noon Tenesmet, the swan." (Lev., xi. 18.) Parkhurst thinks the goose is meant, from its hissing when provoked; from Dnesem, to breathe. (Query, Do the Jews reckon the goose an unclean bird?) Rehem, translated the gier eagle (Lev., xi. 18.), from Drehem, to love tenderly; supposed to be some bird remarkable for its attachment to its young. Ton Heshide, also a term expressive of kind attachment, the stork. (Lev., xi. 19.) The on heshide is a bird of pas ,(gem heshide besemim idoe muodie) גם חסידה בשמים ידעה מועדיה .Sage the stork also in the heavens knoweth her appointed time (Jer., viii. 7.), hath large wings (Zech., v. 9.), and has the fir tree for her house, Ton heside berusim bite. Supposed to have got her Hebrew name from the affection the stork has for its young, and, what is rather uncommon, for the attachment the young bear to the old, whom it is said they carry on their backs during their migrations. The old, being unfit to fly, are said to be thus borne to their destination, when the feeble are laid in the nest and fed by the young. (Parkhurst's Heb. Lex. at on.) In Parkhurst's Hebrew Lexicon, Doctor Scott's opinions respecting the Kath (p) of the ancient Hebrews are well supported. (Mag. of Nat. Hist., vol. ii. p. 137.) From what is stated above, it will appear that the Kath is not the only bird of Palestine, about the modern name of which much uncertainty prevails.* Annat Gardens, May 26. 1829. ARCH. GORrie. ART. III. Sir. On the Red Snow of the Arctic Regions. THE cause of truth, and the remarks of your correspondent ▲ on the red snow of the arctic regions (Vol. I. p. 306.), have induced me to trouble you with a few observations on this subject. In the summer of 1821, I had an opportunity of examining this substance, which has excited so much interest amongst naturalists, in its native situation, and I am only surprised that those gentlemen who first discovered it should have had any doubt as to the nature of its origin. On the 24th July, whilst our ship was beset with ice near Bushman's Island, I made a journey, accompanied by two other * In expressing the Hebrew nouns by Roman characters, it will be observed that no attention is paid to the Masoretic points. gentlemen, to Sowallick Point, in quest of the meteoric iron, which we understood was to be found in this quarter. We were disappointed in the object of our visit, but our mortification on this account was somewhat lessened by meeting, for the first time, with the crimson snow, which was described by Captain Ross. Sowallick Point is formed by the projection of a small hill from the high mountainous coast which bounds Prince Regent's Bay. The summit of this hill is covered with huge masses of granite that have been precipitated at various periods from the cliffs above, whilst the side, which forms a gentle declivity towards the bay, was covered with crimson snow. It was evident, at first view, that this colour was imparted to the snow by a substance lying on its surface. This substance lay scattered here and there in small masses, bearing some resemblance to powdered cochineal, surrounded by a lighter shade, which was produced by the colouring matter being partly dissolved and diffused by the deliquescent snow. During this examination, our hats and upper garments were observed to be daubed with a substance of a similar red colour, and a moment's reflection convinced us that this was the excrement of the Little Auk (A'lca mìnor), myriads of which were continually flying over our heads, having their nests among the loose masses of granite, which I have before described as covering the ridge of this little hill. A ready explanation of the origin of the red snow was now presented to us, and not a doubt remained in the mind of any that this was the correct one. The snow on the mountains of higher elevation than the nests of these birds was perfectly white, and a ravine at a short distance, which was filled with snow from top to bottom, but which afforded no hiding-place for these birds to form their nests, presented a uniformly white appearance. On the 2d of August I landed on Cape York, and procured a bottleful of red snow, and collected some of the dung of the Little Auks from the stones among which they had their nests; and my intention was to have submitted both to the examination of some eminent naturalist. But on my arrival in England, a hasty summons to this country dissolved the red snow from my memory, and all recollections of the arctic regions were lost among the new scenes which opened to my view under a tropical sun. That there does exist a genus of plants of the order Algæ, that occasionally may impart their colour to snow and other substances, I would not have the hardihood to deny ; but that the red snow of the arctic regions owes its colour to this cause I have some reason to doubt. Deference to the opinion of many learned men forbids my speaking positively on this subject, but I cannot agree with your correspondent, that "there can be no doubt that the colouring matter of the famous red snow, brought from the arctic regions by Captain Ross and Captain Parry is a true vegetable." There is still a doubt, and until this doubt is removed, I would suggest that the trivial name of the Protococcus nivàlis should be changed to that first adopted by Agardh, namely, Protococcus kermesìnus. I have seen nothing in any work that I have had access to that could subvert the opinion that I have now advanced. If I recollect aright, Wollaston declared that during combustion it emitted the odour of burnt animal substances. The microscopic observations of Bauer and Agardh prove nothing since those of Brown have been made known; and indeed Professor Agardh concludes his Memoir on the subject with a doubt, whether, after all, the colouring matter of the red snow may not be of animal nature; whilst your correspondent mentions that Nees Von Esenbeck was inclined to think that the minute red globules were the vegetable state of bodies that had gone through a prior animal existence. The specimen examined by Dr. Greville was procured from the Island of Lismore, and, of course, may be quite a different thing. I shall conclude by hoping that if any of your readers should ever make a voyage to Baffin's Bay, that he will not fail to procure a portion of the red snow, and of the dung of the Little Auks, or Cockroaches (as they are called by our Greenland seamen), for further examination. I am, Sir, &c. Antigua, May 28. 1829. THOS. NICHOLSON. ART. IV. On the Wheat Fly. By Mr. ARCHIBald Gorrie, C.M.H.S., &c. Sir, IN September, 1828, I submitted to your readers a query concerning the wheat fly, which appeared in the Magazine of Natural History (Vol. II. p. 292). At that time I did not know that a yellow fly had deposited the eggs within the glume, which became maggots. Observing numbers of black flies on the ears of wheat, I believed they had been the produce of the caterpillar; and, as will appear by my query, I supposed they deposited their eggs about the grain. I have this season, however, observed the yellow fly (described by the Rev. W. Kirby in Vol. I. p. 227.) deposit its eggs in the wheat ear, and, what is remarkable, in the ear of the Triticum rèpens, 1 and in that of no other grass. The fly has not known that modern botanists no longer ranged the couch grass amongst the wheat tribe, but, like myself, it is most attached to the Linnean names and system. The black fly deposits its eggs in the larvæ when it can get at them; but a tithe of them are not touched in this way. The maggots have all left the ears, and are now in the ground, about half an inch deep, where they will likely pass the winter in a pupa state. It is, therefore, to their destruction in their winter quarters, and not to that of the eggs about the grain, as I formerly supposed, that attention should be directed. In this quarter they have destroyed from 3 to 5 bolls per acre. Annat Gardens, Errol, Perthshire, I am, Sir, &c. ARCHIBALD Gorrie. August 1. 1829. ART. V. On Vessels made of the Papyrus. By JOHN HOGG, Esq. M.A. F.L.S., &c. Sir, It must always be an agreeable and interesting subject, to ancient customs are still in use among the prove that very same people of the world, as nothing can tend more to elucidate their history, and to explain difficult and obscure passages in authors who have written on those countries and on their inhabitants. In tracing coincidences of this sort, I have been induced to make the following hasty observations, extracted from ancient and modern authorities, in order show that vessels have, from the earliest times, been formed of the papyrus, and that they are at present in use in Egypt and Abyssinia. The papyrus, paper reed, or Egyptian reed, the Cypèrus Papyrus of Linnæus, or Papyrus antiquòrum of Sprengel, is a plant so well known, that it will be superfluous to add here any detailed account of it. It is the Пárupos of Theophrastus (lib. iv. cap. 9.) and Dioscorides (lib. i. cap. 116.), the Papyrus of Pliny: it is called Búbos by Herodotus, Strabo, &c.; and Biblus by some Latin authors. In Scripture, Rush, and Bulrush; in Hebrew, Goma; in Arabia, El-babir; and, in Egypt, El-berdi, are its different appellations. We find mention of ships, and boats or canoes, being made of the Papyrus in Exodus, Job, Isaiah, Herodotus, Theophrastus, Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, Lucan, Pliny, and Plutarch, among the ancient writers; and by some modern authors, as Shaw, Bruce, &c. Let us first consider what the earlier writers observe on these vessels. Theophrastus says that, in Egypt, "they make boats of the papyrus, and weave both sails and ropes of the bark." Pliny states the same; " of the papyrus itself they make sailing vessels; and of its bark, sails and cables."+ Again, he mentions "papyrine ships and equipments of the Nile" (papyraceis navibus, armamentisque Nili. lib. vi. c. 22.); and, in another place, he speaks more distinctly of their Egyptian origin, as, "ships were first invented from papyrus in the Nile in Egypt." + Also, according to Plutarch: "Isis, having heard of it, sought about for the fragments (of Osiris), and sailed through the midst of marshes, in a ship (baris) made of the paper reed. From whence it is, that they who sail in boats of the papyrus do not receive any harm from crocodiles, which either fear or honour them for the sake of the goddess." § But Herodotus has given a good account of the ships of burthen, called ba ris (fig. 88.), which were commonly used on the Nile; and he. thus describes the ancient Egyptian method of building them: "Cutting planks from the thorn tree (most probably the Mimòsa nilótica Lin.), about two cubits large, they place them together in the form of bricks, building the vessel after this manner: they bind these planks of two cubits around thick and long stakes; when they have thus put them together, they place benches upon them: they never make use of carved ribs; but they fill up the joints on .... * Πλοῖα ποιοῦσιν ἐξ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐκ τῆς βίβλου ἱστία τε πλέκουσι,.. καὶ σχοινία Tε. (Lib. iv. cap. 9.) + Ex ipsâ quidem papyro navigia texunt, et è libro vela.... ac funes. (Hist. Nat., lib. xiii. cap. 11.) Naves primùm repertas in Ægypto in Nilo ex papyro. (Lib. vii. cap.56.) σαν. Ὅθεν οὐκ ἀδικεῖσθαι τοὺς ἐν παπυρίνοις σχάφεσι πλέοντας ὑπὸ τῶν κροκοδείλων, ἢ φοβουμένων, ἢ σεβομένων διὰ τὴν θέον. (De Iside et Osiride, P. 358.) |