Meteorological Observations. 479 



from this plant that caoutchouc has been produced in Penang and 

 exported to England *. Willughbeia edulis is likewise an Indian 

 plant from which caoutchouc has been produced, but Roxburgh says 

 it is of indifferent quality : unless I have been misled, good caoutchouc 

 is obtained from Nerium grandiflorum of Roxburgh. 



It is probably equally abundant in Asclepiadea ; one plant of which 

 order Cynanchum albifloriim has been stated to yield it of excellent 

 quality in Penang. Mr. Royle seems inclined to attribute the great 

 tenacity of the fibres of some plants of both these orders to its pre- 

 sence, but this supposition seems to me of very doubtful accuracy t^ 



NEW ANOMALOUS REPTILE. 



Dr. John Natterer, the industrious collector, who has lately re- 

 turned to Vienna from South America with his large collections, has 

 published in the ' Annals of the Vienna Museum' (ii. p. 167.) under 

 the name of Lepidosiren puradoxa, a new anomalous reptile, which 

 has much the appearance of an eel, but is covered with large netted 

 scales, and the body is furnished with four simple elongated taper- 

 ing legs ; the front pair being placed on the back edge of the upper 

 part of the spiracles, and the hinder pair on the under side of the 

 hinder part of the body. The jaws are furnished with strong trun- 

 cated teeth, and the vent, which is circular and plaited, is placed on 

 the left of the centre of the under side of the body, just behind the 

 base of the left hind leg. It was discovered in the Brazils near the 

 river Amazon, and grows to three feet in length. They had two spe- 

 cimens in the Vienna Museum ; one of them has been put into the 

 hands of Professor Th. Bischoff for the purpose of being dissected. — 

 Ann. of Nat. Hist. No. X. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS FOR OCTOBER 1838. 



CImwick. — Oct. 1. Hazy. 2. Cloudy : fine. 3. Fine. 4. Very fine. 5. 

 Hazy: fine. 6,7. Overcast. 8,9. Bleak and cold. 10. Cloudy. 11. Cloudy 

 and fine. 12. Clear and cold : slight snow. 13. Clear: showery : frosty at 

 night. 14. Overcast :'showery : frosty at night. 1 5, 1 6. Cloudy. 17, 18. p"ine. 

 19. Overcast: clear and fine. 20. Rain: overcast. 21 — 24. Cloudy and fine. 



25. Foggy : clear at night. 26. Fine. 27. Cloudy : stormy and wet at night. 

 28. Hazy : heavy rain : violent hurricane from s.w. during the night. 29. Clear 

 and windy. 30. Fine. 31. Heavy rain. 



Boston.— Oct. 'i . Cloudy. 2,3. Fine. 4. Cloudy. 5. Fine. 6, 7. Cloudy. 

 8. Cloudy: rain p.m. 9 — 11. Cloudy. 12. Stormy: snow p.m. 13. Fine: 

 ice this morning one-eighth of an inch thick. 14. Cloudy: rain p.m. 15. Cloudy. 

 16. Cloudy: stormy p.m. 17,18. Fine: stormy p.m. 19 — 21. Fine. 22,23. 

 Cloudy. 24. Cloudy : rain early a.m. 25. Cloudy. 26. Cloudy : rain early 

 A.M. 27. Fine : stormy with rain p.m. 28. Fine : rain p.m. 29. Stormy : 

 rain early am. 30. Fine. 31. Cloudy. 



Applegarth Manse, Dumfriesshire. — Oct. 1, 2. Fine harvest days. S. Ditto, 

 but cloudy: frosty p.m. 4, 5. Very warm : frost rime. 6. Warm : not a breath 

 of wind. 7. Mild day, but cloudy. 8. Fine harvest day. 9. Ditto, but 

 threatening rain. 10. Still lowering and threatening rain. 11. High wind: 

 slight shower. 12. Dry and cold. 13. Ditto: snow showers passing. 14. 

 Wet all day. 15. Moist and stormy. 16. Wet all day. 17. Drying day. 18. 

 Wet all day. 19. Drying again. 20. Clear and drying. 21, 22. Moist : 

 showers P.M. 23. Fair a.m. : came on rain. 24. Showeiy. 25. Very wet p.m. 



26. Rivers in flood : drying p.m. 27. Showery all day : flood again. 28. Hoar 

 frost A.M. : fine p.m. 29. Partial showers. 30. Fine day : slight rains. 31, 

 Fair : wet afternoon. 



* Royle's lUustrationB, p. 329, under Euphorhiacea, and p. 270, under 

 Apocquea, t Royle's Illustrations, p. 274. 



