430 EXTRACTS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS. 



by the former, after he had been for some time without food. This Salamander 

 is described in the Japanese Encyclopedia, and M. Paravey finds in this work 

 the same fables which exist in Europe concerning this animal, namely, its insensi- 

 bility to fire. The same stories concerning the Chameleon are also found in this 

 Encyclopedia, and bring further conviction to M. Paravey, that a very ancient 

 centre of civilization has existed, whence come the ideas concerning art and 

 science which have been transmitted to us by the Greeks and Romans, and 

 which are to be found in Chinese books. 



8. Narrow-toothed Mastodon. — At least half a skeleton of the Narrow- 

 toothed Mastodon has been found by M. Lartet, at Gers, in excellent preservation. 

 The half of the lower jaw distinctly presents the socket of a powerful incisor, of 

 which also a fragment has been found. The existence of incisors in Mastodon 

 angustidens does not accord with the observation of Cuvier, and it becomes a 

 matter of discussion whether a new species exists, or whether this anomaly is a 

 sexual distinction. 



9. Tombs in Santorini. — Some tombs discovered in the island of Santorini by 

 M. Bory St. Vincent, give an importance to this island beyond that of its 

 volcanic celebrity. We pass over ruins of temples, cities, cyclopean walls, 

 cisterns, &c, to the account of vases found in some of the ancient tombs, which 

 have been laid bare by the torrents of rain, and so deprived by the mass of Tufa 

 Pumice, &c, under which they have for ages lain hidden. One was about 

 sixteen inches high, and nine in diameter, with a narrow neck, the orifice of which 

 was formed of the head of an Eagle or Griffin ; a graceful and light handle was 

 beautifully adapted to the body of the vase ; the colour was that of Blood-stone, 

 and, apparently, a Lynx devouring a Stag with branching horns, was designed 

 upon it in black. This was discovered in the least ancient of the tombs (for 

 there are some of much greater antiquity than others, apparently formed by an 

 unknown race), and contrasted, in richness of ornament and shape, with the older 

 pottery. This latter is of a hard, sonorous material, full of grains, perhaps Sand- 

 stone. The largest vase is two feet five inches high, and one foot nine inches in 

 diameter in the middle, and it had four handles ; a second had only two handles, 

 and probably contained a provision of grain for the deceased. The stone has not 

 been artificially coloured except with bands of a chocolate brown, and on one 

 side only have been sketched an imperfect meander, circles, zigzags, cranes, &c. 

 &c. ; the other side has no ornament, as it was intended to stand close to 

 the wall. 



