanations,
Clytus ^rietis, facts on, 254,
Cuccidte of the West Indies, a note on, 602.
Cblia* H^ak and Ediisa, notes on the condi-
tions which affect the periodical abundance
and scarcity of, 260 ; notes on C. Edusa, as
observed in the Isle of Jersey, 473 ; a species

of Cblias has been observed to pass in an ex-
tended column across Trinidad and the Gulf
of Paria, 610. note f ; a profile of the human
face is observable upon the upper side of the
primary wings of Cblias Edilsfl, female, 262.
Conchology, British, a notice of the difficulties

which at present beset, 379.
Cordiilia Curti'sii Dale, described, 60.
Crinoidea : information on the structure of the
fossil animals of the genera Encrinltes, Cy-
athocrinltes, Apiocrinltes, 78. 179 ; and Platy-
crinltes, 180.
Crocodile, an instance of its fascinating a bird,
519 j Anthony Tempesta has, in his prints,
depicted the act of riding a crocodile, 334.
note *.
Crossbill, facts on the habits of the, wild, and
in captivity, 54, 58 ; an amendment in the sys-
tematic names of, proposed, 594,
Crow, the carrion, its eggs are sometimes co-
vered, 514 ; a pair of crows appropriate to
themselves a certain range, and beat intruders
from it, 514; the crow pecks out the eyes of
living sheep and lambs, 147 ; the crow does
not distinguish rook's eggs from her own, and
does not know the length of time which her
own require incubating, 103. 105 ; crows in
white plumage noted, 595.
Cuckoo, facts on the, 342. and note * ; a cuckoo

pursued by a meadow pipit, 348.
Curculionidze, information on the habits of some,

459. note *.
Cuttlefish, description of the structure and of-
fice of the cup-like suckers upon the arms
of, 417.
Cyathocrinltes, see CrinOidea.
Cynthia c&.rdui, notes on the conditions which
affect the periodical scarcity and abundance
of, 260.
Cyrfena trigonula Wood, described, and figured,
and its relations to C. dep^rdita Sowerby
stated, 275.
Deathwatch, see Ptfnidte.
Deili^phila nerii and line^ta, a note of the cap-
ture of each in England, 260.
D^lphax saccharivora Westwood, additional
particulars on, 496 ; some of these employed
in an argument on another subject, 610,
Dew, facts and arguments on the causes of,

453.
Dog, the, zoological recollections on, 321 ; in-
stances of dogs' feeding upon unusual food,
137; an instance of a dog's feeding upon
fishes just caught, 240 ; dogs are remarkably
fond of the alpine mouse, 181 ; facts suggest-
ing to man his fittest mode of defending him-
self from canine animals, 1.
Dormouse, the common, an individual of, eats,

of its own choice, certain insects, 143.
Dordnicum Pardali&.nches L. a British habitat

of, 273.
Dove, a notice of a hybrid, 154 ; zoological re-
collections on the dove, 406.
Drbsera rotundifblia L., occasionally exhibits

its flowers in an expanded state, 273. ',
Ducks, certain, thought to have proceeded from
a union between the domestic duck and the
domestic fowl, characteristics of, 516 ; a men-
tion of an individual of the ferruginous duck
shot, 151.
Dungfly, the, facts on, 61. 530.
Dytiscus glkber, and minfitus, facts on, 260 j D.

margin^is, seCiLimnocharis.
Eagle : two cinereous or white-tailed eagles
have been taken on a rabbit-warren, near
Thetford, Norfolk, 52 ; Mr. Waterton's ana-
lysis .of Mr. Audubon's account of an aerial
encounter of an eagle and a vulture, 69.
Eel, the, sometimes breeds in isolated ponds,
601 ; a habitat of, 538 ; a clew to information
on the mode of propagation and on the habits
of, 283.
Eggs of anomalous structure, facts and remarks
on, 355 ; facts and considerations on the con-
ditions which appertain to birds in their pro-
ducing of their eggs, Sm.

u u 2

660

GENERAL INDEX.

Empires, some of the natural boundaries of,
noted, 95.

Encrinites, see CrinOidea.

Entomologia rustica, hints for a, 423.

Entomological Society of London, a notice of
the first meeting of the, 59.

Entozba, a clew to information on, 94.

Erfstalis tfenax, information on, 184.

Falcnnidae, the, return, by the mouth, the
indigestible remains of the food they have
swallowed, 514; instances of the falcons
grasping their prey with remarkable tenacity,
S34 ; a notice of localities for certain species
of Falco, and facts on the habits of these
species, 333.

February the second, adages on, relatively to
the weather on, 539.

Feline animals, facts suggesting to man his fit-
test mode of defending himself from the at-
tacks of, I.

Fieldfare, a notice of the song of, and facts on,
a caged one, 151.

Flies : notice of a mode of deterring house flies
from entering apartments, 271 ; flies have been
observed to feed eagerly on the extravasated
sap of elm trees, and have been found dead
afterwards, 527 ; flies, of various species, dead
in the posture of life, facts and remarks upon
several instances of, 530.

Fox, facts on the habits of the, 134 ; circum-
stantial evidence in proof that the fox will
capture fishes for food, 240 ; some of the fox's
observances when hunted, 401. note f; a
chained fox has spread some of its food within
the range of its chain, to tempt poultry within
its reach, 401. note t; zoological recollections
on the fox, 401.

Freshwater formations at Copford, near Col-
chester, Essex, an account of the strata of,
and of their fossil contents, 436 ; some notice
of the lacustrine formations at Stutton,by the
side of the river Stour, about six miles south
of Ipswich, and of some of the fossil shells
within them, 274.

Frost, see Hoarfrost.

i'^ucoldes alleghani^nsis Harlan, a description
and figure of, and notices of the geological
relations of the places and strata in which it
is found, 27. 163.

F(ing\, a description of a mode practised, by M.
Klotzsch, of drying specimens of, for preserv-
ation in herbariums, 131 ; a brief notice of
several speci«s of epiphyllous .Fungi which

t have been observed in the neighbourhood of
Oxford, and have not been hitherto generally
known to occur in Britain, V4 ; iEcidium Ber-
bdridis Persoon, and Puccfnia Graminis Per-

' soon, can never inhabit the same species of
plant, 26, 27-

Fusus Turtbni Bean, a figure and description
of, 493.

Gall-bladder, a list of animals which have not
a, 317.

Geology : illustrations, by figures and remarks,
of the dissimilar appearances presented by the
dead stem of Sempervivum arbureum L., dur-
ing the successive stages of decay, to the end
of reconciling the dissimilar appearances of
specimens of stems of fossil species of plants,
32; a notice of some important geological
discoveries at Billesdon Coplow, Leicester-
shire, with observations on the nature of their
relation to the modern system of geology, 38.
See, also. Freshwater formations, Fucoides,
and Switzerland. The geological museum of
G. Mantell, Esq., is about to be removed to
Brighton, 49.
Ge6trupes Bannani Bromfield, characterised

183.
Gern, see Salt.

Glowworm, localities in which the, has been
seen, and various facts in contribution to the
natural history of the glowworm, 250.
Goferius olens, facts on the habits of, 253, 254.
Gold, instances of the occurrence of, 647.
Goldfish with a double tail-fin, an instance of,
159 ; an opinion on the cause of, 283.

Grain, notes on some species of insects whfcft
consume, 255.

Grakle, the purple, incidents in the history of,
102.

Granite, see Switzerland.

Grenada, information on an insect which ra.
vages the sugar cane in, 496.

Guernsey and Jersey, the rook is rare in, and
does not build in, 462 ; the reputed origin of
the Guernsey lily's inhabiting Guernsey, 271 j
the red-legged chough occurs in Jersey, but

■ is rare there, 462; notices on lepidopterous
insects observed in Jersey, 473.

Gull : some of the habits of an individual of the
lesser black-backed gull in partial '.confine-
ment, 511 ; notice of an attack of a large sea-
gull, in the manner of a species of rapacious
bird, upon a kittiwake gull, 512; the kitti-
wake is common on the coast of Dorsetshire,
513.

Hare : wbite hares, 504 ; a two-coloured hare,
505 ; black hares, 505 ; instances of sagacity
in the hare, 506 ; an instance of monstrosity
in a hare, 506; an orren connected with the
hare, B'iQ. note f ; zoological recollections on
the hare, 402.

Hawfinch, a notice of instances of persons find-
ing, in Britain, the nest and eggs of the, 156 f
suggestions on the English and systematic
names of the hawfinch, 594.

Hawks, a fact suggesting the question. Have
they such power of sight as is usually ascribed
to them? 333; zoological recollections on the
hawk, 406.

Hedgehog, the, is subject to persecuting preju-
dices, 559. 654 ; pleas for it against these, 559:

Hfelix octbna Pennant, synonymes of, 161. 379;
a contribution towards the synonymy of H.
octbna L., 380.

Henharrier and ringtail are identical', 335.

Heron, the common, facts on, 513.

Hesp^rirt Actse^'ore has been taken in plenty at
Lulworth, 499.

Hipparchirt Janlra, a profile of Chancellor
Brougham is, it is said, observable on the
reverse of the wings of, 262.

//irundinidas, those which visit Britain, dates
when first seen in spring, and last seen in
autumn, 337. and note t ; their habits of
flight described, 346. See Swift.

Hoarfrost, facts and arguments on the causes
of, 453.

Hog, zoological recollections on the, 397.

Hoopoe, facts on the habits of, as observed near
Bordeaux, 155 ; instances of the occurrence
of the hoopoe in Britain, 155.

Hornet, facts on the habits of, 529.

Horse, zoological recollections on the, 315.

Humming-birds, a notice of the structure of the
tongue of, of its fitness to collect the nectar of
flowers, of themanner in which they take this,
and of some of their habits, 5i^9 ; directions for
preserving the eggs of, for cabinets, 572 ; Mr.
Waterton's analysis of Mr. Audubon's ac-
count of the precocious flying of the young of
the ruby-throated humming-bird, 71 ; and of
his account of the nest of this species, 72;
notes on the habits of the red-throated species
(7'r6chilus Culubris), 510 ; some information,
and a clew to more, on humming-birds, 91.

Hydrachnadze, information on the, 161.

Ice and icebergs, remarks on the causes of the
colour of, 440 ; facts on the conditions of ice
in various places, 618 — 630.

Ichneumons, a notice of certain, which, in a
winged state, devour the larv£e of other in-
sects, 266 ; a note on the power of stinging in
ichneumons, 266.

Ignes fatui, views on the origin of, 580.
Insects: essays in explanation of the structure
of insects, and of its relation to their eco-
nomy, 121. 235 ; an explanation of the process
of the circulation of the blood, and of that of
respiration, in insects, 2)5; a case in which
life in an insect's eggs is thought to have been
very persistent, 250 ; extreme cold does not
destroy life in insects' eggs, 246 522 ; notices

GENERAL INDEX.

661

of instances of insects appearing in extraordi-
nary numbers at certain times and places,
adduced in connection with an argument that
these appearings are owing, indirectly or di-
rectly, to volcanic emanations, 193. 308, 309.
610; Gonepteryx rhAmni, Vanessa urticse,
V. Vu, and Amplu'dasis pilosaria, mentions of
their early vernal appearance in Switzerland,
and remarks in argument that they are indi-
viduals which have newly escaped from the
pupa, not individuals which have hibernated,
246; a notice of certain species which are
deemed to hibernate in England, 523 ; insects
employ, for any merely mechanical end, any
suitable mechanical object, 534 ; a mention
of one instance, and references to others, of
insects perforating the corolla of plants, to
make way to the nectar contained, 571 ; notes
on luminous insects, chiefly of the West In-
dies, 579 ; a note on insects of extraordinary
configuration, 601 ; a list of the more rare of
the species of insects found on Parley Heath,
on the borders of Hampshire and Dorsetshire,
and neighbourhood not exceeding five miles,
497 ; remarks on lepidopterous insects noticed
in the Isle of Jersey, 473 ; criticisms on figures
and accounts of certain of the species of in-
sects figured in Wood's Index Entomologicus,
and Stephens's Illustrations of British Ento-
mology, 176 ; notes on, and names of, some
species of insects which consume pulse, grain,
biscuits, &c., 255 ; suggestions on the most
advisable methods for discovering remedies
against the ravages of insects, 425; the au-
thorship of the prefixes pro, meso, and meta
belongs to Mr. Newman, not to Mr, Haliday,
77, 78 ; criticism on Mr. Newman's nomen-
clature for the thoracic appendages of insects,
178; a notice of a mode of injecting the bo-
dies of the larvae and pupEe of insects, 572.

Iris, the Persian, the odour of its flowers, and
the idiosyncrasies therewith connected, 179.

Jackdaws consort with rooks, 106 ; instances of
anomalous plumage in the jackdaw, 595 ;
anecdotes of a domesticated jackdaw, 150 ;
notice of a tame jackdaw, so attached to its

' protector as to accompany him wherever he
may go, 515.

Jay, a description of the song of the, 515.

Jersey. See Guernsey.

Kestrel, a, has been held fast by a magpie it
had struck at, 150; a mention of the kes-
trel, 334.

Kite, notes on the, 334. 511,

Lacefly, the common, affixes its pedunculated
eggs to almost any object, 534.

Lacustrine formations. See Freshwater form-
ations.

Lark : the skylark sometimes sings before dawn
in fine weather, 144.

Leptocephalus Morn's^ Pennant, corrections to
the engraving of, 77.

Lerot, le, of Cuvier's Regne Animal, a descrip-
tion of, and facts on the habits of an animal
believed to be identical, 182; has this animal
ever been seen wild in Britain? 182.

Lexden, near Colchester, Essex, and its neigh-
bourhood, remarks on the natural produc-
tions of, 17.

Limnt;a lineata Bean, a figure and description
of, and of a reversed variety of, 493.

Limnfei, theBritish, are ill-defined and ill-under-
stood, 379 ; three synonymes of Limnfeus elon-
gatus Turton, 379 ; in reply to enquiry in, 161.

Limn6charis Latr., a species of, parasitic upon
Dyti'scus marginalis L., 161.

Linnet, the mountain, a description of the song
of, 489.

Lion, incidents on the hunting a, with sugges-
tions on the fittest mode of defending one's
self from the attack of a, 3 ; zoological recol-
lections on the lion, 320.

Lizards, notes on the voluntary changing of
colour in several genera of lizards, and more
especially in CliamEe^eon and Anblis, 581 ;
lizards like music, 583.

Locusts, instances of abundance of, in various
places, 195, 196. 308, 309. 610.

Lumbrlcus ? Clit^llio Savigny? pelliicida, figured
and described, 131.

Lyca;^m dispar has occurred in two successive
summers, in a locality which was under war-
ter for a considerable time in the intervening
winter, 522; an instance of difference of shape
in the upper wings of two males of L. dispar,
60 ; L. Arlon and AVis have been taken in
plenty, 499.

Lycbrii margarit^cea Lamarck, a figure and a
description of, 230.

Mackerel, the common, reasons for deeming it
not a migratory species, 637.

Macrogl6ssa stellat^rum, facts on the habits of,
475. 532.

Magpie, instances of enmity evinced by the, to
the kestrel, 149; a magpie has grasped and
held fast a kestrel that had attacked it, 150 ;
magpies have been employed to capture mag-
pies, 334. note * ; the magpie in cream-co-
loured plumage, noted, 595; the magpie is
termed nanpic in Yorkshire, 565.

Malachius, bipunct&tus Bab., and other species
of, information on the diagnostics of, 178. 378.
5'-i5 ; with figures of two of the species, 378.

Malcr.mm maritima Brown, a British habitat
of, 271.

Man : facts suggesting to him his fittest mode
of defending himself from attacks of animals
of the feline and canine tribes, 1 ; an instance
of a high moral sentiment excited in man by
the singing of birds at early dawn, in summer
time, 143 ; a notice of a white negro, 589.

Mantell, G., Esq., about to reside in Brighton,
and remove his geological museum thither,
49.

Marten, facts on the, 503.

Martins and swallows, a mode of preventing
their affixing their nests to the surface of an
object, 82.

Melolontha flillo, the fact of the capture of
one, 258 ; mentions of M. vulgaris, 247, 309.

Membrkcis, figures of three species of, and in-
ferences on their habits, 602.

Merian, Madame, observations on most of the
insects and plants figured in her work on the
insects, &c., of Surinam, 355.

Meteoric phenomena, see Volcanic emana.
tions.

Meteors, an extraordinary display of, seen in
America, in the night of Nov, 13. 1833, 289;
speculations on the conditions of, 289. 385.
611 ; luminous meteors are very common in
the West Indies, 580; a notice of the occur-
rence of meteors, on Nov. 13., in 1834, 654.

Mirage, facts and arguments in relation to the
causes of, 450.

Mocking-bird, British, see Sedge-bird. '

Mole : the fact of the capture of a mole of a
silvery ash-grey colour, with an orange mark
under the lower jaw, and a line of the same
colour down the belly, 143.

Molluscous animals, an introduction to the
natural history of the : their respiration, 106 ;
their food and digestive organs, 218; the food
and digestive organs of carnivorous MoUiisca,
408.

Monkey": the original anecdote of a monkey's
employing a cat's paw, to preserve its own
from burning, 326. note * j a mention of two
white monkeys, 591.

Mont Blanc. See Switzerland.

Mouse, a notice of a species of, possibly an un-
described one, which has abounded in Inver-
ness-shire and Ross-shire, 181.

Mullferw papillbsa Johnston, a figure and a de-
scription of, 584.

Muscle, the freshwater, notice of a portion of
pearly matter found within a shell of, and of
the reason why it was formed there, 160.

3/ytilus subsaxatilis Williamson, characteris-
tics, affinities, and habitats of, 358.

Nai5 L. serpentina Crmel., figured and described,
130.

662

GENERAL INDEX.

Nature is an exhaustless source of means of
intelligence, 558.

Nfematus cJlpreze F., facts on its habits, 265.

fjf 422 ; instances of the effects of the ravages of
the caterpillar of, 4(22.

Nematus ribfesii Stephens, facts on, 265.

Nightjar ; facts on the migratory movements
of the species which visits Britain, 156. 347,
and note * ; certain localities of, 156. 347 ;
information on the habits of a species of
nightjar, in Peru, 633, and the external cha-
racteristics of it, 635 ; mentions of the night-
cries of the species of nightjar, 156 ; vulgar
prejudices against species of nightjar, 559,
560 ; pleas against these, 559, 560 ; remarks
on the unfitness of certain names applied to
the family of nightjars, 636.

Noddy, the, identified, 74.

Omens and superstitions connected with na-
tural objects, notices of certain, 545 — 567.

Onion-fly, the, a notice of the habits of, 425 ; the
fly described, 428. note *.

O^phion vfnulae, see ^ombyx menth&stri.

©■^phrys fucifera, a notice of a habitat of, and
notes on the plant, 272.

Orlgines zoologicse, 315. 390.

Otter, notice of a mode of taking the, facts on
the otter's habits, 506. 538 ; the dimensions
of a fine otter, 592 ; a species of otter is em-
ployed by man, in India, to aid him in cap-
turing fishes, 592.

Ouzel, water, information on the song, nest,
and habits, and on habitats of, 183. 540—543.

Owls capture fishes, alive, for food, 146 ; an in-
stance of the barn owl's seeking its food at
midday, 146 ; the fur and bones of two field
campagnols found in the pellet of an owl, 147 ;
notes on owls, 335 ; a notice by Shakspeare,
of the owl's manner of flight, 593 ; a notice
of omens connected with the owl, 548.

Ox, zoological recollections on the, 390.

Ox^cera, a notice of the discovery of unde-
scribed species of, 61.

Oyster-catcher, facts on the habits of, 151. 576.

Papili6md£B, see Insects.

Pkris quadrifdlia, the floral conditions of cer-
tain flowers of, 378,

Partridge, the "Virginian, Mr. Audubon's notice
•f the comparative powers of swimming of,
criticised by Mr. Waterton, 72.

Pea fowl, facts in proof that the, is naturally an
enemy of the serpent tribe, 152.

Petrel, the storm, a defence of, from the pre-
judice extant against, 563.

Pheasant, the, has been seen with the blind
worm (^'nguis fragilis) in its beak, 153 ; a
notice of some of the habits and anatomical
conditions of a pair of hybrid birds obtained
from the union of a male pheasant with hens
of the Bantam fowl, 153, 154 ; instances of the
pheasant in anomalous plumage, 595.

Phlocerus MenetridsjV Fischer, a .mention of,
187, 188.

PhyJUne grossa Johnston, a figure and a descrip-
tion of, 587.

Phytolithus verrucosus and cancellatus, figures
of, and remarks upon, 137.

Pigeon, historical and literary recollections on
the, 406.

Pike, the, its capture of a rat and a swallow,
noted, 600.

Plants : on the altitude of the habitats of plants
in Cumberland, with localities of the rarer
mountain species, 20 ; a notice of the proxi-
mity of the Alpine flowers to the eternal
snows and glaciers, 249 ; plants and subjacent
rocks, facts in argument; on the relations be-
tween, 274; facts and considerations discord-
ant with the idea of an affinity between plants
and the rocks subjacent to their habitats, 535 ;
varieties with white corollas of species whose
corolla is not white, instances of, and en-
quiries and conjectures on the cause of them,
536; a notice of habitats of certain less com
nion species of plants in Lcxden and its
neighbourhood, in Essex, 18 ; plants school

I the feelings of man, 382 ; a notice of supersti-
I tions connected with plants, 555. See i^ungi,
! Platycrinltes. See Crinoidea.

Plectrophanes lapp6nica, a notice of the cap-
ture of, along with larks, near Preston, Lan-
cashire, 56.

Pleurobranchus plilmula Flem., a figure and a
description of, 348.

Plumage of birds : the structure of the plumage
of water.inhabiting, is adapted to the resist-
ance of water, 73 ; conditions pertaining to
variations in the plumage of certain birds,
named, 489 ; instances of birds in anomalous
I plumage, 593.

} Polygonum Persic^iria, a superstition connected
with, mentioned, 567.

Poly<'jmmatus Alexis, Fcarus, and Ickrius, in-
formation on synonymy relative to, 82; the
name P. Alexis referred to certain facts pre-
viously stated, 532.

Polypes, the, incidental remarks in distinguish-
ment of polypes from the compound A\cy-
bnia, 13.

Polypori, a habitat of certain, 53%.
I Poultry, a few facts and investigations on dis-
eases in, expressed in the language of com-
parative morbid anatomy, 630 ; a notice of a
barn-door hen which crowed and had plumage
likethat of a cock, 103.

Pterophori, notes on, with a description of
Pterophorus similidactylus Curt. 263.

Ptilinus pectinic(jrnis F. (one of the Ptfnidje),
facts on the habits of, 473.

Ptinid£e : the Anbbium strikturn ticks as a
deathwatch, 468 ; the ticking imputed to the
larva's gnawing its progress through the wood
which it perforates, 470 ; instances of the
Ptinida; consuming wood, 472.

Pulse, notes on some species of insects which
consume, 255.

Purre, the, breeds at Martin Mere, 599.

Quail, facts on the, 517.

Rabbit, domestic, some instances of depraved
appetite in the, 136.

Racbdium cellare, a habitat of, 537.

Rain, a statement of the quantity of, which has
fallen at High Wycombe, Bucks, during the
last ten winters, with remarks, 239.

Rainbow, facts and arguments in relation to the
causes of a singular appearance of a, 448.

Rat, the, an instance of its impatience of thirst
impelling it to gnaw through the wall of a
leaden water-pipe, 455 ; and to expose itself
by day, after rain, 455, 4.55. note * ; instances
of rats gnawing, for food, the roots of trees,
456. note t ; an instance of a rat's conveying
a brood of young turkeys to a t;ubterranean
depository, where most of them were found
alive, 457 ; rats will pass under water upon the
mud at the bottom of the water, 592 ; facts on
the habits of the water rat, 458.

iJanunculus Ficaria L., an exhibition of the
floral condition of 2682 specimens of, to the
end of determining the genus of, 375.

Rattlesnakes of America, information on the,
165.

Reason versus instinct, ,501.

Redpole, a second species of, is thought to exist
in Britain, 488.

Redstart, a male, has aided in sustaining and
protecting the offspring of another pair of
redstarts, 24,5.

Redwing, the common, is resident, throughout
the year, in the extreme north of Scotland
and in the Isles, 175. See, also. Thrush.

Ringdove, a description of the habits of the,
328; a notice of a male ringdove domesti-
cated in a good degree, 517.

Ret^pora cellulbsaZ.amfl'rcA:, synonymes,figures,
and a description of, 638.

Rhine and Rhone, iniormation on the causes of
the colour of the water of the, 438.

Robin, the, an instance of its building its nest
in the festoon of a bed, and rearing a brood
of young there, 517; the nest of the robin
sacred even to boys, 56&; a pair of robins

GENERAL INDEX.

663

built a nest, late in Nov. 1833, and laid eggs
in it, 157; instances of tlie robin in white
plumage noted, 598.

Rock-birds, see Birds.

Rodent animals : an instance of unusual length,
ening in the cutting teeth of a squirrel, 142.

Rook : a description of the habits of the rook,
100 ; facts on the habits of the rook, 2W ;
facts in proof that the rook is of choice, and
not of necessity, partly granivorous, 459; in-
stances of the rook's feeding on walnuts, 148,
149 ; companies of rooks delight to assemble
and build near human residences, 149; in-
stances of enmity by the rook and the magpie
to the kestrel hawk, 105. 149 ; the rook is very
rare in Guernsey and Jersey, and never builds
there, 462 ; instances of the rook in white
plumage, 594, 595.

S^lix, mentions of species of, in incidental re-
lation to the ravages of the caterpillar of the

' Nematus ckprea, 422. and notes * and f-

Salmon fish, facts and considerations on the
natural history and political impropriation of
the, 202; considerations in argument that
the salmon ascends rivers for other purposes
besides propagation, 520 ; reasons for deem-
ing the salmon par but a state of the common
salmon, 521.

Salt, the, of the Mountain of Gern, at Cardona,
in Catalonia, Spain, some account of, 640.

Saurian animals, fossil, a notice of Mn Haw-
kins's Memoir on, 476 ; the American great
sea serpent conjectured to be a living saurian
reptile, 246,

Scolopendra el^ctrica, a beetle (? Sflpha) suf-
fused with luminous matter seen near a, 252.

Sc6lytus destrdctor Olivier, facts on the habits
of, 525 ; Sc61ytus se'neus, a figure of, 378.

Sea : a note on the luminousness of the sea, i
581. !

Seal, a description of a, taken at Padstow, Corn-
wall, and supposed to be of the species Phbca !
barb^ta, 508. 1

Sedge-bird, instances of the imitative powers of 1
the, 486.

ifempervivum arbbreum L., illustrations, by
figures and remarks, of the dissimilar appear. |
ances presented by the dead stem of, in the
successive stages of its decay, 32.

Serpent : notice of a recent appearance of the
American great sea serpent, 246; this animal
conjectured to be a living saurian, 246.

St^rpula tubularia Montagu, and a ? variety of,
a figure and description of each, 126 ; the sy-
nonymes and distinctions of the known Bri-
tish species of St^rpula, 420.

Shakspeare a naturalist, remarks and citations
in proof of, 309 ; an instance of the exquisite
accuracy and exactness with which Shak-
speare observed natun-il objects, 593.

Shannon, bones have been found in the soils of
the bed of the ; these soils noticed, 5.j9.

Sheep, zoological recollections on the, 395.

Shells, a description of some nondescript and
rare British species of, 350 ; a list of the more
rare species of shells collected at Aberdovey,
Merionethshire, 159 ; a list of some land and
freshwater species of shells which have been
found in the neighbourhood of Henley on
Thames, 494 ; a list of species of British land
and freshwater shells collected in the neigh-
bourhood of Rugby, Warwickshire, 160; a
list of species of land and freshwater shells
collected at Witham, Essex, 535-, a notice of
the fossil species of shells found in the fresh-
water formation at Copford, near Colchester,
Essex, 436 ; the names of certain fossil shells
found in lacustrine formations near Ipswich,
Suffolk, 27.'); a species of Gryphee'a, and one
of Belenmites, are objects of superstition with
the boys of Cambrideeshire, 566.

Shrew, the field, a notice of a superstition con.
nected with, 564 ; shrew, the water, a habitat
of, 19.

? Sflpha a species of, seen suffused with lumin-
ous matter, near a Scolopendra electrica, 252.

Sisymbrium polycerktium L. inhabits Bury St.
Edmunds, Suffolk, 273,

Sky, facts and arguments on the causes of an
unusual appearance of the, 450.

Song of birds, see Birds.

Spain, incidents which befell a person while tra-

■ veiling in, to collect natural objects in, 643.

Sparrow, the tree, a description of the song of,
488 ; several individuals of this species were
shot, in the winter of 1833, at Lexden, Essex,
518.

Spiders : an illustration of the structure of some
of the organs of a spider, deemed the type of
a new genus, and proposed to be called Tr!.
chopus libr^tus, 10 ; the names applied, by Mr,
Blackwall, to several species which he has
discovered and described, 13; directions for
preserving the forms of the bodies of killed
spiders, 572 ; a note on a spider infested with
insects (? A'cslvi), 467; Arknea. labyrinthica in
a notable locality, 537.

Spittle, human, a notice of superstitions con-
nected with, 567.

Sp6ngia .'subferia Montagu, a figure and de-
scription of, 491.

Squirrel, an instance of unusual lengthening in
the cutting teeth of the common, 142 ; a com-
mon squirrel, wild, in a party-coloured coat,
has been seen, 142.

Starlings consort with rooks, 106. 183.

Stickleback, facts on the habits of two species
of, 599.

Stoat, facts and considerations on the change of
colour in the fur of the, 504 ; an opinion that
the white-furred individuals of the common
stoat are permanently and constitutionally
white-furred, 591 ; the stoat, in its white
garb, is not frequently seen near Stamford,591.

Strata, see Switzerland.

Sugar cane, a notice of the ravages of the herb-
age of the, by D^lphax saccharivora West-
wood, 496.

Swallows. See Hirundinidae and Martins.

Swift, facts in proof that the, builds its own
nest, particulars on its nest and eggs, 462 ; the
swift missed from the neighbourhood of Al-
lesley, as early, in 1834, as July 25., 465.

Switzerland, facts and considerations on the
conditions of the strata of Mont Blanc, and
other granitic rocks, in, 644 ; instances of a
contorted condition of the strata in certain
specified localities in, 648,

Sycamore, the sap of the, is sweet, 274.

Sylvia rtifa Latham, deemed identical with the
S. \h(\ua.TiHerbert, which is known to be iden-
tical with the S. hippoliis of British authors,
but di.<tinct from the S. hippolkis of Temminck
and Bechstein, 15.

S^rphidae, information on the larvae of the, 184.

Teal, the green-winged, of Britain, and the
green-winged of America, contradistinguish-
ed, 7.

Temperature : data towards determining the
decrease of temperature in connection with
elevation above the sea level, in Britain,
443. 539.

Tenthrfedo amertnae L. very rarely occurs in
Britain, or not at all, 266.

Tfergipes pulcher Johnston, a figure and descrip-
tion of, 490.

Testacdllus, figures, information on the habits,
characteristics, and habitats, of species of, 224,

Thistle, the milky, a notice of a superstition
on, 567.

riilaspi, characters of Decandolle's sections of
the genus, 65.

rhlaspideffi, characters of the genera and sec-
tions in the tribe, 65.

Throstles havebuilt their nests, when pressed by
necessity, in a surprisingly short space of time,
598 ; instances of hybrid birds produced be-
tween the throstle and the blackbird, in a
state of nature, 598.

Thrush : remarks on the British species of
thrush, 75. 241 ; date of the redwing's appear-
ance, 75 ; see also Redwing : the small

664<

GENERAL INDEX.

dark-brown thrush of the Western Islands of
Scotland contradistinguished from the other
British species of thrxish, 144 j a thrush in
anomalous plumage noted, 597 ; two instances
of the solitary thrush being shot near Lon-
don, 244.

Tiger, the mode in which Colonel Duff destroyed
the, which had struck him down, 2.

Tim^rcha tenebricbsa F., the name referred to
facts previously given, 532.

Titmice, facts on the habits of, 147 ; a pair of
the greater titmouse have had, inside a pump,
a nest of young, and a nest of eggs at the same
time, 518.

Toad, the, can compress itself so as to pass
through a small aperture, 519; a notice of
toads in holes in grassy pastures, 519 ; a su-
perstition relative to toads found incarcerated,
548.

Tormentilla r^ptans and PotentUla r^ptans, in-
stances of close assimilation in, 378.

Tortoise, a species of land, foreknows the re- '
lative coldness of a coming winter, and fore- '
shows the degree by the depth to which it [
buries itself in the earth, 157 ; notes on an ]
aquatic tortoise which inhabits the aquarium '
in the Cambridge Botanic Garden, 157 ; a i
note of the death of a small land tortoise, and i
a conjecture on the cause, 159. ]

T6rtrix viridkna, places in which it has oc-
curred, aad other particulars respecting it,
533.

Trichios^ma lucbrum Leach, the larva of, ejects
from the pores of its body, when disturbed, a
white liquid, 265.

Trichonfema Bulbocbdium Ker, an English
habitat of, 272.

Turnip-beetle, or turnip-fly, considerations on
the history of the habits of, 429. note *, 543.

Vanessa Anfiopa, notes on the conditions which
affect the periodical abundance and scarcity
of, 260; V. urtlcEB, the characteristics of a
singular variety of, 263.

Vauchdn« dich6toma, presumed, notes on an
interesting search for, and a habitat of, 537 —
539.

Vipers, the red and the black ; considerations on
the question of their identity with, or distinct-
ness from, the common viper, 76, 77. J 76.

Volcanoes of France, facts on the conditions of,
with geological inferences deduced from their
condition, 81.

Volcanoes and volcanic activity, a review of cer-
tain theories of the causes of, 431 ; a defence
of Dr. Daubeny's theory, 588 ; an outline of
the results of the Comte de Bylandt's re-
searches into the causes and effects of vol-
canic phenomena, 83.

Volcanic emanations, notices of instances of, in
connection with evidence argued from an
ample collection of adduced facts in proof
that meteoric phenomena, temporary varia-

tions in climate, vicissitudes in the seasons,
prevalent disorders, the occasional migrations
and irruptions of animals, &c., are connected
with them, 80. 193. 289. S85. 609.

Vulture, the, called the turkey buzzard ; the
results of a variety of experiments instituted
to discover whether this bird traces its food
by the faculty of scent, or that of sight, 165 ;
an opinion proposed that vultures, generally,
trace their food by sight, and not by scent,
170; arguments in support of the opinion
that the vulture traces its food by the faculty
of smeUing, 276.

Wagtail : notices on the habits and note of the
grey wagtail (Motacilla Boirula), and on
the note of the spring wagtail, 577 ; facts on
wagtails, 342. and note f ; a wagtail in plu-
mage pure snow white noted, .593.

Warbler, the grasshopper, some of its habits
described, 341.

Wasps : Fespa brit^nnica occasionally builds
under ground, as well as in beehives, 264 ;
notice of a nest of the V. holsatica, probably,
264 ; facts on the common wasp, 255. 309.
530 ; a notice of a certain dog's mode of de-
stroying wasps, 1.38. ; T. campanaria, has
any one technically described a species by
this name? what are its characteristics and
affinities? 82.

Water, remarks on the causes of the different
colour of, in certain places, 438.

Waterhen, the, the form of its body and the
arrangement of its plumage are in beautiful
correspondence to its habit of swimming, 73 ;
a second brood of waterhens adopted and
catered for by the individuals of the first
brood, 244.

Weasel, the, sucks the blood of its prey, 504 ^
an omen relative to the weasel, 545.

Wheatear, facts on the habits of, 466.

Whitethroat, a detail of facts on its habits, 343.

Wilson, the ornithologist, facts in the bio-
graphy of, 173.

Winds, violent, and hurricanes : volcanic ema-
nations deemed an agent in the causing of,
616.

Wireworm, facts on the, 423.

Wolf, zoological recollections on the, 324.

Wryneck, a pair of the, have suffered their nest
to be removed and replaced five times, and
four layings of eggs to be taken away, before
they would quit the place of attempted incu-
bation, 465.

Yellowhammer, notice of a vulgar prejudice
against the, 561. 563 ; a deprecation of this
prejudice, 561 ; and facts on the bird's habits.

Zoological recollections, 315. 390.

Zoology, British, illustrations in, 13. 126. 230.

348. 490. 584. 638.
Zoology, a remark on the tendencies of, 604.
Zygse^na Ibti, a locality for, in 1833, 534.

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