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the cleft hoof of a ruminant. The metatarsals of the fourth toe 
on each hind foot were, by the law of correlation, similarly 
affected ; but the supernumerary hoofs of these were stouter and 
more irregular in shape. The monstrosity appeared to present 
an interesting reversion in the direction of the extinct and fossil 
LTipparion. 
One of the “A B C Despatch-boxes,” patented by Jenner 
and Knewstub, has been forwarded to us. We hail it as a most 
useful invention for all who have papers to keep in order—a con- 
dition which largely obtains in the case of scientific men, and we 
commend it accordingly. 
On the night of the 26th January some severe shocks ot earth- 
quake were felt at Accra on the West Coast of Africa. As 
three series had been felt in five months there was considerable 
alarm. 
Mr. Hype C1ark will bring before the Anthropological 
Institute on Monday the result of his researches on the ancient 
history of civilisation, and the development of comparative 
mythology in Western Asia and Europe, previous to the Aryan 
period. 
CoAL has been found at Sarawak in a district easy of access, 
and where native labour is easily obtainable. 
INDIAN papers, in reporting an earthquake shock in Assam 
on January 27th, give two native theories of the causes and 
origin of earthquakes. The one is that when the world becomes 
sinful, a kind of large serpent, on which the world rests, turns 
on its side, and so causes them. The other is, that earthquakes 
are caused by periodical leaps of the mountain gods from one 
mountain to another. 
THE Folkestone Natural History Society has issued its third 
annual report, from which we gather that its progress is still 
satisfactory. The number of members now reaches 150, showing 
an increase of thirty-two during the past year. The attendance 
both on field days and at the conversaziont has been, on the 
whole, very good. The expenses attendant on the reorganisation 
of the museum have been somewhat heavy, and an appeal is 
made for the formation of a museum fund, which it is hoped will 
meet with a suitable response. The report contains a selection 
from the papers read during the year, those published being : 
“On Primroses and their Fertilisation,” by the secretary, Mr. 
Ullyett ; ‘‘On Arctic Botany,” by the president, Dr. Fitzgerald, 
who accompanied Lord Dufferin on his voyage to the North 
Pole some few years since ; ‘‘On the Special Characteristics of 
Seaside Plants ;” ‘On the Yeast Plant ;” and “‘ Local Botany.” 
We are somewhat disappointed that more prominence is not 
given to local natural history ; but, with this exception, the report 
is very creditable, although a little more attention might have 
been advantageously bestowed upon the printing of the scientific 
names. A list of the books given and lent to the library con- 
cludes the report. 
Dr. FayReEr, in India, has been experimenting to correct the 
popular error that a snake cannot killa snake. He took a young 
and very lively cobra fourteen inches long, and which was bitten 
inthe muscular part of the body by a krait forty-eight inches 
long. The krait had not bitten for some days before. Froma 
detailed report by Dr. Fayrer, it appears that the cobra was 
bitten at 12.50 P.M., at I P.M. it was very sluggish, at 1.3 P.M. 
so sluggish that it moved with difficulty, could be easily handled, 
and made no effort at resistance. At 1.20 it was apparently 
dying and its movements were scarcely perceptible, and at 1.22 
it died, thirty-two minutes after the attack. Dr. Fayrer has 
found that the water-snakes of India are deadly poisonous. In 
the Bay of Bengal they swarm, and it is noted as ominous that 
lately it was proposed to erect a sea bathing establishment for 
NATURE 
Calcutta at J’arwar, under the assurance there were no sharks. 
It is remarked that sharks need not be noticed when a bather 
may have deadly water-snakes swimming after him. 
THE Correspondenzblatt of the Naturalists’ Society of Riga, 
1870, contains an abstract of a paper by Herr Teich, ‘‘On the 
influence of climate on the size, colour, form, and number of 
species of butterflies:”—An account of a discovery by Prof. 
Nauch that thin glass tubes when they have a ball blown at their 
ends give out a distinctly audible and clear note on cooling so 
long as the relation of the size of the ball to the length of the 
tube does not pass a certain limit. The sound is ascribed to 
vibrations set up by the inrush of air consequent upon cooling. 
Some remarks by the same professor on a lightning tube found 
at Ilgezeem :—A long paper on cell life by C. A. Hengel:—A 
communication from Herr Thieme to the effect that he has found 
that Dracena paniculata kills flies, particularly when the plant 
stands several feet from the window. The dead flies hang to the 
under side of the leaf:—A paper by A. Néschel on the Trevelyan 
instrument, the sound produced by which he considers due to 
friction between the two metals—the one contracting, whilst 
the other expands, the vibratory movement being considered as 
secondary. The author calls attention to the fact that when the 
instrument has been in action for some time a bright spot is 
formed on the metal at the point of contact, which he considers 
as evidence in favour of his theory. Baron Horyingen Huene 
gives an account of a plan of sugaring for insects with apples 
cut in three soaked in solution of honey for a day, then strung 
on string, and suspended between adjacent trees, which he has 
found very successful. The journal contains many other com- 
munications, but without much original matter in them, 
A REPORT comes from Bangalore in the Madras presidency, 
that coal and paying gold have been found. 
An Australian is said to have raised a sum of money by a 
false representation of the existence of coal at Midnapore in 
Bengal. 
A SLIGHT shock of earthquake was felt at Guyaquil in Ecua- 
dor on the 9th January. The movement was from the interior 
towards the coast. 
AN eruption of the Colorucco volcano in Mexico in January 
has done much damage to plantations and villages, An eruption 
of Mount Orizaba is expected. 
On the night of the 31st January an earthquake was felt at 
Bombay, which extended over a large tract of country. It is 
stated that on New Year’s Day Northern Guzerat had a like 
visitation, 
BEsIDEs the objects brought from the Guano Islands of 
Guanape, on the coast of Peru, by Mr. Josiah Harris, and ex- 
hibited at the Ethnological Society last year, we have now the 
report of a large find. The most interesting objects are rude 
representations of the human figure, cut in very hard wood. On 
the north island, beneath forty feet of guano, a cavity was 
come upon, which, on the removal of the guano, was found to 
be a cave, leading downwards further forty feet. This was a 
kind of Pompeii, but blocked with bird dung instead of volcanic 
ashes. It had been evidently frequented by man, and contained 
many handwrought works, and also well-preserved seafowl and 
other birds, lizards’ eggs, but all petrified, as it were, in the 
guano. In many cases the colour of the eggs is preserved. The 
cracks and fissures in the walls of the cave were found filled with 
solidified ammoniacal salt. Two pieces of earthenware vases 
were found, bearing figures, also two gold earrings, anda bundle 
of medicinal herbs tied up in woven cloth. Local antiquaries con- 
sider the objects as far older than the time of the Spanish con- 
quest. The point of interest is the accumulation of guano 
above the surface, 
| March 16, 1871 
