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the country that are thickly wooded, and delights particularly in cane-brakes, where it feeds in the winter on the tender shoots

of the young cane. The meat is tender and finely flavoured, and is esteemed a great delicacy. Wolves are very numerous in every part of the state. There are two kinds: the common or

black wolf, and the prairie wolf. The former is a large fierce animal, and very destructive to sheep, pigs, calves, poultry, and even young colts. They hunt in large packs, and after using every stratagem to circumvent their prey, attack it with remarkable forocity. Like the Indian, they always endeavour to surprise their victim, and strike the mortal blow without exposing themselves to danger. They seldom attack man except when asleep or wounded. The largest animals, when wounded, entangled, or otherwise disabled, become their prey, but in general they only attack such as are incapable of resistance. They have been known to lie in wait upon the bank of a stream, which the buffaloes were in the habit of crossing, and, when one of those unwieldy animals was so unfortunate as to sink in the mire, spring suddenly upon it, and worry it to death, while thus disabled from resistance. Their most common prey is the deer, which they hunt regularly; but all defenceless animals are alike acceptable to their ravenous appetites. When tempted by hunger, they approach the farm-houses in the night, and snatch their prey from under the very eye of the farmer; and when the latter is absent with his dogs, the wolf is sometimes seen by the females lurking about in mid-day, as if aware of the unprotected state of the family. Our heroic females have sometimes shot them under such circumstances. The smell of burning assafoetida has a remarkable effect upon this animal. If a fire be made in the woods, and a portion of this drug thrown into it, so as to saturate the atmosphere with the odour, the wolves, if any are within reach of the scent, immediately assemble around, howling in the most mournful manner; and such is the remarkable fascination under which they seem to labour, that they will often suffer themselves to be shot down rather than quit the spot. Of the very few instances of their attacking human beings of which we have heard, the following may serve to give some idea of their habits: In very early times, a Negro man was passing in the night, in the lower part of Kentucky,

from one settlement to another. The distance was several miles, and the country over which he travelled entirely unsettled. In the morning his carcass was found entirely stripped of flesh. Near it lay his axe, covered with blood, and all around, the bushes were beat down, the ground trodden, and the number of foot-tracts so great, as to show that the unfortunate victim had fought long and manfully. On pursuing his track, it appeared that the wolves had pursued him for a considerable distance, he had often turned upon them and driven them back. Several times they had attacked him, and been repelled, as appeared by the blood and tracks. He had killed some of them before the final onset, and in the last conflict had destroyed several; his axe was his only weapon. The prairie-wolf is a smaller species, which takes its name from its habits, or residing entirely upon the open plains. Even when hunted with dogs, it will make circuit after circuit round the prairie, carefully avoiding the forest, or only dashing into it occasionally when hard pressed, and then returning to the plain. In size and appearance this animal is midway between the wolf and the fox, and in colour it resembles the latter, being of a very light red. It preys upon poultry, rabbits, young pigs, calves, &c. The most friendly relations subsist between this animal and the common wolf, and they constantly hunt in packs together. Nothing is more common than to see a large black wolf in company with several prairie-wolves. I am well satisfied that the latter is the jackal of Asia. Several years ago, an agricultural society, which was established at the seat of government, offered a large premium to the person who should kill the greatest number of wolves in one year. The legislature at the same time offered a bounty for each wolf-scalp that should be taken. The consequence was, that the expenditure for wolf-scalps became so great, as to render it necessary to repeal the law. These animals, although still numerous and troublesome to the farmer, are greatly decreased in number, and are no longer dangerous to man. We know of no instances in late years of a human being having been attacked by them.-Featherstonehaugh's Journal.

5. Entomology in Scotland.-The great attention which has been bestowed for many years on the Entomology of England, where there is scarcely a single city without one or more assi

duous collectors, renders the fact the more remarkable, that, in the northern portion of the island, this delightful study should have made so slight a progress. This may be in some manner owing to the want of a proper elementary work, of a sufficiently compendious nature, to guide the student through the intricacies of a subject somewhat encumbered by an unsettled system of ́nomenclature and arrangement. We are therefore happy to have it in our power to announce that the first volume is in a forward state of preparation, of a work entitled Entomologia Edinensis, or a description and history of the Insects indigenous to the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, by Mr James Wilson, F. R. S. E., &c. and Mr James Duncan. This volume is intended to contain the generic characters and specific descriptions of the coleopterous insects found in the district just named, combined with a general history of their localities, economy, and metamorphoses. An introductory essay will present a general view of the Class Insecta,-pointing out its distinctive attributes and relations to the other great divisions of the animal kingdom, and including an account of the anatomical structure, physiology, geographical distribution, &c. of the extensive order, to a portion of which the descriptive part of the forthcoming volume exclusively relates.

GEOLOGY.

6. Heights of Mountains and Lakes in North America :—

Long's Peak Chippeweyan, or Rocky Mountains, ...15,000 feet.

Mount Washington, N. Hampshire,*
Mansfield Mountain, N. Peak, Vermont,
Catskill Mountains, Round Top, N. York,
Black Hills, Lat. 40. NW. of Missouri,

..................

6,234

4,279

3,800

...........

3,500

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Tourn Mountain, Rammapoo, N. Jersey,............... 1,067

* This is the loftiest of the White Mountains.

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7. On the Gold, Silver, and Platina of Russia.-The annual produce of silver in the Russias, is estimated at about 1000 pouds, of forty pounds each; but what, after all, is this 1000 pouds, or 40,000 pounds, to the produce of the Valenciana mine in Mexico, which for many long years produced its millions of dollars annually? "Young Demidoff had not yet returned from Italy; from his relation and agent Daniloff, I met with every attention. His cabinet contained many beautiful specimens of platina, most of which were designed as presents to the crowned heads of Europe. Although some single masses of platina weighed seven or eight pounds, none could be compared to those in the cabinet of the mining corps, one of which weighed about 27 pounds. My own specimens, which were presented to me by Zobolefsky, although weighing 800 grains each, and of which I had been not a little proud, dwindled away in the view of the great varieties lying in profusion in Demidoff's cabinet. Owner of the most celebrated platina deposits, and goldwashings, he had had many opportunities, in the course of a few years, of selecting and putting aside not only large massive lumps of gold and platina, but what was yet more interesting, a great variety of most beautiful and perfect crystals of gold. The mass of platina before alluded to, as weighing 27 pounds, was found completely isolated, and at nearly 60 versts from the

usual deposits of platina, in a bed of red clay, where some slaves were employed in making bricks. Those streams in the beds and on the banks of which the gold deposits are met with, contain more of gold, and less platina, on the European than those on the Asiatic side of the Ural Mountains. The amount of gold obtained from these washings, had amounted for the year 1830, to nearly half a million sterling. It may be well imagined to what an extent their operations must be extended, when the 100 pouds, or 4000 pounds weight of soil, seldom yield above 65 grains of gold, and varies from 65 to 120 grains, -which is there considered rich, to the 100 pouds. Nevertheless, their mining operations are conducted with such skill and success, as even to obtain, of this limited quantity, nearly the whole amount; and that, too, with such little cost, as to have been, indeed, far beneath my expectation. Of the simple and yet beautiful processes made use of in the gold-washings of the Ural Mountains, I shall speak hereafter, well convinced of the great utility and service which they would be of, if made known to the mining regions of other countries. The Demidoff's, Davidoffs, and many other Russian families, are acquiring princely revenues from the employment of their slaves in these goldwashings; but it is not alone the gold,—the platina itself is another great source of their prosperity; more especially since all the platina is now coined at the imperial mint, and established as part of the current coin of the realm. The coins made of platina are beautiful; those large pieces with the head of the Emperor are the best, and show better the effect and polish which coins of this metal can take. Though many hundred pounds weight of platina are coined monthly, into pieces of 11 and 22 rubles, they disappear rapidly from the circulation. They may be met with occasionally, and a few at a time, in the hands of the brokers. I consider their price much above the London price of malleable platina, which is at present about 25 shillings English per ounce: considering that the crude platina is the produce of the country, the Russian price for malleable platina, which is about 28s., is too extravagant; and yet this does not arise from the expense of manufacturing, but from the cost of the material itself, which is far higher than the platina of South America. The cause of this is the monopoly and easy

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