The Mwh: of Gibraltar. m 



these general physiognoipicai relations in zoology \\aL\^ hitherto 

 been much neglected. Botanists are further advanced in their 

 representations in the delineation of the physiognoniy of plants. 

 It is exceedingly to be regretted, that, with the pxcpption of 

 some partly antiquated, partly unsatisfactory, or, when good, il- 

 lustrative only of particular classes, treatises on the geographi- 

 cal distribution of animals, such as those of Zimmerman, La- 

 treille, Prichard, Ferusac, Minding, we have no general classi- 

 cal work on this beautiful branch of zoology. — Professor Ru- 

 dolph Wagner^ Erlangen. 



THE ROCK OF GIBRALTAR. By ProfeSSOT HaUSMANNJ* 



The Rock of Gibraltar undoubtedly claims a distinguished 

 rank among the most remarkable appearances which the south 

 of Europe offers for our consideration. Powerful changes on 

 the earth's surface have probably separated it from the rest of 

 Spain. And the boldness of man has, in another sense, follow- 

 ed the example of physical forces, by founding and rendering 

 impregnable the above situation upon a foreign soil ; and thus 

 insuring the continuance of the intercourse of the most power- 

 ful insular empire in the world with the coasts of the Mediter- 

 ranean. 



This wonderful rock rises with singular steepness from 

 amidst the waves which break against it ; and only a narrow 

 neck of land, consisting of sand, forms the loose band by which 

 it is connected with the continent -f*. Is the present the ori- 

 ginal one, or was the now completely isolated rocky colossus 

 once united with the much smaller height of San-Roque ? 

 Was the separation between the two effected by the rush of 

 water, occasioned by the higher level of the sea, in earlier times, 

 threatening destruction to the whole of the southern promontory 

 of Spain, or was the rocky wall elevated suddenly out of the sea, 

 through some hidden force, or from a partial sinking down of the 



• Translated by George F. Hay, Esq. 



t Such is the apparent connection ; but it has been well ascertained that 

 the *and is only a superficial covering' of the rocky masses, which, deeper 

 down, form a firmer union. 



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