§B6 , REMARKABLE OCCURIIETCCES IN NATURAL HISTORY. 



pirU. parts 23 of pure lime, 20*5 of pure rruiJ-nesia, 1'5 of man* 



ganese with a little iron, and 48 of carbonic acid. 



A jfiiu-ituUite. Hence it appears, that it is a ran'ricalcite, or a varictV-of 

 the bitterspath of the Germans. 



XTII. 



Some rcmcrliuhle Occurrences in Natural Ilistori/, From the 

 Rev. James IJairs Traoeh in Scotland. 



MILE Mr, Hall was at Elchies, on the north-west banks 

 of the Spey, abont fifteen miles from Elgin, he saw a remark- 

 a!)ie migration of eel-. The following are his own words. 

 i^figiv.tiua of A\hen I first observed thetn, it was about one in the af- 

 *'''^'' ternoon of a Sunday. How long the eels had been trans- 



migrating before I know not. They continued making their 

 way up the river all that day till about eight iri the evening, 

 when it grew dark. They began again early next morning, 

 biit how long before five I cannot say. They continued to 

 fnigrate for three whole days after I observed them, with 

 6nly an interval of a few t»oars in the night. They kept as 

 iaear the north-west edge of the river as they could: an«i, 

 when there wer^ bays in the edge of it, they went regularlv 

 V, t-A^oV -.o , roiiiid these, whether great or small. They were about i:en 

 at rogdUr dis- abreast, and each eel about three inches and half long: they 

 aaces. niarched tit regular distances, wliich might be about four 



feet; or rather three feet and half. There were stronger 

 eels as a guard, and geiierally about five or six inches long. 

 s-KilUst v.kxt ^ obscrrv^ed the smallest and weakest ones always kept nearest 

 the ihoro. the ed^e, where the current was least. From an accurate 

 calcuialion a hundred passed every minute, making six thou- 

 sand per hour. < 



They proceeded at this rate for three days, from about 

 . half an hour beiore the sun rose till about half after he set, 

 to u iituc after njHkirig about sixteen hours each day, in all about forty- 

 eijjht hours, which, multiplied by the six thousand that 

 passed every liour,^ make two hundred and eight\^-eight 

 thousand, most of which I saw pass; but whence they came, 

 or what they were in quest of, 1 know not. They did not 

 stay for one another, but each made the b^st of its way, 



wriggling 



