126 Dr L. Mandl on the Scales of Fishes. 



convincing proof in the incomplete results M. Agassiz obtained 

 by studying them with the naked eye. His vast knowledge, 

 and the care with which he conducted his researches, could 

 not compensate for the insufficiency of his means of obser- 

 vation. 



Another question here arises : how far can the scales afford 

 marks of distinction between species, genera, and families ? 

 It will be readily understood, that the detailed and continued 

 study of a great number of well preserved individuals, can 

 alone decide this. It may even be found that the same form 

 reappears in different families, and that the other characters 

 must concur in effecting a classification, in the same manner 

 as the same form of crystallization recurs in minerals alto- 

 gether different. Hitherto, we have found the forms very 

 distinct and characteristic in each family. If we have not 

 been able to pi'osecute our researches to the distinction of 

 genera and species, it is for want of a sufficient number of 

 individuals ; at the same time we do not believe that we 

 will require to renounce the attempt altogether. Our ulterior 

 observations will throw light on this subject. Meanwhile we 

 have been able to establish differences between families, whose 

 scales M. Agassiz considered identical, as has been proved in 

 the preceding pages. 



Heport on the Manufacture of Tea, and on the Extent and Pro- 

 duce of the Tea-Plantations in Assam. By C. A. Bruce, 

 Superintendent of Tea-Culture.* With a map of the Tea 

 Districts. 



I SUBMIT this report on our Assam Tea with much diffi- 

 dence, on account of the troubles in which this frontier has 



* Presented by the Tea Committee appointed by Government (consisting 

 of James Patch, Esq., T. W. Grant, Esq., and C. K. Eobison, Esq., Dr 

 Nathaniel Wallich, Eaja Eada Kauth Deva, and Babao Eom Comul Sea), 

 and read at the meeting of the Society on Wednesday 14th August 1839. 

 Printed in Calcutta 21st September 1839, and dispatched same day by over- 

 land mail, and communicated to us by Sir John Eobison, K. H., Secretary 

 of the Eoyal Society of Edinburgh, &c. &c. 



