Quadrupeds — Birds, 7273 



Curious Preservation of Human Eyes. — In the autumn of 1858 I chanced to be in 

 the company of a stranger who had recently returned from South America, and I was 

 shown one of a traveller's curiosities, with a request that I would say what I thought 

 it was. In character it was not much unlike a fossil oniou. Concentric zones of 

 various shades of colour from pink to blue surrounded aluminous centre, bright as the 

 brightest amber, and of like intensity. My first question naturally was, " Is it ani- 

 mal, vegetable, or mineral ? '' " Animal," was the reply. Now had it been vegetable 

 or mineral I should not have been so much surprised. It looked like some amber 

 ornament, and might have been polished and set as a brooch ! " It is animal, it is an 

 eye — a human eye. I have ninety of them.'' As I held it in my fingers, the pupil 

 seemed to glare at me, so bright was it ; the uvea, ciliary body and ora serrata, all 

 were distinctly and definitely traced on one globe, — nay, even the radiated lines on the 

 iris were noticeable. I asked for an explanation, and elicited the following: — " It is 

 from an Indian cemetery near Arica, in Peru. The cemetery lies in a vale strongly im- 

 pregnated with saltpetre, which seems to have acted on the humours of the eye, and 

 given them fixedness and intensity. From some cause or other the burial-place has 

 been long deserted by the Indians for one higher up the valley, and the bodies, being 

 interred near the surface of the ground, have become exposed to view. I visited the 

 cemetery at sunset, and noticed the peculiar glass-like appearance of the eyes. Some 

 I removed from their sockets, and found them as hard as amber to the touch. 

 Curiosity led me after to the spot, till I had collected quite a stock of eyes.'' But, I 

 remarked, " May not the Indians, during some process of embalming, have substituted 

 glass eyes in the place of the natural eyes?" "No," replied the stranger, "as I have 

 them with the tendons and ligaments attached, and in some cases I had difficulty in 

 extracting them from the skull." Such is the story, nearly in the words of the tra- 

 veller, and I place it at your disposal, as you may probably wish to give it publicity. 

 —Peter Inchbald ,• S tor thes Hall, near Huddersfield, October 28, I860. 



Rabbit apparently fascinated by a Stoat. — As I was walking on the hill-side above 

 West Creech, Farm, in Penbeck (the down was scattered with very low furze bushes), 

 my attention was arrested by a cry of distress ; it proceeded from a rabbit which was 

 cantering round in a ring, with a halting gait. I watched it for some minutes, but as 

 the circle became smaller and the rabbit more agitated I perceived a stoat turning 

 its head with the rabbit's motion, and fixing its gaze upon it. I struck a blow at the 

 stoat and missed it; its attention was thus withdrawn, and the rabbit ran away with 

 great vigour in a straight direction. — Henry Bond ; Vicarage, South Petherton, 

 Somerset, August 14, 1860. 



Hedgesparrow fascinated by a Snake. — Up the hill above Tyneham, towads the 

 sea, I was struck by the shrill cry and fluttering agitation of a common hedgespar- 

 row, in a whitethorn bush. Kegardless of my presence, its remarkable motions were 

 continued, getting, at every hop from bough to bough, lower and lower down in the 

 bush. Drawing 'nearer I saw a common snake coiled up, but having its head erect, 

 watching the sparrow ; the moment the snake saw me it glided away, and the sparrow 

 flew ofi" with its usual mode of flight.— i/cnr?/ Bond; Vicarage, South Petherton, 

 Somerset, August 14, 1860. 



XVIII. 3 Q 



