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THE -MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
lastly to drought and hot winds from May to 
July 1891. * 
In the southern portion of the Government of 
Samara the prospect up to June 10th was excel- 
lent, but the harvest was destroyed by two days 
of hot winds on June 14 and 15. And in the sou- 
thern central provinces also where the winter 
crops had greatly suffered, a moderate harvest was 
hoped for after the middle of July, but four hot 
days from July 13 to 16 quite destroyed the crops. 
There are, says Prof. W. H Flower, at least 
seven modifications of the horse type, at present 
or very recently existing, sufficiently distinct to be 
recognized as species by all zoologists. They are, 
however, all so closely allied that each will, at least 
in captivity, cross with perfect freedom with any 
of the others. The two species which are, perhaps 
the furthest removed in general structure, — the 
horse and the ass — produce, as is well known, 
mules, which excel both their progenitors in some 
qualities useful to man. 
An interesting addition to the Museum of the 
Malta University has recently been received from 
Mr. John H. Cooke. It consists of a suite of the 
Maltese Fossil Echinoidea, similar to those that 
have lately been presented by the same gentleman 
to the British Museum and to the University of 
Bologna. 
A correspondent to Nature gives the following 
interesting facts relating to the strength possessed 
by certain animals. The shell-less limpet pulls 1984 
times its own weight when in the air. and about 
double when immersed in water. Fasting fleas on 
an average pull 1493 times their own dead weight, 
while the Mediterranean cockle Venus verrucosa 
can exert a pulling power equal to 2071 times the 
weight of its own body. 
So great is the power possessed by the oyster 
that to open it a force equal to 1319.5 times the 
weight of its shell less body is required. 
The colours of the waters of the Mediterranean 
vary considerably at different seasons of the year 
and in different localities. During storms and 
boisterous weather it assumes a deep green and 
sometimes a brownish tint, but when calm and 
undisturbed it is of a bright, deep blue. In the 
Bosphorus, and among the islands of the archipe- 
lago it is of varying tints in some places being of a 
liquid blue graduating into a brighter green, and 
in others assuming a blue o deep in its intensity 
as to almost approach a purple. 
For more than 2000 years, a dressed stone con- 
taining 12,922 cubic feet — being 71 by 13 feet in 
size — has rested on pillars in a quarry at Baalbac, 
in Syria. It was intended for the foundations of 
the temple of the Sun, a mile or more distant, to 
which four stones nearly as large were actually 
transported. 
Coal is mined in Turkey, in Heracleaand Kosiu, 
both on the Black Sea, and about 100 miles from 
Constantinople. The mines at Heraclea are con- 
trolled by the Ottoman Government; the Kosiu 
mines by a private firm, Kurtschi & Co. The coal 
obtained is inferior in quality to the English 
mineral, especially to the Cardiff and Newcastle 
coal. 
A writer in Nature informs us that in connec- 
tion with the celebration of the fourth centenary 
of the discovery of America by Columbus, the 
Italian Botanical Society invites the attendance 
of botanists of all countries at a Botanical Inter- 
national Congress, to be held at Genoa, from the 
4th to the 11th of September. 
In addition to the meeting for sceientific purpo- 
ses, there will be excursions on the shores of the 
Mediterranean and in the Maritime Alps; aid 
during the same time will also take place the inau- 
guration of the New Botanical Institute built and 
presented to the University of Genoa by the 
munificence of Mr Thos Hanbury, of La Mortola, 
and the opening of an exhibition of Horticulture. 
All communications should be addressed to Prof. 
Penzig, of the University of Genoa. 
