396 Queries and Answers. 



tunity, when in the north of Italy, of making any enquiry 

 respecting it ; but several intelligent agriculturists, in Savoy, 

 declared their belief in the existence of such an animal, 

 though none of them had seen it. It is, indeed, scarcely 

 possible to admit that two orders of animals, so distinct in 

 their digestive organs as the ruminant and non-ruminant 

 herbivorous Mammalia, could, by intermixture, produce 

 living offspring: though our knowledge on this subject is 

 very limited. It has occurred to me that the animal called 

 the jumaire may, in reality, be the gnu; which, in external 

 appearance, combines the two characters of the horse and the 

 buffalo, and is justly called by Cuvier " animal fort extra- 

 ordinaire, qui semble, meme au premier coup d'ceil, un monstre 

 compose de parties de differens animaux." According to the 

 same naturalist, this animal was known to the ancients, and is 

 mentioned by Pliny and iElian. May not some of the race 

 have remained in Italy to the present day ? as all the rare 

 animals of Africa were transported into that country, by the 

 Romans, to exhibit in the amphitheatres. Two individuals 

 of this species of antelope (the gnu) have been several years 

 in the zoological gardens, and are in good health : they were 

 formerly the property of his late Majesty George the Fourth. 

 There appears, therefore, no reason why they might not breed 

 and increase in the south of Europe : their native country is 

 near the Cape of Good Hope. In a future Number, I may 

 probably propose some queries and offer some remarks on 

 hybrid animals. — Robert Bakewell. Hampstead, May 13. 

 1835. 



[In Nos. 75, 76, 77, 78. of the Penny Cyclopaedia, nineteen 

 species of antelope are figured, and sixty-six species are de- 

 scribed. The gnu is figured, and its person and habits 

 described there.] 



The Rhinoceros has, it has been stated, an elastic ball at its 

 foot, which, enables it to spring like a deer. — A Correspondent. 



The Elephant's Foot. — I am told that the foot of the ele- 

 phant, massive and senseless as it appears, will crack a nut 

 without breaking the kernel. — Id. 



[Information on the anatomy and functional action of the 

 parts spoken of in the two animals would be properly valued.] 



Shells and Insects : what Works on, are fittest to help a Student 

 of them to identify the Species of them which he may find in 

 Britain ? — A correspondent has requested information on 

 the names and prices of the works that will enable him to 

 " decide regarding the genus and species of a butterfly or 

 shell, with as much certainty as I can those of a plant." It 

 seems, from the context of his query, that it is not of butter- 

 flies alone which he is desirous to obtain systematic cognisance, 



