,'lOi Professor Berzelius on Thorina, 



thorina, 'and the salt crystallizes by spontaneous evaporation 

 of the water and excess of acid. The crystallized salt is 

 slightly soluble in alcohol. By boiling water it is dissolved, 

 without being disturbed by boiling; but cold water decomposes 

 it in such a way, that the solution becomes acid, and a certain 

 portion of a white sub-salt remains undissolved. The formic 

 acid, employed in this experiment, was prepared after the 

 method of Dobereiner. 



C. Sulphur-Salts. 



Thorium seems, like aluminum, to form no sulphur-salts 

 by the moist way. When I precipitated sulphate of thorina 

 with pure sulpharseniate of sodium, a smell of sulphuretted 

 hydrogen was given off; and when the yellow precipitate was 

 washed, and afterwards treated with muriatic acid, thorina was 

 extracted without the development of sulphuretted hydrogen ; 

 from which it seems to follow, that the sulphur- salts only throw 

 down a mixture of the hydrate of thorina, with the electro- 

 negative metallic sulphuret. 



On the Astacillce of Cordiner, a Genus of Crustaceous Ani- 

 mals. By the Rev. John Fleming, D.D., F.R.S.E. 



[Communicated by the Author.] 



There are few employments, in which a naturalist can engage^ 

 of a more disagreeable character than the collation of syno- 

 nimes. In some cases, he is compelled to witness, with regret, 

 the successful labours of original observers overlooked by 

 those who, unconscious of their existence, would willingly, 

 under other circumstances, have done ample justice to their 

 merits. In other cases, his attention is directed to individuals 

 in whom selfishness appears to predominate, who exhibit a cold 

 indifference towards the labours of their predecessors, and who 

 seem more disposed to secure the temporary applause given to 

 discoverers, than the honest fame of faithful recorders. There 

 is so great a degree of drudgery connected with the investiga- 

 tion of synonimes, and apparently so little discredit attached 

 to inaccuracy regarding them, that the task is usually avoided 

 ias too irksome for execution. Should it be found impracticable 



