1830 .] 
Miscellaneous Notices. 
103 
The story liad been, in latter times, either explained away or disbelieved altogether, 
notwithstanding the very general repetition of it by the writers of antiquity. M. G. 
St. Hilaire, during his long residence in Egypt, had opportunities repeatedly of veri- 
fying this account, but with the change of gnats for leeches. The bird is iu fact 
the Charadrius Egijptius of Hasselquist, and is very like, if it be not identical with 
the small ringed plover of France 10 . It is further stated that the Crocodile of St. 
Domingo, which resembles closely that of the Nile, (particularly in having, like the 
latter, its tongue fixed,) derives similar services from a small bird which frees its 
mouth of the goats that torment it. 
The story is certainly a curious one, and it became a question, immediately, whe- 
ther any thing of the kind had ever been observed of our alligators in the Ganges. 
The natives of the country are not aware of any thing of the kind, and a gentleman 
who found some interest in the inquiry in a river voyage, took opportunities of exa- 
mining the animal, when basking on sandbanks or on the shore, with an excellent 
telescope capable of showing a beetle at the distance used.” Out of .369 indivi- 
duals, he did not see one in which there was any appearance that could give rise to 
such a story. “ In many cases there were paddy birds, pelicans, divers, &c. near 
them, probably attracted by the same cause which induced the alligators to visit the 
place, the abundance offish ; but although they were frequently very near, they did 
not at all interfere with each other. In one solitary case there were a few sand plo- 
vers, which answer to the description of M. G. St. Hilaire’s trochilos , about ten 
yards from a party of alligators, but apparently paying them no sort of attention. 
Of the above number of alligators, only thirteen were seen with their mouths open, 
all in the afternoon, none being observed in that state before 3 P. M.” 
The letter from which the above is extracted adds — ** The natives distinguish the 
Ghatfial of this river into three kinds, called Taria, Ghutial, and Jalgni., The 
two former they consider as males, and the latter as females. The 1 ana. and 
GkCtidl have knobs, the former small, and the latter very large, at the extremity of 
the snout, through which they make a humming noise on respiring after being long 
under water. They are both vicious, seizing men, geese, &c. ; but the Ja/giii is 
net so, and on this account l should think, that they must be of a different species 
altogether, although a very experienced fishermen declares that they are all 
produced from the same batch of eggs. I shall make further enquiry on this head, 
and give you some positive information on the subject soon. I had no idea that 
the Gkariah were so numerous in this river, until I yesterday and the day before 
set people to look out, and put down the number examined with the telescope. By 
the bye, lias this instrument been much used by naturalists in studying the man- 
ners of birds, Seed It appears to me to be of very great use in this way, the action 
and courage of the birds, &c. being much more free and unconstrained when at li- 
berty, than when cooped up in a cage, and equally distinctly seen.” 
2. — Method of Preserving Oranges, from one Season to another. 
Calcutta is abundantly supplied with oranges from the hills adjacent to Sylhet, 
in the months of December, January and February, and at a very moderate price. 
The fruit is by no means bad, though it is believed that the trees are growing quite 
in a state of nature, no pains whatsoever being bestowed upon their cultivation, with 
a view to the improvement of the fruit; and no further care taken of the groves, 
than to secure the valuable rents they even now yield in their present wild neglect- 
ed state. The groves are farmed to the merchants who supply the Calcutta market, 
and are said now to be mostly held by a European firm. As the oranges only 
reach our tables during the three coldest months in the year, they prove but unpa- 
latable fruit to most people, for oranges can only be truly relished in the hottest 
weather ; and it has long beeD a desideratum with all horticulturists, to introduce 
an orange that should afford fruit at a more seasonable period of the year. How- 
ever, all attempts having been hitherto ineffectual, it seems desirable to endeavour 
to preserve the fruit by artificial means ; and the following method, which is report- 
ed to be in common use with the Chinese, appears well adapted to that purpose. 
As an excavation iu this part of Bengal might be objectionable, small cylinders of 
earth or masonry might be constructed above ground, that would doubtless be 
equally efficacious. A cool shaded spot should be selected, and the walls made 
thick to preserve the fruit iu as cool a state as possible ; and the better to effect this, 
the walls within might be lined with straw and coarse blankets, or any other non- 
M. G. St. Hilaire’s paper may be seen in the Revue Encyclopedique , or an ab- 
•tract of it in Brewster’s Journal of Science^ vol. ix. O. S. p. 68. 
