St^g Retrospective Criticism. 



delightful to witness the fly issuing from its chrysalis ; would not the plea- 

 pure be increased by seeing it at length " sail away on silken wing through 

 the soft air, rejoicing in its new being ?" — A Constant Reader. March 29. 



Dried Plants not to be bought in London. — Sir, At p. 178. a correspondent 

 observes, that " in London there is no place where botanists can obtain 

 dried specimens." 1 beg leave to state, that small portfolios, prepared with 

 a view to assist young students in ascertaining cryptogamic plants, espe- 

 cially mosses, may be obtained of Messrs. Harvey and Darton, 65. Grace- 

 church Street, and small collections of grasses, and of other plants, with or 

 without the rarer species, may also be had. To those who are beginning 

 the study of botany, such collections might aflford great assistance at a 

 small expense. 



A short and familiar introduction to the natural system, appended to a 

 new edition of Wakefield's Botany^ is published by the abovementioned 

 booksellers. I am, &c. — Id. 



Auditory Aperture in the Skull of the Hedgehog, — Sir, In a paper in 

 your Magazine by Dr. W. Farrar, " On the Auditory Apertures in the 

 Skulls of Quadrupeds and Birds, as Auxiliaries in Classification," he 

 states that he discovered in the hedgehog a singularity of construction 

 which much surprised him. His words are: — "External ears he cer- 

 tainly had ; and these were placed forward in the skull ; but, as for any 

 external aperture communicating with the brain for the purpose of hear- 

 ing, not the slightest opening could I discover." So strange did this state 

 of things seem to me, that I quickly sought an opportunity to examine the 

 part myself; the result of which examination was so completely different 

 from what Dr. Farrar's paper had led me to expect, that I feel bound to 

 communicate it to you, lest any of your readers who may not possess the 

 means of seeing for themselves should go away with what I conceive an 

 erroneous idea on the subject. I found the external ear large in propor- 

 :tion to the size of the animal, terminating inferiorly in an open external 

 auditory tube, which tube was formed by a continuation of the cartilage of 

 the ear extending spirally to the bony ring, over which the membrane of 

 the tympanum was stretched. The membrane of the tympanum was capa- 

 cious ; the chain of bones from it to the expansion of the auditory nerve 

 was beautifully formed ; and the little muscles connected with them re- 

 markably developed, clearly showing they were in frequent use. The 

 semicircular canals, the cochlea, in fact every part of the internal ear was 

 peculiarly perfect. Instead, then, of regarding the organ of hearing in the 

 hedgehog of no use to it, I believe it to be exquisitely suited to convey to 

 the sensorium of the animal the slightest vibrations of a sonorous body. I 

 am. Sir, yours, &c. — C. S. E, Cromer, April 24. 1831. 



Hares taking the Water. — Sir, Some misrepresentation, it seems, has 

 crept into your Magazine by mistake, on the subject of hares taking the 

 water, and colonising tha Island of Havergate. (p. 143.) This unintention- 

 ally erroneous statement is corrected (as it ought to be) by a subsequent 

 communication from another correspondent, on the authority of the pro- 

 prietor of the island, (p. 274.) 1 was once, however, witness to the fact 

 of a hare taking the water without being driven to do so by any emergency, 

 so far, at least, as I was able to discover. When a youth, I was walking 

 one day by the side of a river with my gun j and, about fifty yards before 

 me, I heard something plunge into the water from the opposite bank ; on 

 proceeding towards the spot, I perceived that it was a hare, which by that 

 time had advanced into the middle of the stream or beyond it. I confess 

 that I was guilty of the unsportsmanlike act of shooting the poor animal 

 in this situation. No dogs, certainly, were in pursuit of the hare, or I must 

 have seen or heard them ; but it is impossible for me to say that she might 

 not have been pursued by some stoat or other vermin, though nothing 

 of the kind was to be perceived. And this supposition is the more pro- 



