239 
long known, but its existence in Upper Assam, within the dominions of the East 
India Company, and spread over a district of hundreds of miles, gives promise of 
its being cultivated upon an extensive scale : indeed, extensive plantations have 
been already formed in the mountains of Camun in Sirmare, and Gurwhal between 
the upper Jumna and the Ganges. 
Zoological. 
Crustacea.— We find that Mr. J. F. Brandt has published at Moscow, a 
Conspectus Monographic Crustaceorum Oniscidorum . He divides them into 
two tribes, the Ligies and the Oniscinees. The first tribe forms two genera, 
Ligia and Ligidium. The second tribe is separated into two sections, the Por- 
cellionees and the Armadillins. The first are divided into Hexarthrica , contain¬ 
ing the genera Trichoniscus , and Platyarthrus, and Schizarthrica , containing the 
genera Porcellio , Oniscus , and Philoscia. The second section of the Oniscinees , 
viz., the Armadillins are divided into the Armadillidies and the Cubarides. The 
first contains only the genus Armadillidium . The second are again subdivided 
into Monoexocha , containing the genera Cubaris and Armadillo , and the second 
subdivision, the Diplorexocha, contains the single genus Diplorexochus. —Her¬ 
mes. 
The Gossamer.— A pupil of the Academy at Metz has written to the Aca¬ 
demy of Sciences, stating that he has detected that the film which floats so abun¬ 
dantly in the air on fine days in the Autumn, is produced by Spiders. M. Coulier, 
however, says that he has discovered that they are produced by an Acarus describ¬ 
ed by Geoffrey, and that, besides, the remains of this creature are ordinarily found 
attached to these white and tenacious filaments. Latreille constructed the genus 
Gamasus of this Acarus , and in fact it is frequently found spreading wide tissues 
over trees, but it can scarcely be supposed that these filaments are exclusively pro¬ 
duced by the Acarus. Ray, Lister, and the majority of English Entomologists, 
since their time, ascribe it to a Spider, whose proceedings have been often watched. 
Geological. 
Amber.— M. Aycke,* who for many years has farmed the collecting of Am¬ 
ber in Prussia, and who consequently has had the opportunity of inspecting it in 
large quantities, conveys much interesting information upon the subject, in the 
Fragmcnte Zur Naturgeschichte des Bernsteins , Danzig, 1835, 8vo. 
