THE MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
128 
breed them in any considerable quantity. In the 
tanks on his property he placed a pair of carp, a 
fish that is passionately fond of the l&rvse, and in 
a short time he completely extirpated the insects. 
The plan is not one that could be adopted every- 
where, but it is worth bringing under the notice 
of those whose circumstances are similar to those 
of the Riviera. 
At the last meeting of the French Academy of 
Sciences a photograph of some fossil leviathans 
that have recently been obtained from the Moun- 
tain Limestone was exhibited. 
Among the specimens there delineated was a 
portion of an Atlantosaurus , whose body was 
about 80 feet in length. Another monster was 
the Brontosaurus which had a body about 50 feet 
in length, and an exceedingly small head. 
While a third, the Triceratops , was distinguished 
by a peculiar hood-like appendage on the head 
that bristled with spines, and by two horns beneath 
the eyes and one on the nose. 
Its head was about six and a half feet long and 
terminated in a beak like that of a bird. 
Modern discoveries have shown that the prehis- 
toric fauna of the Maltese Islands was of a unique 
order for it embraced Dot only a great number of 
species that were common to both Europe and to 
Africa, but it also included a number of animals 
that appear to have been peculiar to this locality. 
Of the most striking of these mention may be 
made of Elephas melitensis , an undersized ele- 
phant; Elephas 7)inaidrce, a large elephant found 
in a cave near the ruins of Mnaidra; Myoxus me- 
litensis, a gigantic dormouse; Myoxus cartel, a 
dormouse named after Dr. Carter; and to these 
we may now add a large crane Grus melitensis ; 
and a very large vulture Gyps melitensis. 
In the course of the excavations that have been 
carried out in Egypt during the past year many 
valuable and interesting discoveries have been 
made. 
The documents especially, says “Biblia” throw a 
most interesting light upon many of the social 
conditions of Egypt at that time and upon the 
method pursued by the Ptolomies in settling their 
soldiers in that country and then Hellenizing it. 
But perhaps the most important and interesting 
feature of the whole business is the source from 
which these manuscripts were obtained. Mr. Pe- 
trie has discovered what was suspected by others 
before his time, that many mummy-cases are not 
made of wood, nor yet of a solid and homogeneous 
mass of papier-mache or other substance. But 
they are built up of single sheets of paper, pasted 
one upon the other, until the necessary thickness 
is obtained. In many cases the paper thus used 
is nothing less than old manuscripts torn up and 
put to this base employment. How many mummy 
cases are thus composed of manuscripts is a matter 
of interesting speculation, as is also the question 
what priceless literary treasures have been thus 
disposed of. Mr. Petrie has shown that it is pos- 
sible, after all these centuries, to resolve the mum- 
my-cases into their original sheets, and so to 
cleanse and restore them as to make them legible. 
The possibilities of future discoveries that are 
thus opened up are incalculably great, and the 
prospect can scarcely fail to stimulate popular 
interest in Egyptian research. 
We have received the first number of “Rassegna 
delie Scienze Geologiche in Italia” a new review 
of Geological Science which is being published at 
Rome under the joint editorship of Messrs M. 
Cermenati and A. Fellini. 
Among the many interesting articles that it 
contains are a detailed account of the late eruption 
of Vesuvius written by the wellknown vulcanolo- 
gist Dr, Johnston-Lavis, and a bibliography of the 
memoirs bearing on Italian geology that have been 
written during the past year. 
The work is a very useful one, and it should be 
in the hands of all who desire to be kept posted in 
Italian geology. 
The canary, that is now mund so plentifully all 
round the shores of the Mediterranean, was intro- 
duced into Europe in 1478 by Henry of Spain, 
who brought a number of them from the Canary 
Inlands. For over a century the Spaniards did a 
thriving trade by supplying the birds, at a very 
high price, to bird fanciers in the neighbouring 
countries. A book on “Canaries” that was publish- 
ed at Rome in 1622, tells us that this monopoly 
was broken up by a curious mischance. 
A large number of birds had been sent to Spain 
in a ship, but a storm arising, the vessel was dri- 
