EXTRACTS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS. 
155 
feet of blown Sand, at the mouth of Pembroke New Harbour, on making an 
excavation for the entrance of the Dock. The surface on which the prints 
existed is only exposed at the ebb of spring tides, and is wholly covered at the 
ebb of neaps by several feet of water. The impressions were very numerous, and 
the track of an individual animal could occasionally be followed for several paces. 
The antlers, the jaw-bone, and several ribs of a Deer were found at the place, and 
some of the latter have also been presented to the Museum. 
EXTRACTS FROM THE FOREIGN PERIODICALS. 
ZOOLOGY. 
1. Chinese Method of preparing Eggs. —Eggs of certain Ducks are prepared 
in China so as to keep for one or even two years. For ten eggs they take half a 
pint of ashes of Cypress-wood, or Bean-stalks (some use potash), three-eighths of 
powdered Chalk, and two ounces of pulverized coarse Salt. This is wetted with 
a strong infusion of tea, so as to form a paste, with which the eggs are entirely 
covered ; they are then put into an earthen vessel and hermetically sealed. 
2. Spermatic Animalcules in Plants. —Some years ago, Prof. Unger announced 
his discovery of animalcules of the genus Vibrio , in what are called the anthers 
of a Moss, belonging to the genus Sphagnum. Recently, M. Meyen, Professor of 
Vegetable Anatomy of Berlin, has met with the same phenomenon in the so- 
called anthers of Cliara , Marchantia polymorpha , and Hypnum argenteum. He 
describes the animalcules as contained singly in the interior of the mucilaginous 
cells of those bodies. When the little animal is completely formed, the partitions 
between the cells disappear, and the creatures are then seen, rolled up spirally, 
and packed along the sides of the pollen-thread. The membrane bursts upon 
the application of water, when the animalcules are set free, and their large head 
is carried forward, curving and bending, while the slender tail remains adherent 
to the pollen-thread. Eventually, they become entirely free, unroll, and swim 
about the water, the tail foremost. This latter is very slender, twice or thrice as 
long as the head, and is described as having a rapid and most curious motion. 
In some cases, the tail is so transparent as to be hardly visible; but it is stained 
yellow by the application of iodine, which kills the animalcule, but reveals its 
structure. At the meeting of the Institute when these facts were mentioned, 
Baron Humboldt, who was present, stated, that he and M. Muller, the Pro¬ 
fessor of Anatomy at Berlin, had witnessed the phenomenon described by Prof. 
VOL. iv.— no. XXVII. 
Y 
