on being cut, yields a quantity of purplish-coloured juice: I collected some quantity of it during my visit to the Island of Tahiti, in October, 1829.

A Species of Urania. On the elevated land, I found a species of Urània in flower.

An Aroideous Plant. There is a plant, abundant at the Polynesian Islands, as well as in the Eastern Archipelago, with a long rough petiole terminating in a pinnatifid umbellated leaf: it resembles much an A'rum in growth, and is probably a species of Caladium; it is named shoa at this island (and tévé at the Island of Tahiti). The roots possess very acrid properties. A young chief (Iraf), when I gathered a specimen at Rotuma, which he thought I intended to eat, observed, “No good, you eat it make mouth sore.'

Maránta arundinacea, Tácca pinnatifida, &c., supply the Arrow-root of Commerce. The farina or flour from the roots of various tribes of plants constitutes the arrow-root of commerce. In India it is prepared from the Maránta arundinacea, and at Tahiti and other of the Polynesian Islands from the Tácca pinnatifida: this latter plant is seen growing in a dry soil, on low land, and sometimes also on the declivities of the mountains. The leaves arise from the root by petioles, which are from 1 ft. to 1 ft. in length; they are pinnatifid, umbellated, broad, and of a light green colour; from the centre of the foliage arises a tall, erect, naked, flowering stem, bearing flowers of a greenish colour, which are almost unbellated, with some pedunculate, others almost sessile; the peduncles are capillary, intermixed with long hanging filaments; the involucre is composed of several large sessile leaflets, sheathing at their base, longer than the flowers. The fruit is an oval berry, narrowed at both extremities; and, when ripe, of a greenish yellow colour, has six longitudinal ribbed marks externally, and contains numerous small light brown seeds, striated longitudinally, and embedded in a watery pulp. The roots are roundish, of a reddish colour; and, in an unprepared state, are possessed of acrid properties. At Tahiti and the Sandwich Islands, this plant and the farina produced from it is named pia; at the Island of Rotuma, mara; at the Island of Tongatabu, maa-euah; and at the Island of Tucopia, massoa. When the leaves perish, which occurs annually, the roots are dug up, and are prepared, at this as well as the other Polynesian Islands, in the following manner:-The roots are washed, and grated on a piece of coral into a large bowl of water; the grated portion is afterwards strained through a sieve (generally made from the fibrous net-like covering found at the base of the frond of the cocoa-nut tree); and the farina or flour settles at the bottom of the vessel the water is renewed daily, until the farina assumes a very white appearance; and by this process the acridity of the root is also removed: the farina, when taken out, is found formed into a solid mass: it is then broken into pieces, and well dried in the sun. Formerly, the natives of Tahiti formed the farina into large balls. These the sun not being able to penetrate, the interior was usually moist and damaged, which occasioned it to get into disrepute as an article of commerce: they now adopt a better method. This farina or flour is found excellent for bread, when mixed with one half of wheaten flower, and is used by the missionaries at Tahiti in that manner, as their supplies of flour are very precarious; it is also used as a starch for linen, &c.

Bonnets of the Native Females. The native females at the Island of Tahiti prepare the stalk of this plant in the following manner, and, plaiting it, use it in the manufacture of bonnets (they also use a kind of grass in the manufacture of bonnets). The stalk of the Tácca pinnatifida is split down, and, the inner substance having been scraped away with a shell, is frequently again scraped, with the addition of water, until it is well cleaned; the outer green epidermis is then removed, in a similar manner, from the other side, which seems to be the most difficult part of the process: after this has been done, a fine shining white thin substance remains, which,

after being dried in the sun, is ready for use. The bonnets made from this material have a neat appearance. George Bennett, F.L.S. M.R.C.S., &c. London, December 5. 1831.

ART. II. Monthly Calendar of Nature for Scotland.

EXTRACTS from the Meteorological Register kept at Annat Gardens, Perthshire, N. lat. 56° 23', above the Level of the Sea 172 Ft., and 15 Miles from the Coast; being the Mean of daily Observations at 10 o'Clock Morning and 10 o'Clock Evening.

The average mean temperature for October, at this place, is 48-42. This season it has been nearly 6° higher, and 4° higher than in any corresponding month for the ten past years. The heavy fall of rain in course of the first ten days, amounting to 3 in., is also of rare occurrence. The dew point was also nearer the mean temperature, and the evaporation less, than usual. The following are the

The average mean temperature for November, at this place, is 42.3°, This season the unusual warmth in October was followed by a severe storm of frost and snow early in November.

The lowest temperature in October was on the 27th: extreme cold, 39°; wind north-west. The warmest day in that month was on the 18th: mean temperature of that day, 62°, an elevation which it seldom reaches in October in this climate; extreme heat, 68°; wind westerly. On 26 days the wind blew from westerly points; on 2 days, from easterly points; and on 3 days, it was variable. There were loud winds, about the velocity of 10 miles an hour, on the 22d and 30th. There were 9 days of clear, and 3 of partial, sunshine; on 18 days the atmosphere was cloudy.

The coldest day in November was on the 19th: mean temperature of VOL. V. - No. 23.

H

that day, 20'; extreme cold, 22°; wind north-west. The warmest day in that month was on the 12th: mean temperature of that day, 53°; extreme heat, 57°; wind west. On 13 days the wind blew from west and southwest; on 6 days, from north-west; on 7 days, from due north; and on 4 days, from easterly points. There were 10 days of clear, and 2 of partial, sunshine; 18 were cloudy.

The copious rains, and unusual warmth, in the early part of October, produced a sort of late autumnal growth in trees and shrubs, which has made them more tenacious than ordinary of retaining their foliage, notwithstanding the severe frosts in November. The laurustinus was in full blossom by the end of October; and on the 5th of November the Highland hills were covered from to 1 to 2 ft. deep with snow: violent winds from the north-west, blowing over the snow-clad hills, gave early indication of a storm, which followed on the 16th, and several subsequent days. The storm had spent its rage by the 20th; and on the 23d the thermometer stood at 53°, or 29° higher than on the 19th and 20th. In the fields early sown wheat is rather forward, much having the coronal roots already formed; a general precursor of a small ear, these roots being often hurt by the winter or spring frosts. Wheat sown on the 3d of November is just beginning to appear, but is not yet fully brairded. The fieldfares and wild geese arrived in the low carse [vale] early in November. In the cultivated districts partridges have been strong, and in great plenty; and the moorfowl afforded fine sport (if sport it can be called) on the hills. The Arbutus Unedo was in full blow by the middle of October, and its berries [those from the blossoms of October, 1830] are now assuming a scarlet colour. Narcíssus, and other bulbous-rooted plants, begin to send their foliage above ground. The flowers of the sweet-smelling coltsfoot (Tussilago fragrans) have been nipt by the frost, when left in the open air; no plant pays better with scent in the green-house in the winter months. The Trítoma mèdia shows a vigorous flower stem in the open border, notwithstanding the late severe frost; and the Aponogeton distachyon is now in full blossom in a well where the temperature of the water is 47°. - A. G. Annat Gardens, December 1. 1831.

ART. III. Retrospective Criticism.

THE Rot in Sheep, as remarked on in Vol. IV. p. 284. 472.-D. N. has had but few opportunities, I fear, of examining sheep in the early stages of the rot, or he could scarcely have hazarded his theory of the biliary circuit and deposit of tubercles on the liver. (Vol. IV. p. 472.) It cannot, I conceive, be demonstrated that bile is thrown back upon the system, and mingles with the circulating fluid; for in the early stages there is no obstruction to the bile; and in the latter, what little is secreted is intercepted by the flukes (Vol. IV. p. 284. fig. 51.) on the hepatic side of the gall-bladder. The eye, which D. N. takes as an index to the bilious condition of the system, has really not that "tinge of yellow and jaundiced-like appearance at the commencement of the disease. On the contrary, the peculiar whiteness of the eyes is the first symptom which guides the shepherd to the unwelcome truth. If the bile ducts be carefully examined in the earliest stage of the complaint, there will be found a few flukes in the duct which conveys the bile from the gall-bladder to the intestine, but none in the gallbladder, and none beyond it, a sound liver, no "tubercles," no "abscesses," and withal a fine fat healthy-looking carcass. If it be in the latest stage when the examination is made, the gall-bladder will be found filled with flukes instead of bile and the animals will be seen making their way up

those channels which convey the bile from the liver to the gall-bladder, arresting it in its course, and pressing forward and enlarging the biliary tubes. Thus, when but few of these animals have possession of this viscus, its function is not materially impaired; the parenchyma, or substance of the liver, is unaltered in appearance; the mucous channels, which convey the bile to the gall-bladder, and from the gall-bladder to the intestines, have not yet felt their presence, and the bile itself is secreted apparently unaltered in quality or quantity: but here, as they live in a medium of perpetual nourishment, they multiply to an extent incredible, and impede the natural action of the liver and subordinate organs of the body. They at length completely block up the conduits of bile, devouring the bile as fast as it is secreted; spreading irritation and disease from the vessels in which they live to the whole mass of the liver itself; and in some instances they carve their way through the membrane which encircles them, and escape by myriads into the cavity of the abdomen; thus completing the destruction of an important organ, and with it the life of the animal. These extreme states are generally associated with dropsy and a total degeneracy of the muscular tissue; the blood is deficient in quantity, very serous, and almost destitute of fibrin. A correspondent (Vol. IV. p. 284.) enquires the class and family of the fluke, in hopes of finding a remedy for a disease so fatal. He will find it in the class Vérmes, and order Intestìna, and it is the Fasciola hepática. Contemplating it, as it is, as a variety of exotic worm, it occurred to me that vermifuges, destructive to other species, might be employed with advantage against this. But in instituting experiments on the living animals, I discarded those popular remedies which have only a mechanical action, and which could never reach the liver, for those which operate by a wider range of influence. What I have observed is, that there are in this class of remedies those which have little or no effect when brought in contact with the living fluke; and there are others which destroy the animal immediately. To the first of those which are inert, belong solutions of vegetable bitters, spirits of tar, and several others, which need not be enumerated. To the second, or to those which destroy the animal, belong solutions of mercury and the spirits of turpentine. For example: a little calomel suspended in water, and dropped upon the animal, quickly deprives it of life; and a drop of the spirits of turpentine kills it in a few seconds. The oil of turpentine is a deadly poison to the fluke. The next consideration is, how far it may be safe to administer this medicine to the living sheep, and what probability there is of its disturbing an animal inhabiting the liver. With regard to the first exception, there can arise no difficulty. The spirit of turpentine is borne readily by children, and has been given to adults in doses of a quarter of a pint; it is likewise applied externally to blistered surfaces, and as a styptic to the bleeding mouths of ruptured blood-vessels. There can be as little doubt with regard to the second exception, when we consider the penetrating nature of this drug; when we know that the mere immersion of the hand in it is sufficient to impregnate the urinary secretion; nor can we doubt that its influence will be acknowledged by an organ approximating and communicating with the stomach, and by the worm inhabiting that organ. - John Brown, M.D. F.L.S. Boston, Oct. 31. 1831.

Hares taking the Water. A harbour of great extent on our southern coast has an island near the middle, of considerable size; the nearest point of which is a mile distant from the main land at high water, and with which point there is frequent communication by a ferry. Early one morning in spring, two hares were observed to come down from the hills of the main land towards the sea side; one of which, from time to time, left its companion, and proceeeding to the very edge of the water, stopped there a minute or two, and then returned to its mate. The tide was rising; and after waiting some time, one of them, exactly at high-water, took to the

sea, and swam rapidly over, in a straight line, to the opposite projecting point of land. The observer on this occasion, who was near the spot, but remained unperceived by the hares, had no doubt they were of different sexes, and that it was the male (like another Leander) that swam across the water, as he had probably done many times before. It was remarkable that the hares remained on the shore near half an hour; one of them occasionally examining, as it would seem, the state of the current, and ultimately taking to the sea at that precise period of the tide called slack water, when the passage across could be effected without being carried by the force of the stream either above or below the desired point of landing. The other hare then cantered back to the hills.-W. Yarrell. Ryder Street, St. James's, Nov. 7. 1831.

Hares taking the Water.- Sir, Your correspondent (Vol. IV. p. 274.) deserves my thanks for his endeavour to set your readers right respecting the Havergate hares, which, it seems, I have unintentionally defamed. Since I last communicated with you, I have also seen the proprietor of the island; and from what he then expressed, I confess that I did certainly "misunderBut on referring to the stand" him in what he had previously told me. notes which I made when I was on the island, I find that the steward asserted that he had frequently seen hares swimming across S. V. W.'s formidable barrier; and 1 perfectly recollect that a conversation took place on the subject amongst the party who were then and there assembled; at the commencement of which I was almost as sceptical as your correspondent (p. 274.). I am obliged to S. V. W. for his correction of my error respecting the mode of colonisation of Havergate by hares: but as my letter to you was intended to relate not an exception to, but an example of, the habits of their race, the principal fact of the hares swimming across the water in search of pasture, or what not, is still untouched; and if only two or three of the hares, which are in such abundance there (and Mr. Edwards admitted, when I saw him last, that this might be the case), have been found guilty of my charge against them, I suppose the judgment cannot be set aside, although I have rashly preferred making Havergate Island a fashionable watering-place for hares, instead of considering it, with S. V. W., a sort of leporine Botany Bay. I believe many of your readers doubted, till your correspondents produced testimonies to the contrary, that snakes would take the water; and, notwithstanding that fact is now well established, I dare say hundreds who do not read the Magazine of Natural History still disbelieve it: and if those who know that hares will also take the water would give their evidence, the Havergate hares might not be supposed so completely exempt from the use of their legs, in a way common to most animals who possess four, as S. V. W. would wish them to be represented. During the march of intellect, I do not see why hares should not be allowed to swim, since we see other animals of the long-eared tribe allowed to elect members of parliament. But I never supposed that every hare in Havergate had got thither by the exercise of any hitherto unknown art or accomplishment; for I imagine that they breed there as well as on the other side of the "formidable aqueous barrier." Allowing that almost every hare was born and educated, or transported to and naturalised in Havergate Island, I do not see how that disproves the assertion of the steward, upon which I commented; nor have I ever met with any act of legislature by which hares are prohibited from imitating, if they are so inclined, the aquatic pastimes of Leander of old, who swam over the Hellespont, under the influence of a passion which, if it did not equally affect all the creatures in the universe, my esteemed friend, Mr. Edwards, might in vain attempt to turn to account in the colonisation of his island. I have the testimony of a Cambrian sportsman, who knows more about hares than I do, and almost as much as S. V. W. does, to the effect that hares will swim across a stream even more than "200 yards in width” in search of food or shelter, and