156 MISCELLANY. 



Organ of the Communication of Ide.as in Man. — Dr. Elliotson suggests, in 

 the second part of his Physiology, just published, that there may be a new organ, 

 the function of which is to communicate ideas. Phrenologists have hitherto teen 

 accustomed to attribute taciturnity to a large development of Secretiveness, com- 

 bined with ample Caution, and communitiveness, on the contrary, to these organs 

 being small. We, however, feel convinced that these qualities depend upon a 

 separate faculty, named for the present Communication of Ideas. The fact of 

 many persons having Secretiveness very large and yet being communicative to a 

 remarkable degree, and vice versa, indeed, clearly proves that Secretiveness is a 

 much less active agent in the matter than commonly supposed. Some individuals 

 are wholly unable to keep any idea whatever to themselves, and are instinctively 

 and most powerfully impelled to communicate every trifling circumstance they 

 hear to any person with whom they meet, whether or not the circumstances 

 imparted are likely to be of interest to the friend thus instructed. This is the 

 abuse of the faculty, which, uncontrolled, frequently leads to unpleasant, and not 

 seldom to serious consequences. The same organ occasions the well-known 

 proneness to gossiping amongst women of all classes, which we had before been 

 unable to explain upon phrenological principles. 



The locality of the faculty is not yet known, but it is an intellectual organ, 

 and will probably range near Language. — Ed. 



Hybrids between a Lion and a Tiger. — At page 489 of your Magazine 

 the Rev. F. 0. Morris notices that a specimen of a Lion- Tiger is preserved in 

 the museum of Mr. Reid, of Doncaster ; and as many of your readers may not be 

 aware that the Lion and Tiger breed together so frequently as they do, I send 

 you the following account, for insertion in The Naturalist. 



Mr. Atkins, proprietor of the Liverpool Zoological Gardens, bred the first 

 litter of Lion-Tigers at Windsor in 1824, and it is, perhaps, a fact worth men- 

 tioning that this brood was brought up by a terrier bitch, as the tigress did not 

 evince the slightest affection for her progeny. They died when about a year old. 

 A second litter was born on Clapham Common, in 1824, but lived only a 

 short time. In this instance, as well as the following, the tigress took to her 

 progeny and suckled them ; a third litter was born at Edinburgh in 1826, con- 

 sisting of one male and two females. A fourth at Windsor in 1828, consisting 

 also of one male and two females ; a fifth at Kensington in 1831 ; and the last 

 litter was born in the Liverpool Zoological Gardens in 1833, consisting of two 

 males and one female. One of the males has since died, but the other two are 

 still alive, and apparently very healthy. 



The Gardens contain a very fine specimen of the Chetah or Hunting-leopard, 

 which is, I believe, the only specimen alive in this country ; also a specimen of 

 ihe Indian Rhinoceros, which is rarely seen alive in England. It i« said to 



