Nouveaux Memoires, &fc. 583 



shaped summits with terminal openings,) five miles square of which is a lake 

 of liquid fire, in a state of ebullition, sometimes tranquil, at other times rolling 

 its blazing waves with furious agitation, and casting them upwards in columns 

 from 30 to 170 feet. In some places, the hardened lava assumes the form of 

 Gothic arches in a colossal building, piled one above another in terrific magnifi- 

 cence, through and among which the fiery fluid forces it way in a current that 

 proceeds three miles and a quarter per hour, or loses itself in fathomless chasms at 

 the bottom of the cauldron. This volcano is 1272 feet deep ; I mean down to 

 the surface of the fire ; its chasms and caverns can never be measured. I visited 

 also the volcano of Thiranea, the lateral volcano of Mouna Roa ; it is nearly 9 

 miles rouad, 1157 feet deep, and is likewise in a state of terrific activity. I go 

 immediately to Hawaii to work in these mountains. May God grant me a safe 

 return to England." P. 161. 



Alas ! to England he was destined never to return. After surmounting in- 

 numerable dangers with almost unexampled courage and success, he fell a vic- 

 tim at last to one of those accidents, improperly so called, which a mysterious 

 Providence for wise purposes sometimes permits to befal its creatures. His 

 death took place in the Island of Hawaii, on the road to Hido, the residence of 

 the missionaries ; and the particulars of the sad event are given in a letter from 

 these gentlemen. It would appear that he lost his way ; and his body was 

 found in a pit excavated for the purpose of entrapping wild cattle, and into 

 which a bullock had previously fallen. The face was covered with dirt ; the 

 hair filled with blood and dust, the head dreadfully cut, and the limbs mangled 

 and bruised. It was naturally concluded, and the conclusion was confirmed by 

 medical gentlemen who inspected the body, that his death was caused by wounds 

 inflicted on him by the captured bullock. 



transactions and periodicals. — Foreign. 

 Nouveaux Memoires de la Sociele Tmperiale des Naturalistes de 



Moscow, Tom. iv. (with 13 plates, and forming the 10th vol. of 



the Collection.) Moscow, 1835. 4to. 



In noticing for the first time the Memoirs of a Society which is likely to be 

 little known to many of our readers, we may mention that the Imperial Society 

 of Naturalists at Moscow has existed for many years, and has published nume- 

 rous volumes of valuable transactions. Its primary object is to investigate the 

 natural history of Russia, and for this purpose a museum is formed, and almost 

 every year- individuals are sent, at the expense of the Society, to examine the 

 most remote and least known portions of the empire. The whole expenses of 

 the Society are defrayed by the Emperor, who presents it with an annual dona- 

 tion of 10,000 R. ass. In addition to this each member contributes yearly 30 R. 

 which forms a sum in reserve. Each member on admission must present to the 

 Society a memoir, or a work known to scientific men. The meetings are held 

 monthly. The memoirs are allowed to be written in Latin, German, French, 

 English, Italian, or Russian. 



The volume of Transactions referred to above is almost exclusively devoted to 

 Entomology. The first paper, which occupies 113 pages of the volume, is entit- 

 led, " Additamenta Entomologica ad Faunam Russicam," and contains the de- 

 scriptions of no fewer than 283 new species of Coleoptera. These were collected 

 in remote provinces of the empire by Szovitz, an individual employed principally 



