187 
Mr Neill on the Beavers of Scotland, 
here be understood to mean aged; for the dimensions assigned by 
him to the fossil cranium from Picardy, are analogous to those of 
the skulls of full grown, though not old, beavers from Hudson’s 
Bay in the College Museum. That this is his meaning, is fur- 
ther proved by his description of the skulls of the adult Cana- 
dian beavers ; in which he observes, the temporal crests ap- 
proach each other,” so as, at the mesial line, to form a single ele- 
vated crest ; a tendency which is visible in the cranium of the 
figed beaver already mentioned as being in Dr Barclay’s collec- 
tion. 
Ca^jonmills, April 1819. 
Art. XXXIV.-^^cco^m^ of the Formation of the Lalce of Matt^ 
voisin, hy the Descent of a Glacier, and of the Inundations 
of the Val de B agues in 1595 and 1818. Drawn up from 
the Memoir of M. Escher de la Linth, &c. and illustrated 
with a m.ap and drawings, communicated by Professor Pictet 
of Geneva. 
The V al de Bagnes is a valley in Switzerland about ten 
leagues in length, which stretches from east to west, and, after 
having joined the valley of Entremont at St Braiichier, opens into 
the extensive valley of the Rhone. It intersects several chains 
of the great Alpine range which separates Switzerland from 
Piedmont, and is watered by the river Dranse, which flows in a 
rocky bed, contracting its channel between precipitous banks, 
where it cuts the mountainous ridges, and again spreading out 
upon level and fertile plains covered mth smiling cottages, and 
presenting the most picturesque and beautiful situations. 
The river Dranse has its origin in the glaciers of Tzermo- 
tane and Mont Durant, (shewn at E and F in the map, Plate 
IV.) It traverses the valley of Tozembic (shewn at L) ; and 
after flowing through a very narrow and deep channel, it passes 
the bridge of Mauvoisin (C), which connects the two sides of 
the valley. This bridge is built upon perpendicular rocks, 
about eighty feet above the bed of the river ; and the narrow 
gorge which it crosses, is formed by the approximating flanks of 
!j\Ipnt Pleureur (G) on one side, and Mont Mauvoisin (l)von 
