Natural History in Foreign Countries, 2S^ 



curious fact ofsome migratory birds, at one time common, becoming rare, 

 or entirely disappearing ; and others, which had previously been scarce, 

 arriving in great numbers. {Ibid.) 



M. Magnus von Wright has given very interesting tables of the arrival 

 of migratory birds in Finland, distinguishing between Abo and Haminaulax, 

 50 miles farther north. It would be interesting to compare these tables with 

 those which have been made out of British migratory birds. {Ibid.) 



RUSSIA. 



Formation of the Embryo in the Grasses. — M. Trinius of St. Petersburg, is 

 engaged in a keen controversy with M. Raspail of Paris, on the embryo of 

 the grasses ; in consequence, it would appear, of some remarks made by the 

 latter in the Bulletin des Sciences, on the dissertation of M. Trinius, De 

 Graminibus uni et sesqui/loris. The disputants have shown much botanical 

 erudition, but the subject does not admit of abridgment in a notice. Those 

 who are interested in it, will find the chief contested points detailed in the 

 Bulletin des Sciences Naturelles pour Fevrier. 



Scientific Journey. — Professor Hanstein has set out on a journey to 

 Siberia, accompanied by Lieutenant Due of the navy, and at St. Peters- 

 burgh they met Dr. Erman, from Berlin, who will go with them as naturalist 

 and astronomer. They will proceed from St. Petersburgh to Moscow, 

 Kasan, and Tobolsk, and northwards along the Obi to Boresow, in order to 

 examine the hitherto imperfectly known northernmost branch of the Ural 

 chain, and to observe the temperature of that tract. They will afterwards 

 go from Tobolsk by way of Tara, Tomsk, Krasnoiarsk, and Nischnei- 

 Udinsk, to Irkoutsk, where they hope to arrive in time to pass the winter. 

 Hence they mean to travel north-east to Jakoutsk, from which the most 

 fatiguing part of the journey will be to Schotsk, as there are 1014 wersts 

 (676 miles) to go over, in a country entirely uninhabited, in which they 

 must pass a thousand streams, bivouac in the night, and take provisions for 

 the whole journey. It is calculated that the tour may occupy two years. 

 The grand object of this important expedition is to observe the phenomena 

 of magnetism, and to ascertain, if possible, the situation of the magnetic 

 poles, &c. {New Monthly Magazine, August, 1828.) . ■ 



• ■ ■ ■'■''■■■'. '^. . 



NETHERLANDS. 



An enormous Whale. — M. Kessels, naturalist at Ghent, has just enriched 

 the cabinet of natural history there with the skeleton of an enormous 

 whale. This specimen is 95 ft. long by 18 ft. high. When dissected, 

 20,000 kilogrammes of blubber and 63,000 kilogrammes of flesh were cut 

 away. M. Kessels has succeeded in preserving the tail, with the skin, 

 blubber, and flesh undisturbed : it is 22 ft. round the edge. In the opinion 

 of many naturalists, amongst whom is M. Cuvier, this fish could not have 

 been less than 900 or 1000 years old. {New Monthly Magazine, No. xcii. 

 p. 357.) 



NORTH AMERICA. 



Floating Island. — From the earliest times, there are to be found in 

 authors, notices of the singular geological phenomena of floating islands. 

 Pliny tell us of the floating islands of the Lago de Bassanello, near Rome ; 

 in Loch Lomond, in Scotland, there is or was a floating island ; and in the 

 lake of Derwent Water, in Cumberland, such islands appear and disappear 

 at indefinite periods. Mr. A. Pettingal, jun., has recently described a floating 

 island, about a mile southwards of Newbury port, 140 poles in length, and 

 120 in breadth. It is covered with trees; and in summer, when dry wea- 



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