Miscellaneous. 383 



Eetjption Pkoducud by an Artesian Well. — At an artesian well, 

 fifty metres deep, in progress of being bored, near the Cliurch of St. 

 Agnes, at Venice, on the 11th of April last, when the workmen had 

 left ofi" work, a subterranean rumbling was heard, and a jet of water 

 the diameter of the opening, and to the height of a house, was 

 thrown from the mouth of the well. After some time the noise in- 

 creased, and solid smoking masses were thrown up with the water, 

 falling upon the houses near. It is even stated that the violence of 

 the eruption was so great that a considerable crack was made in the 

 wall of the church, and the inhabitants of many of the neighbouring- 

 houses were compelled to leave them. As soon as possible a large 

 number of workmen were brought to the" spot, and openings were 

 made to allow the water to escape, which prevented further mis- 

 chief. The eru]3tion appears to have continued till half-past eleven 

 at night. — Journ. Soc. of Arts. 



GrBOWTH OE Peat. — An old proverb still lingering in Weardale 

 is : — " A wise man may cut peats thrice in his life, where a fool will 

 only cut once." My informant who had heard it half a century ago 

 from his then aged grandfather, living in Weardale, explains it to 

 mean that by providing for the lodgment of water in the hole whence 

 peat has been extracted, it will re-form in the course of about twenty 

 years, so as to be again available for use. — S. E. P. 



Another New Wealden Eeptile. — The Eev. W. Fox, of the 

 Isle of Wight, who last summer discovered his Polacanthus Foxii, 

 has just brought to light another new Wealden Saurian. The dis- 

 covered parts of this animal are limited to the bones of the sacrum, 

 consisting of five cemented vertebrge with the sacral ribs and por- 

 tions of the other iliac bones. The remains, therefore, are quite 

 sufficient to show that the reptile to which they belonged was of 

 the Dinosaurian order. It was small compared with the other 

 monsters of the world of efts, the sacrum being only six inches 

 in length ; yet, apart from its size, it had as much of novelty 

 about it as any of the previously discovered dragons. The bones 

 are more hollow, light, and compact in structure than the bones 

 of birds, and quite as much so as those of the pterodactyls, with 

 foramina for the admission of air into them, like the bones of 

 the last-named reptiles. Such a formation was evidently given for 

 the purpose of leaping from tree to tree, or for bounding from the 

 grasp of other reptiles with an elasticity of spring equalling that of 

 the grasshopper. With the approval of Professor Owen, who has 

 examined the bones, this new reptile has been dedicated to him by 

 its discoverer, who has given it the descriptive name of Calamo- 

 spondylus Oweni from the fact of its backbone being hollow, smooth, 

 and compact like a reed. — Aihenaum. 



