238 Cepola rubescens. — Literary Intelligence. 



The real history of the phenomenon is as follows. — The vi- 

 per, (the common Coluber verus), had seized a common lizard, 

 {Lacerta agilis) of full size, and swallowed it. The viper 

 was a young one, and the lizard nearly as long as itself. It 

 also appears to have been very strong, and to have retained 

 its vitality long after it descended into the stomach of its de- 

 vourer. The consequence was, that it scraped with its little 

 nails, until it made a hole through the side of the viper, and 

 the fore leg was completely protruded. The colour and ap- 

 pearance of the integuments of the leg, Aery much resembled 

 the colour and texture of the skin of the viper ; while the a- 

 perture made by the leg so nearly fitted it, that the orifice was 

 not perceptible, except on minute examination. There can 

 be no doubt that lizards retain their vitality for a very long 

 period, and under circumstances very disadvantageous to life ; 

 and the one in question must have continued to live a very 

 considerable time after it was swallowed by the viper. I have 

 sent a sketch of the animal ; and the original is in the Musee 

 Cantonal, at Lausanne. — J. C. Cox. — Naples, Nov. 1837. 



Cepola rubescens. — There has been quite a shoal of the 

 'red ribbon fish' thrown on our beach. I have preserved nine, 

 and I have been told that at least thirty were found, but I 

 believe all have been destroyed, except my specimens. — J. 

 B. Harvey. 



LITERARY INTELLIGENCE 



Works preparing for publication during the Spring. — Longman <Sf Co, 



The Rev. L. Vernon Harcourt (son of the Archbishop of York), has 

 in the press a work on the " Doctrine of the Deluge." His object is to vin- 

 dicate the Scriptural History of the Deluge from the doubts which have 

 been recently thrown upon it by geological speculations. This the author 

 has endeavoured to^ accomplish by showing, upon the testimony of a long 

 list of ancient and modern authors, that since the era of that catastrophe a 

 set of religionists never ceased to exist, whose opinions and usages were 

 founded upon a veneration of the Ark as the preserver of their race. In 2 

 vols. 8vo. 



Mr. Westwood's " Popular Introduction to the Modern Classification 

 of Insects,"* which has been so long announced for publication, is at 

 length in the press, and will be published in Monthly Parts ; the first will 

 appear on the 1st of June. The author has for eight years been employed 

 upon it, collecting materials from the Continental as well as British Mu- 

 seums. It will be illustrated with many thousand figures engraved on 

 wood. The author has paid very minute attention to the Natural History 

 of the Transformations of Insects, and confidently hopes that there will be 

 found much new and interesting matter in his work. It is intended to form 

 a sequel to the popular work of Messrs. Kirby and Spence. 1 vol. 8vo. 



Essays in Natural History. By Charles Waterton, Esq. With a 

 View of Walton Hall, and an Autobiography of the Author. 1 vol. fcap. 8vo. 



