wet 
1843.) 
791 
GARDEN MEMORANDA. 
Kilravock Gardens, near Inverness.—Kilray ock Castle stands up 
i y rock as any in the 
endless forms have been ent out in the beautiful greensward. 
outer edgings are encircled with one or more rings of small 
Spring and summer flowers, between the patches of which trans- 
planted annuals are inserted to keep up the succession, Some of 
those beds contain upwards of 50 herbaceous plants, intermixed 
number of seat: 
ings, where the wild birds of the place are fed 
These are all made in rustic wood-work, show great 
taste and beauty, and are executed with a variety of design. 
Adjoining the base of the Castle-wall is an extensive stretch of 
natural rockwork, and into every ledge and crevice of this the 
utmost profusion of spring flowers, especially Crocuses, Snow- 
drops, Tulips, Anemones, and Primulas, and other suitable plants, 
have been inserted. The immediate neighbourhood of the Castle 
also boasts of several magnificent trees—such as a Beech 70 feet 
high, with a sweep of 50 feet to its branches; a Walnut tree as 
high; a Lime, 90 feet high and 10 feet in girth; ‘t Burns’ Oak,” 
74 feet high; anda very large specimen of the Tulip tree (Lirio- 
dendron tulipifera), from 25 to 30 feet high. On the whole, the 
Kilravock gardens, exclusive of the greenhouse, which, though 
small, is productive, will afford every visitor a rich treat; 
and the variety and delicacy as well 
as quantity of the herbu- 
ie whole year over 
Popular Cyclopediaof Natural Science. Animal Physi- 
Parts I. and Il. By Dr. Carpenter. 12mo. 
We recommend this treatise to general notice, as forming 
an excellent popular introduction to a very important and 
interesting branch of science. The subject is one in which 
x. Carpenter has distinguished himself ina more formal 
and scientific way, and therefore is peculiarly adapted to 
his clever and popular style of writing. Critics may say that 
these books contain nothing new ; or may ask what object 
there is in adding another to the numerous works already 
existing on Animal Physiology ; but in our view the pub- 
lic has little interest in the carpings of a querulous imagi- 
hation, The important question for the general reader 
to have answered is, whether the matter which the work 
Contains is correct, and useful, and well digested. That 
question may be answered in the affirmative. The con- 
tents of the two volumes consist of a sketch of the vital 
Operations of animals and the instruments by which they 
are performed; a general view of the animal kingdom : 
n explanation of the nature and sources of animal food, 
of digestion and absorption, of the blood and its circula- 
tion, and of the singular phenomena of respiration. 
hen is described the manner in which the bodies of 
animals are gradually formed, the sources and nature of 
Animal heat, luminosity and electricity, their nervous sys- 
tem, sensation, motion, voice, instinct, intelligence, and 
Yeproduction. The pages are amply illustrated with good 
Wood.-cuts. 
By way of indicating the way in which Dr. Carpenter 
has treated his subject, let us take two passages, one from 
the beginning of the first part, the other from the middle 
of the second part of his work :— 
“The general characters of living beings, and their 
chief distinction from inert matter, have been elsewhere 
explained ; and it will not be requisite, therefore, to do 
More than recapitulate them here. Living beings, whether 
Puanvrs or Animas, are distinguished from the inert 
Matter which is commonly said to form the MingrRaL 
kingdom, by their peculiarities of sérwctwre and of action. 
Ina living being, no matter how simple its conformation, 
We find two or more distinct parts or o7gans, adapted for 
different purposes ; thus, in the simple cell which consti- 
tutes the entire plant of Red Snow, or the Yeast Fungus, 
We havea containing membrane which absorbs liquids and 
gases from the surrounding elements,—a contained fluid 
of peculiar characters, formed out of these materials,— 
and a number of minute granules which are to become the 
germs of new cells. On the other hand, jn mineral matter, 
the same structure and the same properties may prevail 
through a mass of any size. Hence the structure of living 
beings is said to be organised; whilst that of inert 
mineral matter is said to be wnorganised or inorganic. 
‘* Again, living beings are distinguished by their 
actions. Continual change seems an essential part of their 
character ; and the alterations they undergo are not the 
result of accidental ci but the q\ 0! 
their own peculiar properties, and take place with great 
regularity. Thus if the life of one of the simple plants 
just mentioned be attentively watched, a set of actions 
will be observed, which may be enumerated briefly as fol- 
lows. The germ consists of a minute granule, in which 
no distinction of parts can be observed; but this, by im- 
ibing water and other materials, soon enlarges ; and a 
distinction between the containing and contained parts, 
the cell-wall and the cavity of the cell, is speedily 
observed. The enlargement continues, until the full size 
of the individual is arrived at; and the fluid the cell con- 
tains is then observed to have a number of minute granules 
diffused through it, which resemble the original germ. 
These granules are at last set free by the bursting of the 
parent cell, which now ceases to exist, or dies; and its 
progeny commence life for themselves, and go through the 
same series of actions as those performed by the parent. 
These actions are termed functions ; and their number 
and variety correspond with the number of different organs 
existing in the structure. Thus in the simple beings thus 
adverted to, we can only distinguish two sets of opera- 
tions,—those by which the growth of the parent cell was 
effected, and those by which the germs of a new genera- 
tion were produced and set free. The former are termed 
functions of zwérition ; and the latter, functions of 
reproduction. 
“ But it has been shown that, in the higher plants, 
a large number of distinct ‘parts or organs may be ob- 
served,—such as the root, stem, leaves, &c.; and that 
these parts have distinct uses in the economy of the plant. 
Thus the roots, besides fixing the plant in its position, 
absorb or suck up liquid from the soil around ; and this 
liquid usually contains, dissolved in it, some of the solid 
particles which the plant requires as the materials of its 
growth. The stem has for ivs office to convey this liquid 
upwards to the leaves and flowers, where it may be ex- 
posed to the air and light. One important function of 
the leaves is to get rid of a large quantity of this super- 
fluous fluid, by the process termed exhalation; whilst 
these organs have also the power of absorbing additional 
fluid, if needed by the plant. Another function of the 
leaves, is that of taking in an additional most important 
element, carbon, from the alr, by decomposing the car- 
bonic acid it contains; and this being combined in the 
interior of their cells with part of the water taken in by 
the roots, forms the materials by which the tissues of 
the plant are nourished, and their growth provided for, 
and whence their peculiar products are supplied. Yet 
even these most important functions are performed, in the 
highest plant, as in the lowest, by simple ced/s : for the 
leaf is but an assemblage of such cells, with a framework 
or skeleton of harder tissue ; and the action of each cell 
is the same as that performed by the rest. Moreover, 
when certain products,—such as oil, resin, starch, &c.— 
are separated from the juices that have been elaborated 
by the cells of the leaves, and are stored up in particular 
p e receptacles are themselves cells, the 
walls of which have the peculiar property of selecting 
from the juices the materials they are destined to contain. 
«¢ Now all these actions in the plant are classed under 
the head of functions of organic life, being entirely con- 
cerned with the nutrition of the individual. But we have 
in animals another series of actions, by which that indi- 
vidual is connected in a peculiar manner with the world 
around, All animals possess, in however slight a degree, 
a consciousness of what is going on around them ;—that 
is, they are sensible to the impressions of external objects. 
And they all possess, though often to an almost imper~ 
ceptible amount, the power of acting on objects around 
them, by spontaneous motion. These two functions,— 
sensibility and the power of spontaneous motion,—being 
peculiar to animals, are called the functions of animal 
| life ; and they are sometimes called functions of relation, 
from the peculiar connection they establish between the 
individual and the world around. . 
“Tt is scarcely possible to point to any actions better 
fitted to give an idea of the nature of instinct, than those 
which are performed by various insects, when they deposit 
their eggs. These animals will never behold their pro- 
geny 5 and cannot acquire any notion from experience, 
therefore, of that which their eggs will produce ; never- 
theless they have the remarkable habit of placing, in the 
neighbourhood of each of these bodies, a supply of aliment 
fitted for the nourishment of the larva that is to procee 
from it; and this they do, even when they are themselves 
living on food of an entirely different nature, such as 
would not be adapted for the larva. ‘They cannot be 
guided in such actions by anything like reason ; for the 
data on which alone they could reason correctly are 
wanting to them ; so that they would be led to conclu- 
sions altogether erroneous if they were not prompted, by 
an unerring instinct, to adopt the means best adapted for 
the attainment of the required end. 
«Of this kind of instinct, the Vecrophorus, a kind of 
Beetie not uncommon in our fields, offers a good exam- 
‘When the female is about to lay her eggs, she seeks 
for the dead body of a Mole, Shrew, or such other small 
quadruped ; and having found one, she excavates beneath 
-%) 
it a hole of sufficient dimensions to contain the body, 
which she gradually drags into it ; she then deposits her 
eggs in the car- 
themselves in the 
midst of a supply 
of carrion, on 
which they feed, 
like 
stinct is 
more remarkable, 
when an insect, 
whose diet is ex- 
clusively vegeta- 
ble, prepares for 
its larva a supply 
of animal food. 
Such is the case 
with the Pompi- 
Jus, an insect al- 
state it lives en- 
tirely on the 
juices of flowers ; 
but the larvee are 
carnivorous ; and 
the mother pro- 
vides for them the 
requisite supply 
of the food they 
require, by plac- 
ing in the nest, 
by the side of the 
eggs, the body of 
a Spider or Ca- 
terpillar, 
she had 
ously killed by 
means of her 
locopa, 
penter-Bee, has 
yery analogous habits; the female makes long burrows in 
wood, palings, &c., in which she excavates a series of 
cells ; and in every one of these she deposits an egg, with 
a supply of pollen-paste. 
‘* The instinct of support and protection to the young 
and helpless offspring, is seen in all animals in which it is 
needed; and it is particularly observable in birds. The 
nests which they construct are destined much more for 
the reception of their eggs, and for the protection of the 
young, than for their own residence; for there are few 
birds which pass much time in their nests, except at night, 
Fig. 261.—Nest of Xylocopa. 
Fig. 262.—Nest of Goldfinch, 
and during the period of incubation. It is impossible to 
watch the process of their construction, without admiring 
the perseverance with which these interesting animals bring 
together the materials that are destined for their erection, 
aud the art with which they are arranged. The form and 
structure of these habitations are always nearly the same, 
among the 
individuals 
of the same 
cessarily a 
certain la- 
titude in re- 
gard to the 
materials of 
which they 
re com- 
posed, since 
Fig. 263.—Nest of the Baya, 
structure, ‘. 
and materials ; and these are admirably adapted to the par- 
