Selenifeious Pijrites. 65 



to the end of the taih It had been destroyed by a spear driven 

 into the neck at the junction ofthe head with the cervical ver- 

 tebrae. In most of its external characters it agreed with the 

 crocodilus biporcatus; except that the toes ofthe latter are re- 

 presented by Cuvier and Lacepede as more or less united by 

 membranes or webs; the hind feet of the crocodile proper, 

 according to Cuvier, are palmated to the extremity of the 

 toes. This character is wanting in the cummeer, in which the 

 inner toe of the hind and two inner toes of the fore feet are 

 perfectly free, not being connected by any membrane. If this 

 peculiarity be of constant occurrence, it makes the cummeer 

 not only a new and undescribed species, but it also vitiates 

 the desci-iption of the family and of the genus of crocodile 

 heretofore given. 



Although the putrescency of the body of the animal pre- 

 vented any deliberate examination of its internal structure, 

 the contents of its stomach were exposed, and found to con- 

 sist of the remains of a woman, of a whole cat, of the remains 

 of a dog and sheep, of several rings, and of the separated parts 

 of the common bangles worn by the native women. — Asiatic 

 Journal. 



DISCOVERY OF SELENIUM IN THE SULPHURIC ACID MADE FROM 

 THE PYRITES OF ANGLESEA. 



In our last volume we inserted a paper by Professor Scholz, 

 of Vienna, on the extraction of selenium from the residuum 

 ofthe sulphuric acid works at Lukawitz in Bohemia, where 

 the sulphur employed is obtained from pyrites found in the 

 vicinity of the place, a till then unknown locality of selenium. 



We are glad to find, from a communication in the Annals 

 of Philosophy for January, that seleniferous pyrites are also to 

 be found in our own country. Mr. I^. P. Thomson, a che- 

 mical manufacturer of Manchester, in making muriatic acid 

 uses sulphuric acid prepared from the pyrites of the Paris 

 Mountain in Anglesea by Mr. R. Mutrie,also of Manches- 

 ter. The selenium, Mr. Thomson has observed, distils over 

 with the nuu-iatic acid into the receivers, and in the course 

 of two or three days it falls to the bottom ofthe vessels in the 

 form of a reddish-brown substance, which does not appear to 

 deteriorate the acid in the least. The quantity yielded by the 

 acid is very small. Mr. Children having submitted a portion 

 of this red substance to experiment, in order to obtain un- 

 e(}uivocal evidence of its containing selenium, gives the follow- 

 ing statement of his results: 



A fragment heated on a slip of platina foil by the spirit 

 lamp, tinged the flame of a beautiful azure blue colour. A 



Vol. 6.5. No. S2I. Jan. IH'i.'J. I portion 



