i lev ^YftKdnk Mft^rastwtJL 



lo eaanJioiia odt id! sfclaiiemdi ?.i bnn e rf Jgnsl aii c* nofrioq 

 baa dofid odi no beinuih &ta doidw t te9gnol sdj j aanlqa eii 



Jaom no bna i baxiraisini ?.*rifid 98-isod bsstuofoo-'teJdgH xfiiw 

 oa 9?fi asniqg 9dJ ( > Pjild aifo jq^!)X9 ^b od sdi lo aiieq -Jadto 

 -aib oJ noiiBnimr>x9 9aob b siiupei oJ 8B iol 9dj ni b9niio! 

 y>5Eh£ Stphs Bt&ai&jyfteeMUhfrfamMUon <$ifardm%$& 

 by- the Condition of the Weather on the Second of February, and 

 the Actions of the Wild Bears on that Day. — In Vol. IV. 

 p. 469. Mr. Bree contrasts the opinions of the English pea^ 

 santry with those of the Pisans (as mentioned by Mr. Spence, 

 p. 264.), relative to the meteorological anticipations whicti 

 may be founded on the state of the weather on the 2d of 

 February. The Swiss peasantry agree most with the English, 

 as they are of opinion that, when that day is cold and cloudy, 

 the winter is within a fortnight of its close; but that, should 

 it be fine and sunny, the cold returns, and continues six 

 weeks. In this land of superstition, no maxim of this sort 

 can be unconnected with the marvellous ; and their creed, in 

 the present instance, affords a striking example of confounding 

 cause and effect. They believe that the bears, which have 

 passed the winter in caverns in the different mountains, always 

 come out to reconnoitre on the 2d of February ; and that they, 

 if the weather be then cold and winterly, return contentedly 

 for another fortnight; at the end of which time they find the 

 season sufficiently advanced to enable them to quit their 

 quarters without inconvenience : but that, if the weather, on 

 the 2d of February, be fine and warm, they sally forth, think- 

 ing the winter past ; but on the cold returning after sunset, 

 they find their mistake, and retire again in the sulks, without 

 making a second attempt until after the expiration of six 

 weeks; during which time we poor bipeds are doomed to 

 experience all the inclemencies consequent on their want of 

 urbanity. Thus the Swiss peasantry, instead of attributing 

 the retirement of the bears to the effects of the cold, make 

 the cold to depend on the seclusion of the bears. When I 

 first heard this account, I considered it a joke, but soon found 

 that it is firmly believed by a large proportion of the peasantry ; 

 who, indeed, place the most implicit faith in stories compared 

 with which the above is truly rational.— P. J. Broxvn. Thun, 

 Canton of Berne, April 5. 1833/i 9-iodT — .%oG «s>*&»s*»v 



Mammiferous Animals. — Notes on the Canadian Por- 

 cupine (YLystrix dorsdta). This animal is common in the least 

 cultivated districts of Canada, and is occasionally met with 

 in the neighbourhood of Quebec. It is very thick in \it& 



