Academy of Sciences in Paris. 



irbis of Siberia, were enabled, by their organization and the effects 

 of habit, to naturalize themselves in the climate of the centre of the 

 temperate zone ; some species even were enabled to inhabit the 

 regions still more to the north, as M. Cuvier supposes was the case 

 with the thick-haired pachydermis. Now if, during a Siberian sum- 

 mer, one of the last revolutions of the globe destroyed those elephants 

 and rhinoceroses whose species is now lost, and which may be sup- 

 posed to have been wandering at that season of the year towards the 

 banks of the Velhoui and the mouth of the Lena, their bodies would 

 find there, at the depth of a few feet, thick beds of congealed earth 

 capable of preserving them from putrefaction. Slight convulsions, 

 crevices of the soil, much less than those which we have seen in our 

 days on the plain of Quito and the Indian Archipelago, would be 

 sufficient to effect this embedding and preservation of the soft parts 

 of those animals. The supposition of a sudden refrigeration appears, 

 therefore, wholly unnecessary. It must not be forgotten, that the 

 tiger, which we are in the habit of calling an animal of the torrid 

 zone, now exists in Asia, from the extremity of Hindostan to Tarba- 

 gata'i, the upper Irtychi, and the steppes of the Kirghises an extent 

 of forty degrees of latitude ; and even sometimes in summer makes 

 excursions one hundred leagues further to the north. Individuals of 

 this species arriving in the north-east of Siberia, as far as the paral- 

 lels of from 62 to 65, might, by the effect of convulsion or crumbling 

 of the earth, or other circumstances by no means very extraordinary, 

 offer, in the present state of the Asiatic climates, phenomena of pre- 

 servation very similar to those of the mammoth of Mr. Adams, and 

 the rhinoceros of the Velhoui. 



Preservation from Shipwreck. On the 22d of August, M. Mon- 

 nin presented a memoir on this subject. He proposes to fix round 

 the vessels in stormy weather, large bladders made of the hides of 

 oxen or horses, and filled with air, which would sustain the vessel 

 and prevent its sinking, even when filled with water. He also pro- 

 poses to diminish the clangers arising from vessels striking against 

 rocks, by placing impermeable mattresses of hair or old linen be- 

 tween the coppering and the wood of the vessel. 



Atmospheric Phenomena. At the same meeting a letter was read 

 from M.Jean Dufour, communicating a phenomenon observed at St. 

 Serir (Candu). On the 20th instant, about five o'clock in the after- 

 noon, the sun appeared round and white like a moon ; that is to say, 

 it emitted no apparent rays, and could be steadfastly regarded 

 without dazzling or in any manner affecting the eyes. An hour 

 afterwards it appeared of a pale blue colour, but still destitute of 

 rays ; and the horizon, at its setting, was of a deep red, such as is 

 frequently observed after a very hot day. A kind of mist, at a con- 

 siderable distance from the earth, and of trifling density, was uni- 

 formly spread in the upper regions of the atmosphere, and veiled the 



