396 Scientific Intelligence. — Zouhgy. 



ring his visit to England, Cuvier compared the remains of the 

 dodo preserved in tl-.e Britisli Museum and in that of Oxford 

 with the bones sent to him by Desjardins, when he found that 

 the heads wwe identical, but the tarsus is more elongated than 

 that of the British Museum, which, again, is thicker, but short- 

 er, than that of Oxford. There is, therefore, some doubt as to 

 the tarsus, but none as to the head, which he therefore refers to 

 the dodo; and as this head, as also the sternum found along 

 with it, and also the humerus and femur, undoubtedly belong 

 to the Gallina?, this bird falls to be placed in that tribe. 



19. Bengal Tiger found in Siberia. — Ehrenberg, during his 

 journey through Siberia, made a discovery of great interest for 

 the geography of animals, and in some respects for the history 

 of fossil bones, viz. the existence of the great tiger of Bengal in 

 Northern Asia, between the latitudes of Paris and Berlin. He 

 also describes a great panther, with long hair (Felis irbis), he 

 met with in the Altain chain of mountains. 



20. Footmai-ks of Man and Lower Animals. — Voltaire, in 

 Zadig, has attributed to his hero a sagacity in tracing footsteps, 

 which no doubt has often been considered an idle invention. 

 Such a power, however, appears to be possessed by tlie Arabs to a 

 degree which deprives even Zadig of the maivcllous. The Arab, 

 says Burckhardt, " who has applied himself diligently to the 

 study of footsteps, can generally ascertain, from inspecting the 

 impression, to what individual of his own, or of some neighbour- 

 ing tribe, the footstep belongs, and therefore is able to judge whe- 

 ther it was a stranger who passed or a friend. He likewise knows, 

 from the slightness or depth of the impression, whether the man 

 who made it carried a load or not. From a certain I'egularity 

 of intervals between the steps, a Bedouin can judge whether 

 that man, whose feet left the impression, was fatigued or not, 

 as, after fatigue, the pace becomes more irregular and the inter- 

 vals unequal ; hence he can calculate the chance of overtaking 

 the man. Besides all this, every Arab knows the printed foot- 

 steps of his own camels and of those belonging to his immediate 

 neighbours. He knows by the depth or slightness of the im- 

 pression whether a camel was pasturing, and therefore not car- 

 rying any load, or mounted by one person only, or heavily 

 loaded. If the marks of the two fore feet appear to be deeper 



