mobility, and variety of action, and from her frequent apparent attempts to convey the expression of her feelings and passions, by means of the various forms and shapes in which she placed them we hazard the opinion that such is their physiological use or destination; thus compensating in some measure, for the want of power necessary to produce a variety of sounds, which has been frequently noticed to exist in this species of animals. The chin is much less prominent than the mouth, and the skin in front of the neck being loose and flabby, presented the appearance of a double chin; when the animal was angry, or much pleased, the swelling increased very much, and assumed the appearance of a large tumour. Each of the jaws contained twelve fully-developed teeth; they were probably the first or milk teeth, as the rudiments of the new set were sufficiently well marked. The ears, though small, closely resembled the human ear, and the lower margins of them were in the same line with the external angles of the eyes. The chest was rather wider than the pelvis, and the abdomen flattened. The arms were long, in proportion to the height of the animal, and the legs short, when compared with the arms. The hand was long, in com parison with its width, and with the human hand, the fingers tapering, the thumb very short, scarcely reaching to the first joint of the forefinger. All the fingers were terminated with perfect nails, of a blackish colour and oval form; they did not project beyond the tips of the fingers. The feet were long, resembling hands in the palms, and in having fingers rather than toes; but the heels resembled very much those of man. The great toes, or lower thumbs, were short, and set on at right angles to the feet, close to the heel. When walking on the ground, the feet were always turned with their palms inward, so that the only portion placed in contact with the surface, was the heel and outer edge of the foot, and the little toe or finger. The fingers or toes were doubled up, and the gait of the animal resembled very much that of the parrot, It is much to be regretted that this interesting specimen should have died so soon after her arrival here, but we hope that the general curiosity on the subject will stimulate to renewed enterprise, and that we shall have an opportunity ere long, of again examining, and more minutely observing, the nature and habits of this remarkable species. New York City, August, 1836. In writing on this subject, Dr. Arnold says: "At Pulo Labbar, on the Manna river, I rejoice to tell you, I happened to meet with what I consider the greatest prodigy of the vegetable world. I had ventured some way beyond the party, when one of the Malay servants cane running to me, with wonder in his eyes, and said, ' come with me, sir come! a flower very large, beautiful, wonderful! I went with the man about a hundred yards into the jungle, and he pointed to a flower growing close to the ground, under the bushes, which was truly astonishing. My first impulse was to cut it up and carry it to the hut: I therefore siezed the Malay's parang (a sort of instrument like a woodman's choppinghook); and finding that it sprang from a small root, which ran horizontally (about as large as two fingers or a little more), I soon detached it, and removed it to our hut;" The above is a representation of the full-blown flower. The Krubut is a parasite, growing in the woods, on the roots and stems of those immense climbing plants, generally of the genus vitis (or vine), which are attached, like enormous cables, to the largest trees of the forest. The flower constitutes the whole of this plant, there being no leaves, and neither roots nor stems. Thus, the plant forms a complete anomaly in the history of vegetables. It grows out of another plant in the manner of the mistletoe, and not on the decayed surface of plants, as is the case with the common fern on the trunks of old oaks. The flowers of this extraordinary plant are of one sex; and the male only has yet been sent to England. The breadth of a full flower exceeds three feet from the margin of the one petal d to that of the other d; the petals, or leaves of the flower, are roundish, and measure twelve inches from the base, to the apex. It is about a foot from the insertion of one petal to the opposite one; and that part which is considered the nectarium, or central cup of the flower, would hold twelve pints of liquid. The pistils, which are abortive, and as large as cow's horns, are represented in fig. 2, b b. 2202 The weight of the whole flower is calculated at about fifteen pounds. It is of a very thick substance the petals and nectary being in few places less than a quarter of an inch thick, and in some parts three quarters of an inch; it is succulent in texture, but of a firm fleshy consistence. The flower, fully blown, was discovered in a jungle of Sumatra, growing close to the ground, under the the bushes, with a swarm of flies hovering over the nectary, and apparently laying their eggs in its substance. The colour of the five petals, or flower leaves, of which it is composed, is a brick-red, covered with protuberances of a yellowish white. The inside of the cup is of an intense purple, and more or less densely yellow, with soft flexible spines of the same colour. Towards the mouth, it is marked with numerous depressed spots of the purest white, contrasting strongly with the purple of the surrounding substance, which is considerably elevated on the lower side. The smell is that of tainted beef. The structure of this plant is too imperfectly known to admit of determining its place in the natural system. That learned botanist, Mr. Brown, however, thinks it will be found to approach near to the passion flowers. Its first appearance is that of a round knob, proceeding from a crack or hollow in the stem or root, as represented in the following cut fig. 1. 3 This knob, when cut through, exhibits the infant flower enveloped in numerous bracteal sheaths. These successively open and wither away as the flower enlarges, until at the time of full expansion, when there are but a very few remaining, presenting somewhat the appearance of a broken calyx, as represented in fig. 2, a a. The female flower differs but little in appearance from the male, further than in being without the anthers, fig. 2, c. Fig. 3 represents one of the anthers a little larger than the natural size, and shewing a section of the cavity in which it is immersed. It takes three months from the first appearance of the bud to the full expansion of the flower. The blossoms decay not long after their expansion, and the seeds (spora) are raised with the pulpy mass. The fruit bas not yet been seen by botanists, but is said by the natives to be a many-seeded berry. Mr. Brown has made some interesting observa tions on the Rafflesia Arnoldi, wherein he remarks, that it is not common for parasitick plants to fix indiscriminately on the roots or branches of their stocks, as is supposed to be the case with the genus Rafflesia; and observes, that "plants parasitick on roots are chiefly distinguishable by the imperfect development of their leaves, and the entire absence of green colour; that their seeds are small, and their embryo not only minute, but apparently imperfectly developed." Mr. Loudon says, that "the modes of union between a parasite and its supporter, or stock, vary in different genera and species of this class of vegetables. Some, as the misletoe and Rafflesia, depend on the stock for nourishment during the whole of their existence; others, as the common broom-rape, are originated in the soil; and afterward when they have attached themselves to their stock, the original roots die. Other parasites, again, are originated on the stock, and in their more advanced state produce roots of their own. In some cases the nature of the connexion between parasite and the stock is such, as can only be explained on the supposition that the germinating seed of the parasite excites a specifick action in the stock, the result of which is the formation of a structure, either wholly or in part derived from the root, and adapted to the support and protection of the undeveloped parasite; analogous, therefore, to the production of galls by the puncture of insects. On this supposition may be explained the connexion between the flowers of the genus Rafflesia, and the root from whence it springs." In Sumatra, all the vegetable productions seem to be on a gigantick scale. Sir Stamford Raffles, after describing this great flower, says, "There is nothing more striking in the Malayan forests than the grandeur of the vegetation. The magnitude of the flowers, creepers, and trees, contrasts strikingly with the stunted, and I had almost said, pigmy vegetation of England. Compared with our fruit-trees, your largest oak is a mere dwarf. Here we have creepers and vines, entwining larger trees, and hanging suspended for more than one hundred feet, in girth not less than a man's body, and many much thicker; the trees seldom under one hundred, and generally approaching one hundred and sixty to two hundred feet in height." We reserve for another occasion, a description of the Rafflesia Patma, another giant parasite found in the shady thickets of Musa Kambagan, a little island which adjoins Java. [Baron Cuvier.] ORGANICK REMAINS. but if a collection of its fossils can be formed, the difficulty vanishes, and its relative age may be determined. Every series of beds, therefore, possessing fossils peculiar to itself, contains an index to its own mysterious history; for not only can its position in the series be read, but also the circumstances under which it was formed. The fact that every series of rocks contain fossils peculiar to itself, was first discovered by Lister, more than one hundred and fifty years ago, but the honour of demonstrating it by extensive observation is due to Mr. William Smith: and thus he has placed the naturalist, as well as the geologist, in a new position-inducing him to extend his observations into the bowels of the earth, where the remains of a race of beings before entirely unknown have been discovered. been determined. REPTILES. The fossilized bones of animals are among the most singular organick remains. Baron Cuvier, the celebrated French geologist, was the first who commenced the study of these fossils. As an antiquary of a new order, to use his own words, he was obligged at once to learn the art of restoring these monuments of past revolutions to their original forms, and to discover their nature and relations. He had to collect, in their original order, the fragments of which they consisted, to reproduce the ancient beings to which they belonged, with all their proporIt would be impossible to find a more appropriate tions and characters, as well as to compare them heading for an article on the subject of Organick with those which now live on the surface of the Remains, than the likeness of the distinguished globe. In effecting these objects he was assisted French naturalist, Cuvier, who has prosecuted the by naturalists and geologists in various countries, study of this branch of science, with great success, and the characters of many singular animals have and who has contributed so much to its progress. The study of American organick remains, opens a wide field to the naturalist which has as yet been but partially explored. Among those who have None of the results of modern geology have atattended particularly to this subject, we may mention tracted so much of publick attention as the discovthe names of Mitchill, Harlan, Jackson, Cleveland, ery of the remains of many gigantick reptiles. Silliman, Hitchcock and others, to whose labours we There has been a time in the history of our world when shall recur hereafter. At present we shall present a these animals attained an appaling magnitude, and brief summary on the subject, which is taken from rioting in the wide expanse of water, swayed the Higgins' Earth; this book forms the seventy eighth sceptre of uncontroverted power over all other creanumber of Harpers' Family Library, and deserves ted beings. The descriptions of the fabled monsters to be read with attention. Mr. Higgins remarks:- of antiquity, which have so often delighted our child"It has been already stated that many stratified hood, lose all their character of exaggeration when rocks contain the remains of organized bodies, some compared with those that have deen given of the of which are of the most remarkable character, and reptiles whose bones are entombed in the solid strata lead us to very important deductions. The wonder of the globe. Some of these have evidently been of thinking men has long been excited by the dis- fitted to live in the deep waters of the sea, while covery of these in the solid strata of the globe, and others in all probability inhabited lakes and rivers; that at great depths below the surface. There is but they all appear to have existed at a period when evidence that they were objects of attention among our earth enjoyed a much higher temperature than it the learned long before the science of geology had now possesses. Judging from the antiquity of the a name; and some of the speculations which have rocks in which the bones of reptiles are found, they reached us are little to be preferred to the notions appear to have been created a long period before of the most ignorant peasants of our own day. But the viviparous animals, and at a time when the earth since men have been engaged in geological investi- was unfit for creatures of a higher organization. gations, the study of fossils has risen to great impor- The first appearance of the bones of reptiles is in tance, and has conferred many advantages upon the beds lying immediately above the coal measures, geology itself. and they are found more or less abundant as high By the character of the 'organick remains found as the chalk deposite, but above this they entirely in a bed, the relative position and age of a deposite disappear. During some part of the time that intermay, as we have already shown, be frequently de- vened between the formation of these two deposites termined, for every series of beds contains some the reptiles must have existed in immense numbers, which are peculiar to itself. It is not always possi- if we may calculate from the quantity of bones that ble to assign to a deposite its proper position in the are found. They are most abundant in a limestone geological series, by its mineralogical characters; rock, called the lias in which the bones of two [The skeleton of the Ichthyosaurus.] breastbone of a lizard, the muzzle of a dolphin, and the teeth of a crocodile; its eyes were immense, and its teeth conical and pointed. THE PLESIOSAURUS. The plesiosaurus resembles the ichthyosaurus in some particulars, and had four paddles of similar structure, but differed from all other animals in the extreme length of the neck, and the number of vertebræ of which it was composed. The neck of birds consists of more vertebræ than any other organized creatures, and contains from nine to twenty-three; and reptiles have from three to eight; but one species of the plesiosaurus has thirty. This singular animal is supposed to have swum on or near the [The skeleton of the Pterodactylus.] by means of its ribs, nor by wings without fingers, as in birds, but by wings supported by one very elongated toe, the others being short and furnished with claws. The remains of this animal were brought under examination by M. Collini, director of the Museum of the Elector Palatine at Manheim. There was at first some discussion as to the actual character of the animal. M. Blumenbach supposed it to be a bird, and M. de Soemmering classed it among the bats. M. Cuvier, however, maintained, that it was a reptile, and showed them all its bones, from the teeth to the claws, possessed the characters which distinguish that class of animals. But it still differed from all other reptiles in the capability of flying. It is probable that it could at pleasure fold up its wings in the same manner as birds, and might suspend itself on branches of trees by its fore toes, though it possessed the power of sitting upright on its hind feet. This is the most anomalous of all the fossil reptiles.. THE MEGALOSAURUS. This monstrous animal must have been thirty or forty feet in length, and seven or more in height. It was probably a terrestial animal, and from the form of its teeth, the structure of its jaws, and the bones of the extremities, we discover that it was [The skeleton of the Plesiosaurus.] surface of the water, carrying its head like a swan, and darting upon the fish on which it lived. For our knowledge of this interesting animal, we are entirely indebted to that very able geologist, Mr. Conybeare. When examining some vertebræ of the crocodile and ichthyosaurus, found in the neighbourhood of Bristol, he detected some remains among them which appeared to differ from those of both genera. This supposition was strengthened by finding, in the collectiom of Colonel Birch, a considerable portion of the skeleton of the animal, and he immediately commenced his researches, hoping to obtain other bones of the newly-discovered genus, and in 1821 published a memoir conjointly with M. De la Beche, describing its characters. [Jaw of the Megalosaurus.] this time the head was wanting, but in the following allied to the recent monitor. The remains of this year he obtained one that was tolerably perfect. In animal were discovered at Stonesfield, by our very the year 1824, Miss Anning, of Lyme Regis, found eminent countryman Dr. Buckland. a skeleton, nearly entire, by which Mr. Conybeare was able to complete his inquiries: such is the history of the circumstances by which we were made acquainted with the plesiosaurus. THE PTERODACTYLUS. At The pterodactylus was a flying animal, which had the wings of a bat, and the structure of a reptile; jaws with sharp teeth, and claws with long hooked nails. The power which it had of flying was not THE IGUANODON. The iguanodon was an herbivorous reptile, which differed from all the animals we have mentioned, and surpassed them in size. A thigh-bone of one specimen of this animal measured twenty-three inches in circumference. Other bones that were found were equally gigantick and its teeth were as large as the incisors of the rhinoceros. It derives its name from the resemblance between its teeth and the teeth of the Iguana; and it is a remarkable cir- | in any bed below the chalk, and hence it is supposed cumstance that they are more or less worn by the that they did not exist untill the period immediately operation of grinding its food, which shows that it preceding the deposition of that rock. The existence 010 [Teeth of Iguanodon.] performed mastication in the same manner as the herbivorous quadrupeds of the present day. It is generally supposed that this animal was shorter in proportion to its bulk than the recent lizards, to which it is nearly allied; but even with this supposition, it appears to have been fifty or more feet in length, and eight or nine in height. THE MOSOSAURUS. of organick remains in rocks indisputably proves that every bed in which they occur has been at some period the superficial rock; for, whether the remains were brought from a distance, or the animals to which they belonged existed on the spot, it is certain they could not have been disseminated through the bed if it had not at that time been uppermost. When, therefore, the remains of any animals, or class of animals, are found in particular beds and not in others, we have evidence that the animal or class only existed during the period in which the beds themselves were deposited. It is by the admission of these principles that we deduce the non-existence of mammiferous animals previous to the formation of chalk. Some few bones of individuals of the human race have been found in beds containing fossils, but in all instances there is reason to believe that they have been casually introduced at a very recent period. In turf-bogs, in alluvial deposites, in fissures of rocks, and in caves, the bony structure of man is sometimes found, but in no instance in such position as would lead us to suppose that our species was The remains of this animal were discovered by the contemporary of the palæotheria, or even of the Hoffman. It appears to have formed a link between mammoth and rhinoceros. It is true that human the monitors and the common lizards. A jaw of bones were found in some of the caves in France, this animal measured three feet nine inches, and and old pottery in some of those in Germany, but hence it was deduced that the entire length of the their sitution and circumstances clearly proved that animal was about four-and-twenty feet. Its tail they were of recent date, and could not claim the was much shorter in proportion to the length of its body than the crocodile, but very broad, so that by its means it could force its way through the most stormy waters. It has no relation to the crocodile except in some partial characters, and the bones of the hand and feet have led to the supposition that it possessed a contracted fin, not much unlike that of the Plesiosaurus. [Scull of the Mososaurus.] FOSSIL BIRDS. antiquity that we are compelled to give to the animal remains usually found in such situations. And yet there is nothing in the composition of the human bone to prevent its preservation; there is no principle of premature decomposition in its construction. The bones of men are equally well preserved in ancient sites of combat as those of the horse, and yet the latter are found in a fossil state. From these facts we deduce that the human race did not exist at the same time with these animals in places which the geologist has had an opportunity of examining. It is nevertheless possible that future inquiries in other countries may detect the presence of fossilized relicks of man, associated with the animals whose bones are found in the gravels and caves of Europe. It may also be mentioned that no remains of monkeys, the race which ranks next to man in anatomical construction, have hitherto been discovered, although the bones of animals which now inhabit the same woods with them are found in abundance. For the knowledge that has been collected in reference to the nature of the mammiferous quadrupéds, we are chiefly indebted to the laborious reThe bones of birds are less frequently found in a searches of the late Baron Cuvier. There is a fossil state than those of other classes of animals, so series of recent beds of gypsum, which occur in seldom indeed that some persons have absolutely detached hills along the course of the rivers Marne denied their existence in that condition. Baron and Seine, in which a great number of bones are Cuvier. to whom the science of fossil organick re- found. The greater part of these belong to that mains is so much indebted, has detected and describ- order of animals which Cuvier has called the Paed at least eleven species of birds found in the gyp-chydermata, or thick-skinned non-ruminant animals; sum of Paris, and among them a bone which greatly but all the species, and many of the genera, are exresembled that belonging to a preserved specimen tinct; there is one in particular, called the palæothof the celebrated Egyptian ibis. erium, that has some points of resemblance to the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, the horse, the camel, FOSSILIZED REMAINS OF MAMMALIA. The remains of mammalia have never been found and the pig. Eleven or twelve species of this ani |