Mr. AYRES remarked, that of those genera of Echinoderms, which Mr. Forbes regarded as deep sea genera, two or three are found in North America in water not two hundred feet deep. Terebratula, which has been generally regarded as only an inhabitant of very deep water, and whose structure has been described as admirably adapted to the depth at which it has been found, and which Prof. Owen has demonstrated cannot exist at a depth of less than two or three hundred fathoms, exists at Eastport, Me., in water so shallow that it can be taken by hand. In the same locality and position, Radiata are found which have heretofore been thought to be only inhabitants of deep water. Some of Mr. Forbes's genera are also found in less than ten fathoms of

water.

III. BOTANY AND ZOOLOGY.

1. Salad for the Solitary; by an Epicure. New York: Lamport, Blakeman & Law.-A book which has a very large sale, and is commended as a model of erudition. A chapter in it, which treats of curi ous matters concerning plants, having casually attracted our attention, we here refer to it, to illustrate, negatively, the proposition, that to moralize edifyingly upon any department of nature, or to draw felicitous illustrations, requires that an author should know somewhat of the subject matter he writes about. The following specimens are culled from a dozen pages of the book (from p. 185 to 197). The Papyrus of Egypt is said to be a tree! Of the tree which furnishes the Peruvian Bark, "its trunk, owing to the frequent scaling of the bark, is said to be seldom seen thicker than the arm, although it attains a great height." Camphor is said to be distilled from the roots of a tree, growing in Borneo and Sumatra." "It is the leaves of plants and trees that act upon the air like human lungs, by absorbing carbon and evolving vital air for animal respiration,"--a curious and confusing way of expressing what is meant. The Cypress tree at Chapultepec, near the city' of Mexico, our author affirms to be "one hundred and seventeen feet ten inches in girth." The two latest measurements that we have heard of made it 41 or 45 feet: but this was several years ago! On reading further, we perceive that the author has mixed up various famous Cypresses of Mexico into one salad; and has then applied De Candolle's (or as he writes De Candalle's) remark on the tree of Santa Maria del Tule to that of Chapultepec. Contrary to the best-grounded opinions, we are told that the Great Chestnut of Mount Etna was probably formed of a single trunk. Of "the colossal Water-lily of British Guiana," doubtless the Victoria, it is gravely said that "its flower measures from four to five feet in circumference." Our Magnolia grandiflora is said to be a "tropical plant;" with "leaves from eight to nine feet in length: its beautiful white blossoms are of like dimensions." Truly of such a tree he would have reason to say: "it is doubtless one of the most superb vegetable productions of which we have any knowledge." If we reduce these feet to as many inches, the statement would even then be somewhat exaggerated. The Tulip-tree, which surely the author might be personally familiar with, is said to have "brilliant glossy leaves, and blossoms, giving their odor to the

stars, and despising the minor denizens of the forest." To the stars, indeed, they must give their odor; for they have none for man. Discoursing of flowerless vegetation, our author states, that "even yeast .... is supposed by botanists to belong to this genera of the vegetable world;"-so that, after all, the botany is as good as the grammar. As a piece of vegetable morphology, we are told that "seeds are merely leaves preserved in peculiar cerements;" and in respect to these coverings a series of statements follows, the logical connexion of which may perhaps be divined. If successful, the reader may next attempt to extricate the author's meaning from the confused statements respecting the boundary between the vegetable and the animal kingdoms. Lastly, the Venus' Fly-trap is called "a native of Canada, which, not unlike other natives of that soil, discovers singular irritability of temperament." Unfortunately for the hit, such as it is, the Fly-trap is exclusively found in North Carolina. Whatever the rest of the book may be, surely, as to this chapter, the intelligent reader will hardly be able to appropriate one of the mottoes of the volume, taken from old Quarles.

"The herbal savor gave his sense delight."

Let us open the book in another place. On p. 92, we read that " paper is produced from a beautiful fibrous plant, called Linum, or flax, the leaf of which is rotted, and passing through certain processes, becomes cotton cloth," &c. Truly, ignorance, however preposterous, is not necessarily a sin per se. Its heinousness depends very much on the use

that is made of it.

A. G.

2. Lindley: The Vegetable Kingdom; or the Structure, Classification and Uses of Plants, illustrated upon the Natural System; with upwards of 500 illustrations. Third edition: with corrections, and additional genera. London: Bradbury & Evans, 1853. Roy. Svo.-By intercalation (the work being stereotyped) and otherwise, this invaluable book is extended to about a thousand pages; and the latest additions to the science down to the time of publication are incorporated. It is an indispensable work, especially to teachers and travelling botanists. No other single volume contains a tithe of the valuable information that is condensed into this. The author's untiring industry and vigilance are shown in the accumulation and careful elaboration of this vast amount of materials. His signal ability and acumen are equally displayed in the copious critical matter, often of great importance, and in the defence of his peculiar views of the classification and affinities of plants; many of which, nevertheless, have been, and may be, we think, successfully combated.

A. G.

3. De Candolle's Prodromus.-Our Botanists may be glad to know that the printing of the fourteenth volume of this work (to contain the Polygonacea, Thymelace, Proteacea, &c.) has at length commenced. Probably the volume cannot be published before the early spring.

A. G.

4. Observations on the habits of certain Crawfishes, (in a letter of Dr. R. P. STEVENS to the Smithsonian Institution.)-While examining, a coal mine, along the banks of Coal Creek, a tributary of Green River, Bureau Co., Ill., I found innumerable little paths of an Astacus

leading from the water, along the sands and up into the neighboring low lands. Visiting these paths early in the morning, while yet the fogs were unrisen, I often found the Astacus returning from his meadow rambles, but never could ascertain the precise object of these rambles, whether predatory or otherwise.

A very interesting fact in relation to the habits of that animal I had an occasion to witness on the prairie near Chicago. On the ridge dividing the waters of the Chicago River and the Aux Plaines, is a wet marsh, lying near the deposit of bituminous limestone. The marsh, at the time of my crossing it, was quite dry. In search of fresh water shells, my attention was soon directed towards a large number of the paths of the Astacus, some of them showing evidences of a very recent traveller. I had not met with any water since crossing the Chicago River, two miles distant. Curiosity led me to follow up one of the freshest trails, until I discovered the retreat of the Crawfish. In my examination I crossed and recrossed the marsh in order to ascertain whether there was anywhere some little pool of water, but finding none I was soon delighted to find an Astacus leisurely travelling along his own highway, bearing in his mandibles a coleopterous insect. I followed on his trail to know what would become of him, when suddenly he was lost. By careful examination in the rank herbage, I found he had disappeared in a well or cistern about 10 or 12 inches deep and 1 wide. Here was his own pool, provided for by himself, for the long summer draughts. In following up other trails I invariably found them terminating in similar pools. In many the inmate was present, whilst absent in others."

Extract from a second letter from Dr. Stevens, dated Nov. 23.— "Our friends, the Astaci, increase in interest as I become more and more acquainted with their habits and instincts. I have learned this month that they are migratory, and in their travels are capable of doing much damage to dams and embankments. On the little Genesee, they have within a few years compelled the owners of a dam to rebuild it. The former dam was built after the manner of dykes, i. e. with upright posts, supporting sleepers laid inclining at an angle of 45° up the stream. On these were laid planks, and the planks covered with dirt. The Astacus proceeding up stream, would burrow under the planks where they rested on the bottom of the stream, removing bushels of dirt and gravel in the course of a night. I have seen this season, where they had attempted the present dam, piles of dirt, of at least one bushel.

They now travel over the dam in their migration, often climbing up. right posts two or three feet high, to gain the pond above."

It is to be regretted that no specimens were procured in order to ascertain to which species the above Crawfishes belong: whether to Cambarus fossor, or C. diogenes, or some other. This deficiency, however, Dr. Stevens promises to supply hereafter.

No mention is made by Dr. Stevens of any mud chimneys being built upon the exterior surface of the wells, such as are constructed by C. diogenes in the district of Columbia. S. F. BAIRD.

IV. MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE.

1. On the Earthquake at Manilla, of Sept. 16, 1852, (Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., 1852, 300.)—The first shock occurred at 7 o'clock on the evening of September 16, 1852. The inhabitants all ran into the streets, expecting every moment the houses to fall into ruins, foreigners looking on with awe and astonishment, and the natives, better aware of the danger, were on their knees devoutly praying. The houses are built of stone, with very thick walls, and rather low, in order to withstand better such shocks of earthquakes, and yet many of them were completely destroyed. In one of the strongest houses, an occupant writes, that the lower story did not move much, but the upper one swayed to and fro, to use his expression, "like a blade of grass in the wind." The noise made by the breaking of walls, the falling of furniture, and the cracking and creaking of the timbers was such as to impress every one with an exaggerated idea of the destruction of property. The shock lasted about one and a half minutes; during the evening there were four more distinct shocks, at regular intervals of about an hour, namely, at eight, nine, ten, and eleven, and another at four the next morning. At each shock the great bell of the cathedral tolled, followed by all the bells of the city.

At night the city was almost deserted, from the danger of remaining in houses with tiled roofs; the inhabitants fled to the native houses of the suburbs with thatched roofs, and many slept in boats on the river. For two or three days after, there were several slight shocks, and for weeks several ships in the river were used as lodging houses.

This was the longest and most severe earthquake that has visited these islands for two hundred years. The damage to property was considerable, though the loss of life was small; only three or four lives are known to have been lost. Almost every stone house suffered more or less, according to its strength; nearly all the government barracks, the custom house, colleges, palace, theatre, and many private dwellings were rendered completely untenantable. Two churches were destroyed. One, the oldest in Manilla, founded nearly three hundred years ago by the Jesuits, very large, with walls and arches four feet thick, was thrown down into one immense mass of ruins. The movement was not slow and gradual, like a long heavy swell, but a quick succession of short sudden shocks. The effects of the shocks were different in different parts of the island; there did not seem to be any regular track pursued by the earthquake; in places within a few miles of each other, in one it was not felt at all, while in the other it was quite severe. At Mariveles, just across the Bay from Manilla, the earth opened with an eruption of black sand, which covered the country for a considerable extent; how large the opening was at the time is not known, but it is now seven hundred yards long and one yard wide. The volcanoes at Albay and Taal, which have not been in operation for many years, have been since discharging lava, stones, &c., with considerable activity."

Observations by Prof. H. D. Rogers.-Prof. Rogers referred to the circumstance that the undulatory movement of an earthquake is felt

much more sensibly at a point above the earth's surface than directly upon it. An instance illustrating this had come within his own knowledge. The earthquake which destroyed the principal city of Guadaloupe was felt in the city of New York, but only in the fourth story of a printing office. The sound generally precedes the shock, as has been observed in this country. In North America, the undulation is always parallel to the physical features of the continent, making it reasonable to believe that through a long series of epochs the motion has been in one rather than various directions, as supposed by Elie de Beaumont. There are two movements in earthquakes; an undulating and a molecular movement. The latter, Prof. Rogers thought was the movement which attracted most observation, giving rise as it does to sudden and abrupt changes of relation on the surface of the earth at places where the formation of the strata admits of more or less free. dom of movement, causing the sudden shocks which are so destructive. Prof. Rogers gave an account of some of the opinions of geologists as to the thickness of the earth's crust. He gave it as his own opinion, that in most places it is not more than ten miles thick.

2. The Koh-i-noor Diamond, (from a Lecture by Prof. TENNANT.)On closely examining the Koh-i-noor Diamond at Buckingham Palace, in company with my friend, the Rev. W. Mitchell, I found that two of the larger faces were cleavage planes; one of them had not been pol. ished, or it had been so slightly polished that the effect was not discov. erable. By measuring the stone with a goniometer, and ascertaining the inclination of its larger faces, 109° 28', I ascertained which were the cleavage planes and which the cut planes of the diamond. Upon further examination I found two other cleavages, which make the stone correspond with an octahedron.

The flaws in the Koh-i-noor are shown in the annexed figure.

P, is a large plane at the base of the diamond, which is a cleavage plane. F, also a large cleavage plane, produced by a fracture-this had not been polished-and being inclined to the plane P at an angle of 109° 28', it af

P

forded a satisfactory means for determining the direction of the cleavage planes of the stone.

A shows a flaw running parallel to the cleavage plane F: this constituted the principal danger to be apprehended in cutting the stone, and was most skillfully ground nearly out before any of the facets were cut. This flaw seemed to proceed from a fracture marked B.

C and E were little notches cut into the stone for the purpose of holding the diamond in its original setting.

N, a small flaw, which almost required a glass to see it, evidently parallel to the plane P.

D, a fracture from a blow or fall, showing at its base a cleavage plane.

There is every probability that the Koh-i-noor is only a portion of the original diamond of that name, as procured from the mines of Gol. conda. My own opinion is, that in its original form this diamond was