492 Natural History ifi Scotkmd, 



three pounds' weight) living in harmony with their feebler but more beautiful 

 finny brethren ; and all are so much accustomed to be fed with bread by 

 the ladies who visit them, that they exhibit no shyness at the approach of 

 strangers, and, swimming to the edge, seem to implore a crumb or two from 

 every passer by. The conservatory, is divided into five compartments or 

 chambers, of which the three in the middle are maintained at a high tem- 

 perature for East and West Indian, South American, and South Sea Island 

 productions. The two at the extremities are reserved for the finer plants, 

 which are affected only by the sharpness of the winter, and are, at this 

 season, nearly stripped of their inmates,, which are deposited in a warm 

 recess behind the building, formed of a thick enclosure ofhedging." 



Accidental Preservation of Hen^s Egg Shells. — As some workmen were 

 employed in repairing a part of the building of the New Inn, Gloucester, 

 in removing a lead spout, they discovered a hen's nest, containing eleven 

 eggs, which must have been deposited there about two centuries ago ! The 

 shells of the eggs were perfect, but of a very dark colour, and the inside 

 quite dried up. {Cheltenham Chronicle ^ Feb.) 



Coleopterous Insects driven from their Winter Quarters. — The marshes 

 and low meadows about Bungay were flooded for several days in January last, 

 and-the water was as high as had been known for some years. This produced 

 a very singular spectacle on the 19th and 20th of that month; but espe- 

 cially on the 19th, when, from the rushing down of the waters, the insects, 

 chiefly coleopterous,' were driven from their winter quarters, and being 

 washed to the land, had taken refuge by crawling up the posts by the side 

 of Earsham dam, adjoining the town, and in such numbers as to be truly 

 astonishing. I have no doubt from the quantity which I saw floating on 

 the water, but myriads must have been destroyed. — D. S. Bungay, 

 March, 1828. 



Art. III. Natural History in Scotland. 



MiNEBAL Waters. — Dr. Thomas Thomson, the distinguished Professor 

 of Chemistry in the University of Glasgow, has just published an excellent 

 memoir on the mineral springs of Scotland, in the Glasgow MedicalJournal^ 

 now on our table, from which we shall abridge his remarks on the sulphu- 

 reous and chalybeate waters. 



Moffat Water. — The village of Moffat lies at the bottom of a range of 

 transition hills, consisting of greywacke, transition green stone, and transi- 

 tion slate ; and, though Dr. Thomson did not observe any alum slate, he 

 thinks it not improbable that the spring originates in it ; but the rocks in 

 the vicinity are so covered with soil, as to preclude examination. Dr. Gar- 

 nett, who resided for a summer at Moffat, "found that a urine-gallon of the 

 water contained 56 grains of common salt, 10 cubic inches of sulphuretted 

 hydrogen ; 4 cubic inches of azotic gas, and 5 cubic inches of carbonic acid 

 gas. Dr. Thomson found the constituents of an imperial gallon to be as 

 follows : — 



Sulphuretted hydrogen gas - 21-290 cubic inches. 



Common salt - _ . 1 76*569 grains. 



Sulphate of soda - - 16*562 



Sulphate of lime - - - 11-579 



Sulphate of magnesia - - 5*474 



210*184 



