1870.] BOTANY AND ZOOLOGY. 107 



instance, which may put naturalist travellers on their guard. A 

 specimen presented by the King of Italy may be seen in the 

 Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park. The chamois are still very 

 numerous in Switzerland, though the large herds of eighty and a 

 hundred, which used to be seen in past times, are not now met 

 with. A certain amount of care is exercised now in regard to the 

 time of hunting, and the animals are allowed to breed in security, 

 so that they are on the increase in localities where they had 

 become scarce. M. Fatio mentions an old hunter who boasted 

 of having killed as many as 3,000 chamois. 



The Alpine marmot, which is so common and so well known to 

 Alpine tourists, is not the mammal which attains the highest 

 elevation of habitat in Switzerland ; another little rodent, the 

 Arvlcola nivalis, has that distinguished honour, living at a greater 

 altitude than any other European mammal. 



Both this species and the marmot live among tho oases of rock 

 and herbage which stand out amidst the vast masses of moun- 

 tain ice. The Bobac marmot does not occur in Switzerland, 

 being confined to the north-eastern districts of Europe. The 

 Alpine marmot inhabits the Carpathians and the Pyrenees, as 

 well as the Alps. — From a Review of Dr. V, Fatio' s Faune des 

 Vertebres de la Suisse. Part I. Mammals. By Dr. E, Ray 

 Lankester, in " Nature.^^ 



The Use op Birds and Worms. — Worms and birds are 

 great friends to grass-turf. Where there are plenty of black- 

 birds and thrushes you will generally find the grass to thrive. 

 No doubt the reason is that these cheerful creatures, like other 

 cheerful creatures, have a desire to be useful. They know they 

 cannot live upon song, and they cannot live by singing, for no one 

 ever thinks of paying them for their merry minstrelsy ; so they 

 work for their crust, and on the grass find wireworms, slugs, snails 

 and leather-jackets ; the last named being the destructive grub, or 

 the " Daddy Long-legs," the most outrageous destroyer of grass 

 in the world. As to earth-worms, if you drive them out of your 

 lawn, you must expect the grass to die. They are the cultivators 

 of it. For any other crop we dig and manure constantly. For 

 grass, we, as a rule, do neither. But we cut down a crop of it 

 now and then, and carry it away. Now the worms dig and 

 manure ; that is to say, they bore holes and throw up common 



