of Animals to secure Warmth. 519 



till it wedged itself into the nap quite out of sight, intending of 

 course to lie snug and warm till hunger should prompt it upon 

 a foraging excursion. I am well aware that observations like 

 this have drawn forth the ridicule of witlings, who have repre- 

 sented naturalists as little better than children or idiots ; but, 

 if the Great Creator did not think it beneath him to adapt, with 

 wonderful skill, the structure of a flea to its mode of life, it can 

 never be a trifling study to observe and admire such instances 

 of his providential wisdom. 



Many other illustrations of the attention of animals to secure 

 warmth crowd upon my recollection ; but, as this paper may 

 already be deemed too tedious, I shall, for the present, forbear 

 to go into further detail. 



Lee, Kent, March 7th, 1831. 



ON THE AURORA BOREALIS OF THE 7th OF 

 JANUARY, 1831. 



BY DR. MOLL, OF UTRECHT. 



many years the beautiful phenomenon of the Aurora 

 Borealis has been of very rare occurrence in this country ; 

 so much so, indeed, that I do not recollect having seen it more 

 than once, and that was in 1828, and even then it was in 

 England. During the time of the late Professor Van Swin- 

 den's residence in the University of Franeker, between 1766 

 and 1784, particularly in 1769, 1772, 1773, and 1777, it was 

 very frequently witnessed by that diligent and accurate ob- 

 server, and his observations are well known to the scientific 

 world. Since that period, it scarcely ever shone in all its 

 splendour; and now and then only its existence in more 

 northern regions has been announced to us by some faint 

 coruscations near the boreal part of the horizon. 



On the 7th of January last a beautiful exhibition of this 

 phenomenon was witnessed here between 6 and 10 P.M., the 

 effect of which was particularly striking. The sky was very 

 clear and transparent ; the stars were remarkably bright 5 

 Cassiopea nearly in the zenith ; Orion ascending in all 

 its glory towards the meridian ; Procyon standing in the 



2 M 2 



