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Whales which have been harpooned in the with roles,rk Greenland seas, have been found in the Pacific composed of t Ocean; and whales, with some lances stick- no such gengsling t ing in their feet (a kind of weapon used by the property no nation now known), have been caught that have e Co both in the sea of Spitzbergen and in Davis' difficult to sparked Strait. The following is one of the autho- support sesa rities for this fact, which, of all other argu- and temper ments yet offered in favour of a transpolar if they exista passage, seems to be the most satisfactory: of Jacob Cool, of Sardam, who had been hills and s ser A Dutch East India captain, of the name conclude, thatwilig several times at Greenland, and was, of which the The course, well acquainted with the nature of up their fabric, bu the apparatus used in the whale-fishery, was fectly are sno informed by the Fischal Zeeman, of India, sea close to the that in the sea of Tartary, there was a whale have elevated gula taken, in the back of which was sticking a Dutch harpoon, marked with the letters W. B. This curious circumstance was communicated to Peter Jansz Vischer, probably à Greenland whaler, who discovered that the Fishes of antyharpoon in question had belonged to William Bastiaanz, Admiral of the Dutch Greenland fleet, and had been struck into the whale in the Spitzbergen sea.-Beschryving der Walvisvangst.

Insects in a Mummy.-M. Figeac, of Grenoble, while examining an Egyptian mummy, found amongst its fingers several dead coleopterous insects of a fine rose colour, in all its brilliancy. M. Jurine, of Geneva, ascertained that they belonged to a nondescript species of corynetes (Fabricius), which he is disposed to call C. Glaber. Circumstances indicate that the eggs of those insects were laid on the mummy during the embalming process, and subsequently became perfect insects. The Arabs, indeed, had opened the mummy; but the envelope of the hands, where the insects were found, was untouched.

would apper, England. The on the cost, fer which are c tal left uncovends of And muscles, e da are always ed. cockles are ple Live. wonderful is in p tion, and mak regions. The cent apple into Enga Remarkabin in lands of Scot sto till its farmac appear in Shef it had made ma parts of their s buntings, naof corn into their hin of rice in the th island in myst

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Coral Reefs.-It has been generally be- the female requ lieved that the deep perpendicular reefs, very myriads whised near to which the sounding-line finds no is never found it, a to partake da bottom, consist wholly of coral; but MM.stralias from the distal Quoy and Gaimard have adduced very satis- South Wales eas factory reasons to prove that the zoophytes, which stands far from raising from the depths of the ocean larger than the perpendicular walls, form only layers or Indies. Black hiel crusts of a few fathoms' thickness. They lours, white br urk that the species, which always con- toos, the most considerable banks, require splendid plug?. Juence of light to perfect them; and commoD. ell known that all those steep walls, pheasant, and adu on in the equatorial seas, are inter- bers. Amon Cotto

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North-West Passage proved by Whales Whales which have been harpooned in the Greenland seas, have been found in the Pacific Ocean; and whales, with some lances sticking in their feet (a kind of weapon used by no nation now known), have been caught both in the sea of Spitzbergen and in Davis' Strait. The following is one of the authorities for this fact, which, of all other arguments yet offered in favour of a transpolar passage, seems to be the most satisfactory:

A Dutch East India captain, of the name of Jacob Cool, of Sardam, who had been several times at Greenland, and was, of course, well acquainted with the nature of the apparatus used in the whale-fishery, was informed by the Fischal Zeeman, of India, that in the sea of Tartary, there was a whale taken, in the back of which was sticking a Dutch harpoon, marked with the letters W. B. This curious circumstance was communicated to Peter Jansz Vischer, probably à Greenland whaler, who discovered that the harpoon in question had belonged to William Bastiaanz, Admiral of the Dutch Greenland fleet, and had been struck into the whale in the Spitzbergen sea.-Beschryving der Walvisvangst.

Insects in a Mummy.-M. Figeac, of Grenoble, while examining an Egyptian mummy, found amongst its fingers several dead coleopterous insects of a fine rose colour, in all its brilliancy. M. Jurine, of Geneva, ascertained that they belonged to a nondescript species of corynetes (fabricius), which he is disposed to call C. Glaber. Circumstances indicate that the eggs of those insects were laid on the mummy during the embalming process, and subsequently became perfect insects. The Arabs, indeed, had opened the mummy; but the envelope of the hands, where the insects were found, was untouched.

Coral Reefs.-It has been generally believed that the deep perpendicular reefs, very near to which the sounding-line finds no bottom, consist wholly of coral; but MM. Quoy and Gaimard have adduced very satisfactory reasons to prove that the zoophytes, far from raising from the depths of the ocean perpendicular walls, form only layers or crusts of a few fathoms' thickness. They remark that the species, which always construct the most considerable banks, require the influence of light to perfect them; and it is well known that all those steep walls, common in the equatorial seas, are intersected with narrow and deep openings,

through which the sea enters, and retires with violence; whereas, if they were entirely composed of madrepores, they would have no such openings between them, since it is the property of zoophytes to build in masses that have no interruption. It is, besides, difficult to suppose that these animals can support such different degrees of pressure and temperature, as they necessarily must, if they exist at such different depths in the ocean. It is, therefore, most reasonable to conclude, that the summits of submarine hills and mountains are the bases upon which the zoophytes form layers and raise up their fabrics-a supposition which perfectly accounts for the great depths of the sea close to the reefs and islands which they have elevated to the surface of the water.

Fishes of New South Wales.-These, it would appear, are all different from those in England. There are scarcely any shell-fish on the coast, with the exception of oysters, which are only found on such rocks as are left uncovered by the water at low tide. And muscles, also, adhere to the stones that are always under water; and in some places cockles are plentiful.

Remarkable Migrations of Birds.-By wonderful instinct birds will follow cultivation, and make themselves denizens of new regions. The cross-bill has followed the apple into England. Glenco, in the Highlands of Scotland, never knew the partridge till its farmers, of late years, introduced corn into their lands; nor did sparrows ever appear in Siberia until after the Russians had made arable the vast wastes of those parts of their dominions. Finally, the rice buntings, natives of Cuba, after the planting of rice in the Carolinas, annually quit the island in myriads, and hy over sea and land to partake of a harvest introduced there from the distant India. It is, however, only the female rice-bird which migrates. Of the nyriads which visit Carolina, a single cock is never found.

Australian Birds.-The birds of New South Wales vary in size, from the emu, which stands about six feet high, to birds little larger than the humming-bird in the West Indies. Black swans, cranes of various colours, white hawks, black and white cockatoos, and thousands of parrots of the most splendid plumage; ducks and quails are also common. Birds resembling our pigeon, pheasant, and turkey, are also got in numbers. Among the birds peculiar to the country, may be mentioned one called the

laughing-bird; another the coachman, from its whistle ending in a smack like a whip; another the bell-bird, from its voice being like the sound of a bell, and so on. There are swallows all the season, exactly rescm-bling those in England.

Apes not rational.-Around Gibraltar is found a sort of ape in great numbers. These animals seem fond of warming themselves at the fires where the soldiers have boiled their kettles; but, although chips of wood are in abundance, the apes never think of adding them as fuel.

Colour of the Eyes. In a scarce treatise, "De Coloribus Oculorum," by Portius, it is remarked, that in blue eyes the interior membranes are less abundantly provided with black mucus, and are thence more sensible to the action of light. That sort of eyes suits the inhabitants of the north during their long twilights; while the deep black of the negroes serves to support the vivacity of the light. The blue of the Laplander's eyes, however, but ill supports the light reflected from the snow, and renders then subject to

cataract.

A singular Glutton.-Charles Domery, aged twenty-one, when a prisoner of war at Liverpool, consumed, in one day, sixteen pounds of meat; namely, four pounds of raw cow's udder, ten pounds of raw beef, two pounds of tallow candles, besides drinking five bottles of porter; and, although he was allowed the daily rations of ten men, he was not satisfied. In one year be ate 174 cats

dead and alive.

Perception in Plants.-There are marks of perception in plants, at least they have been so accounted; perhaps, however, these are more apparent than real. If a cucumber be planted, and after the branches shoot there is placed a stone in the way of either of them, the branch will turn off and avoid it, without touching the stone, describing a circle around it. After having passed it, it will go on in a straight line. This, which is considered as a mark of perception, is only an instance of the law by which plants always turn to the light; for the plant turns round to get out of the shadow of the

stone.

Ceibo Wool. The lana de ceibo, or ceibo wool (of Guayaquil), is the product of a very high and tufted tree of that name. The trunk is straight, and covered with a smooth bark; the leaf round, and of a middling size. At the proper season the tree makes a very beautiful appearance, being covered with white blossoms; and in each of these is formed a pod, which increases to about an inch and a half or two inches in length, and one in thickness. In this pod the lana, or wool, is contained. When thoroughly ripe and dry the pod opens, and the filamentous matter, or wool, gradually spreads itself into a tuft resembling cotton, but of a reddish

cast. This wool is much more soft and delicate to the touch than cotton, and the filamen's so very tender and fine, that the natives here think that it cannot be spun; bat I am persuaded that this is entirely owing to their ignorance, and, if a method be ever discovered of spinning it, its fineness will entitle it rather to be called ceibo silk than wool. The only use they have hitherto applied it to is to fill mattresses; and in this particular it must be allowed to have no equal.-Ulloa's Travels.

Early Rising.-We have marked taverns and grog-shops, and found them sooner tenanted than any other places of resort-and noticed that a drunkard always commences his career early in the day. Look where you will, and, our life on it, you see a drunkard spend no morning in bed unless compelled to do so by last night's debauch. They awake with the first ray of the morning light, their minds clouded with horror for past conduct, their throats burning with an unnatural thirst, and they hasten to quench the one by adding to the other. These people had better let the sun rise upon their slumbers than take another step towards a horrid death before breakfast. And yet another class get and deserve no credit for leaving their beds before their neighbours; and these are those who make no good use of their time after they are up. What matters if a man have all the good qualities in the world if he makes no good use of them? Would the mines of Peru benefit the world if suffered to remain in the heart of her mountains? A man may get up if he will, and spend more time on his feet than any in the country, and yet not perform half the labour of one who indulges himself in bed till noon. We have heard of a clever old lady, who was always the first person up in the place, and yet worth nothing after she

was up.

The Sun a Body of Ice.-Many, opinions have been formed concerning the sun, which philosophers have sometimes ridiculed, and sometimes seriously refuted. But of all the paradoxical assertions respecting that luminary, none equal Mr. Palmer's, for that gentleman positively asserts it to be a body of ice! The following is the title of Mr. Palmer's book: "A Treatise on the Sublime Science of Heliography, satisfactorily demonstrating (!) our great orb of light, the Sun, to be absolutely no other than a body of ice, by Charles Palmer, Gent."-8vo. 1799.

Useful Arts. Every new discovery may be considered as a new species of manufacture, awakening moral industry and sagacity, and employing, as it were, a new capital of mind.-Edinburgh Review.