Effects of Animal Charcoal on Solutions. 125 



was destroyed by charcoal with nearly equal facility, particu- 

 larly when hot. 



A pound of water, recently impregnated with an equal bulk 

 of chlorine gas, was heated rapidly to the boiling point, in con- 

 tact with twenty grains of the charcoal, in a glass flask pro- 

 vided with a perforated cork and bent glass tube, for the purpose 

 of collecting any gas which might be given off. Gas was 

 collected, but it was entirely carbonic acid, and most of the 

 charcoal disappeared : muriatic acid was found in the liquid. 

 On collecting the unconsumed charcoal in this and other cases, 

 and washing it several times after being dried on a sandbath, it 

 gave out a few drops of strong muriatic acid, when heated in a 

 glass tube by means of a lamp. ' ; 



.L:>''ifj .^jr: 



Observations on the Mullets of the Coast of Guiana ; and the 

 Grey Mullet of the British Coast : vnth incidental Remarks 

 on the Air-bladder and Stomach in Fishes. — By Dr. J. 

 Hancock, Corr. Memb. of the Zool. Soc, &c. &c. 



There are two species of Mullet in Guiana,— one called Que- 

 riman, and the other Trench Mullet. In the Queriman, the gill 

 membrane is six-rayed ; the first dorsal fin has four spinose 

 rays at the middle of the back^ posterior dorsal, nine soft 

 rays ; pectoral, sixteen ; ventral, six, — the first ray sharp- 

 pointed ; anal, ten, — the three anterior spinose ; caudal, 

 twenty ; upper lip protractile ; head flat and blunt ; shoulder 

 broad ; pectoral fins approaching the shoulder, connected below 

 by a membrane ; tail forked ; scales large and rhombic, with 

 lanciform scales also at the base of the back fin; no tongue 

 nor teeth ; the hyoide, or pharyngial bones, are large and rough, 

 and nearly close the passage to the stomach, answering, as it 

 were, the purpose of a strainer; body, above, dusky-green- 

 ish, — below, silvery; eye large, black, and prominent; grows 

 to the extent of 28 or 30 inches in length. 



In respect to internal structure, its stomach is very thick, 

 muscular, and fitted for triturating its food — as one would 

 say, from its gizzard-like structure ; in shape, similar to that 

 of the British mullet, but rather conical, rugous, or with 

 many folds of its inner membrane; it has also a reservoir, or 

 coecum-like process, at its posterior part, containing chyle or 



