290 Zoological Writings of Rafinesque. 



es several varieties, but contrives to make species out of them 



thus : Var. Oregonensis, dark brown, &c Is it not a pecuhar 



species ? Felis Oregonensis. — I find in Leraye's travels,* that a 

 smaller animal nearly similar in color, but not longer than a cat, 

 is found, &.C. Is it a new species ? Felis macrura, Kaf. Art. 10, 

 Aquila dicronyx, Raf., appears to be identical with Holiaetus, 

 Washingtoni, Aud. The old genus Condylura of Illiger, is repro- 

 duced under the name Astromycter. We have seen Rafinesque's 

 Psephides, "a new tubular fresh-water shell of the Allegany 

 mountains," and consider it the case of a larva. Whether the 

 many species of fossil shells which Rafinesque has described, 

 from the Alleganies of Pennsylvania, are new, will of course be 

 determined by the geological survey of this State, (Pennsylvania,) 

 which is drawing to a close. 



1836. A life of travels arid researches, $fc. We close this ar- 

 ticle with a few extracts from this work. 



" Mr. Gibbs, consul of the U. S., received me well ; he was 

 also a banker and merchant. I became his secretary and chan- 

 cellor. I dwelt with him in a palace till 1808, when I took a 

 house of my own and became a merchant, having made a small 

 fortune in his employ within three years. Shortly after my arri- 

 val, political events made Sicily the residence of the court of Na- 

 ples, and broke all our communications with Italy and France. 

 The produces of the island fell to a low rate : it was by trading 

 in them that I acquired my first personal fortune, as well as by 

 discovering in the island several new drugs and sources of trade. 

 Such were the squills, rosemary, wormwood, bay-leaves, &c. I 

 established a manufacture of dry squills on a large scale : the Si- 

 cilians were wondering at me for this, as they made no use of 

 them, and fancied they were a new tinctorial article, which I let 

 them believe. ... I wrote in Italian through prudence, rather than 

 in French. Prudent considerations had already induced me to 

 add the name of Schmaltz, my mother's name, to my own, and to 

 pass for an American." 



" S wainson went often with me in the mountains ; he carried a 

 butterfly-net to catch insects, and was taken for a crazy man or a 

 wizard ; as he hardly spoke Italian. I had once to save him from 



* These travels cannot be received as zoological authority ; the species, therefore, 

 that Rafinesque has founded upon them, (Am. Monthly Mag. v. 1, p. 435,) are not 

 worth looking after. 



