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A New Exposition of the Leading Facts of 

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American Quarterly Microscopical Journal. 

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The Brain and Nervous System. By Dr. J. 

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Report of the Engineer of the Philadelphia 

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Ventral Pins of Ganoids. By James K. 

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Life and Scientific Work of Charles Freder- 

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The Cambridge Boiler Explosion. By J. R. 

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The Indian Question. By General Pope. Pp. 

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An Animated Molecule. Bv Dr. Daniel Clark. 

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POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



A Hairy Water-Tortoise. — The following 

 interesting bit of natural history is from 

 the pen of Mr. Frank Buckland, in Land 

 and Water: "Through the kindness of Mr. 

 White, son of the late lord-mayor, I am en- 

 abled to give a representation of a most 

 interesting little creature which he himself 

 brought from China. It is a terrapin, or 

 water-tortoise, which apparently has hairs 

 growing out from its back. When it first 

 arrived it seemed very unwell, and I do not 



wonder, for the poor little thing had not had 

 anything to eat for some months. Knowing 

 it was very intolerant of cold, I placed it in 

 warm water, and kept it in a warm place, 

 and the little thing shortly, to my delight, 

 began to feed from my hand. It will snap at 

 and devour little bits of meat, fish, shrimps, 

 »etc. As the little animal swims, the fibre 

 of the vegetable growth hangs away from 

 him so as to give him the appearance of an 

 aninjated bunch of weeds. His face is very 

 intelligent. 



" Among the collection of Chinese and 

 Japanese bronzes, drawings, pottery, etc., I 

 have observed representations of various 

 monsters, and among them those of tortoises 

 with long tails. It now is certain from this 

 specimen, so kindly given me by Mr. White, 

 that the Chinese really have in their aqua- 

 ria terrapins covered with this remarkable 

 growth. If the hairy terrapins of the Chi- 

 nese artists be founded oji actual living 

 specimens, may it not be possible that other 

 of these well-known monstrosities — such as 

 dragons — may have their origin from tradi- 

 tions, or may be late survivals of such creat- 

 ures as the plesiosaurus, etc. ? I have read 

 somewhere that the Chinese are the direct 

 descendants of Noah, and that when Shem, 

 Ham, and Japheth, went respectively north, 

 south, and west, Noah himself went east, 

 and founded the great Chinese nation. Cer- 

 tain it is that they have traditions of birds 

 and animals totally unknown to the present 

 inhabitants of the earth. I do not know 

 whether the growth upon this terrapin's 

 back has been produced artificially or natu- 

 rally. It is simply a water-grass, something 

 like the weedy material growing on decay- 

 ing wood-work and lock-gates of rivers. It 

 is possible that the ingenious Chinese may 

 have some way of doctoring up the living 

 specimens of terrapins, of which I under- 

 stand considerable numbers exist in the 

 ditches and marshes of China. These Chi- 

 nese, as we are all aware, are stated to have 

 the art of making the large fresh-water pearl- 

 bearing mussels secrete pearls, and cover 

 over metal images placed within the shells 

 for that purpose. If they can do this with 

 the pearl shell, I do not see that it is impos- 

 sible for them to make this vegetable mate- 

 rial grow upon the back of a tortoise. 



" In 1873 Mr. Sandilands kindly gave m6 



