MISCELLANY. 279 



addressed the meeting, and took a brief review of Mr. Wright's very able and 

 beautiful course of lectures, just concluded. He then glanced at the progress of 

 the Institution during the past year, and announced that the Annual General 

 Meeting of the Society would take place on Tuesday evening next, when the 

 Officers and Committee for the year ensuing would be elected. 



CHAPTER OF MISCELLANIES. 



ZOOLOGY. 



The American Wigeon taken in Lincolnshire. — A specimen of the Ameri- 

 can Wigeon, taken in the Lincolnshire Fens, was exhibited at the last meeting 

 of the Zoological Society, by Mr. Blyth, being the first known instance of the 

 occurrence of this species in Europe. — Ed., April 11, 1838. 



Submarine Wood at Bootle. — By order of the Corporation, a sewer has 

 lately been making at a place called Beacon's Gutter, the boundary line of 

 Liverpool on the north shore ; and the men in digging have found a great quan- 

 tity of hazel-nuts imbedded in a sort of peat formed of decayed wood. They were 

 found about eight or ten feet below the surface. Between high and low water 

 mark large pieces of Oak have been found in a very good state of preservation, 

 the interior being quite hard, and fit for fire- wood. Many of the nuts appear 

 to have been gnawed by Squirrels or Mice ; some of them crumble to pieces on 

 being handled ; but the shell of a great many is tolerably firm. Large quantities 

 are in possession of different individuals. — T. B. Hall, Woodside, near Liverpool, 

 March 1, 1838. 



Occurrence op the Otter (Lutra vulgaris) near Cupar. — No less than 

 five of these piscatorial quadrupeds have within these three weeks been taken in 

 the Eder, near Cupar, and of some the stuffed skins, in others the skeletons, are 

 being prepared for the museum of the Literary and Antiquarian Society. One 

 fine animal having been caught with a stamp, and being but slightly injured, 

 was last week sent off to the Zoological Society's collection, Regent's Park, Lon- 

 don, which has been for some time past without any specimen of a live Otter. 

 The anatomy of the head of the Otter is in some respects peculiar. The jaw- 

 bone, instead of working with a simple joint or condyle and capsule, as in other 

 Mammalia, is fastened by a ball and socket joint, the ball being so far inclosed 

 by the socket that, without fracture of the bone, dislocation is impossible. The 

 teeth, again, are sharp and clasping, so that when the jaw is shut, their outline 

 presents an acute angled zig-zag. From these causes, few animals give a more 



