ZOOLOGY. 365 



was imported by Lord Derby, from the Cape, in 1851, since which time the 

 five three females and two males have increased, within eight } r ears, to 

 twenty-seven head; of which fifteen belong to the Zoological Society of Lon- 

 don. With the exception of one female that has sickened, these animals are 

 all perfectly health}*, and the progeny in England is larger and stronger than 

 the parents. They range with other cattle, and receive no extra food or 

 care. The canna, although petulant and active, is familiar and docile in its 

 behavior. It docs not breed with the bovine species. One which was killed 

 for the table in 18-58, without having been especially fattened, weighed eleven 

 hundred and seventy-five pounds. Its meat was of delicate flavor, and very 

 fine, close texture. 



Angora Goat in France. The acclimation of the Angora goat has now 

 been completely accomplished in France. The goat is now living and at 

 large in the Vosges, Jura, Cevennes, Alps, mountains of Auvergne and Avey- 

 non, and the Black Forest. It also prospers marvellously in Algeria. The 

 Angora goat was introduced there in 18-56; the flock consisted of ten individ- 

 uals, four males and six females; it has so prospered as to consist now of 

 forty-six individuals, eighteen males and twenty-eight females, and none are 

 at all degenerated from the original stock; the silky hair has lost nothing of 

 its lustre, and affords fine velvets, every way comparable with the silk velvets, 

 and even superior to them, as it does not mat with pressure or friction. M. 

 Bcrnis, veterinary of the army in Africa, to whom this flock has been intrusted, 

 proposes to produce a mixed breed between the goat of the country and 

 some of the females of the Angora (which are in excess in the flock), and so 

 establish a new variety. The trial has already been made in France, and a 

 mixed breed obtained of very rustic appearance, with hair inferior in quality 

 to that of the pure Angora. 



Acclimation of the Lama in France. The Acclimation Society of the zone 

 of the northeast of France reports a very interesting experiment in the do- 

 mestication of the lama in the mountains of the Vosges. The lama has been 

 used on a farm, where he has been in the habit of carrying loads of sixty to 

 seventy pounds. He can do the work of a small donkey. He feeds on green 

 or dried grass. He needs no shoeing, which is a great advantage in the Vos- 

 ges, where the roads are often covered with ice and snow, on which he is as 

 sure-footed as a dog. The expense of keeping him is about equal to that of 

 keeping three sheep. When the ground is covered with snow he eats about 

 ten pounds of hay per day. He seems to endure the cold of winter as well 

 as the heat of summer, and in the mountainous regions of France promises 

 to be of much value. 



Birds forming Guano. M. Raymonde, who was recently sent to the Chin- 

 cha Islands by the Peruvian Government to report on the existing quantity 

 of guano, makes the following statements : The deposit evidently belongs to 

 the present epoch of the earth's history, and ten species of birds are enu- 

 merated as the originatoi*s of the guano. These species do not all live con- 

 stantly on the islands, but some appear only at the breeding season. The 

 pelicans do not appear to produce much guano, as they almost exclusively 

 inhabit the cliffs, and their excrement falls into the ocean. Some of the birds 

 hollow out nests in the guano, and are unable to fly. The birds which pro- 

 duce the largest quantity of guano are the Puffinarias, their number being 

 almost incredible. 



Parasites upon Flies. At a meeting of the Boston Society of Natural 

 History, Professor Wyman remarked that it had probably been frequently 



31* 



