Gray's Natural Arrangement of British Plants.-You have not inserted the query I sent you on this book. [We sent it to an eminent botanist, whose answer we did not think it advisable to insert; but we now regret not having done so.] The expression in Smith's Flora is, "I have also, for the first time in a general British Flora, introduced the natural orders of our plants;" which is, supposing he knew of Gray's work, a palpable falsehood. I have heard the increased number of terms, and the multiplication of genera, in Gray, objected to; but is not this the consequence of the progress of science towards perfection? If organs are really different in form, although intended for similar purposes, such as seed-vessels, surely it is better to designate such organs by a particular term, which at once conveys to the student the idea of the form and construction of the part in question. But some of your readers will favour me with an opinion on the subject; because the work, if it has any merit, ought not to be cast into oblivion, merely because this or that author, however high he may stand, chooses to pass it over in silence. It has one advantage over all other works of the kind, in the English names being generally a translation of the Latin names; and if the derivations of the generic names had been given, it would have been, in this respect, complete. — D. S. July 28. 1828.

Geological Arrangement of British Fossil Shells. Sir, In the Table of the Geological Arrangement of British Fossil Shells, which you did me the favour to insert (p. 26.), an accidental transposition of a line, in the press, has occasioned an error it may be useful to correct. At p. 34., the genus Sòlen should commence with the upper green sand, which formation, by the inadvertent transposition alluded to, is placed two lines above, under the genus Saxícava. It becomes the more desirable to point out this circumstance, because it is the first time, I believe, that the occurrence of Sòlen in any but the tertiary beds has been noticed.

At present only one species of Sòlen, S. affìnis of the London clay, seems to have been noticed in our treatises on mineral conchology. It is probable that there are several other species, and I believe I am correct in mentioning their occurrence in the following beds:

Whether there be a repetition of species in any of these formations is undetermined.

It need scarcely be remarked here, that the Table of Shells is susceptible of considerable extension, as almost every collector possesses a few undescribed specimens. It is sufficient, for the present, that all the characteristic fossils are included therein; and, however extensive the subsequent additions, it is not very probable that the relative proportions of their numbers, in the different geological eras, will eventually be found to vary much from the estimates which the present state of science enables us to form. At some future period, perhaps, I may trouble you with an amended Table; and I mention this with the hope that the pages of your Magazine may be one medium of adding to our knowledge of these interesting remains of a former world. I shall consider myself honoured by the notice, either by this means, or privately, of any authentic species and localities of undescribed fossil Testàcea. - R. C. Taylor. 7. Wilmington Square, London, April 8. 1829.

THE MAGAZINE

OF

NATURAL HISTORY.

JULY, 1829.

ART. I. Farther Observations on the Influence of Fresh Water on Marine Animals. By Lieutenant J. H. DAVIES, R. M. Communicated by JAMES L. DRUMMOND, M.D., President of the Belfast Natural History Society.

Sir,

THE following statement, which I have received through the kindness of your able correspondent, Lieut. J. H. Davies, R. M., being very illustrative of the fatal power often exerted by fresh water on animal life, and of the observations in my communication on that subject in your last Number, and being also highly curious in itself, I request, with Lieutenant Davies's permission, that you will give it a place in your next.

I am, Sir, yours, &c.

Belfast, May 9. 1829.

JAS. L. DRUMMOND.

In the summer of 1817, being at that time a resident in St. John's, the capital of Newfoundland, I frequently amused myself, in company with my brother-in-law, the comptroller of the customs, in hauling a small seine in that harbour. We were accustomed to shoot the net across where the water was perfectly salt, and drawing it up the harbour, haul it on shore at the upper end, where a small river discharges itself, so that the fish were drawn out of the salt water into the fresh. The species included were, eels, flat fish, codling, and a common fish, known as the sculpen, bull-head, &c. (Cóttus Scórpio?), which in Newfoundland grows to a considerable size, and is finely marked with blotches of brown, red, and white. On those occasions all the other species of fish were lively, but the whole of these were dead and stiff. My attention was, of course, attracted by this singular circumstance, which was attributed to their being drawn into the fresh water. I witnessed VOL. II. No. 8.

the same effect being produced several times at the same place; and that this particular species is always killed by being suddenly brought in contact with fresh water, is corroborated by my having seen the same effect produced in another place. In the upper part of the harbour of Portsmouth, Hants, at a place called Fleethouse, is a fine spring of pure water, situated below the high-water mark; it is consequently covered by the sea every tide, at the receding of which, as the spring discharges copiously it is speedily fit for use, and is resorted to by all the neighbourhood. I have frequently seen this species of Cóttus lying dead in numbers round the spring; they had evidently advanced with the tide, and been killed by coming in contact with the fresh water flowing from the spring, the falling of the tide leaving them beside it.

Portsmouth, May, 1829.

JOHN HENRY DAVIES.

ART. II. Notice of an Imposture entitled a Pygmy Bison, or American Ox. By V.

Sir,

I

As it is the duty of every naturalist to guard the public against impositions such as those exposed in your Magazine under the heads Mermaid (Vol. I. p. 106.), and Zoological Imposture (Vol. I. p. 189.), I have to bring under your notice another of a somewhat different description, which, from the uncommon ingenuity with which it is made up, is well calculated to deceive those little conversant with Nature. allude to the specimen of a Pygmy Bison (fig. 53. a), said to have belonged to Count Bournon, and at the time I saw it in possession of a Mr. Murray, a dealer in curiosities, &c., from Hastings, who valued it at forty guineas, as it was supposed to be unique of its kind, being but about 7 or 8 in. high, and every way proportionate and symmetrical, and at the same time quite perfect in horns, coat, and every other part which distinguishes the fully developed male Bison. Now, as the animal of which it is the representative is, when full grown and equally perfect, of the stature of an ox, and even acquires such a size as to weigh from 1600 to 2900 lbs.; and, as it may be presumed from analogy that the calf, or embryo, of the bison has not any horns, mane, &c., there can be no doubt of the imposture, which may, nevertheless, be fully worth the sum demanded for it, as a most perfect model of the bison, and as the summit of the art of deception. As I took some pains to

examine this curiosity, and to consider how so difficult a task had been accomplished, it appeared to me to have been grounded on a well-formed model of wood, very tightly covered, in the first instance, by the skin of a pug-dog of corresponding

53

size, the long hair about the head, hunch, and belly being added with consummate skill from the skin of a young bear, while the horns and hoofs were formed out of the black horn of the buffalo, all, however, so admirably put together, and the tout ensemble so elegant, as to stamp the artist as the first of his calling.

August, 1828.

V.

ART. III.

Some Account of the Water-Shrew: a Mouse supposed to have been lost for about a Century. By JOHN F. M. DOVASTON, Esq. A.M. Oxon., of West-Felton, near Shrewsbury.

Sir,

"Thou need'st na startle

At me, thy poor earth-born companion,
And fellow-mortal."

BURNS.

ON a delicious evening, far in April, 1825, a little before sunset, strolling in my orchard, beside a pool, and looking into. the clear water for insects I expected about that time to come out, I was surprised by seeing what I momentarily imagined to

be a Dýticus marginàlis, or some very large beetle, dart with rapid motion, and suddenly disappear. Laying myself down cautiously and motionless on the grass, I soon, to my delight and wonder, observed it was a mouse. I repeatedly marked it glide from the bank, under water, and bury itself in the mass of leaves at the bottom: I mean the leaves that had fallen off the trees in autumn, and which lay very thick over the mud. It very shortly returned, and entered the bank, occasionally putting its long sharp nose out of the water, and paddling close to the edge. This it repeated at very frequent intervals, from place to place, seldom going more than two yards from the side, and always returning in about half a minute. I presume it sought and obtained some insect or food among the rubbish and leaves, and retired to consume it. Sometimes it would run a little on the surface, and sometimes timidly and hastily come ashore, but with the greatest caution, and instantly plunge in again. During the whole sweet spring of that fine year, I constantly visited my new acquaintance. When under water he looks grey, on account of the pearly cluster of minute air-bubbles that adhere to his fur, and bespangle him all over. His colour, however, is very dark brown, not quite so black as that of the mole, over the head and upper part of the body: the belly and throat are of the purest silvery white, with a dark spot under the tail: the ears are white at the edges, and very conspicuous; not from their prominence, being almost buried in the fur, but from contrast of colour. The nose is long and sharp, but broader at the end than that of the land-shrew (Sorex araneus); and the pretty little creature is broader and longer, of the utmost cleanliness and beauty, when afloat appearing almost flat. Length about 3 in.; tail not quite 2 in.; eyes very small; the claws fringed with very fine bristles. This minute description I am enabled to give, having, at the suggestion of my friend, John Clavering Wood, Esq., a most able and ardent naturalist, caught it in an angler's landing-net, and carefully inspected it in a white chamber-basin of water. The poor creature was extremely uneasy under inspection; and we soon, with great pleasure, restored it to liberty and love: for he had a companion, whom, from her paler colour and more slender form, we doubted not was his mate; and were fearful, by our intrusion, of giving offence to either.

He swims very rapidly; and, though he appears to dart, his very nimble wriggle is clearly discernible. He is never seen till near sunset, but I saw him, every evening I watched, with the most perfect facility. They are easily discovered about the going down of the sun, on still evenings, by the undulating semicircles quickly receding from the bank of the pool, when