'French National Injlilute. — Zoology, 187 



15 of filex, 37 of alumine, 23 of carbonat of lime, 8tc. 

 It mull here be remarked, that neither the foil nor the plants 

 of that mountain contained any appretiable portion of (ilex. 



FRENCH NATIONAL INSTITUTE. 



C. Laccpede read a memoir on the ant-eater. 

 A memoir was read by C. Beauvois on the American fox, 

 and the rabbit of the fame country. A companion of the 

 fkull of the European fox with that of the American fox, 

 can'n virginianus Gmel., as well as of the European rabbit 

 with that of America, lepus americanus Gmel. has evi- 

 dently fhown that thefc two fpecies have been improperly 

 confidcrcd by Burton and feveral other naturaliits as mere 

 varieties of the European fpecies, and that Erxleben and 

 Gmelin were authorifed in making them diitinct fpecies. 



Foxes, like the dog, bear, badger, and feveral other ani- 

 mals of the family of the /era-, have on the top of the head 

 two falient lines, which proceed from the pofterior angle of 

 the orbit and proceed backwards. In the European fox thefe 

 two lines unite at the future of the frontal bone, where they 

 form a ridge more or lefs falient according to the age of the 

 individual. In that of America thefe lines are three times 

 as large and as prominent; inftead of uniting at the frontal 

 bone, they feparate from each other, and extend as far as the 

 occipital ridge, where they unite. 



The lower jaw in thefe two animals prefents ftill other very 

 fenfible differences. Each branch, which in the European 

 fox appears under the form of a well-rounded curve, is 

 itraight in the American fox, and forms, with the afcending 

 branches, an angle of nearly \^',°. 



Differences equally linking are obferved between the Eu- 

 ropean and the American rabbits in the elevation and thick- 

 nefs of the orbicular apophyfis. The American rabbit never 

 burrows, like that of Europe, and always brings forth two 

 young, like the hare. From all thefe characters it appears 

 th;tt the American rabbit is an intermediate fpecies between 

 our hare apd our rabbit. 



C. Decandolle communicated fome experiments refpecting 



the influence of light on certain kinds of vegetables. The 



lib; object 



