78 Miscellaneous. 



as shy as fish usually are. He (Dr. Warwick) thought this a most 

 remarkable instance of gratitude in a fish for a benefit received ; and, 

 as it always came at his whistle, it proved also what he had pre- 

 viously, with other naturalists, disbelieved, that fishes are sensible to 

 sound. 



Dr. Warwick next related an anecdote illustrative of extraordinary 

 instinct in the elephant " Chunee," which was shot some years ago 

 at Exeter Change, London, in consequence of his having gone mad. 

 This animal would pick up a shilling from the ground with its trunk, 

 and place it in the waistcoat pocket of the person who intentionally 

 dropped it. Upon one occasion Dr. Warwick dropped a shilling 

 purposely out of the animal's reach, and waited the result with some 

 curiosity. 1'he elephant appeared to consider for some time, and 

 then raising its proboscis to nearly a horizontal position, blew 

 violently against the opposite wall ; the reverberation of the wind 

 was so forcible that it blew the coin over ; and the elephant repeated 

 its blowing until it had got the shilling within its reach ; it then 

 picked it up as usual, and deposited it in the doctor's waistcoat 

 pocket. 



The President, Dr. Booth, also related an anecdote of this same 

 *' Chunee." When the first symptoms of madness were evinced, and 

 it was thought necessary to poison him, a strong dose of mineral 

 poison was inserted into an orange and given to the elephant. The 

 animal was fond of oranges, and immediately swallowed it ; but the 

 dose was not strong enough — it merely made him sick. It was at- 

 tempted to give a still stronger dose in the same manner, but the 

 animal would not take it, and would never again swallow an orange 

 without first crushing it on the ground, as if to smell its contents. — 

 Proc. of the Lit. and Phil. Soc. of Liverpool, Nov. iv^. p. 76. 



BRACHYCLADIUM. 



King's ClifFe, Dec. 14, 1848. 

 As the generic name Brachycladium, ' Ann. of Nat. Hist.' series 2, 

 vol. ii. p. 382, is pre-occupied, I beg to substitute for it Brachycar- 

 phium. — M. J . B. 



PREVENTION OF BUGS. 



To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History. 



Dec. 18, 1848. 



Gentlemen, — In the Magazine for the last two months are letters 

 on the prevention of the bed-bug {Cimex lectularius) . 



I have used Sir William Burnett's Disinfecting Fluid, the solu- 

 tion of the chloride of zinc ; it was applied by means of a feather 

 to all the joints and crevices in the bedstead and with complete 

 success. The solution entering the wood rendered it an unfit, and 

 probably a poisonous habitation for the Cimex. 



The prevention of these animals is of more importance than some 

 may at first suppose it to be ; in some severe diseases, the disturbance 



