280 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



The committee on birds' eggs, (of foreign birds,) of which Count 

 d'Epremesnil is president, presented a list of the birds wanted. 



Barley from the Himmalaya mountains. Quince seeds from 

 Japan. Triple oranges, from trees forty feet high. Chinese yams, 

 (dioscorea batatas.) Double tuberose bulbs. Seeds of variegated 

 magnolias. 



The subject of raising tea out of China, is attended to. The 

 teas of Brazil and of Java are not esteemed as fit for commerce. 

 Experiments are to be tried in all places which may be supposed 

 favorable. The best tea of China, costing there but one franc a 

 pound, now sells in Europe at very high prices. Mons. Stanislas 

 Julien is translating all that is said about tea in the Chinese 

 books. Mons. Chatin thinks it is too soon to decide that tea will 

 not succeed in the mountainous districts of the south of France. 



WINE FROM CHINESE SUGAR CANE— SORGHO. 



Mons. Galbert has analysed it, and finds it to be much the 

 same as cider or grape juice, possessing their properties, and good 

 to drink. 



ERINACEUS OR HEDGEHOG. 



Rats and serpents are annoyances of sugar plantations, particu- 

 larly the lance snake, {Fer di Lance.) That the hedgehog clears 

 them out, without any trouble to himself, being perfectly armed 

 with his thorns, and should be introduced into our West Indies. 



NEW SILK. 



Baron Muller, one of our members, writes from Oaxaca, Mexico, 

 that he has found a new silk worm, subsisting on many sorts of 

 leaves, yielding a fibre about half way between silk and cotton in 

 its qualities, and of abundant product. 



[Bulletin Mensuel do laSociete Imporiale Zoologiquc d'Acclimatation, Paris, June, 1857.] 



From this excellent bulletin, which, with the other best periodi- 

 cals, are placed on our tables free of all charge, by the government 

 of France, we translate the following, viz : 



