124 Natural-Historical Collections. 
rivers and lakes. The salmon, (salmo salar ), common in the north, ascends the 
rivers. The carimata and myletes have many species in the great bays of 
South America, and one in Egypt, (salmo dentex, Hasselq.) The rivers of 
the torrid zone are inhabited by the hydrocini, one of which is Egyptian, and 
many of Brazil. The sauri are of the Atlantic Ocean and of the Mediterranean, 
as are also the scopeti and aulopi. 
The clupee contain many genera of great interest in political economy, as 
the revenue of some states is founded on the commerce which they support. Such 
are the herrings, (clupee harengus ), shoals of which, form colonies which come 
every years from the poles, pass along the coasts of European states, and furnish 
annually an immense supply in the northern seas, on the shores of France and 
Scotland. The sprat (clupea sprattus) is the anchovy of the Atlantie and 
Mediterranean. The herrings are replaced in warm climates by the mogalops, 
a neighbouring genus which attains a large size. Numerous clupee inhabit 
the Antilles, the coasts of Brazil and of Peru, but diminish sensibly in the In- 
dian ocean, where we can name only the clupea synuva, Sch. (notopterus Lacep.) 
The elopa belongs to both hemispheres, says M. Cuvier, whilst the chirocentrus 
(clupea dorab Gmel.) is of India, the swdis of Senegal and Brazil, and the ery- 
thrinus and amia, the former of the fresh waters of Malabar and Brazil, the 
latter of the rivers of Carolina. This family furnishes besides the lepisosteus 
of the lakes of South America, and the polypterus of the Nile.—Journ. des 
Voyages, Sept. 1829. 
Generation of the Ornithorynchus.—The Monotrema are at length proved to 
be oviparous. Dr. Robert Grant has communicated to the Academy of Sciences, 
through M. Geoffroy St. Hilaire, a drawing and description on an egg of the or- 
nithorynchus, which will terminate the animated aud hitherto unsettled discus- 
sion between M. Meckel and M. Geoffroy. Ina monograph on the anatomy of 
the ornithorynchus, Meckel described two glandular organs which he had dis- 
covered in the female, and which he considered to be mamme; thereby over- 
turning the arrangement of St. Hilaire, who had placed the ornithorynchus and 
echidna in a fifth class, as they appeared to him to be altogther distinct from the 
mammalia, M. Geofiroy, however, thought that these glands bore much more 
analogy to those which are found upon the flank of the shrew. But M. Meckel, 
not the less satisfied with his own theory, answered the general objections of St, 
Hilaire, in a letter addressed to the French translators of his Treatise on compara. 
tive anatomy, wherein he argues in favour of his opinion thus: “ 1. The glands 
to which M. Geoffroy has compared mine, are found in the males as well as in 
females, whilst I could observe no trace of them in a male (ornithorynchus, ) much 
larger than the female in which I discovered them; 2. The differences of size 
which my gland assumes, accord much more with these mamme, than with 
any other gland, except the ovaries and testicles; 3. The number of cecums, 
which my gland exhibits, is neither proof against me, nor for M. Geoffroy ; because 
it is the true character of all glands, and secondly, it is reasonable that in the mam- 
mary glands, even of the female, they should be more developed than in others ; 
4. The presence of a teat is not an essential character of the mammary gland, 
any more than the presence of the external genitals in the glands of the sexual 
system, &c.; 5. The exceeding sensibility of the large lips of the onithorynchus 
place it eminently in a condition to suck without a teat. (p. xi.) But the ques- 
tion seems now to be decided. 
We hope to have it in our power to present our readers with a copy of Dr. 
Grant’s notice in an ensuing number. Though it has for some time been ru- 
moured by travellers that these animals are oviporous, this is the first authentic 
account which has been given of the egg. 
Original habitats of the Lilac and the Lime.—The Lilac tree adorned our gar- 
dens for many ages, and yet we were ignorant of the country which gave birth to 
this elegant shrub. It has been discovered in our days, in the last voyages un- 
