According to Vauquelin, lamellar tale consists of Silica Oxide of iron Water 62 27 1.8 3.2 100. Steatite, chlorite, and other magnesian minerals are nearly allied to mica, and they are by some mineralogists considered as varieties of the same substance. TALEGALLA. Mr. G. R. Gray makes the diince the third and last subfamily of his Palamedeide (PALAMEDEA, Linn.). affinity are not entertained, such a classification has some plausible reasons to recommend it. In fact, the feet of the two birds are formed nearly on the same principle; but, then, so are those of Orthonyx, a little scansorial bird not much bigger than a robin. All three genera, in short, are remarkable for their large disproportionable feet, long and slightly curved claws, and the equality of length, or nearly so, of the outer and the middle toe. It is by instances such as these that we perceive the full extent of those unnatural combinations which result from founding our notions of classification from one set of chaMegapo-racters, and forgetting to look at the full consequences of carrying those notions into extended operation. Nor is this the only peculiarity of the New Holland Vulture; for, unlike all others of its family, it possesses eighteen feathers in its tail. An examination of the bill,' Mr. Swainson gives a cut of it, which is decidedly raptorial, these are but analogical relations to the Rasores, while the real affinities of the bird are in the circle of the Vulturida, of which it forms the rasorial type. A perfect specimen of this very rare vulture, now before us (procured by Mr. Allan Cunningham in the forests adjoining Van Diemen's Land), enables us to speak of its structure from personal examination.' In the synopsis to Mr. Swainson's second volume (1837), we find it in the family Vulturida, under the name of Catheturus (which cannot be retained), between Neophron and Gypaetus, recorded as the rasorial type of the Vulturida. And yet it is no bird of prey at all. Latham, in his tenth volume, and Lesson, were right in considering it a rasorial species. The Megapodiine comprise the following genera :- We proceed in this article to notice the genera Talegalla, Leipoa, and Megapodius, the natural history of which, especially with regard to their habits and nidification, has lately been satisfactorily made out. And first of Talegalla. Generic Character.-Bill very robust, very thick, onethird of the length of the head compressed above, with the upper mandible convex; nostrils basal, lateral, ovaloblong, pierced in a large membrane; lower mandible less high but wider than the upper, nearly straight below, with smooth edges, the branches widened at the base, and that width filled up by a feathered membrane; cheeks entirely naked; head and neck furnished with feathers with simple barbules. Wings rounded, moderate, the first quill very short, the second rather longer, the third longest of all, the fourth and fifth diminishing in length after the third. Tail rather long, rounded; tarsi rather robust, moderately long, furnished with large scutella in front; toes rather long, the middle longest, the external shortest; the three front toes furnished at their origin with a membranous border, which is widest between the external and middle toes; claws convex, flattened below, slightly curved and moderately robust; the hind-toe long, resting entirely on the ground, and furnished with an equally robust claw. (Lesson.) Mr. Gould, to whom we are indebted for a full and satisfactory account of the habits of this extraordinary bird, to which we shall presently advert, modestly says:After all the facts that have been stated, I trust it will be evident that its natural situation is among the Rasores, and that it forms one of a great family of birds peculiar to Australia and the Indian Islands, of which Megapodius forms a part; and in confirmation of this view I may add, that the sternum has the two deep emarginations so truly characteristic of the Gallinacea; at all events it is in no way allied to the Vulturide, and is nearly as far removed from Menura.' It seems to us that Talegalla Lathami may be considered, in a degree, as the representative of the turkey in Australia. Description.-Adult male: whole of the upper surface, wings, and tail, blackish-brown; the feathers of the under surface blackish-brown at the base, becoming silvery-grey at the tip; skin of the head and neck deep pink-red, thinly sprinkled with short hair-like blackish-brown feathers; wattle bright yellow, tinged with red where it unites with the red of the neck; bill black; irides and feet brown. Female about a fourth less than the male in size, but so closely the same in colour as to render a separate description unnecessary. She also possesses the wattle, but not to so great an extent. (Gould.) Size about that of a turkey. Mr. Gould gives the following synonyms:-New Holland Vulture, Lath.; genus Alectura, ibid.; Alectura Lathami, J. E. Gray; New Holland Vulture, Catheturus Australis, Sw.; Meleagris Lindesargii, Jameson; Brush Turkey of the colonists; Weelah of the aborigines of the Namoi. Habits, Nidification, &c.—Mr. Gould describes Telegalla Lathami, or the Wattled Talegalla, as a gregarious bird, generally moving about in small companies, much after the manner of the Gallinace, and, like some species of that tribe, as very shy and distrustful. When it is disturbed, he states that it readily eludes pursuit by the Head and foot of Talegalla. (Gould.) Example, Talegalla Lathami. Latham, in his General History of Birds (vol. i.), described and figured this bird under the name of the New Holland Vulture; but, correcting his error, he, in the tenth volume, placed it among the Gallinaceous Birds, with the generic name of Alectura, which had been pre-facility with which it runs through the tangled brush. If viously employed to designate a group of Flycatchers. M. Lesson places the genus at the end of the Phasia nidæ. · Mr. Swainson, in his Classification of Birds (vol. i., 1836), treating of the Vulturida, notices this species, under the name of the New Holland Vulture, as being so like a rasorial bird, that some authors have hesitated (not having seen a specimen) as to what order it really belonged. So completely indeed,' says he, has nature disguised this rare and extraordinary vulture in the semblance of that type which it is to represent in its own family, that it has even been classed by one writer with the Menura of the same Continent; and it must be confessed that if clear conceptions of the difference between analogy and hard pressed, or where rushed upon by their great enemy, the native dog, the whole company spring upon the lowermost bough of some neighbouring free, and, by a succession of leaps from branch to branch, ascend to the top, and either perch there or fly off to another part of the brush. They resort also to the branches of trees as a shelter from the sun in the middle of the day, a habit which Mr. Gould notices as greatly tending to their destruction; for the sportsman is enabled to take a sure aim, and the birds, like the ruffed grouse of America, will allow a succession of shots to be fired till they are all brought down. But the most remarkable circumstance connected with the economy of this bird is its nidification, for it does not hatch its eggs by incubation. It collects together a great heap of decaying vegetables as the place of deposit of its eggs, thus making a hot-bed, arising from the decomposition of the collected matter, by the heat of which the young are hatched. Mr. Gould describes this heap as the result of several weeks' collection by the birds previous to the period of laying, as varying in quantity from two to four cart-loads, and as of a perfectly pyramidical form. This mound, he states, is not the work of a single pair of birds, but is the result of the united labour of many: the same site appeared to Mr. Gould to be resorted to for several years in succession, from the great size and entire decomposition of the lower part, the birds adding a fresh supply of materials on each occasion previous to laying. early extinction of the race; an event, he remarks, much to be regretted, since, independently of its being an interesting bird for the aviary, its flesh is extremely delicate, tender, and juicy. There is no doubt that this species may be domesticated, and it would make a noble addition to those foreign denizens of the poultry-yard which enrich our homesteads and tables. Mr. Gould saw living specimen, which was in the possession of Alexander M'Leay for many years. On my arrival at Sydney,' says Mr. Gould, this venerable gentleman took me into his garden and showed me the bird, which, as if in its native woods, had for two successive years collected an immense mass of materials similar to those above described. The borders, lawn, and shrubbery over which it was allowed to range presented an appearance as if regularly swept, from the bird having scratched to one common centre everything that lay upon the surface: the mound in this case was about three feet and a half high, and ten feet over. On placing my arm in it, I found the heat to be about 90° or 95° Fahr. The bird itself was strutting about with a proud and majestic air, sometimes parading round the heap, at others perching on the top, and displaying its brilliantly coloured neck and wattle to the greatest advantage: this wattle it has the power of expanding and contracting at will; at one moment it is scarcely visible, while at another it is extremely prominent.' Before Mr. Gould left New South Wales, this bird, which, during the greater part of the period when it was in Mr. M'Leay's possession, was at large, and usually associated with the fowls in the poultry-yard, was unfortunately drowned in a tank or water-butt. On dissection it was found to be a male, thereby proving, as Mr. Gould remarks, that the sexes are equally employed in forming the mound for the reception of the eggs. The mode,' says Mr. Gould in continuation, in which the materials composing these mounds are accumulated is equally singular, the bird never using its bill, but always grasping a quantity in its foot, throwing it backwards to one common centre, and thus clearing the surface of the ground for a considerable distance so completely, that scarcely a leaf or a blade of grass is left. The heap being accumulated, and time allowed for a sufficient heat to be engendered, the eggs are deposited, not side by side, as is ordinarily the case, but planted at the distance of nine or twelve inches from each other, and buried at nearly an arm's depth, perfectly upright, with the large end upwards: they are covered up as they are laid, and allowed to remain until hatched. I have been credibly informed, both by natives and settlers living near their haunts, that it is not an unusual event to obtain nearly a bushel of eggs at one time from a single heap; and as they are delicious eating, they are eagerly sought after. Some of the natives state that the females are constantly in the neighbourhood of the heap about the time the young are likely to be hatched, and frequently uncover and cover them up Locality. Mr. Gould states that the extent of the again, apparently for the purpose of assisting those that range of this species over Australia is not yet satisfacmay have appeared; while others have informed me that torily ascertained. It is known, he says, to inhabit various the eggs are merely deposited, and the young allowed to parts of New South Wales from Cape Howe on the south force their way unassisted. In all probability, as nature to Moreton Bay on the north; but the cedar-cutters and has adopted this mode of reproduction, she has also fur- others, who so frequently hunt through the brushes of Illa nished the tender birds with the power of sustaining them-warra and Maitland, have nearly extirpated it from those selves from the earliest period; and the great size of the localities, and it is now most plentiful in the dense and egg would equally lead to this conclusion, since in so large little-trodden brushes of the Manning and Clarence. Mr. a space it is reasonable to suppose that the bird would be Gould was at first led to believe that the country between much more developed than is usually found in eggs of the mountain-ranges and the coast constituted its sole smaller dimensions. In further confirmation of this point, habitat; but he was agreeably surprised to find it inI may add, that in searching for eggs in one of the mounds, habiting the scrubby gullies and sides of the lower hills I discovered the remains of a young bird, apparently just that branch off from the great range into the interior. excluded from the shell, and which was clothed with fea- He procured specimens on the Brezi range to the north of thers, not with down, as is usually the case: it is to be Liverpool Plains, and ascertained that it was abundant in hoped that those who are resident in Australia, in situa- all the hills on either side of the Namoi. (Ibid.) tions favourable for investigating the subject, will direct their attention to the further elucidation of these interesting points. The upright position of the eggs tends to strengthen the opinion that they are never disturbed after being deposited, as it is well known that the eggs of birds which are placed horizontally are frequently turned during incubation. Although, unfortunately, I was almost too late for the breeding-season, I nevertheless saw several of the heaps, both in the interior and at Illawarra: in every instance they were placed in the most retired and shady glens, and on the slope of a hill, the part above the nest being scratched clean, while all below remained untouched, as if the birds had found it more easy to convey the materials down than to throw them up. In one instance only was I fortunate enough to find a perfect egg, although the shells of many from which the young had been excluded were placed in the manner I have described. At Illawarra they were rather deposited in the light vegetable mould than among the leaves, which formed a considerable heap above them. The eggs are perfectly white, of a long, oval form, three inches and three-quarters long by two inches and a half in diameter.' (Birds of Australia.) The same author relates that these birds, while stalking about the wood, frequently utter a loud clucking noise; and, in various parts of the bush, he observed depressions in the earth, which the natives informed him were made by the birds in dusting themselves. The stomach is stated by Mr. Gould to be extremely muscular; and he found the crop of one which he dissected filled with seeds, berries, and a few insects. The composure with which these birds sit to be shot at, as above noticed, must, as Mr. Gould observes, lead to an Talegalla Lathami. (Gould.) M. Lesson describes the species from New Guinea, which serves as the type of his genus Talegalla Cuvieri, figured in the Zoologie de la Coquille, as entirely black, of the size of a common small hen, and recalling to the observer some of the forms of the Porphyriones. [RALLIDE, vol. xix., p. 281.] The history of Talegalla affords a striking instance of the futility of classification based upon reasoning which has no sufficient data for its foundation: most of the errors 6 TAL source. of our zoological systems may be traced to the same | hill; and that in many instances that part of the mount surrounding the lower portion of the eggs had become so chisel to get the eggs out; the insides of the mounds were hard, that they were obliged to chip round them with a always hot. Leipoa. (Gould.) Generic Character.-Bili nearly as long as the head, slender, tumescent it the base, the edges undulated and incurved at the ba: e, the nostrils ample, oblong, covered with an operculum, and placed in a central hollow. Head Head and Foot of Leipoa. suberested. Wings ample, rounded, concave; fifth primary quill the longest; the tertiaries nearly as long as the primaries. Tail rounded, tail-feathers fourteen. moderate, robust, covered with scuta anteriorly, and posTarsi teriorly with scales which are rounded and unequal. Toes rather short; lateral toes nearly equal. (Gould.) Example, Leipoa ocellata, Ocellated Leipoa. (Gould.) Description.-Head and crest blackish-brown; neck and shoulders dark ash-grey; the fore part of the neck from the chin to the breast marked by a series of lanceolate feathers, which are black with a white stripe down the centre; back and wings conspicuously marked with three distinct bands of greyish white, brown and black near the tip of each feather, the marks assuming an ocellated form, particularly on the tips of the secondaries; primaries brown, their outer webs marked with two or three zigzag lines near their tip; all the under surface light buff, the tips of the flank feathers barred with black; tail blackish-brown, broadly tipped with buff; bill black; feet blackish-brown. (Gould.) In size this beautiful bird is inferior to Talegalla Lathami, and it is more slender and more elegantly formed. According to Mr. Gould, it is the Ngow of the aborigines of the lowland; Ngow-oo of the mountain districts of Western Australia; and Native Pheasant of the colonists of Western Australia. Habits, Food, Nidification, Sc.-Mr. Gould, in his Birds of Australia, gives an account, collected by Mr. John Gilbert, from G. Moore, Esq., advocate-general, Mr. Armstrong, the aboriginal interpreter, and some of the more intelligent natives of Western Australia. The Ocellated Leipoa is there described as a ground-bird, never taking to a tree except when closely hunted when hard pursued, it will frequently run its head into a bush, and is then easily taken. Food generally consisting of seeds and berries. The note mournful, very like that of a pigeon, but with a more inward tone. Eggs deposited in a mound of sand, the formation of which is the work of both sexes. According to the natives, the birds scratch up the sand for many yards around, forming a mound about three feet in height, the inside of which is constructed of alternate layers of dried leaves, grasses, &c., among which twelve eggs and upwards are deposited, and are covered up by the birds as they are laid; or, as the natives express it, the countenances of the eggs are never visible. Upon these eggs the bird never sits, but when she has laid out her lay, as the henwives say, the whole are covered up, when the mound of sand resembles an ant's nest. The eggs, which are white, very slightly tinged with red, and about the size of a common fowl's egg, are hatched by the heat of the sun's rays, the vegetable lining retaining sufficient warmth during the night; they are deposited in layers, no two eggs being suffered to lie without a division. The natives, who are very fond of the eggs, rob these hillocks two or three times in a season; and they judge of the number of eggs in a mound by the quantity of feathers lying about. If the feathers be abundant, the hillock is full; and then they immediately open and take the whole. The bird will then begin to lay again, again to be robbed, and will frequently lay a third time. Upon questioning one of the men attached to Mr. Moore's expedition, he gave to Mr. Gilbert a similar account of its habits and mode of incubating; adding, that in all the mounds they opened, they found ants almost as numerous as in an ant from his expedition to the north-west coast, informed Mr. Captain Grey, of the 83rd regiment, who had just returned Gould that he had never fallen in with the nests but in one description of country, viz. where the soil was dry and sandy and so thickly wooded with a species of dwarf Leptospermum, that if the traveller strays from the native paths, it is almost impossible for him to force his way through. In these close scrubby woods small open glades occasionally occur, and there the Ngow-oo constructs its nest,-a large heap of sand, dead grass and boughs, at least nine feet in diameter and three feet in height; Captain Grey had seen them even larger than this. Upon one occasion only he saw eggs in these nests: they were placed some distance states that he is not sure of the number, but the account from each other, and buried in the earth. Captain Grey given by the natives led him to believe that at times large numbers were found. many of them about sixty miles north of Perth; but its Locality.- Wester, Australia. Mr. Moore saw a great plains of the interior, 100 miles north and east of York. most favourite country appears to be the barren sandy The farthest point north at which Captain Grey saw the breeding-places was Gantheaume Bay. Captain Grey states that the natives of King George's Sound say that the same or a nearly allied species exists in that neighbourhood. (Birds of Australia.) Leipoa Ocellata. (Gould.) Megapodius. character of Megapodius and an account of Megapodius Head and foot of Megapodius. (Gould.) brown; back of the neck and all the under surface very dark grey; back and wings cinnamon-brown; upper and Description.-Head and crest very deep cinnamonunder tail-coverts dark chestnut-brown; tail blackishbrown; irides generally dark brown, but in some specimens light reddish-brown; bill reddish-brown, with yellow edges; tarsi and feet bright orange, the scales on the front | them up with their hands alone, and only make sufficient of the tarsi from the fourth downwards, and the scales of the toes, dark reddish-brown. (Gould.) Size about that of a common fowl. ton. Upon another occasion Mr. Gilbert and his native, after an hour's excessive labour, obtained an egg from the depth of about five feet. It was in a perpendicular position. The holes in this mound (which was fifteen feet high and sixty in circumference at the base, and, like the majority of those that he had seen, so enveloped in thickly foliaged trees as to preclude the possibility of the sun's rays reaching any part of it) commenced at the outer edge of the summit and ran down obliquely towards the centre: their direction therefore, Mr. Gilbert observes, is not uniform. The mound was quite warm to the hands. room to admit their bodies, and to throw out the earth between their legs; by grubbing with their fingers alone they are enabled to follow the direction of the hole with This is the Ooregoorga of the aborigines of the Cobourg greater certainty, which will sometimes, at a depth of Peninsula; the Jungle-foul of the colonists of Port Essing- several feet, turn off abruptly at right angles, its direct course being obstructed by a clump of wood or some other Habits, Food, Nidification, &c.-On Mr. Gilbert's arrival impediment. Their patience is however often put to at Port Essington his attention was attracted to numerous severe trials. In the present instance the native dug down great mounds of earth which were pointed out to him by six times in succession to a depth of at least six or seven some of the residents as being the tumuli of the abori- feet without finding an egg, and at the last attempt came gines. The natives, on the other hand, assured him that up in such a state of exhaustion that he refused to try they were formed by the Jungle-fowl for the purpose of again; but my interest was now too much excited to hatching its eggs. But this last statement appeared so relinquish the opportunity of verifying the native's stateextraordinary, and so much at variance with the general ments, and by the offer of an additional reward I induced habits of birds, that no one in the settlement believed him to try again: this seventh trial proved successful, and them, and the great size of the eggs brought in by them my gratification was complete when the native with equal as the produce of this bird strengthened the doubt of the pride and satisfaction held up an egg, and, after two or veracity of their information. Mr. Gilbert however, know-three more attempts, produced a second: thus proving ing the habits of Leipoa, took with him an intelligent how cautious Europeans should be of disregarding the native, and proceeded about the middle of November to narrations of these poor children of nature, because they Knocker's Bay, a part of Port Essington harbour compara-happen to sound extraordinary or different from anything tively but little known, and where he had been informed with which they were previously acquainted.' a number of these birds were to be seen. He landed beside a thicket, and had not advanced far from the shore when he came to a mound of sand and shells, with a slight mixture of black soil, the base resting on a sandy beach, only a few feet above high-water mark: it was enveloped in the large yellow-blossomed Hibiscus, was of a conical form, twenty feet in circumference at the base, and about five feet high. On asking the native what it was, he replied, Oregoorga Rambal' (Jungle-fowl's house or nest). Mr. Gilbert scrambled up the sides of it, and found a young bird in a hole about two feet deep; the nestling, apparently only a few days old, was lying on a few dry withered leaves. The native assured Mr. Gilbert that it would be of no use to look for eggs, as there were no traces of the old birds having lately been there. Mr. Gilbert took the utmost care of the young bird, placed it in a moderate-sized box, into which he introduced a large portion of sand, and fed it on bruised Indian corn, which it took rather freely. Its disposition was wild and intractable, and it effected its escape on the third day. While it remained in captivity, it was incessantly employed in scratching up the sand into heaps, and Mr. Gilbert remarks that the rapidity with which it threw the sand from one end of the box to the other was quite surprising for so young and small a bird, its size not being larger than that of a small quail. At night it was so restless that Mr. Gilbert was constantly kept awake by the noise it made in endeavouring to escape. In scratching up the sand the bird only employed one foot, and having grasped a handful as it were, threw the sand behind it with but little apparent exertion, and without shifting its standing position on the other leg: this habit, Mr. Gilbert observes, seemed to be the result of an innate restless disposition and a desire to use its powerful feet, and to have but little connection with its feeding; for, although Indian corn was mixed with the sand, Mr. Gilbert never detected the bird in picking any of it up while thus employed. 6 Mr. Gilbert continued to receive the eggs without any opportunity of seeing them taken from the ground until the beginning of February, when, on again visiting Knocker's Bay, he saw two taken from a depth of six feet, in one of the largest mounds he had met with. In this instance the holes ran down in an oblique direction from the centre towards the outer slope of the hillock, so that although the eggs were six feet deep from the summit, they were only two or three feet from the side. The birds, says Mr. Gilbert in continuation, are said to lay but a single egg in each hole, and after the egg is deposited the earth is immediately thrown down lightly until the hole is filled up; the upper part of the mound is then smoothed and rounded over. It is easily known when a Jungle-fowl has been recently excavating, from the distinct impressions of its feet on the top and sides of the mound, and the earth being so lightly thrown over, that with a slender stick the direction of the hole is readily detected, the ease or difficulty of thrusting the stick down indicating the length of time that may have elapsed since the bird's operations. Thus far it is easy enough; but to reach the eggs requires no little exertion and perseverance. The natives dig How the young effect their escape does not appear; some natives told Mr. Gilbert that the nestlings effected their escape unaided; but others said that the old birds at the proper time scratched down and released them. The natives say that only a single pair of birds are ever found at a mound at a time. Our space will not permit a more detailed account of these highly curious mounds; but the reader should consult Mr. Gould's highly valuable work for other particulars: we can only spare room for Mr. Gilbert's description of the general habits of this interesting species. Its The Jungle-fowl is almost exclusively confined to the dense thickets immediately adjacent to the sea-beach: it appears never to go far inland, except along the banks of creeks. It is always met with in pairs or quite solitary, and feeds on the ground, its food consisting of roots which its powerful claws enable it to scratch up with the utmost facility, and also of seeds, berries, and insects, particularly the larger species of Coleoptera. It is at all times a very difficult bird to procure; for although the rustling noise produced by its stiff pinions when flying away be frequently heard, the bird itself is seldom to be seen. flight is heavy and unsustained in the extreme; when first disturbed it invariably flies to a tree, and on alighting stretches out its head and neck in a straight line with its body, remaining in this position as stationary and motionless as the branch upon which it is perched: if however it becomes fairly alarmed, it takes a horizontal but laborious flight for about a hundred yards with its legs hanging down as if broken. I did not myself detect any note or cry, but from the native's description and imitation of it, it much resembles the clucking of the domestic fowl, ending with a scream like that of the peacock. I observed that the birds continued to lay from the latter part of August to March, when I left that part of the country; and, according to the testimony of the natives, there is only an interval of about four or five months, the driest and hottest part of the year, between their seasons of in cubation. The composition of the mound appears to influence the colouring of a thin epidermis with which the eggs are covered, and which readily chips off, showing the true shell to be white: those deposited in the black soil are always of a dark reddish-brown; while those from the sandy hillocks near the beach are of a dirty yellowish white: they differ a good deal in size, but in form they all assimilate, both ends being equal: they are three inches and five lines long by two inches and three lines broad.' (Birds of Australia.) Mr. Gould has thus given the history of these three nearly allied genera, forming, as he observes, part of a Besides this there was another standard, the chief weight great family of birds whose range will be found to extend of which was called the commercial mina ( pva i iμoký, from the Philippines through the islands of the Indian and contained 138 drachmae, according to the standard Archipelago to Australia. Megapodius Tumulus is, ac- weights in the silver mint' (see a decree in Böckh, Corp. cording to him, rather numerously spread over the whole Inscrip., i. 123, § 4); that is, not that a commercial mina of the Cobourg Peninsula on the north coast of the Aus- contained 138 commercial drachmae, but that this was tralian continent, where the British settlement of Port quite a different standard from that used for silver money, Essington is now established; and he thinks that future its unit being to that of the latter in the ratio of 138 research will require us to assign to it a much wider: 100; while the relative proportions of the weights were range, probably over the whole extent of the north the same in both systems. The following table shows the value of the Attic commercial standard: coast. Megapodius Tumulus, Mound-raising Megapode, with nest in the distance. (From Gould.) TALENT (Táλavrov) was the highest denomination of Greek weights and money, and was also commonly used by Greek writers as the translation of words signifying a certain weight in other languages. It is necessary to observe that the talent is properly only a denomination of weight. There was no coin of that name; and when used in reference to money, it meant originally a talent-weight of gold or silver, and afterwards a certain quantity of current money, the weight of which (supposing the real and nominal value of the coin to be the same) amounted to a talent. 1. THE HEBREW TALENT, or KIKKAR (1), contained 3000 shekels, and, according to Mr. Hussey's computation, its weight was 93 lbs. 12 ozs. avoirdupois, and its value as silver-money 3961. 58. 10d. [SHEKEL.] The Hebrews had no gold money of their own. II. THE GREEK TALENT. The following were the principal denominations of weight and money among the Greeks: --Bolóc, dpayun, uva, ráλavrov, of which the Boxóc was the smallest. Their relative proportions are shown in the annexed table :Obol 6 GOO 36,000 Drachma Mina 60 Talent. This system prevailed throughout Greece, but the actual values of the talent varied in different states. Most of these variations may be included under two chief standards, namely, the Attic and the Aeginetan. 1. The Attic Talent.-The value of the Attic talent before the time of Solon is a matter on which we possess hardly any historical information, though we may perhaps arrive at a very probable result. Looking then at the system after Solon had remodelled the coinage [SOLON], we find that the Attic silver money was celebrated for its purity; and therefore from the coins of that period which still exist we may determine the value of the standard with tolerable certainty. Now the chief coin was the drachma of silver, the average weight of which, from the time of Solon to that of Alexander the Great, is found to be 66.5 grains. From this we get the following values in avoirdupois weight: Obol Talent lb. 56 151 100-32 These weights were used for all commodities, except such as were expressly required by law to be sold by the silver standard. This commercial standard is most probably, as Böckh has shown, the real antient Attic standard, as it existed before the time of Solon. The purpose of Solon's change was to lower the value of money, in order to relieve debtors. The only direct information we have of the nature of the change is the statement of Plutarch, that 'Solon made the mina of 100 drachmae, which had formerly contained 73,' which is probably a mistake made by Plutarch, through not understanding the words of Androtion, whose authority he follows. The true meaning seems undoubtedly to be, that out of the same quantity of silver which in the antient standard made 73 drachmae, Solon coined 100, or a mina; that is, that he lowered the standard in the ratio of 100: 73. Now the ratio of the commercial to the silver standard is 138: 100= 100:7233. Hence the commercial standard and the old Attic only differed by a small fraction. Still this ratio of 100:73 is a very singular one for Solon to have adopted. The most probable explanation is that Solon meant to lower the standard by a quarter, that is, in the ratio of 100: 75, and that the new coinage (by an accident of not uncommon occurrence in minting) was found, when actually made, to be a little too light, namely, in the ratio of 72: 100, or, in round numbers, 73: 100 to the old money, instead of 75 100; and that then, to preserve the purity of the Attic mint, this, its actual value, was adopted as its nominal value. This view is strongly confirmed by a reference to another standard mentioned by Greek writers, namely, the Euboic talent. This talent was often reckoned as equal to the Attic (compare Herod., iii. 89, with Pollux, ix. 6); but it is also described with greater precision by Aelian (Var. Hist., i. 22), as having to the Attic the ratio of 72: 70, which is the same as 75 72. Now if we suppose that the intended value of Solon's talent had to its real value the ratio of 75: 72, we have this intended value equal (neglecting a very small fraction) to the Euboïc talent. Hence it is inferred that Solon, proposing to lower the Attic standard, and perceiving the advantage of assimilating it to that of the neighbouring island of Euboea, intended to adopt the latter for his new standard, but that in fact a slight difference was caused by accident. The Romans reckoned both the Attic and Euboïc talents as equal to 80 Roman pounds (compare Polyb. xxi. 14, with xxii. 26, and Liv. xxxvii. 45, with xxxviii. 38). The Attic commercial standard underwent an alteration by the edict above referred to, which made its mina 150 drachmæ (silver) its 5 minæ = 6 minæ (commercial) its talent = 65 minæ (commercial) In this new standard the five-mine weight was equal to 71b. 13 oz. 14.96 grs., and the talent to 85lbs. 2 oz. 707 grs. The Athenians took the greatest care of their standards of weight. The principal set were lodged in the Acropolis, and there were other sets in the Prytaneum, at Piræus, and at Eleusis. The highest coin used by the Athenians was the tetradrachm, or piece of four drachmae; the mina and talent were never coined, but were paid in diachmae, oboli, &c. The following table shows the value of all the denomina This was the standard always used for silver money, and tions of Attic silver money, according to the computation was therefore called the silver standard.' of Mr. Hussey: |