' 388 Scientific Intelligeiice. — Zoology. 



who, on hearing the case, adjudged him to be forthwith hanged 

 on the summit of a conical hill, — a sentence that was imme- 

 diately put into execution. The hill is called Thomas Rhy- 

 mer's Hill, for what reason I could never make out. — Sir T. 

 D. Lauder, Floods of Moray, p. 67. 



26. The Lacerta agilis ovo-viviparous in Scotland. — Des- 

 marest, Daudin, and the French naturalists, are quite agreed 

 as to this lizard, which is widely dispersed over Europe, being 

 oviparous; and that the ova are deposited at the bottom of 

 walls, &c. exposed to the sun. In Scotland, the animal is ovo- 

 viviparous, as I have repeatedly ascertained, from specimens 

 which have been in my possession in 1827, 1828, and 1829. 

 One of these, caught on 19th June 1829, brought forth, in July, 

 nine young, which, however, for want of proper food, all died 

 within a fortnight. Mr Rennie, in the Library of Entertain- 

 ing Knowledge, vol. vi. p. 108, makes the same remark upon a 

 female specimen, which he caught near Sorn in Ayrshire. May 

 not the difference of climate account for this ? And may not 

 the Lacerta agilis, in countries where the heat is sufficient to 

 hatch the extruded eggs, be oviparous, and in colder tempera- 

 tures, ovo-viviparous ? — James Stark. 



27. Phosphorescence of the Sea mi the Gulf of St Lawrence. — 

 Captain Bonnycastle, R. E., whilst coming up the Gulf on the 

 7th of September 1826, observed this phenomenon under the 

 following circumstances: — At two o'clock a. m., the mate, whose 

 watch it was on deck, suddenly aroused the captain in great 

 alarm, from an unusual appearance on the lee-bow. The night 

 was star light, but suddenly the sky became overcast in the di- 

 rection of the high land of Cornwallis county, and a rapid, in- 

 stantaneous, and very brilliant light, resembling the Aurora Bo- 

 realis, shot out of the hitherto gloomy and dark sea on the lee- 

 bow, and was so vivid that it lighted every thing distinctly even 

 to the mast-head. The mate, having alarmed the master, put 

 the helm down, took in sail, and called all hands up. The light 

 now spread over the whole sea between the two shores ; and the 

 waves, which before had been tranquil, began now to be agitated. 

 Captain Bonnycastle describes the scene, as that of a blazing 

 sheet of awful and most brilliant light. A long and vivid line 

 of light, superior in brightness to the parts of the sea not imme- 



