Natural H.istor\) in Foreign Countries. 487 



B, Slaty marl, with some vegetable impressions, and the small bodies named 



graptolites, by Linnaeus, 

 c. Compact limestone, brownish, yellowish, and greenish, containing trilo- 



bites, orthoceratites, &c. 



D, Aluminous ampelite, containing trilobites, paradoxites and agnostes. 



E, Inferior sandstone, containing doubtful vegetable impressions. 



F, Sand and basalt. 



G, Gneiss. \ 



ASIA. 



Fishes peculiar to certain Lakes. — Several travellers confirm the account 

 given by Josephus {Antiq. iii. 1 8. and De Bello Jud., &c.), that the fishes of 

 the Lake of Gennesareth are peculiar to it. Hasselquist says, " I thought 

 it remarkable, that the same kind of fish should here be met with as in the 

 Nile, such as Charmuth, .S'ilurus, Boenni, Mulsil, and .Sparus galilse\is. 

 Josephus says that some consider the fountain of Capernaum as a vein of 

 the Nile, because it brings forth fishes resembling the Coracinus of the 

 Alexandrine Lake. 



Supposed Change of Climate. — Professor Schouw, of Copenhagen, has 

 argued plausibly against the opinion, that certain climates have changed in 

 the lapse of ages. The date tree, for instance, he says, requires a mean 

 temperature of 78° Fahr., to bring its fruit to perfection ; and it is as suc- 

 cessfully cultivated in Palestine now as it was m the earliest times, of which 

 he gives interesting notices. Jericho was called Palm town ; and Deborah's 

 palm tree was mentioned between Rama and Bethel. Pliny mentions the 

 palm tree as being frequent in Judea, and chiefly about Jericho. Tacitus, 

 Josephus, Strabo, Diodorus Siculus, and Theophrastus, all speak of woods 

 of palm trees there ; and on the Hebrew coins date trees are by no means 

 rare, and are easily recognised by their fruit. {Okenh Ms.) 



Coral^olypi. — MM. Quoy and Gaimard, the naturalists of the Astro- 

 labe, in her late voyage of discovery, paid considerable attention to the 

 habits of the numerous Polypi inhabiting corals and corallines, and have 

 thrown some light on their history. They always found, on examining with 

 attention, that the Polypi protruded only a very little their lamellar and 

 fringed tentacula (les etoiles lamelleuses et decoupees) from their abode, 

 a circumstance which gives them a very peculiar appearance. In some 

 Milleporae, the animals are very obvious, though in others they cannot be 

 seen ; but on passing the hand along the surface, the touch does not indi- 

 cate the feeling of an immediately stony basis. In some, no organic sub- 

 stance can be perceived, the surface being rough and dry, as the most arid 

 limestone ; but in others, such as the elk's-horn, though similarly rough and 

 dry, very minute Polypi, can be detected burrowing in the stony matter. It 

 may be remarked, that touching those Polypi produces the same stinging 

 sensation, followed by redness, as that produced by certain Medus<^, which 

 has obtained for them the name of sea-nettles. The sting of the Polypi, it 

 would appear, is produced by some acrid fluid, for it is communicable from 

 the hands to any other part of the skin. ; 



MM. Quoy and Gaimard could find no trace of animation in the sub- 

 stances called Nulliporae, by Lamarck, from their exhibiting no perceptible 

 pores. They profess entire ignorance of their manner of growth. 



Corals and corallines of recent formation are much more porous and 

 fragile than when of some age; because the interstices, in the former case, 

 have not been filled up, and even the parts which have been formed require 

 exposure to the air to consolidate and harden them. 



No Polypi appear to possess, as has by some been supposed, life or ani- 

 mation in common. If they did, they would enjoy, as M. Lamarck shrewdly 

 observes, qualities repugnant to the nature of every known animal, namely 

 the faculty of never dying. The stars and rosettes of the Polypi, therefore. 



