12 



dations, sometimes even in the same piece ; as, for instance, in the grinding-teeth 

 (backenzahnen) of the Elephant : and in some few genera, or races, of animals, 

 they are invariably of another colour. Thus, the bones of the Gar-pike (der 

 Hornfisch, — Esox belone, — Belone vulgaris, of modern ichthyologists, — la Be- 

 lone, Fr.) are green ; and the bones of many varieties of the common fowl are 

 of a blackish colour. 



§ 3. Still more variable is their texture and grain, as well in different bones 

 of the same skeleton, as in those of particular classes and orders of animals. 

 Thus, the fragile constitution of the air-bones (Luftknochen) of birds ; their 

 fibrous structure in many of the larger Amphibia (Amphibien) and fishes ; and 

 their peculiar toughness and density in some parts of many cartilaginous fishes, 

 (Knorpelfische) conspicuously distinguish them from other bones. 



§ 4. The crown, or exposed portion, of the teeth excepted, the bones are uni- 

 versally invested, on the exterior, with periosteum (Beinhaut) ; and, for the most 

 part, are provided internally with marrow ;* which, differing greatly in consistence, 

 is, in the Cetacea (Cetaceen), a fluid oil (ein flussiger thran). 



§ 5. The teeth again, for the most part, excepted, the bones are formed by 

 the ossification of original cartilages. This process of ossification appears, ceteris 

 paribus, to commence earlier, and go on more rapidly, in viviparous (lebendig 

 gebahrende) than in oviparous animals (Eyerlegende Thiere). This fact, at 

 least, results from comparison of the incubated chick with the foetus of Mammi- 

 fera (ungebohrne Saugethiere). Among the latter, again, many points of ossifi- 

 cation are sooner completed in quadrupeds than in man. P. 



NOTES ON BRITISH INSECTS. 

 By James Charles Dale, M.A., F.L.S., &c, &c. 



Coleoptera. — Cicindela sylvatica is found in great plenty on Parley Heath, 

 in the New Forest, &c, in hot, dry, sandy paths or heaths, as early as May 9th, 

 and appears in constant succession till October 9th, according to my journal. 

 Cicindela maritima I have never taken, but have seen alive at Bourne Mouth, 

 Hants, on hot, sandy places, near the sea, from the middle (?) of May ; and ac- 

 cording to the MSS. of the late Captain Blomer, he found it in profusion near the 

 mouth of the river Ogmore, in South Wales, in June, 1832, and sent me several, 



• Principal exceptions : The horns of the Stag, the long bones of the Seal, the Cetacea, 

 attd the Turtle, which exhibit no medullary cavity ; and the air-hones of birds. 



