64 REPORT—1845.. 05 8" 
some writers on Egyptian matters, was in the year 2100 2.c., which omgood authority 
is the 240th year of the Deluge, this gigantic stork was an inhabitant of the delta or 
its immediate vicinity; for, as these very interesting documents relate, it was occa- 
sionally entrapped by the peasantry of the delta, and brought with other wild animals 
as matters of curiosity to the great landholders or farmers of the products of the Nile, 
—of which circumstance this painted sculpture is a representation, the catching of fish 
and birds, which in these days occupied a large portion of the inhabitants. The birds 
and fish were salted. That this document gives no exaggerated account of the bird 
may be presumed from the just proportion that the quadrupeds, in the same picture, 
bear to the men who are leading them; and, from the absence of any representation 
of these birds in the less ancient monuments of Egypt, it may also be reasonably con- 
jectured they disappeared soon after the period of the erection of these tombs. With 
respect to the relation these facts bear to each other, I beg to remark that the colossal 
nests of Captains Cook and Flinders, and also those of Mr. James Burton, were all on 
the sea-shore, and all of those about an equal distance from the equator. But whe- 
ther the Egyptian birds, as described in those very ancient sculptures, bear any analogy 
to those recorded in the last pages of the great stone-book of nature (the new red 
sandstone formation), or whether they bear analogy to any of the species determined 
by Professor Owen from the New Zealand fossils, [ am not qualified to say, nor is it 
indeed the object of this paper to discuss, the intention of which is rather to bring 
together these facts, and to associate them with that recorded at Gezah, in order to 
call the attention of those who have opportunity of making further research into this 
interesting matter. 
On the Discovery of Guano in the Faroe Islands. 
By W. C. Trevetyan, M.A., F.G.S. 
This guano occurs principally on the shelves, commonly from eight to twenty feet 
wide, which are formed by the disintegration of the softer beds in the lofty precipices, 
often rising to the height of more than 1000, and in one instance above 2000 feet. 
Of such places, sheltered by the projecting rocks above, the sea-fowl take advantage, 
and considerable deposits of guano are found there, often the collection of many years. 
In some instances, when it accumulated so much as, from its slope towards the 
sea, to make an insecure resting-place for the eggs, the Faroese, who did not know its 
value, but to whom the birds, both on account of their feathers and for food, were of 
great importance, shovelled it off into the sea. Now, however, they have learnt at 
least its commercial worth, and collect it carefully,—in many places at considerable 
risk, the collectors being let down by ropes to the ledges, whence they lower the guano 
into boats below. A few tons of it have been exported to Lynn, Norfolk. 
— 
Remarks on Entomology. By J. O. Wxstwoop, F.L.S. 
After shortly noticing the general ceconomy of the hive-bee as to the production of 
queens and the swarming of casts, he contended, from the analogy between the cir- 
cumstances connected with the latter event and those which accompany the swarming 
of ants, gnats, white ants, may-flies, &c.,—1st, that the swarming of insects has for its 
principal object the union of the sexes; 2nd, that, from analogy with other insects 
subject to swarming, it might be inferred that the hive bee does not differ in this re- 
spect from other swarming species; and hence 8rdly, that it is the newly-hatched, and 
not the old queen, which leads off the swarm. 
On Noises produced by one of the Notonectide. 
By Roserr Batt, M.R.1.A. 
Mr. Ball noticed the fact of one of the Notonectide, ( Corixa striata, Curtis,) emitting 
loud and powerful sounds somewhat like those of a cricket. These sounds were given 
out while the animal was about two inches and a half under water, and so loud as to be 
distinctly audible in an adjoining room through the closed door. The first observation 
of this fact was made about two years since by Miss M. Ball, who has since frequently. 
verified the original observation. ' Mr. Ball stated that he had himself heard on the 
