Sl8 Miscellaneous. 



filtered fluid was boiled with solution of potash, when traces of man- 

 ganese were precipitated. Solution of sulphuretted hydrogen then 

 rendered the presence of zinc in the filtrate quite evident. 



" Another portion of the fluid filtered from the iron precipitate 

 was precipitated at once by sulphuret of ammonium, the dried pre- 

 cipitate calcined in a platinum crucible, moistened with nitric acid, 

 again calcined, and then treated with dilute acetic acid ; the zinc 

 was precipitated from the solution in acetic acid by solution of 

 sulphuretted hydrogen. 



" From another portion of the herb, freed from external impurities, 

 the juice was expressed, and the presence of zinc in this was also 

 distinctly proved by the above process." 



This metal must therefore be added to the eighteen elements 

 hitherto known to occur in the vegetable organism. — Poggendorff's 

 Annalen, vol. xcii. p. 175. 



Notes on the Bovine Animals of the Malay Peninsula. 

 By George Windsor Earl. 



1 . The Sapi, or Wild Ox of the Malay Peninsula, was scarcely 

 known to exist until 1850, when Dr. Oxley, and a hunting-party 

 from Singapore, killed a young cow on the banks of the Muah River. 

 He described it as 6 feet 2 inches high at the shoulder, from hoof 

 to dorsal vertebrae ; back curved, highest about the centre. Horns 

 small, curved inwards, white, tipped with black. Forehead flat, with 

 tuft of long hair, large in the bulls. Hair smooth and silky. Colour 

 brown, with white about the feet. Mane 2 inches long, running along 

 the entire back. No dewlap. The bulls are from 7 to 7\ feet high. 

 The flesh is described as delicious. Calves could be obtained with a 

 little trouble, but I suspect it would be difficult to get a full-grown 

 animal ; but he would be worth something if caught. 



2. The Saladang, another species of wild cattle, is even less known 

 than the Sapi, as no specimen has yet been shot by Europeans. It 

 seems to me to be a sort of Bison, or Bos Gaurus. The males are 

 10 feet high at the shoulder, and they are altogether fiercer and 

 more formidable than the Sapi, but not so graceful. In my opinion 

 it would be worth while for the Zoological Society to send a man out 

 expressly for the purpose of bringing home specimens of these two 

 beasts. The Muah River, where both varieties abound, would be the 

 best spot to seek them ; and Inchi Basow, a Malay chief who takes 

 great delight in hunting, would soon procure live specimens of each 

 at a small expense. 



3. The Water Buffalo does not seem to be known in England, 

 although it is common all over the Archipelago. The larger speci- 

 mens stand 7 feet at the shoulder, sometimes more. Barrel very 

 large. Legs short and strong. Skin black and wrinkled, and almost 

 hairless, like that of the Elephant. It is amphibious, and has been 

 known to swim across straits as wide as the Channel at Dover ; in 

 fact, the way the head is set on the body, with the nose up, and the 



