Natural History Zoology, 227 
did, when the goldfinch was calling. It at all times appeared 
peculiarly timid. About the middle of July much rain fell 
here, after that time I neither saw nor heard the plaintive warb- 
ler, which had, nightly, for about five weeks, serenaded us with 
his matchless song.” — Letter from Mr Johnson , Hill Top , near 
Wetherby. 
22. Analysis of one of the Vertebra of the Orkney Animal , — » 
Dr Leach of the British Museum, a considerable time ago, 
communicated to the Wernerian Society, the following analy- 
sis of one of the vertebrae of the large animal cast on the Island 
of Stronsa, and which has been so ably described by that acute 
anatomist. Dr Barclay, in the first volume of the Memoirs of 
that Society. The analysis was made by Dr John Davy. 
Longitudinal Lamellae. Cellular Part. Fibrous Part. 
Animal matter, - ■< 45.5 52.1 60 
Earth, - - 55.5 47.9 40 
23. Discovery of the Fossil Elk of Ireland in the Isle of 
Man. — Some months ago, in digging a marl-pit in the Isle of 
Man, there was discovered a skeleton of that remarkable ani- 
mal, the Fossil Elk of Ireland. The specimen, which is the 
most perfect and beautiful hitherto found, has been placed in 
the Museum of the University of Edinburgh. The metropolis 
of Scotland owes the possession of this splendid fossil animal 
to the patriotic exertions and scientific zeal of his Grace the 
Duke of Atholl, 
24. Facts in regard to the Bones of the Rattlesnake , by Pro- 
fessor Green , in a Letter to Professor Silliman. — About the 
year 1748, some labourers, in working a quarry near Prince- 
town, discovered a small cavern which contained the entire 
skeletons of an immense number of rattle-snakes, (Crotalus 
horridus). The bones were in such quantities as to require 
two or three carts for their removal. The cave had probably 
been the winter-abode of the snakes for years, where many have 
died through age, and others, in consequence of the mouth of 
the cave being shut up, either accidentally, or by the deposition 
of calcareous-tuff* or sinter around it. 
25. Tapir of Malacca.— The Tapir hitherto considered as 
confined to the new world, has been met with in Malacca, and 
a fine specimen of the skin and skeleton of the Indian species 
