THE MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
201 
as ferocious; of these the devil fish which has 
been named by Risso, C:\faloptera Mussena 
is one remarkable instance of the numerous 
leviathans which make this inland sea their 
home in common with the Atlantic and 
the Indian Oceans. It is a species of mons- 
trous, hideous ray of enormous dimen- 
sions and of extraordinary muscular power, 
with a huge mouth and stomach situated 
in the front of a massive, shapeless head. 
It is occasionally caught by Mediterra- 
nean fishermen, and is naturally held by 
them in great awe and dread. 
Se Vaillant, the African traveller, records 
the capture of a specimen that measured 
25 feet long, and thirty feet wide from fin 
to fin; and Risso described the capture of 
two specimens at Nice one of which weigh- 
ed lb 28 pounds, and the other 885 pounds. 
Malta’s Spring Visitors. — The near ap- 
pioach of summer has already been heralded 
by the usual flocks of our Spring feathered 
visitors. During the last month the valleys 
and gorges have been alive with Orioles. 
Warblers, Rollers, and Bee-eaters. In the 
rich crimson clover enormous numbers of 
Quails have found shelter during the 
brief sojourn that they make on these 
shores en route for the continent, while the 
branches and foliage ef the Carob, the 
Prickly Pear, and the Orange trees have 
been thronged with Harriers and Larks. 
Climate of the Sahara.— B etween the 
climate of the Sahara and that of the other 
Mediterranean regions surroundingit there 
are many and striking differences. 
In the latter places periodical rains di- 
vide the yea - ’ into two seasons, but in the 
Sahara year.-, sometimes elapse without a 
single shower. 
Dew is unknown and even the Scirocco 
which is noted all over the Mediterranean 
and Southern Europe for its humid condi- 
tion is there robbed of its moisture by the 
enormous parched tracts of country over 
which it blows. The careful observations 
of these and other physical facts connected 
with this district are inclining geographers 
to the belief that the causes to wich the 
Sahara owes its existence are of a meteoro- 
logical rather than of a geological character. 
Earthquakes and Plant-Growth. — 
The effects of earthquakes upon vegetation 
have been studied in northern Italy bjr 
Signor A. Goiran. He finds that the di- 
sturbances of last June were generally 
followed by a more rapid germination of 
seeds, and a more rapid grow 7 th of the 
young plants, giving a more luxuriant vege- 
tation in pastures, fields, vineyards, and 
shrubberies, with an unusually deep green 
color of the leaves. He does not trace 
these results directly to the tremor, but to 
three secondary causes — an increased pro- 
duction of carbonic acid, a diffusion of 
fertilizing fluids through the soil, and an 
increased prodution of electricity. Some 
other earthquakes seem to have unfavorably 
affected vegetation, but they were asso- 
ciated with long periods of drougth. 
Fertility of the Sahara. — The most 
fertile portion of Algeria is that known as 
the Tell. It comprises a tract of arable 
country, hilly, beautifully wooded, and 
very fertile having an average breadth of 
forty-five miles and extending from the 
Mediterranean to the foot of the mid-Alge- 
rian mountain range. 
The arbutis, myrtle, lentisk, tree-heath, 
and cistus are especially common; but the 
number and variety of the trees and plants 
is very great amounting in all to about 
3000 the majority of which are also indige- 
nous to Southern Europe. 
A Novel Industry. — The late Rev. H. 
Seddall who was for many years a resident 
of Malta when ^referring to the shell-fish of 
the Maltese Islands speaks of a very cu- 
rious form of industry that was formerly 
practised by the Maltese, “Five species of 
