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EDINBURGH JOURNAL OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



.it the height of the season is rather above thirty thousand. None receive any defi- 

 nilp wages, but each has a share of the profits upon the whole. A small tax is al=o 

 levied on each boat by the Sheikh of the port to which it belongs. During this 

 they live on dates and fish, of which the latter are numerous and good, and to such 

 meagre diet our small presents of rice were a most welcome addition. Where polypi 

 al)ound, they envelope themselves in a white garment, but in general, with the ex- 

 ception of a cloth around their waist, they are perfectly naked. When about to pro- 

 ceed to business, they divide themselves into two parties, one of which remains in 

 the boat to hand up the others who are engaged in diving. The latter having pro- 

 vided themselves with a small basket, jump overboard, and p!ace their feet on a 

 stone, to which a line is attached. Upon a given signal, this is let go, and they sink 

 with it to the bottom. When the oysters are thickly clustered, eight or ten may be 

 procured at each descent, the line is then jerked, and the person stationed in the 

 boat hauls the diver up with as much rapidity as possible. The period during which 

 they can remain under water has been much overrated; one minute is the average, 

 and I never knew them, but on one occassion, to exceed a minute and a half. 



Accidents do not very frequently occur from Sharks, but the Saw-fish, Pristis ajt- 

 tiqn07'um of Linnaeus, is much dreaded. Instances were related to me where the di- 

 vers had been completely cut in two by these monsters ; which attain, in the Persian 

 Gulf, a far larger size than in any other part of the world where I have met with then-. 

 As the character of this fish may not be familiar to the general reader, I will add a 

 few words in the way of description. They are of an oblong rounded form, their head 

 being somewhat flattened on the fore part, and tapering more abruptly towards the 

 tail. Tiiey usually measure from thirteen to fifteen feet in length, being covered with 

 a coriaceous skin, of a dark colour above, but white beneath. The terrific weapon 

 from whence they derive their name is a flat projecting snout, six feet in length, four 

 inches in breadth, armed on either side with spines resembling the teeth of a Shark. 

 Diving is considered very detrimental to health, and without doubt it shortens the life 

 of those who much practise it. Tn order to aid the retention of the breath, the diver 

 places apiece of elastic horn over his nostrils, which binds them closely together. He 

 does not enter the boat each time he rises to the surface, ropes being attached to the 

 side, to which he clings, until he has obtained breath for another attempt. As soon 

 as the fishermen have filled their boats, they proceed to some of the islands with which 

 the bank is studded, and there, with masts, oars, and sails, construct tents. They 

 estimate the unopened Oysters at two dollars a hundred — ffellstcd's Travels in Ara- 

 Jiia. 



PERionicAL Thunder-storms at Constantinople. — In a letter to M. Arago 

 Admiral Roussin states, that on the 10th August a violent thunder-sturm occurred 

 at Constantinople, and that about the same period one generally occurs yearly. It 

 commenced in Ihe south, and then veered to the north, approaching the Black Sep, 

 its ordinary domain. It lasted from one o'clock in the morning to daybreak, and was 

 accompanied by furious rain. The lightning struck three points near each other at 

 Pera, at the Danish embassy ; and at that of Spain, it broke the doors, and burnt the 

 carpets and curtains, but did not touch the glass. The other bolt fell on a small 

 Greek vassel, broke its mast, killed a man, and injured another. He says that at 

 other times thunder-storms are by no means frequent. 



Latreille in 1798, by Scoreshy in 1820, and by many others ; and that what has been 

 stated by all authors on the subject is cf.rroborated by the examination of the stomach 

 and intpstnial canal of that fish, and by specimens on the table of the Society. With 

 regard to the food and reproduction of the Salmon, he gave an account of the obser- 

 vations of the most esteemed authors, and exhibited preparations by Dr Parnell, con- 

 firming their statements. He noticed the valuable evidence taken before a committee 

 of Parliament in 18^4 and 1825, which corroborated the statements of system.atic 

 writers ; and gave an abstract of the evidence as to the period of the ascent of the 

 Salmon In the different rivers. 



Dr Barry made some verbal remarks on the physiology of Proteus anguinus. 



LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



Zoological Society of London. — At the meeting of the 9tb January 1838, 

 Thomas Bell, Esq., F. R.S , in the chair, Mr Gould exhihited a collection of Austra- 

 lian birds, and laid on the table descriptions and characters of the whole for publica- 

 tion in the Society's Transactions. He also described forty species of birds from 

 Mr Darwin's collection, about a third of which were new. Mr Gray described a 

 small marsupial quadruped from Van Dleman's Land, which he named Perameles fa- 

 cialis. A communication was read from Captain Harris, descriptive of a new Ante- 

 lope found by him in South Africa, about the size of a Horse, black above, white 

 beneath, with the horns beautifully curved. It inhabits the great mountain range in 

 the country of Mataveld, and is gregarious in small families. 



Jan. 23d. — Richard Owen, Esq., F. R.S., in the chair. Mr Ogilby gave an ac- - 

 count of several new species of Mammalia contained in the collection made by Captain 

 Alexander in South Africa ; and Mr Gould described several new birds from the 

 same collection. Among the rapacious species were an Eagle with a white breast and 

 red tail, two small Falcons scarcely larger than a Sparrow, and a very small Owl ; 

 among the insessores a Jay which perches on the horns of the Rhinoceros, and which 

 the hunters of that animal anxiously watch, as when they see it fly up, they know that 

 the object of their pursuit is alarmed. Mr Ogilby described a new species of Galago 

 from Madagascar, in which the fore-finger was of the same size as the other, and par- 

 tially opposable to them. Mr Owen also read some observations on the anatomy of 

 the Giraffe, from dissections of the animals w^hich died at the Regent's Park and Sur- 

 rey Zoological Gardens. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDIKBURGH. 

 The first ordinary meeting of the 55th Session of the Society took place on Mondav, 

 4th December 1837, Sir T. M. Brisbane, Bart., President, in the chair. A com- 

 munication on the Food of the Vendace, Herring, and Salmon, by John Stark, Esq., 

 was read. The author, after some preliminary observations, stated, that fishes, like 

 the Vendace, residing in lakes, and feeding on animal food, must necessarily subsist 

 on the small aquatic animals found in these lakes ; that there is no reasonable analoo-y 

 between the Vendace and the Herring, because they live in different mediums, the 

 one in salt, the other in fresh water ; that their food cannot therefore be the same ; 

 that writers on natural history state the animalcules which are found in the stomach 

 of the Vendace, and the other minute animals found in lakes, to form the food of fresh- 

 water fishes generally ; and that Leeuwenhoeck had even figured the identical animiil 

 found in the stomach of the Vendace in 1833 more than 130 years before. As to the 

 Herring, the author stated that its food was known and described from personal ob- 

 servation by Neucrantz, previous to 1654, by Leeuwenhoeck in 1696, by Fabricius 

 in 1781, by Muller in 1785, by Bloch about the same period, by Lacepede and 



REVIEW. 



Illustrations of Ornithologjj. By Sir William Jardine, Bart., F.R S.E.. F.L.S., 

 M.W.S., &c. ; and Prideaux .lohn Selby, Esq., F.R.S.E., F.L.S., M.W.S., &c. 

 3 vols. Edinburgh, Daniel Lizars ; London, Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and 

 Green, and S. Highley ; Dublin, Hodges and M'Arthur. 

 Some writers have affected to make a distinction between naturalists, whom they 

 arrange primarily into professional and amateur ; but this arrangement is altogether 

 artificial being diehotomous, otherwise we should have referred the authors of this work 

 to the latter section, seeing that they assmne the pen and the pencil more from a 

 benevolent desij-e to benefit the human race, or a wish to distinguish themselves, or 

 a pure love of their favorite science, than from any necessity of taking it up as a trade 

 or profession. As it is, however, we must simply view them as working ornithologists, 

 painters, and engi-avers, for not or.ly have they elaborated the descriptions of the ob- 

 jects which they have selected, but they have also represented them more pictorum 

 et sculptorum. Their purpose has been to advance the progress of science by describ- 

 ing new and rare or remarkable objects; and their performance, besides in some mea- 

 sure accomplishing this object, will remain a monument of praiseworthy perseverance. 

 The figures, although not generally characterized by a perfect semblance of living 

 birds, are yet in all cases sufficiently accurate to enable a person, by comparing his 

 specimens with them, to satisfy himself as to their specific identity. Some of them 

 are very w'eli executed ; for example, Pteroglossvs maculatus, Cursorins bicinctus, 

 Aegothdes Imailatfis, Sitta castaneo-vtntris., Gallus Ba7tkiva, Tropidorhynelms 

 cominclatifs, Emheriza erytltroptera, Tioyon Rcinwardtii-, Coryihaix BvffoTtii, 

 Passer Indicus, Triclwglossus hcematodus, Sqttatarola rv.becida, Platyarchus Stan- 

 lei/ii. Halcyon MacJeoi/li, which, with several others, are all that could be desired; 

 but generally the forms and attitudes are ungraceful ; the head in many of the smaller 

 species is not nearly large enough, and the curvature of the neck is often absurd, as 

 in Ptdoris pnradiseus, female, and Tachyphonus Vigorsil. The descriptions are 

 generally brief and confined to the external form and plumage, the internal organiza- 

 tion of animals not forming, in the estimation of our best naturalists, an object of suf- 

 ficient importance to attract attention. As to the manners or habits of (he species 

 represented, it was not to be expected that persons residing in England could know 

 much about them, and thus the display of erudition made by the authors consists of 

 remarks as to affinities of species and genera, without much that could be of inter- 

 est to the philosophical orniihologlst, who combines in his notion of the science the 

 internal and external structure, the habits, relations, and distribution. Yet, to those 

 who can afford to purchase it, the work will be useful, chiefly because it will afford 

 them the means of naming the skins represented there, should they happen to possess 

 them or see them in a museum. In several cases, a synopsis of all the known species 

 of a genus is given, and in general all is done that might reasonably be expected in 

 the matter of mere dried skins, the animating principle of which has not been taken 

 iito consideration. The -specific characters are given in Latin, but as we think un- 

 necessarily, and had the learned authors employed their vernacular tongue, they 

 might have avoided the many grammatical errors and inelegancies, which many school- 

 boys might detect. Had a lad in the Rector's Class of our High School written such a 

 version as the following, he ought to have been whipped; — Accentor supra fusco-ci- 

 7iereo, dorso strigis fuscis vario_ gula alba fusco-macidata ; tectricibus alarvm nigris^ 

 apicibus albis^ infra cano-rvfescente maculato, rectrlcihus lateral'ibus apicihus rufo 

 albidis. However^ this i.":, after all, nothing very remarkable, for one of our first 

 naturalists in many cases fails to give the correct orthography of the very names which 

 he himself invents^ and our ornithologists, from Montagu downwards, ha"e too often 

 manifested a contempt of the rules of composition. 



Finally, the work seems to us creditable to its authors, as indicative of great perse- 

 verance and love of approbation, as well as of science, so called at least ; but it exhi- 

 bits no quality beyond what hundreds of individuals might manifest, had they the 

 means of collecting skins, comparing them with published figures and descriptions, 

 and giving them to the world, not caring much whether the expenses should be cover- 

 ed or not. Mere descriptions of bills, feet, and feathers, are easily manufactured, for 

 in this branch of science a short apprenticeship is sufficient to make a tolerable jour- 

 neyman ; and as to the aflSnities and analogies, which one might suppose to require a 

 little judgment, nothing more is needed than to obtain a knowledge of the slang 

 employed by the founders of a system, and carry out their views, taking care to over- 

 look every circumstance unfavorable to the adopted theory, and to abuse all who 

 place truth and nature in opposition to it. What we especially admire the authors for 

 is, the dexterity they have attained in transferring the delineations of their pencil to 

 copper ; although we conjecture that there are not many journeymen engravers who 

 would feel disposed to boast of such performances as theirs. In short, we give them 

 all the credit due to laborious and well-meaning cultivators of ornithology, and recom- 

 mend to our readers to patronize them accordingly. If they do not attain the sum- 

 mit of Parnassus, it is not for want of scrambling. 



Edinburgh: Published for the PuorRiETOit, at the Oflice, No, 13, Hill Street. 

 London: Smith, Elder, and Co., 65, Cornhill. Glasgow and the West of 

 Scotland: John Smith and Son; and John Macleqd. Dublin: GEORca 

 Young. Paris : J. B. Balliere, Ruede I'Ecole de Medccine, No. J 3 bis. 



THE EDINBURGH PRINTING COMPANY. 



