Sclent l/ic Journals. 169 



our correspondents, Mr. Svvainson ; the orchideous genus Macrae'a, from 

 Chile, by Professor Lindley. Under miscellaneous intelligence are thirteen 

 notices from the Bulletin Universelle, JamiesorH s Journal, Brewster's Journal, 

 the Annales de C/iimie, &c. ; the most interesting of which, as it appears to 

 us, is a notice from the Bulletin Universelle of a disease of silkworms, and 

 its cure. In the south of France, silkworms very often become yellow 

 from the attacks of a malady called the jaundice. The remedy there is 

 what gardeners in Britain would adopt, as a destructive power, in the case 

 of worms of any kind ; but in France it is said to have been employed for 

 twenty years with perfect success. It consists in powdering the worms with 

 quickhme, by means of a silk sieve, and then giving them mulberry leaves, 

 moistened with a 'few drops of wine. The safety of the worms under the 

 powdering of quicklime depends, no doubt, on the absence of moisture. 



The Philosophical Magazine and Annals of Philosophy, for May and June, 

 contains some interesting philosophical articles, and full accounts of the 

 proceedings of several societies. 



GilVs Technological Repository, for May, contains the continuation of a 

 very interesting series of microscopical observations, some curious remarks 

 on the cocoa-nut, and the mode of cultivating it in the East, [n the June 

 number the microscopic article is continued, and some farther observations 

 on the culture of palms, scitamineous plants, and the black pepper, in the 

 East, taken from BuchannarCs Journey from Madras. 



Brewster's Journal for April contains : — Notice of Meteorological Phe- 

 nomena at Patna,in the East Indies. — Observations on the formation of Ice 

 in India, by which it appears that the opinion " repeated by one author 

 after another," that ice is formed by evaporation from porous pans, is erro- 

 neous. " The fact is, that the natives use porous pans from necessity ; but 

 so well are they aware that the porosity of the vessels is of no advantage, that 

 they usually rub them with grease," as the writer supposes, to admit of 

 more easily extracting the ice, and to keep the straw, in which the vessels 

 are placed, in a perfectly dry and non-conducting state. The only author 

 who understands the subject is said to be Dr. Wells. The writer has re- 

 peated the experiments mentioned by Dr. Wells in his Treatise on Dew, 

 " and sometimes with singular results," all proving that the ice is produced 

 by radiation into a clear atmosphere. The writer, David Scott, Esq., never 

 found it practicable to make ice when the temperature exceeded 41° on the 

 level of the pits. — On the Natural History of Tabaslieer, the siliceous 

 concretion in the Bamboo, by Dr. Brewster. — An Account of a New Sea 

 Serpent, or serpentiform fish {fig. 78.), by Dr. Harwood, Professor of 

 Natural History in the Royal 

 Institution. It was found in 

 Davis's Straits, is 4 ft. 6 in. 

 long, with a purplish-black 

 granular skin, small fins, and a 

 slender tape-like tail, which is 

 continued 1 ft. 8^ in. beyond 



the extremity of the dorsal ^.^ ..^ , __ 



fin. Dr. Harwood has given i 'f''''^"'"'ii'i!f'iiif | , , , , . i , — , — i — , — , — |2/i 



it the name of Ophiognathus ampullaceus, or bottle-like. — Account of 

 the Tracks of Footmarks of Animals, found impressed in Sandstone, in 

 the Quarry of Corncockle Muir, Dumfries-shirc, by the Rev. Dr. Dun- 

 can. These footmarks were discovered fifteen or sixteen years ago; 

 and, what shows the comparative indifference of past times to geological 

 pursuits, their existence has never before been noticed in any scientific 



