attempt to shoot the condor; they usually catch him by traps or by the lasso, or kill him by stones flung from slings, or by the Bolas. À curious method of capturing the condor alive is practiced in the province of Abancay. A fresh cow-hide, with some fragments of flesh adhering to it, is spread out on one of the level heights, and an Indian provided with ropes creeps beneath it, whilst some others station themselves in ambush near the spot ready to assist him. Presently a condor, attracted by the smell of the flesh, darts down upon the cow-hide, and then the Indian, who is concealed under it, seizes the bird by the legs, and binds them fast in the skin, as if in a bag. The captured condor flaps his wings, and makes ineffectual attempts to fly; but he is speedily secured, and carried in triumph to the nearest village.

The Indians quote numerous instances of young children having been attacked by condors. That these birds are sometimes extremely fierce is very certain. The following occurrence came within my own knowledge whilst I was in Lima. I had a condor, which, when he first came into my possession, was very young. To prevent his escape, as soon as he was able to fly, he was fastened by the leg to a chain, to which was attached a piece of iron, of about six pounds weight. He had a large court to range in, and he dragged the piece of iron about after him all day. When he was a year and a half old he flew away, with the chain and iron attached to his leg, and perched on the spire of Santo Tomas, whence he was scared away by the carrion hawks. On alighting in the street, a negro attempted to catch him for the purpose of bringing him home; upon which he seized the poor creature by the ear, and tore it completely off. He then attacked a child in the street (a negro boy of three years old), threw him on the ground, and knocked him on the head so severely with his beak, that the child died in consequence of the injuries. I hoped to have brought this bird alive to Europe; but after being at sea two months on our homeward voyage, he died on board the ship in the latitude of Monte Video.

18. Fossil Footprints; by JAMES DEANE, (from a letter to Prof. Silliman.)-I beg your permission to correct an error which occurred in the March number of your Journal, relative to a communication of mine in a preceding number.

It is there stated, page 276, that "you are informed by Prest. E. Hitchcock, that the quadruped tracks figured by me, p. 79 of this volume, and supposed to be new, are the Sauroidichnites palmatus of his Geological Report, or the Palamopus anomalus of his new nomenclature, &c. He lately examined the original specimen in the collection of Mr. Marsh, and immediately recognized it as belonging to the species just mentioned."

I saw this statement with surprise and immediately referred to the descriptions of Prest. H., which are as follows.

"S. palmatus. Toes 4, all directed forward: the three outer ones resemble very much the three front toes of most of the species already described; the middle one being somewhat, but not very much, the longest; and those on each side nearly equal. The inner or fourth toe Shown of the natural

is very short. Length of foot 2 to 3 inches. size and in relief on Pl. 34, fig. 15, &c."

"It will be seen from the drawing that the animal which made the tracks was a biped. For the short or fourth toe is found upon opposite sides of the foot in the different tracks, which would not be the case if it were made by the hind and forefoot of a quadruped; and the fact that both tracks point in, almost exactly in the same direction, is with difficulty reconciled to the idea that they were made by the hind and fore feet of a quadruped on different sides of the body, &c."

These arguments appear to be very conclusive in proof of the biped character of the impressions, which sustain no analogy to mine. Instead of a single, they were arranged in double rows; instead of pointing "directly forward," the divergence of the feet was remarkable; and instead of being 2 or 3 inches in length, they were not half so large. My belief is, that there were five instead of four toes. In fact, there is no analogy, however faint.

Greenfield, July 15, 1847.

19. The Geological Society of France held its extraordinary session this year at Epinal (Vosges), on the 10th of September. The Society was guided in this selection by the facility of examining in this region a great variety of deposits of geological interest; to wit, the grès de Vosges, which surrounds Epinal on all sides; to the southeast, granitic rocks, gneiss, leptynite, serpentine and porphyry; and to the northwest, the plains of Lorraine, the grès bigarré, muschelkalk, lias and oolite. The basalt of the coast of Essey, the thermal sources of Plombières and the baths of Luxeuil, were also objects of interest. The region is besides interesting for its phenomena of erratic blocks, and the terraces of the valley of the Moselle.

20. American Science in Turkey.-We ought long since to have mentioned that our excellent chemical correspondent, Dr. J. Lawrence Smith, of Charleston, S. C., had gone to Constantinople, in the employ of the Sultan as chemist and geologist. He has been successful in discovering valuable deposits of coal and other useful minerals in the Turkish possessions, some account of which we hope to receive from Dr. S. He has also exhibited the electric telegraph in the Royal palace, and his Highness the Sultan was pleased to express himself highly delighted with its performances, and a rumor has reached this country that a decoration of diamonds and a complimentary diploma had been ordered to be sent as a mark of the royal esteem, to Prof. Morse. There are at the present time several scientific men of different nations in the employ of the Sultan in various scientific pursuits.

21. Prof. Agassiz.--We are credibly informed that this distinguished naturalist has consented to accept an invitation to remain in this country in connection with the scientific corps of Harvard College. Every scientific man in America will be rejoiced to hear so unexpected a piece of good news.

22. Large Crystal of Columbite.-The large crystal of columbite described in vol. xxx, at p. 387 of this Journal, has been recently purchased for the Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn.; its weight is 6 pounds 12 oz., and the mass of which it is a portion, weighed 14 pounds.

SECOND SERIES, Vol. IV, No. 12.—Nov., 1847.

57

VI. BIBLIOGRAPHY.

1. The London Geological Journal and Record of Discoveries in British and Foreign Paleontology.-No. 1 of this Journal appeared in September, 1846-one year ago: No. 2 was published in February and No. 3 in May, 1847; it was announced for six Nos. in a year, but has encountered some of the delays incident to new periodical works. The three numbers include 132 pages of letter-press. The editor, Mr. Ed. Charlesworth, F.G.S., &c., long known as a distinguished naturalist, avowedly avoids long memoirs and discussions, and prefers a terse orig. inality, including criticisms upon the works of other naturalists. The work is got up in a beautiful style of paper and print, and the plates are of unrivalled finish and elegance. There are 23 plates in these three Nos., and several of them of large size. Hitherto the articles are chiefly paleontological and possess a high degree of interest. They are as follows

No. I.-1. An Alligator and several new mammalia in Hordwell Cliff. Searles Wood, F.G.S.

2. Ichthyosaurus-a new species in Chalk. James Carter, M.R.C.S. 3. Chiton in Magnesian Limestone. Wm. King.

4. Prices of some Fossils. G. A. Mantell, LL.D., F.R.S.

5. Coprolites in the Crag and London Clay. John Brown, F.G.S. 6. A Reptile or Fish in the chalk of Kent. Toulmin Smith.

7. Mosasaurus with flint in the teeth. Ed. Charlesworth, F.G.S. 8. Miscellanies-Exposition of the plan of the Geological Journal. Ear bones of Whales in the Red Crag. Fossil reindeer. British Fauna. New genus of Mammals, South Carolina. Fossil foraminifera, -soft parts in Chalk and Flint. Fossil mammalia and aves in Museum of Royal College of Surgeons.

Obituary-Miss Ethelred Bennett. Literary Intelligence.

No. II. 1. Large species of Unio in the Wealden of Isle of Wight. G. A. Mantell.

2. Tellina, Monograph of, in the Eocene, &c. Fr. Edwards.

3. Brachiopoda of Wenlock Limestone. Th. Davidson, M.G.S., of France.

4. Belemnite in Oxford clay. R. Owen, F.R.S. Extracts.

5. Fossil Cephalopoda, genus Belemnoteuthis. J. C. Pearce, F.G.S. Miscellanies-Criticism by the Editor. Bibliographical Notices. Extinct Irish Deer. Labors of Agassiz on the Ganoidei. Astacus Phillipsii. Azoic sedimentary strata. Fossil Xanthidea. Pentacrinus, new species. Freshwater strata of Hordwell.

No. III.-1. Fossil Cephalopoda of the Oxford clay. Wm. Cunnington.

2. Hypanthocrinites of the Wenlock Shale. W. A. Lewis, B.A. 3. Tellina-Monograph continued. Fr. Edwards.

4. Brachiopoda. Th. Davidson.

5. Hordwell, fossil and geological phenomena. S. V. Wood, F.G.S., &c.

Miscellanies-Criticisms by the Editor. Bibliographical Notice. Clathrariophyllii, in the Kentish Rag. Lepidodendron with Stigmarian

roots. Birds versus reptiles. Mammalia, new genera, Hordwell Cliff Bones of Loch Gur. Pentacrinus gracilis, &c. Literary Intelligence.

From the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, we have made frequent citations, and it is replete with valuable matter. The London Geological Journal of Mr. Charlesworth is not a rival, but pursuing an independent course avowedly without submission to the authority of names will, we trust, promote the interests of science;-the editor will avoid, as we hope, all unnecessary personalities, while he pursues fearlessly the course which truth and candor and fidelity ought to prescribe to every editor.

2. Darlington's Agricultural Botany.-This work is acknowledged to have been much needed. It brings science into agreeable and intelligible union with that art, in which the great proportion of our people are engaged, and which supplies a large proportion of our wants. The peculiar and important relations of botany to medicine, the vegetable kingdom furnishing perhaps two-thirds or three-fourths of the articles of the materia medica, have often been well and fully treated. In agriculture there is a very much closer dependence on botany. It would be

a great public benefit if some patron of the useful arts would distrib ute Dr. Darlington's work, gratuitously, by thousands, to the farmers of the author's native state, as a certain work from over the water was distributed through an adjoining state, for the benefit of agriculture.* It should be made a class book in our schools, and children throughout this Union should be taught to rival their neighbors, in having their own regarded as the garden state, rather than to pride themselves on distinctions which are marks of political strife and love of power.

The work is dedicated to the young farmers of the United States, for reasons which the Preface satisfactorily explains; and we find in the same place an important suggestion, that a work expressly devoted to the Botany of the Arts, is yet to be supplied. The writer's favorite authorities are Torrey, Gray, and De Candolle. A glossary is furnished, rendering into plain English all the botanical terms used; there is also an explanation of the abbreviations and references. We have moreover in a synopsis the Linnæan arrangement of the genera treated of, followed by a summary of the groups and orders noticed in the work, after the plan of Gray: the first series, that of flowering plants, occupies in the text 236 pages, and the second, that of flowerless plants, but 10 pages. Following a scientific description of each plant, its origin, history, &c., are the author's own observations, showing its relation to agriculture.

The plants treated of are classified in tables under the following heads; which give at a glance, an idea of the particular subjects and their importance:

1. Plants yielding esculent Roots, Herbage, or Fruits, for Man. 2. Plants yielding Food exclusively or chiefly for Domestic Animals. 3. Plants yielding Condiments or Drinks.

4. Medicinal plants.

* Johnson's Agricultural Chemistry, in New York.

5. Plants employed in the Arts, in Commerce, in Domestic or Rural Economy.

6. Pernicious plants.

7. Plants which are mere weeds.

No one has devoted himself more sedulously than our author, to promote the true interests of agriculture, to inculcate a sense of the dignity and elevated character of the pursuit, and the importance of science to those engaged in it. This is proved by numerous addresses, lectures, and publications, a list of which we here annex.

1. Address, at the Third Annual Meeting of the Pennsylvania Agricultural Society, held at Prospect Hill, Philadelphia Co., Oct. 21, 1825. 2. Address to the Chester County Cabinet of Natural Science, at the organization of the Society, March 18, 1826.

3. Florula Cestrica: An Essay towards a Catalogue of the Phænogamous plants, native and naturalized, growing in the vicinity of the Borough of West Chester, Pa. April 28, 1826.

4. Flora Cestrica: An attempt to enumerate and describe the Flowering and Filicoid Plants of Chester County, Pa. April, 1837.

5. An Essay on the Development and Modifications of the External Organs of Plants. Compiled chiefly from the writings of Goethe. March 1, 1839.

6. A Discourse on the Character, Properties, and importance to Man, of the Natural Family of Plants, called Gramineæ, or True Grasses. February 19, 1841.

7. Address to the New Castle County Agricultural Society and Institute, at the Eighth Annual Meeting, held at Wilmington, Del., Sept. 13, 1843.

8. A Lecture on the Study of Botany; read before the Ladies' Botanical Society, at Wilmington, Del. March 2, 1844.

9. Address delivered before the Philadelphia Society for promoting Agriculture, at the Annual Axhibition, October 17, 1844.

10. Address before the Chester County Horticultural Society, at their First Annual Exhibition, in Westchester, Pa. Sept. 11, 1846.

11. Agricultural Botany: An Enumeration and Description of Useful Plants and Weeds, which merit the notice, or require the attention, of American Agriculturists. June, 1847.

12. A Discourse upon Agriculture: at a meeting of citizens of Oxford and vicinity, Chester County, Pa., assembled for the purpose of forming an Agricultural Society, September 4, 1847.

3. Foraminiferes fossiles du bassin tertiaire de Vienne, decrits par ALCIDE D'ORBIGNY. 4to, with numerous plates. Paris, 1846.-When it was asserted, many years since, by Lamarck, that more had been contributed to the formation of the earth's crust by microscopic shells, than by whales, mammoths and hippopotami, comparatively little was known as to the real extent of the labors of the minute but beautiful beings called Foraminifera by d'Orbigny, and Polythalamia by Ehrenberg. Thanks to the labors of the eminent naturalists just named, the immense importance of these minute creatures as architects of the earth's crust is now generally known. D'Orbigny in particular has devoted almost a lifetime to their study, and until Ehrenberg investigated the still more minute forms of this class, the former naturalist was almost the only worker in this field.