MONTHLY SUMMARY. 257 



monarchs of the ponds at Fontainebleau are fed, where some 

 of the largest specimens known are to be seen. An ordinary soft 

 roll -would 1)6 bolted by a large carp with as great ease and 

 celerity as a gingerbread-nut is by an elephant ; therefore, to 

 prolong the enjoyment of seeing them feed, a special kind of 

 ^read is manufactured for them at Fontainebleau, in the form of 

 large biscuits like balls, which are too large to be swallowed at 

 one mouthful, and too hard to be crunched up into smaller pieces 

 until they are softened by the moisture of the water, and by a good 

 deal of knocking about by the fish, when an amusing competition 

 takes pllce for the fragments. Some water-lilies and other aquatic 

 plants are being planted in the larger basin, both as a shelter and 

 to allow the growth of what may furnish additional food to the 

 fishes. 



Marochetti's Statue of Charles Albert. — This monument is 



now in its place — and Barou Marochetti communicates the 

 following information regarding it : — " The monument was in- 

 augurated in Turin in July last year. It was paid by 

 public subscription and the government. The upper part is 

 executed in red granite from Baveno, on the Lago Maggiore ; the 

 grey and lower part is executed in granite from Penryn, in 

 Cornwall, from Messrs. Freeman's quarry. The whole of the 

 pedestal is polished, except the steps. The king, Charles Albert. 

 is on horseback, starting for the Italian crusade. On the four 

 sides of the pedestal are allegorical statues, of Faith holding the 

 crown of thorns, the Statute, Justice, and Jurisprudence. On the 

 base are four basreliefs, representing the Passage of the Ticino, 

 the Battle of Goito the Abdication, of Charles Albert in favour 

 of his son Victor Emmanuel, and his Death at Oporto. On the 

 four corners of the pedestal are four statues of Piedmontese 

 soldiers — of artillery, cavalry, infantry, and Bersaglieri." 



Plag-Staff from Vancouver's Island. — There must be few 



who have taken anv interest in the discussions- as to the memorial 

 to be raised to the memory of the Prince Consort who have not 

 given a thought to the means by which a monolith, of between 

 100 and 150 feet in height, was to be reared on end on the 

 plain of Hyde Park, That problem, it now appears, is not likely 

 to require solution, but it is just possible that the Fellows of this 

 Society may have an opportunity of seeing a somewhat similar, 

 altliough comparatively trifling engineering work, executed in the 



