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from the sea coast. Since that time, Mr Witham visited Yorkshire, personally examined the spot, and actually found live marine cockles, in the situation already mentioned. We are still, however, of opinion that the live cockles are not natives of the bog; and in this view we are borne out by the following statement of Mr Trevelyan.-ED.]

HAVING

-AVING lately been on a visit in Yorkshire, in the neighbourhood of the place where the marine cockles sent to Mr Witham were said to have been found, I took advantage of the opportunity to examine the spot, and to make inquiries concerning the fact. The result is my thorough belief, that the cardium edule is not a native of the place, and that if specimens of it have been found there, they have been put there by some absurd person, for the purposing of hoaxing the individuals who sent the statement to Edinburgh.

The spot where they are said to have been is a peat-moss resting on sand, through which drains have been cut. The tenant (Pratt) on whose farm part of the moss is situated, and who has been there many years, when I questioned him, said that he had seen cockles at different times in clearing out the drains, and described them as being nearly the size of his thumb nail, of the colour, and about the same thickness as the whelks, which are common in the ditches there, some of which he shewed me, and which are fresh water helices (putris, &c.); that the stripes were across the shell, from side to side, not in the same direction as in the sea-cockle, which he said he knew well, but had never seen any, or heard of any being found there, excepting those sent to Mr Witham. From this description, I was convinced that Pratt's cockles were the Tellina cornea; the only cockles I expected to find there, and of them, after a little search in the ditches, I found some small specimens. They call them cockles, from their analogy to the marine shells of that name, in the same way as the helices are called whelks.

The farm house called Cocklesbury stands on an elevation, a short distance from the moss; and may perhaps be named from the cockles (Tellina) found there, though I think if it is from shells at all that it derives its name, it is from the shells abundant in the neighbouring limestone, some of which may perhaps

have been dug up in sinking the foundations. We have in Northumberland a limestone abounding in Terebratula and Anomia, the local name of which is the Cockle-shell limestone.

In a moss much resembling this, at Kirby Ravenswath, in the same neighbourhood, now draining, I found the same shells below the peat, which is about four feet thick, resting on a sandy clay. Formerly it has evidently been covered with water, forming the principal defence of Kirby Ravenswath Castle, which it partly surrounds.

Notice of Fresh Water found in the Sea at a great distance from the land. By D. BUCHANAN, Esq. (In a Letter to Professor Jameson.)

I

HAVE received your letter of the 15th, in which you request me to give you an account of my voyage to Chitagong, during which the singular circumstance of our finding fresh water so far from land occurred. Not having thought much of this at the time, I fear I may have forgotten some of the circumstances attending it, but all that I do recollect shall be communicated to you. In the beginning of September 1824, I embarked with the other officers of our regiment, in a country ship (having most of the officers of his Majesty's 54th Regiment on board), for Chittagong. We sailed out of the Madras Roads with a fair wind, which continued for four days; but, on the fifth, we were becalmed, and continued so for fourteen days, having had only once or twice a very slight breeze, which never lasted longer than a few hours. It was towards the end of this calm that I observed a very strange appearance on the surface of the glassy ocean. It seemed to be furrowed in several directions, and much agitated in these furrows, so that, when the ship was drifted into these parts, she was driven about in all directions. On the night of the 14th, a breeze sprang up. Owing to our unexpectedly tedious passage, we ran short of provisions, particularly of water. You may suppose what was our joy and astonishment the next morning, in taking up the water alongside to wash decks, to find that it was fresh, and much more palatable than that which remained in our casks, which were imme

diately replenished with it. By this day's observation we were 125 miles from Chittagong, and about 100 from the nearest part of the Junderbunds. The water was of a more yellow tinge than in most parts of the bay; and those who drank a great deal of it, suffered from it afterwards.

Description of Anatina villosiuscula, a new Species, and of Venerupis Nucleus, a Species new to the British Fauna. By Mr WILLIAM MACGILLIVRAY, M. W. S., &c. With Figures. Communicated by the Author.

I. ANATINA VILLOSIUSCULA.

Pl. I. fig. 10, 11.

-A. TESTA Ovata ventricosa, inæquivalvi, antice

Spec. Char.-A.

subtruncata, rugosa, minutissime granulata.

Description.-Shell ovate, ventricose, inequivalve, with the umbones nearer the anterior extremity, the posterior extremity rounded, the anterior subtruncate, thin, fragile, diaphanous, transversely wrinkled, white, slightly tinged with yellow. Right valve larger, and much more convex, with a more prominent. umbo; umbones directly opposite; ligament double, the external short. One transverse scarcely prominent tooth in each valve, resembling an incrassation of the margin, immediately behind which, and directly under the umbo, is a deep sulcus. Posterior extremity shut close, anterior hiant. External surface covered with very minute prominent points, which, to the naked eye, are not individually distinguishable, but aggregately produce a dull or lustreless appearance; internal surface smoothish, shining at the ends, glimmering about the middle.

It will be perceived that this shell is closely allied to A. myalis of Lamarck, which is Mya pubescens of Turton, as well as to several others, such as Anatina truncata of Lamarck. It would be tedious to enter into all the explanations necessary for the accurate distinction of species so intimately connected. Our British conchologists have sadly puzzled themselves with this genus, which they have most injudiciously stuck to the genus Mya, after Linnæus's example; so that, to clear up all difficulties, would require a monograph.

The individual figured is from the Island of Harris, and is the largest in my possession.

2. VENERUPIS NUCLEUS. Lamarck Syst. v. p. 507. Pl. I. fig. 12, 13.

Spec. Char.-V. testa ovata, extremitatibus obtusa, ad umbones lævigata, transverse rugosa, longitudinaliter striis minutissimis decussata, latere antico lamelloso.

Description.-Shell broadly ovate, subrhomboideal, rounded at both ends, with the umbones close upon the posterior extremity, thick, transversely wrinkled, longitudinally very minutely striate, the umbones smooth and shining, the anterior extremity lamellar. Colour yellowish-white. Left valve with three, right with two teeth, much resembling those of Venus pullastra, but shorter. Anterior extremity a little hiant. Internal surface smooth, shining, white, with a purple spot at the anterior extremity.

It is allied to, but very distinct from, Montagu's Venus perforans.

The specimen figured is from the Island of Scalpay, in Harris; but I have seen one from the same place more than double the size.

Of the species here described, the first is supposed to be new ; the second to be for the first time ascertained as British.

Account of the Capture of a colossal Orang-Outang in the Island of Sumatra, and Description of its Appearance. By Dr CLARK ABEL.

IN the Hunterian Museum there was, and probably still is, the arm of an orang-outang, which many years ago excited the curiosity of naturalists, and induced them to infer that it belonged to an animal exceeding in height the human species. That arm, we doubt not, belonged to the species here noticed by Dr ABEL, of which the following accounts, extracted from the fifteenth volume of the Asiatic Researches, cannot but be read with much interest.

The individual described by Dr Abel was captured in the woods of Sumatra.

Capture of the Animul.—The following short history of the circumstances under which the animal was found, and of the mode of taking him, is drawn up from accounts which were furnished to Dr Abel, either directly or indirectly, by persons concerned in his capture.

A boat party, under the command of Messrs Craygyman and Fish, officers of the brig Mary Anne Sophia, having landed to procure water at a place called Ramboom, near Touraman, on the north-west coast of Sumatra, on a spot where there was much cultivated ground, and but few trees, discovered on one. of these a gigantic animal of the monkey tribe. On the approach of the party he came to the ground, and, when pursued, sought refuge in another tree at some distance, exhibiting as he moved, the appearance of a tall man-like figure, covered with shining brown hair, walking erect, with a waddling gait, but sometimes accelerating his motion with his hands, and occasionally impelling himself forward with the bough of a tree. His motion on the ground was plainly not his natural mode of progression, for even when assisted by his hands or a stick, it was slow and vacillating it was necessary to see him amongst trees in order to estimate his agility and strength. On being driven to a small clump, he gained by one spring a very lofty branch, and bounded from one branch to another with the ease and alacrity of a common monkey. Had the country been covered with wood, it would have been almost impossible to prevent his escape, as his mode of travelling from one tree to another is described to be as rapid as the progress of a swift horse. Even amidst the few trees that were on the spot, his movements were so quick that it was very difficult to obtain a settled aim; and it was only by cutting down one tree after another, that his pursuers, by confining him within a very limited range, were enabled to destroy him by several successive shots, some of which penetrated his body and wounded his viscera. Having received five balls, his exertions relaxed, and reclining exhausted on one of the branches of a tree, he vomited a considerable quantity of blood. The ammunition of the hunters being by this time expended, they were obliged to fell the tree in order to obtain him, and did this in full confidence that his power was so far gone that they could secure him without trouble, but were astonish

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