?ept 6th, 



MAN vs. BEAR. On Saturday In- 

 says the Stockton Argus, Mr. F. H. Ayres, living 

 on the San Joaquin river, went iu pursuit of a 

 bear that had been committing depredations on 

 his swine. Coming up with the animal, he dis- 

 charged the contents of both barrels of his gun. 

 into his body. This incensed, without disabling 

 the bear, causing him to turn upon his sassailant, 

 when, with one stroke of his paw, he tore away 

 a portion of his thigh, and, seizing his head in his 

 mouth, crushed it in a fearful manner, breaking 

 in the bones of the forehead and nose, and lay- 

 ing bare a portion of the brain. The brute then 

 left him. He was traced some distance by the 

 blood from the gunshot wounds inflicted upon 

 him, but was not overtaken. Dr. Ryer dressed 

 the wounds of Mr. Ayres, which are of such a 

 severe character as leaves little chance of his re- 

 covery. 



We never could see the propriety of persons 

 acquainted with the fierce and dangerous nature 

 of the grizzly bear, going out to attack him in 

 the manner Mr. Ayres seems to have done. To 

 this reckless practice, nearly every accident of 

 this class may be traced. This animal is natu- 

 rally pacific in his disposition, rarely ever attack- 

 ing man unless provoked by an assault, and even 

 then, as a general thing, he appears to think dis- 

 cretion the better part of valor ; retreating, in 

 most cases, rather than engage in a fight. But, 

 when wounded, or closely beset, he never fails to 

 turn and defend himself, and generally with spirit 

 and effect. 



He has but a few points fatally vulnerable, even 

 to the rifle ball ; hence, the hunter cannot always 

 calculate upon killing, even when he is fairry 

 within range. The heart and the brain are, of 

 course, always vital points when reached by the 

 leaden mi?sile. But it often happens that the 

 bullet, though well directed, strikes the bony 

 covering which protects these parts, at an angle 

 that turns it from its course, causing it to pro- 

 duce no further injury than just sufficient to irri- 

 tate the object of attack, and bring him upon the 

 now defenceless hunter. It is in this manner 

 that many have heretofore lost their lives, or 

 been terribly crushed and maimed iu their en- 

 counters with this usually peaceful friend, but 

 dangerous foe. Bruin is by no means a denizen 

 of cxemp[ary habits. He is a night-prowler, lax 

 and unscrupulous in his notions of honesty ; a 

 picker up of loose things about a barn yard too, 

 like a city official, preying upon pigs, poultry 

 and offal, left in exposed positions. 



We cannot deny that, yet we can hardly recall 

 an instance of deadly conflict between him and 

 his human antagonist, in which he was decidedly 

 the aggressor. In view of his predatory, pilfer- 

 ing, shoulder-striking practices, we don't object 

 to iiis being attacked and driven from civilized 

 society, but would admonish those who under- 

 take the job, to make ample preparation for de- 

 fense, as well as attack. Don't go alone, depend- 

 ing on a simple shot or two, but in numbers, 

 we'll armed, not only with rifles, but alaoa heavy- 

 knife for close quarters, should it come to that. 

 Dogs are often of great service in attacking the 

 grizzly, by worrying and keeping him at bay, 

 thereby giving the hunter a better opportunity to 

 approach and secure a good shot. 



Wonders of the Microscope. 



The meaning O f Jlniinalcula is animals whos 

 figures cann it b;> discerned without the aid of th 

 magnifying glass. The recent asto lishing discov 

 eries of Eurenberg, a Prussian naturalist, hav 

 given a new aspect to this department of anima 

 nature, even in a geological poiat of view. H 

 has described seven hundred and twenty-two liv 

 ing species which swarm almost everywhere, eve 

 fa the fluids of living and healthy animals ii 

 countless numbers. Formerly they were though 

 to be the most simple of all animals in their or 

 ganization ; to be in fact little more than mer 

 particles of matter endowed vvit.i vitality ; but h 

 has discovered in them mouths, teeth stomach 

 muscles, nerves, glands, eyes and organs of re 

 production. Some of the smallest animalcule ar 

 not more than the twenty-four thousandth of a: 

 inch in diameter, and the thickness of the skin c 

 their stomachs not more than the fifty millionth 

 part of an inch. In their mode of reproduction 

 they produce their young alive, also by eg ;s, am 

 by buds or gems. An individual of the Hy (latin, 

 senta increased in ten days one million ; on the 

 eleventh day to four million, and on the twelftl 

 day to sixteen million. In anothtr case Ehronberj, 

 says that one individual is capable of becoming u 

 fours days one hundred and seventy b'llioiis! Leu 

 wenhoeck calculated that one billion animaLulae 

 euch as occur in common water, would not alto- 

 gether make a me?s so lar^re as a grain of sand 

 Ehrenberg estimates that five hundred million o 

 them do actually sometimes exist in a single drop 

 of water. In the Alps there is sometimes found a 

 enow of red color ; and it has been recently ascer 

 tained by M. Seutterworth that the coloring mat 

 ter is composed chiefly of sutusoria, with some 

 plants of the tribe of Algae. And what is 

 singular is, that when the snow had been melted 

 for a short time, so as to become a little warmer 

 than the freezing point, the animals die, because 

 they cannot endure so much heat. A specimen of 

 meteoric paper which fell from the sky in Courland 

 in 1686, has been examined by Ehrenberg. and 

 found to consist, like the red snow, of Conferva 

 and Infusoria. Of the latter he found twenty-nine 

 species. Surprising as these facts are, it will per- 

 haps seem still more incredible that the skeletons 

 of these animals should be found in a fossil state, 

 and actually constitute nearly (he whole mass of 

 soils and rocks, several feet in thickness, and ex- 

 teni ng over areas of many acres. Yet this, too, 

 has been ascertained by the same acute Prussian 

 naturalist. 



