10 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1785. 



cured them 2 or 3 or perhaps more centuries ; and with another pair of horns of a 

 different kind, which are terminated by one single pointed antler, and which were 

 the horns of a seven-year-old stag. 



The river Larkell runs down the valley, and part of it falls into the quarry 

 where these horns were found, the water of which has not the property of in- 

 crusting any bodies it passes through. It is therefore probable that the animal 

 to which these horns belonged was washed into the place where they were found, 

 at the time of some of those convulsions which contributed to raise this part 

 of the island out of the sea. Besides this complete head, Mr. B. had several 

 pieces of horns, bones, and several vertebrae of the back, found in the same 

 quarry ; some, if not all, of them probably belonging to the same animal. 



Dimensions of the three kinds of horns above-mentioned, 



Found at Throstle-nest Seven years 



Alport. horns. stag's. 



Ft. In. Ft. In. Ft. In. 



Circumference at their base ,....0 9^ 07 05| 



Length of the lowest antler 12 10 9 



Length of second ditto 11^ 10| 10 



Length of third ditto 1 l| ll| 10 



Length of the horn 3 sf 2 7h 2 8| 



XX. On the Sensitive Quality of the Tree ^verrhoa Caramhola. By Robert 



Bruce, M.D. p. 356. 



The averrhoa carambola of Linneus, a tree called in Bengal the camruc or 

 camrunga, is possessed of a power somewhat similar to those species of mimosa 

 termed sensitive plants ; its leaves, on being touched, move very perceptibly. 

 In the mimosa the moving faculty extends to the branches ; but, from the hard- 

 ness of the wood, this cannot be expected in the camrunga. The leaves are 

 alternately pinnated, with an odd one ; and in their most common position in the 

 day-time are horizontal, or on the same plane with the branch from which they 

 come out. On being touched, they move themselves downwards, frequently in 

 so great a degree that the two opposite almost touch each other by their under 

 sides, and the young ones sometimes either come into contact or even pass each 

 other. The whole of the leaves of one pinna move by striking the branch with 

 the nail of the finger, or other hard substance ; or each leaf can be moved 

 singly, by making an impression that shall not extend beyond that leaf. In this 

 way, the leaves of one side of the pinna may be made to move, one after an- 

 other, while the opposite continue as they were ; or you may make them move 

 alternately, or in short in any order you please, by touching in a proper manner 

 the leaf you wish to put in motion. But if the impression, though made on a 

 single leaf, be strong, all the leaves on that pinna, and sometimes on the neigh- 

 bouring ones, will be affected by it. 



What at first seemed surprizing was, that notwithstanding this apparent 



