ZOOLOGY. 355 



EXTRACTION OF THE TUSKS OF AN ELEPHANT. 



THIS novel operation was performed with success, during the past 

 summer, upon a large elephant belonging to a menagerie in Paris. 

 The animal having given strong symptoms of insanity, and being very 

 valuable, a consultation of surgeons Avas held upon his case. These gen- 

 tlemen gave as their opinion, that the animal was attacked by hypo- 

 chondria in consequence of caries at the root of his tusks, and advised 

 the removal of them, which were a yard and a half each in length. To 

 aid in this attempt, the proprietor endeavored to put the animal to 

 sleep by means of opium and chloroform, but though administered in 

 immense quantity, they had no apparent effect, and they were com- 

 pelled to employ a windlass to hold him down. The operation took 

 place July 7th, before thirty of the pupils of the veterinary school, and 

 a crowd of veterinary surgeons. The animal was alternately placed on 

 each side for the different teeth, and with the aid of a saw and forceps, 

 and cords attached, the teeth were cut off, and the roots extracted, 

 which alone weighed 18 pounds. 



ON THE POISON OF THE COMMON TOAD. 



IT is an ancient and common opinion that toads and salamanders 

 possess a subtile venom ; this, however, has generally been deemed 

 fabulous by those engaged in scientific pursuits. MM. Gratiolet and 

 Cloez, in a recent report to the French Academy, show that there is in 

 reality some foundation for the current belief, and that toads and sala- 

 manders do secrete a deadly poison. They inoculated small animals 

 with the milky fluid contained in the dorsal and parotid pustules of 

 these animals, and found it productive of fatal effects in a short space 

 of time. A turtle-dove, slightly wounded in the wing with the liquid 

 secreted by the salamander, died in terrible convulsions in eight min- 

 utes. Five small birds inoculated with the lactescent humor of the 

 common toad, (Rana bufo,) died in five or six seconds, but without con- 

 vulsions. The liquid of the pustule of the toad kills birds, even after 

 being dried, though not with the same rapidity as when fresh. The 

 mammiferous animals experimented on had convulsions, but these con- 

 vulsions were not mortal. Repertoire de Pharmacie. 



ON THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS IN CALIFORNIA. 



THE following is an abstract of a paper presented to the American 

 Association, Albany, by Dr. J. L. Le Conte. The author first draws 

 attention to the fact that in early spring the beauty and variety of the 

 flowers is so great as to give the country the appearance of a well-cul- 

 tivated garden. But the peculiarity of the vegetation is in the distri- 

 bution of the species. Particular plants are confined to limited dis- 

 tricts, so that a constant variety is presented to the traveller almost 

 from day to day. Such being the fact among vegetables, the author 

 wished to ascertain whether this novel feature was extended to the 

 animal kingdom, and upon directing his attention to this point, he 

 ascertained the remarkable fact that a limited number of insects are 



