in situations from which they can perceive and give warning of the approach of danger while their companions are asleep. The moment a boat makes its appearance, though it be a mile from the shore, these faithful watchmen promptly give the alarm, and all the troop plunge into the water, with the exception of a few females that have young ones to take care of. These will remain to defend and protect their charge until the last moment, when, if hard pressed, they will seize their pups by the back of the neck with their teeth, and dive into the surf, where they hold the heads of the pups above water, aware that they will be suffocated if they do not do so. Many of the males, also, will stand their ground, and fight very hard for the young Seals, often till they perish themselves.

In killing a female Seal, which happens to be with young, even in an advanced state of pregnancy, if the skull be pressed in by the sealing-club in dealing the fatal blow, an exactly similar indentation will often be found in the skull of the foetus. Mr. Foster adds that there are hundreds of people ready to attest the truth of this fact.

I think that both Hares and Rabbits shew less affection for their young than any other animals. They visit them at night to suckle them when their milk becomes troublesome, but do not go near them at any other time. A Mouse, on the contrary, has been known to make its escape when its own life has been endangered, with one of its young in its mouth.

most strange, as from the first of the ebb the fish appeared uneasy, until it had the stone to rest upoz. In consequence of the high temperature of the room it would be more liable to suffer from dryness of the gills than on the wet weed and rocks; their construction, therefore, must be very different from that of fish in general. On leaving the water a perfect change of colour took place, the whole skin assuming a lighter tinge. Whilst in the water it was dark brown with deeper transverse bands; occasionally a tinge of green on the back. On being exposed to the air, it perceptibly changed to a light brown ground with dark blotches, and a regular series of white spots above and below the lateral line, the pectoral rays also being marked with alternate light and dark rings.

The Blenny fed freely on boiled rice, small bits of dressed meat,- always preferring white meat, such as chicken and rabbit, to beef with occasionally a small earth-worm. This food was always taken from the hand; and when dinner was brought in, the fish became aware of it, and commenced striking the sides of the glass with its teeth. When satisfied, it turned and struck playfully with its tail, or rubbed against the fingers of the person who fed it. The change of colour was probably produced by the achromatic action of atmospheric air on the pores of the skin. During the winter months, although constant to its time.

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of tide, yet it did not remain so stationary, but was restless. In its natural state, perhaps, at this season, it seeks deep water for a greater degree of warmth.

A day or two before its death, which occurred on the 18th of April 1848, it appeared very uneasy, and it was thought that the water was not of the proper degree of saltness, as none could just then be procured from the sea. On opening it, however, after death, it was found to be a female and full of roe. It was therefore in probably too confined a space for the proper and regular performance of the great law of nature. For eleven months it had proved a constant source of amusement, as well as a correct indicator of the changing tides, so that my informant missed his little companion very much.

On a subsequent occasion he had two of these fish brought to him, and one of them afforded him a proof of the tenacity with which these creatures cling to life. They were placed in the same vessel, and on entering the room in the morning, one of them had been removed. A servant said that when he came to open the shutters, he had found it dead in the water floating on its back. It was suffered to remain several hours, as it was intended to preserve it. A large fly was flying around it, and at last settled on the head, and thrust its extremity into the gills to deposit its eggs. After driving the fly away, a full hour had elapsed, when on looking at the fish the gills were

seen to move. It was then thrown into the water, when it recovered and swam about as usual.

Of all the animals that the adventurous explorer of unknown and unhealthy regions has brought to the knowledge of the Naturalist and Philosopher at home, few have commanded less sympathy, or inspired more dread and disgust than the unwieldy, ungainly, ponderous, and formidable Hippopotamus. His huge head, set at once, and without the intervention of a neck, upon his broad carcase ; -the wide gape exposing jaws beset with long and strong, sharp, curved tusks, of the densest ivory, shod with enamel which strikes fire with steel, like flint; the fury of his attack when irritated, and the irresistible strength with which, suddenly rising beneath the boat or raft of the river-voyager, he crushes or staves in the bottom of the frail vessel; -the uniform accounts of his aversion and hostility to man; -all combine to prejudice the lover of the animal creation against this most ponderous and seemingly most stupid of Pachyderms. But the physiognomy of the "River-horse,” does injustice to the innate qualities of both his head and heart, and he has, for the most part, hitherto been seen only under circumstances which engender feelings of dislike, hostility, or alarm.

The experiment, which would best put to the test the capacities of the Hippopotamus to develope any thing like affection and obedience towards man, has

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for the first time been tried within the last few years; and the result has been to illustrate the Scriptural text that "all things can be and have been tamed of man."

The animal now being exhibited at the gardens of the London Zoological Society was captured when it was evidently not more than a few days old. It was then about the size of a calf, but lower and stouter in proportion to its length, and could be lifted by one man into a boat. The capture was made in the month of August 1849. The animal in August 1852 weighed upwards of two tons, or 4480 pounds. Its length from the muzzle to the root of the tail is ten feet, and the girth of the middle of the trunk is ten feet six inches.

Some of the circumstances connected with its capture illustrated that affection of the parent for her offspring, which is a redeeming feature in the psychology of the most ferocious, the most stupid, and the most untameable of animals.

The Nubian Soldiers who had been commanded by the Pacha of Egypt to procure and send down to Cairo a young living Hippopotamus, hunted along the most shaded banks, and least frequented parts of the White Nile for a female and her calf, for they were aware that the time for the bringing forth of the young was the month of July. They had killed several old Hippopotami without succeeding in capturing a young one; when towards the evening,