566 On the Counterfeiting of Death 



the line of section ; a stands for the white chalk and chalk 

 marl ; b, the red chalk ; c, the Thoresway sand ; d, the grey 

 stone ; e, the green sand ; and f, the Kimmeridge clay. 



This bed principally consists of a dark blue clay, adapted 

 to the brick-yards; but occasionally beds of shale are met 

 with, called by the brick-makers " dice," from its falling into 

 squares when wet. This shale is entirely useless. Septaria also 

 occur, in some places, in tolerable abundance. 



The thickness must be considerable, for the junction of the 

 green sand and clay on the slope of the hill is about 165 ft. 

 above the plain below. 



No very good sections occur on the hill side ; but the nu- 

 merous brick-yards at its foot afford an opportunity of ex- 

 amining the organic remains: we met with the following 

 species : — 



O'strea deltofdea. Turritella muricata. 



Crassina minima ? Phillips, ix. 23. Ammonites mutabilis. 



Trigonia clavellata. Ammonites . 



Nucula . Patella latissima. 



Wood sometimes occurs, but not in large masses; and 

 bones of the Ichthyosaurus are also occasionally found. 

 Hull, September 16. 1837. 



• 





Art. II. On the Counterfeiting of Death, as a Means to escape 

 from Danger, in the Fox and other Animals. By Edward 

 Blyth, Esq. 



The following highly interesting narrative occurs under the 

 head "Fox." in Partington's Cyclopcedia of 'Natural History ; 

 a recent publication, which is in the hands of few professed 

 naturalists, wherefore it may not be amiss to quote from it at 

 considerable length. Mr- Mudie, the writer of the article in 

 question, relates, from his own "personal knowledge," one 

 instance of the common fox endeavouring to elude the vigi- 

 lance of its human foe, by the stratagem of feigning dissolu- 

 tion; which fact, as regards this animal, is doubted on very 

 reasonable grounds by Dr. Weissenborn, in his admirable 

 remarks on the intellectual resources of the species, at p. 505. 

 et seq. of the current Volume of this Magazine : — 



" Many anecdotes have been mentioned and recorded of 

 the craft of the fox, and some of them place the sagacity of 

 irrational animals in a very striking light, and perhaps none 

 more so than those in which the crafty animal attempts, 



' To run away from death by dying ;' 

 or rather, by counterfeiting death. One morning early, a 



