480 
EXTRACTS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS. 
by the former, after he had been for some time without food. This Salamander 
is described in the Japanese Encyclopedia , and M. Paravey; finds in this work 
the same fables which exist in Europe concerning this animal, namely, its insensi¬ 
bility to fire. The same stories' concerning the Chameleon are also found in this 
Encyclopedia, and bring further conviction to M. Paravey, that a very ancient 
centre of civilization has existed, whence come the ideas concerning art and 
science which have been transmitted to us by the Greeks and Romans, and 
which are to be found in Chinese books. 
8. Narrow-toothed Mastodon. —At least half a skeleton of the Narrow¬ 
toothed Mastodon has been found by M. Lartet, at Gers, in excellent preservation. 
The half of the lower jaw distinctly presents the socket of a powerful incisor, of 
which also a fragment has been found. The existence of incisors in Mastodon 
angustidens does not accord with the observation of Cuvier, and it becomes a 
matter of discussion whether a new species exists, or whether this anomaly is a 
sexual distinction. 
9. Tombs in Santorini.— Some tombs discovered in the island of Santorini by • 
M. Bory St. Vincent, give an importance to this island beyond that of its 
volcanic celebrity. We pass over ruins of temples, cities, Cyclopean walls, 
cisterns, &c., to the account of vases found in some of the ancient tombs, ’which 
have been laid bare by the torrents of rain, and so deprived by the mass of Tufa 
Pumice, &c., under which they have for ages lain hidden. One was about 
sixteen inches high, and nine in diameter, with a narrow neck, the orifice of which 
was formed of the head of an Eagle or Griffin; a graceful and light handle was 
beautifully adapted to the body of the vase; the colour was that of Blood-stone, 
and, apparently, a Lynx devouring a Stag with branching horns, was designed 
upon it in black. This was discovered in the least ancient of the tombs (for 
there are some of much greater antiquity than others, apparently formed by an 
unknown race), and contrasted, in richness of ornament and shape, with the older 
pottery. This latter is of a hard, sonorous material, full of grains, perhaps Sand¬ 
stone. The largest vase is two feet five inches high, and one foot nine inches in 
diameter in the middle, and it had four handles; a second had only two handles, 
and probably contained a provision of grain for the deceased. The stone has not 
been artificially coloured except with bands of a chocolate brown, and on one 
side only have been sketched an imperfect meander, 'circles, zigzags, cranes, &c. 
&c.; the other side has no ornament, as it was intended to stand close to 
the wall. 
