382 Scientific Intelligence — Zoology. 



lasting annoyances. The ocean on the west coast of South America, 

 within the tropics, teems with fish, the quantity seeming exhaustless, 

 and guanas equally abound, so that their egesta is gradually accumu- 

 lating somewhere either on or off that desert land, and now has 

 become an object sought after, not only by the Peruvian mountaineer, 

 but by the merchant, shipowner, and statesman. 



5. The Cod Fish of the Whale Fish Islands. — <" We are pre- 

 paring," says Mr Snow, in his Journal in the Arctic Seas, M in calling 

 at Whale Fish Islands, at which place it was hoped we should be on the 

 following day, if the wind continued the same. 



" Our dinner this day was greatly impoved by some cod fish that 

 had been caught in the morning, before the wind sprung up. It was 

 excellent eating, and I believe the fish is considered of sufficient 

 worth and goodness to have a few vessels from Scotland employed in 

 catching and importing them. There is one particular place on this 

 coast where they are said to be very numerous, and some small ships 

 have made it an excellent trade." — (Mr W. Parker Snow's Journal 

 in the Arctic Seas, p, 60.) 



6. Electricity applied to the capture of Whales. — The most pro- 

 minent features of this new method are thus described : — Every 

 whale at the moment of being struck by the harpoon is rendered 

 powerless, as by a stroke of lightning ; and, therefore, his subsequent 

 escape or loss, except by sinking, is wholly impracticable, and the 

 process of lancing and securing him is entirely unattended with dan- 

 ger. The arduous labour involved in a long chase in the capture of 

 a whale is superseded, and, consequently, the inconvenience and dan- 

 ger of the boats losing sight of or becoming separated from the ship is 

 avoided. One or two boats only would be required to be lowered at 

 a time, and therefore a less number both of officers and seamen than 

 heretofore employed would be ample for the purpose of the voyage. 

 The electricity is conveyed to the body of the whale from an electro- 

 galvanic battery contained in the boat, by means of a metallic wire 

 attached to the harpoon, and so arranged as to reconduct the electric 

 current from the whale through the sea to the machine. The ma- 

 chine itself is simple and compact in construction, enclosed in a strong 

 chest weighing about 360 lb., and occupying a space in the boat of 

 about 3^ feet long, by 2 feet in width, and the same in height. It 

 is capable of throwing into the body of the whale eight tremendous 

 strokes of electricity in a second, or 950 strokes in a minute, para- 

 lysing, in an instant, the muscles of the whale, and depriving it of 

 all power of motion, if not actually of life. — {Year Book of Facts, 

 p. 141.) 



7. Preservation of Eggs. — Eggs immersed while fresh in milk 

 of lime will keep in it for years, doubtless because the carbonate of 

 lime formed by the carbonic acid, evolved from the egg, completely 

 stops up the pores of the shell. On pulling down a sacristy in the 



