94 



Varieties, 



[JAN. 



Arrhenomorphous Hen Pheasants. It 

 has been usually supposed, that the cir- 

 cumstance of hen pheasants assuming to 

 a certain degree the male plumage, takes 

 place only at an advanced age. Mr. Yar- 

 nell, F.L.S., has discovered that it may 

 occur at any period of life, and even be 

 produced artificially. In all the instances 

 which he has examined the sexual organs 

 were found diseased, and to a greater or 

 less extent in proportion to the change of 

 plumage. A partridge, too, having a 

 white bar across the breast, and the first 

 three primaries in each wing white, ex- 

 hibited on dissection the same sort of 

 organic disease. Mr. Yarrell, however, 

 ascertained that the change of plumage in 

 the pheasant was not necessarily an im- 

 mediate consequence of the disease, as 

 also that all variations of plumage are not 

 traceable to this cause 5 in most of the 

 excepted instances, however, the indivi- 

 duals are dwarf birds; and he attributes 

 their variety to defective secretion, the 

 effect of weakness. 



Endues Comet. This comet, at its ap- 

 pearance in 1818, was suspected to be the 

 same with that which had been observed 

 in 1805 and 1786 ; its elements were after- 

 wards calculated by M. Encke, who as- 

 signed it a period of 3^ years only; and, 



in perfect agreement with his determina- 

 tion, it has since been observed in 1822 

 and 1825 ; its next return to its perihelion 

 it is calculated will take place on 10th 

 January 1829. But in comparing the ele- 

 ments deduced from its later appearances, 

 with its observed place, in 1805 and 1786, 

 there are discrepancies amounting to 24 

 minutes in A.R. and dec. M. Damoiseau 

 attributes these to errors in the earlier 

 observations. M . Encke, however, thought 

 them too considerable to be thus accounted 

 for, and recurred to the hypothesis of a 

 resisting ether. He has lately announced 

 that, by taking into consideration this tan- 

 gential force, and making a suitable sup- 

 position in relation to its intensity, these 

 great differences might be made to dis- 

 appear, or at least to be so reduced as to be 

 attributable to errors in the observations ; 

 this comet then may be destined to exhi- 

 bit to us the effects of a force, of the neces. 

 sity of which no other phenomenon has 

 ever yet made us sensible ; no doubt the 

 effects of that resistance would be greater 

 in the motion of comets than of planets, as 

 their density is incomparably less ; but it 

 must require a great number of revolutions 

 of that body to establish so delicate a point 

 in astronomical science. 



WORKS IN THE PRESS AND NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



WORKS IN PREPARATION. 



A Portrait of Lady Jemima Mann, daugh- 

 ter of Earl Cornwallis, from a Painting by 

 Pickersgill, is in preparation and will form 

 the 38th of a Series of Portraits of the Fe- 

 male Nobility and Ladies of Distinction. 



Mr. Leitch Ritchie is preparing for publi- 

 cation, in two volumes, 8vo., a Series of Es- 

 says, Literary and Biographical, on the pri- 

 vate characters and domestic Life of cele- 

 brated English Writers, with the title of 

 The Loves and Marriages of Authors. 



Illustrations of the University of Cam- 

 bridge, being a Series of Picturesque Views, 

 representing the Colleges, Halls, and other 

 Public Buildings, also the different Paro- 

 chial Churche?, are announced for publica- 

 tion. 



Mr. Frederick Salmon, Surgeon to the 

 General Dispensary, and formerly House- 

 Surgeon to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, has 

 in the Press, a Practical Treatise upon Stric- 

 ture of the Rectum illustrating, by cases, 

 the connexion of that Disease, with Affec- 

 tions of the Urinary Organs, the Uterus, and 

 with Piles. 



An Original Treatise on Self-Knowledge. 

 By the late Stephen Drew, Esq., Barrister, 

 Jamaica, will shortly appear in 2 vols, 8vo. 



'' The Annual Biography and Obituary for 

 the Year 1828, will appear on the 1st of Ja- 

 nuary. The principal Memoirs will be those 

 of his Royal Highness the Duke of York, 

 the Marquis of Hastings, the Right Hon. 

 George Canning, Lord De Tabley, William 

 Gifford, Esq., John Flaxman, Esq., Charles 

 Mills, Esq., Philip Rundell, Esq., Miss Ben- 

 ger, John Nicholls, Esq., Archdeacon Dau- 

 beny, Dr. Evans, Signer Ugo Foscolo, Mr. 

 Thomas Holloway, Dr. Kitchiner, &c. &c. 



Travels in Sicily and the Lipari Islands. 

 By a Naval Officer. 



The Rev. Edward Mangin, of Bath, has 

 in the Press, a Translation, with Additions, 

 of the Life of the celebrated Naval Chief- 

 tain, Jean Bart. 



Sketches of Modern Greece. By a young 

 Volunteer in the Greek Service. 



Mr. W. Orme, Author of the Memoirs of 

 Urquhart, has in the Press, The Blasphemy 

 against the Holy Spirit and the Doctrine of 

 Spiritual Influence, considered in several 

 Discourses, with Notes and Illustrations. 



Mr. Robert Vaughan is preparing, in 2 

 vols, 8vo., The Life and Opinions of John 

 de Wycliffe, D.D., illustrated principally 

 from his unpublished Manuscripts, with a 

 preliminary View of the Papal System, and 

 of the State of the Protestant Doctrine in 



