Miscellanies. 385 



It was soft, tough, and well adapted for foundry purposes. The cin- 

 der was a perfect glass, translucent on the edges, of a smoky color, 

 readily fusible before the blow-pipe, and consequently it presents no 

 obstacle to the free running of iron in a furnace. This ore being in 

 the immediate vicinity of the richest of the coals above described, 

 will be a higlily valuable resource, if it shall be found in beds of such 

 thickness, and with such accompaniments as to render its attainment 

 not too expensive. 



12. Parasite of the eggs of the Elm-tree Moth. — On the 15th inst. 

 I noticed several minute insects busily engaged in thrusting their 

 eggs into the eggs of the Elm-tree Canker-worm. Moth, — (supposed 

 to be the Geometra vernata of Peck,) which had been laid a short 

 time previous. On applying a microscope, it was immediately appa- 

 rent that this parasitic insect belongs to the genus Platygaster of 

 Latreille. Of this genus. Say has described one American species, 

 (Contrib. Mad. Lyceum, p. 81, Philad., 1S29,) and Mr. F. Walker 

 has published descriptions of ninety nine foreign species, in the En- 

 tomological Magazine, London, October, 1835. Whether the insect 

 in question is new or not, I have been too much occupied to deter- 

 mine. Should it prove to be new, I shall endeavor to give some 

 account of it hereafter. The parasite appears quite abundant, and 

 must be of great service in checking the increase of the canker-worm. 



E. C. Herrick. 

 New Haven, November 30, 1839. 



13. Great Earthquakes in Burmah. — The following account is 

 from a letter written by Eld. E. Kincaid, Baptist Missionary in Bur- 

 mah, to Dr. L. 0. Paine, Albion, N. Y., and published in the Utica 

 Register of Jan. 17th, 1840. 



" On the 23d of March, 1839, between three and four in the morn- 

 ing, Ava was visited with one of the most terrible earthquakes ever 

 known in this part of the world. A loud rumbling noise, like the 

 roar of distant thunder, was heard, and in an instant the earth began 

 to reel from east to west with motions so rapid and violent, that peo- 

 ple were thrown out of their beds and obliged to support themselves 

 by laying hold of posts. Boxes and furniture were thrown from side 

 to side, with a violence similar to what takes place on board a ship in 

 a severe storm at sea. The waters of the river rose, and rolled back 

 for some time with great impetuosity, strewing the shores with the 

 wrecks of boats and buildings. The plains between Umerapora and 

 the river were rent into vast yawning caverns, running from north to 

 south, and from ten to twenty feet in width. Vast quantities of wa- 

 ter and black sand were thrown upon the surface, emitting at the 



Vol. XXXVIII, No. 2.— Jan.-March, 1840. 49 



