Miscellanies. 399 
were necessary, to persuade the Chinamen to collect articles of a kind 
in which they take no interest; prejudice and national feelings were 
to be overcome before they could be induced to make the necessary 
excursions by land and water, to spots where no foreigner could pen- 
etrate.. By industry, money, flattery, and kindness, he succeeded, 
however, in amassing a great variety of birds, fishes, reptiles, shells, 
&c., and a few animals. Of these, all have arrived in good condition 
with the exception of the insects; the butterflies, moths, &c., which 
when last seen in Canton were particularly rich and curious, have suf- 
fered most by the delay in unpacking, and by natural causes, 
Mr. Wood was indefatigable for many months in completing the 
herpetology of China; the conchology is fully represented in many 
rich and rare specimens; and one of the rarest birds, the mandarin 
duck, with its very peculiar plumage, will be new to many: the China 
partridge and many beautiful song birds, add variety and interest to 
the whole. 
The. fishes were procured principally at the famous fishing stations 
at Macao, where Mr. Wood resided for several months for this ex- 
press purpose; the specimens are very numerous and rare. (There 
has also been procured a great number of very fine drawings of fish 
from life in the accurate style of the Chinese, and in fine colors. The 
stuffed specimens will be neatly and appropriately arranged to afford 
a study for the naturalist. 
In the department of botany, attention has been paid to procuring 
accurate drawings of many plants and flowers. These will be exhib-_ 
ited in frames. _ ee 
The mizerals in this collection are few in number, and together 
with the primitive rocks of China, embrace some remarkably fine car- 
bonates of copper, both nodular and radiated. 
The shells include the well known species of the China sea and the 
Canton iver ; ; the former, however, are of remarkable size and beauty, 
illustra ites all their varieties. - 
| of acquaintance with the science of 
mineralogy, which prevents his more than alluding to the specimens, 
said to be highly interesting. 
Miscellanies.—The jos-houses, pagodas, articles of virtu, of orna- 
ment, of stone, of jade, of ivory, bamboo, wood, metal, rice, &c., are 
so numerous that we can only allude to them. A case of shoes in all 
their clumsy or ornamental variety, exhibit the form of the compressed 
female feet,’and the clumsy shape of those of the male; another of caps 
fresh from their makers, with the button of. office, and the cheaper 
kinds of the poor; theatrical dresses, known to be those of the very 
