TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 
595 
fruits of the climate, and sufficient grain for the use of the in¬ 
habitants, who amount to about 4000 souls ; but there is not 
to be found in it a single spring of pure water; and he who has 
a cistern whereby he can collect a few bottles in the year of 
water not sulphureous, is accounted a fortunate man. Never¬ 
theless, the island is very healthy, and contagious disorders are 
unknown. 
During the Duke of Buckingham’s stay on this coast, the 
following circumstance occurred. A severe gale of wind was 
blowing in shore from the N.W., having continued all day, with 
a deep slate-coloured haze filling the atmosphere, and a thick 
cloud of the same colour concealing the mountains to their 
bases : at 10 o’clock p. m. a tremendous squall of heated air 
sprung up in a moment, blowing from the shore, directly oppo¬ 
site to the quarter from which the gale had proceeded. The 
blast was very suffocating, and continued with great fury about 
10 or 15 minutes, when as suddenly it ceased. At the time of 
the hot blast, the shock of an earthquake, sufficiently strong to 
make the inhabitants seek refuge in the church, was felt in the 
village, directly opposite to where the vessel lay, and about a 
quarter of a mile distant. On his return to Naples, the Duke 
learned that on the same evening, about 7 o’clock, a similar 
sudden and transient gust of hot wind had rushed down the 
bay of Naples towards Castellamare, consequently proceeding 
from a different point of the compass from that at Pantellaria. 
At the same time Vesuvius, which had been for some time un¬ 
easy, threw up a jet of flame and smoke, and again resumed its 
former state of partial tranquillity : at the same hour also, a 
shock of an earthquake was felt at Ischia. 
8. ZOOLOGY.—ANATOMY.—PHYSIOLOGY. 
Observations on the Natural History of the Salmon. By R, 
Knox, M.D. 
After some observations on the nature of the Parliamentary 
inquiry, in 1824 and 1825, into the state of the salmon fisheries, 
the author describes the salmon as properly a sea fish, frequent¬ 
ing shores and estuaries, and ascending the neighbouring rivers 
whenever they are swollen with floods, in obedience to a natu¬ 
ral migratory habit, and at certain seasons of the year, for the 
special purpose of spawning, whether they are flooded or not, 
yet giving the preference to those which are flooded. 
2 p 2 
