328 THANSACTIONS OF THI 



&c., we have to-day the late weekly numbers of the London 

 Society of Arts, and of the three hundred or four hundred insti- 

 tutions in union with it. 



BLACK BONED FOWLS. 



There is in Honduras, a fowl of the Gallinaceous kind, a native 

 of Peten and Yucatan, every bone of wliich is quite black. The 

 legs, the pinions, the breast, the back bone, are all as black as 

 ink. They are distinguished by their black combs and gills. 

 Their feathers are generally black, and also their feet; they are 

 neither larger nor smaller than other fowls j their flesh is perfectly 

 white, and remarkably juicy and well flavored. When I first 

 saw one of these animals in the shape of a very savory stew, I was 

 not a little alarmed at the sight of the black bones, and I rashly 

 accused the cook of having served up a diseased hen. Miss Mary 

 Gordon, the artiste, one of those everlasting brown women, with 

 nerves of wire and skin of India-rubber, repelled the charge with 

 indignation, and explained to me the real state of the case, 

 " Dat hen no sick, Sar. Dat hen berry good, Sar. Him de black 

 bone fole. Him more betterer dan de oders. Sick hen, hi! dat 

 hen make you flit, Sar. Sick hen, hi ! You nebber eat anything 

 like him in England, Sar." 



Mr. Vaughan, of Chandos Lodge, Wimbleton, writes us. May 

 12th, 1857 : " I beg to say, that I have both seen and eaten black 

 boned fowls. They are known from their having black combs 

 and gills. The plumage of those I have seen was black. Tliey 

 come from Yucatan and Peten. They are about the same size as 

 the ordinary fowl. The meat is quite white, and, if anything, 

 more delicate than that of other fowls." 



" I have very closely examined and have bred these fowls, and 

 have arrived at the clear conviction, that the blackness of their 

 bones does not arise from any accidental circumstance, but that 

 it is a permanent feature belonging to a distinct species. I shall 

 not fail to introduce the breed into this country." 



COTTON. 

 By J. B. Smith, M. P. 



The importance of our cotton manufactures is best shown by 

 the fact, that besides providing clothing for our whole population 



