Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

the belly flesh-coloured. When the colours faded after death, I observed many spots on the sides, which were not visible before. It adheres with some degree of force. When the tide retires, this fish sometimes takes refuge under a stone.

"Another species, which I do not recollect to have seen noticed, is not uncommon about low-water mark, where it hides under stones. The head is broad and flat, sloping from behind the eyes to the mouth. The body tapers from the pectoral fins to the tail; it is smooth, a dusky-yellow on the back and sides, the belly white; it has a row of white points along the lateral line, and also about the head and mouth, which secrete mucus. Thirteen tubercles form the sucking apparatus; but I could never get this fish to adhere to any substance. The tail is round; the dorsal and anal fins long, the former beginning just above the pectoral fins, the latter at the abdominal tubercles, and both run to the tail; which part, with the dorsal and anal fins, is crossed by dark bars. When this fish rests, it has a sin. gular custom of throwing its tail forwards towards the head. It rarely exceeds an inch in length."*

Tetraodon truncatus, oblong sunfish; Centriscus Scolopax, trumpetfish:-"A fish of this species was thrown on shore in St. Austel Bay, and came into the possession of William Rashleigh, Esq. of Menabilly, a gentleman distinguished for his love of natural history, who possesses a fine drawing of it. It was five inches long, and from the back to the belly one inch and two-eighths; in thickness three-eighths of an inch; it weighed three drams. The proboscis, which to the eye measured an inch and five-eighths, was formed of a bony substance, which was continued along the back, where it terminated in a sharp point, and spreading in the middle, where it makes an obtuse angle just above a small fin behind the gills."

CHONDROPTERYGIOUS FISHES: Raia Torpedo, torpedo or cramp ray:-Mr. C.'s suggestion respecting the use of the electrical faculty of this animal has already been given in the Annals, at p. 156 of the present volume.

Squalus Squatina, Monkfish:-" Common; keeps near the bottom, and is most commonly taken in nets. The propriety of ranking this fish with the Squali seems to me to be doubtful: the terminal mouth and depressed body afford sufficient distinctions for a new genus, which might be denominated Squatina, and in which the following species might find a place.

"Lewis. This fish, so named by fishermen, by whom it is not unfrequently taken with a line, bears some resemblance to the Monk, but is somewhat smaller; and as I have not been able to assign it a Linnæan name, I subjoin a description :- -The head is large, flat, the jaws of equal length, forming a wide mouth; the upper jaw falls in somewhat at the middle, so that

• "This is probably a variety of C, liparis."
X

New Series, VOL. VI.

at this part the lower jaw seems a little the longest; both are armed with several rows of sharp teeth; the tongue is small. The head is joined to the body by something which resembles a neck; the body is flat so far back as the ventral fins, beyond these it is round; the pectoral and ventral fins are very large; the former are flat, and both have near their extremities a number of spines. The two dorsal fins are placed far behind; the lobes of the tail are equal and lunated. There are five spiracula; the eyes are very small, and the nictitating membrane, which is of the colour of the common skin, contracts over the eye, leaving a linear pupil. The body is slightly rough, of a sandybrown colour; the under parts white. It is about five feet long, and keeps near the bottom."

Squalus galeus, tope; S. Mustelus, smooth hound; S. maximus, basking shark; S. cornubicus, porbeagle.

"There are in the possession of William Rashleigh, Esq. of Menabilly, a drawing and memorandum of a fish of this genus, which I am not able to refer to any known species; it was twenty-nine feet four inches long, twenty-four feet round, the fork of the tail seven feet, and the weight four tons; in the drawing, the eye is in front, under a snout that projects and is turned upward; the mouth is two feet and a half wide. The head is deep; the first dorsal fin much elevated. This fish seems to resemble the basking shark, but differs from it in the form of the head and situation of the eye."

Accipenser Sturio, common sturgeon.

V. A Description of some Insects which appear to exemplify Mr. William S. Mac Leay's Doctrine of Affinity and Analogy. By the Rev. William Kirby, MA. FRS. and LS.

Intending, as before mentioned, to give Mr. Mac Leay's paper in our next, we purpose appending to it an abstract of the present communication.

VI. Some Account of a new Species of Eulophus Geoffroy. By

the Same.

"Eulophus Damicornis. Aureo-viridis : abdomine nigricanti, basi macula pallida sub-pellucida. Long. corp. lin 14. Habitat in larva Bombycis camelina? Mus. nostr."

"This species," M. Kirby observes, "is very similar to E. ramicornis (of which, as well as of C. pectinicornis, I possess British specimens), the principal distinction being the white spot in the base of the abdomen.

[ocr errors]

(To be concluded in our next.)

B.

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, for 1823. Part I.

(Concluded from p. 227.)

IX. On some Fossil Bones discovered in Caverns in the Limestone Quarries of Oreston. By Joseph Whidbey, Esq. FRS. In a Letter addressed to John Barrow, Esq. FRS. To which is added, A Description of the Bones, by Mr. William Clift, Conservator of the Museum of the College of Surgeons.-(See Annals, v. 233.)

When adverting to the rarity of appearances of disease or fracture in fossil bones, in reference to such appearances in some of those from Oreston, as described in our report of this paper, Mr. Clift remarks, "On mentioning this circumstance to Prof. Buckland, he informed me, that he had lately seen in the collection of Prof. Sömmerring, of Munich, the skull of a very old hyæna from the caves of Gaylenreuth, in which the incisor and canine teeth, with the jaw containing them, had been entirely torn away, and the occipital and parietal crest dreadfully fractured and perforated, apparently in an affray with some more powerful animal; after which a healing and partial renovation of the parts had taken place, and the animal had lived on to mature old age, from the state of its masticating organs."

"Of the bovine genus," among the bones described by Mr. Clift, "there are specimens of the bony core of the horns belonging to three individuals of different size; all of them remarkably short, conical, and slightly curved, and standing in a nearly horizontal direction from the head. They evidently do not belong to very young animals, and from the appearance of these alone, a very small species would be inferred; but numerous specimens of the teeth, of the os humeri, ulna and radius, os femoris, tibia, os calcis, metacarpus and metatarsus, and phalanges, clearly prove that they belonged to individuals considerably larger than the average size of animals of that genus at the present day.

"The number of bones collected, afford sufficient grounds for supposing them to have belonged to more than a dozen individuals, varying considerably in their age."

The bones and teeth of five or six hyænas which formed part of this remarkable collection, have already been mentioned in the Annals. "But there are likewise detached specimens of the canine teeth, and molares of individuals of very large size; and the posterior part of a skull of uncommon magnitude, which corresponds most exactly in form with that of a hyæna, and must undoubtedly have belonged to that animal, but measures twice as much from every determinate point to another, as a recent full grown hyana's skull."

"Since the above was written, Mr. Whidbey has transmitted

some additional specimens of the jaws and teeth of the hyena, the wolf, and the fox, which have been subsequently discovered in one of the caverns, from which cavity all the bones of the wolf have been derived. Among these is half of the lower jaw of a hyæna of very superior magnitude to any of those previously discovered, and probably has belonged to the large skull before mentioned.

"The jaws of the wolf are of similar dimension with those before described; but one of them belonged to a very aged individual.

"Of the fox, there have been found only a few vertebræ, and two canine teeth from the lower jaw, which correspond perfectly in size and form with those of a recent animal; but are equally fragile and absorbent with those of the other animals."

Two engraved sketches of the caverns are annexed to Mr. Whidbey's account of them; and Mr. Clift's description of the bones is illustrated with five engravings, from drawings by himself.

X. On the Chinese Year. By J. F. Davis, Esq. FRS.-(See Annals, v. 149.)

"The Chinese year, properly considered as such, is in fact a lunar year, consisting of twelve months of twenty-nine and thirty days alternately, with the triennial intercalation of a thirteenth month, to make it correspond more nearly with the sun's course.* It has not been discovered (with any degree of certainty), why they fix upon the 15th degree of Aquarius as a rule for regulating the commencement of their lunar year; but they have an annual festival about the recurrence of this period which bears a considerable resemblance to the deification of the bull Apis; and this resemblance is increased by the connexion of both ceremonies with the labours of agriculture, and with the hopes of an abundant season. This coincidence may serve to fortify the opinions of those who are fond of tracing the Chinese to the Egyptians; although the possibility of such a derivation has been fully disproved by M. de Pauw."

XI. Experiments for ascertaining the Velocity of Sound at Madras, in the East Indies. By John Goldingham, Esq. FRS. Mr. Goldingham's account of the manner in which these experiments were conducted, and of their general results, will be found in the last number of the Annals, p. 201.

XII. On the double Organs of Generation of the Lamprey, the Conger Eel, the common Eel, the Barnacle, and Earth Worm, which impregnate themselves; though the last from copulating, appear mutually to impregnate one another. By Sir Everard Home, Bart. VPRS.-(See Annals, v. 302.)

"I call this intercalation triennial," Mr. Davis remarks, "because that is the nearest approximation; but in fact it is seven times in nineteen years."

The mean results of the Meteorological Journal kept at the Society's apartments, for the year 1822, are as follows: height of the barometer 29.863 inches, of Six's thermometer 55°; rain 18.068 inches.

B.

ARTICLE XIII.

SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE, AND NOTICES OF SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH SCIENCE.

I. Medical and Scientific Instruction at Guy's and St. Thomas's Hospitals, Southwark.

The Annual Course of Medical and Scientific Instruction at these Hospitals will commence early in the ensuing month of October, when distinct Courses of Lectures will be delivered on the following subjects, viz. Practice of Medicine; Pathology; Therapeutics and Materia Medica, by Drs. Cholmeley and Back, Physicians to Guy's Hospital.

Principles and Practice of Chemistry, by William Allen, Esq. FRS. Dr. Bostock, FRS. and Arthur Aikin, Esq. FLS.

Experimental Philosophy, by William Allen, Esq. FRS. and John Millington, Esq. Prof. Mech. Phil. Roy. Inst.

Midwifery and Diseases of Women and Children; and Physiology, by Dr. Blundell.

38

Anatomy and the Practice of Surgery, by Sir Astley Cooper, Bart. and Mr. Green.

Structure and Diseases of the Teeth, by Mr. Thomas Bell, FLS. Medical and Practical Botany, by Dr. Bright.

A Course of Clinical Lectures will be delivered in the season. Particulars to be had of Mr. Stocker, Apothecary to Guy's Hospital, who enters Pupils to all the above Lectures.

II. Change in the Freezing Point of Thermometers.

The following observations on this subject, a notice on which has already appeared in the Annals (for July, p. 74), are extracted from Mr. Daniell's newly published Meteorological Essays, p. 368.

"With respect to the change in the freezing point, which takes place in time in the best thermometers, I have lately had an unexceptionable opportunity of confirming the assertions of the French and Italian philosophers. Mr. Jones has obligingly put into my hands two thermometers of the late Mr. Cavendish, which have evidently been constructed with much care. The mercury in the balls of both flows freely into the tubes when reversed; and when suffered to fall sharply, strikes the ends with a metallic sound. The same click may be heard in the bulbs, when it is permitted to fall back, and the cavity closes without the slightest speck. These indications of a well-boiled tube are rarely to be met with in the common thermometers of the present day. They are mounted upon common deal sticks, and the graduation, which is only continued for a few degrees about the freezing point, is engraved upon a small slip of brass. The degrees are very

« ПредишнаНапред »