ANNOTATIONS AND ADDITIONS. 255 



ration of the political independence of Chili, the Condor appeared 

 on the coinage as the symbol of strength. (Claudio Gay, Historia 

 fisica y politica de Chile, publicada bajo los auspicios del Supremo 

 Grobierno; Zoologia, pp. 194-198.) 



Far more useful than the Condor in the great economy of Nature, 

 in the removal of putrefying animal substances and in thus purify- 

 ing the air in the neighborhood of human habitations, are the differ- 

 ent species of Grallinazos, of which the number of individuals is 

 much greater. In tropical America I have sometimes seen as many 

 as 70 or 80 assembled at once round a dead animal ; and I am able, 

 as an eye-witness, to confirm the fact long since stated, but which 

 has recently been doubted by ornithologists, of the whole assembly 

 of these birds in such cases taking flight on the appearance of a 

 single king-vulture, who yet is no larger than the Grallinazos. No 

 combat ever takes place; but the Gallinazos (the two species of 

 which, Cathartes urubu and C. aura, have been confounded with 

 each other by an unfortunately fluctuating nomenclature) appear to 

 be terrified by the sudden appearance and .courageous demeanor of 

 the richly colored Sarcoramphus papa. As the ancient Egyptians 

 protected the bird which rendered them similar services towards the 

 purification of their atmosphere, so in Peru the careless or wanton 

 killing of the Grallinazos is punished with a fine, which in some towns 

 amounts, according to Gray, to 300 piastres for each bird. It is a 

 remarkable circumstance, stated so long ago as by Don Felix de 

 Azara, that these species of vultures, if taken young and reared, 

 will so accustom themselves to the person who feeds them, that they 

 will follow him on a journey for many miles, flying after the wagon 

 in which he travels over the Pampas. 



( 3 ) p. 228." Their rotating bodies.'' 



Fontana, in his excellent work a tlber das Viperngift," bd. i. s. 

 62, relates that he succeeded, in the course of two hours, by means 

 of a drop of water, in bringing to life a rotifera which had lain 

 for two years and a half dried up and motionless. On the action 

 and effect of water, see my " Versuche iiber die gereizte Muskel-und 

 Nervenfaser," bd. ii. s. 250. 



What has been called the revivification of Rotiferae, since observa- 



