Murchison's Silurian System. 553 



On the agricultural character of the old red sandstone, 

 Mr. Murchison remarks, that in the higher mountainous 

 tracts which are composed of the upper member of the sys- 

 tem, the soil is light, sharp, and poor, but over the cornstone 

 beds the soil is rich and productive, the red soil of Here- 

 fordshire being an instance. The most loamy of the cal- 

 careous soils afford the finest crops of wheat and hops, and 

 bear the most prolific apple and pear trees, and the heavier 

 or clayey tracts are renowned for the quality of oak timber. 

 Water is plentiful, and found at various depths. 



[To be continued.] 



®ovve$potititnce* 



Extract of a letter from Captain A. Jack, 30tk Bengal N. I. dated Neemuch, 



31st August, 1840. 



I am very busy in the way of collecting birds, spiders, fishes, &c. 

 for you, and shall send you some presently. I should like to send 

 some things of that sort through you to Dr. Fleming. Though I 

 cannot get up a Natural History Society here, yet I get great assist- 

 ance from a number of the officers in collecting specimens of all sorts. 

 I think I shall be able to get all the Vespertilionidse of this part of the 

 country for Dr. Horsfield shortly, and shall send down all birds merely 

 skinned; they prefer getting them so at home. I have this morning got 

 two of the pendent nests of the bea bird with four eggs in one of them, 

 and five in the other, (and a pair of the birds) which are the numbers 

 they commonly lay. I want another pair for the other nest. There is 

 a bird here called the taylor bird, which builds a very curious nest by 

 stitching a large broad leaf into a bag, and then constructing its nest in 

 the bag. I shall try to get one of them. The Leek, a sort of florikan, 

 is also met with here ; it is different, I believe, from the florikan of 

 most other parts of India, and the bustard is not uncommon. On the 

 other side I give you the continuation of my thermometrical table, 

 from which you will observe that this is a most salubrious climate, 

 and although this is the most unhealthy season of the year, low fevers 

 prevailing among the natives, yet they are not dangerous. 



