said to be the plague. In rainy weather it is almost shocking to see the legs of men on a long march, thickly beset with them, gorged with blood, and the blood trickling down in streams. In attempting to keep them off, they crowd to the attack, and fasten on quicker than they can be removed, I do not exaggerate when I say that I have occasionally seen at least fifty on a person at a time. Their bites are apt to fester, and become sores, and frequently degenerate into extensive ulcers, which, in too many instances, have occasioned the loss of a limb, and even of life." Rain of Silk.-M. Lainé, the French consul at Pernambuco, says, in a letter, dated Nov. 1, 1820, that at the beginning of the preceding month there was a shower from the sky, consisting of a substance resembling silk, of which many persons preserved specimens. This phenomenon extended to the distance of 30 leagues_inland, and nearly as many off to sea. A French vessel was covered with the silky material. He has sent a specimen of it to Paris. Medicinal Plant.-A plant very celebrated at Chandernagore in the East Indies, under the name of Chirayita, has been imported into France, where a memoir has been published by M. Virey on the subject of its medicinal qualities, which he states to be very powerful. It is a strong bitter, and is celebrated in the East for its efficacy as a febrifuge. There is no doubt but that it might be advantageously employed in Europe for the gout, and for weaknesses of the digestive organs. At present we have no accurate and complete botanical description of this plant; but M. Virey conjectures, both from the flowers and from the traces of the fructification adhering to the specimens he has received, also from the details respecting it in the Asiatic Researches, that it is a species of gentian, and accordingly denominates it Gentiana Chirayita. American Spider.-There exists in America an enormous spider, whose size (the body alone being an inch and a half long), enables it to attack even small birds. M. Moreau de Ionnes has furnished a memoir on its manners, as observed by him at Martinique.. It spins no web, but lodges in the crevices of the rocks, and throws itself with main force upon its prey; it kills humming-birds, flybirds, and small lizards, taking special care to seize them by the nape of the neck, knowing that they must be thus killed with the greatest ease. Its strong jaws seem to infuse a poison into the wounds which they inflict, for such wounds are considered much more dangerous than they would be by their depth alone. It envelopes its eggs, to the number of from 1,800 to 2,000 in a ball of white silk, and this fecundity, joined to its tenacity of life, would soon cause the island to be overrun with it, had it not active and innumerable enemies in the red ants, which destroy the greater part of the young spiders. Dugong.-Sir T. S. Raffles has sent to England several skeletons of animals from Sumatra; among these is the Dugong. This creature grazes at the bottom of the sea without legs; and is of the figure and form of the whale; the position and structure of its mouth enables it to browse upon the fuci and submarine algæ like a cow in a meadow, and the whole structure of the masticating and digestive organs, shows it to be truly herbivorous. It never visits land, or fresh water, but lives in shallow inlets, where the water is two or three fathoms deep. Their usual length is eight or nine feet. But a curious, and to some, perhaps, the most interesting part of the detail of the history of this animal is, that the flesh resembles young beef, being very delicate and juicy. On the Phosphorescence of Marine Animals. During a voyage to the Shetland and Orkney Islands, Dr. Mac Culloch had various opportunities of investigating the phenomena of marine luminous animals. In proceeding from the Mull of Cantyre to Shetland, and in almost all the harbours of Shetland and Orkney, Dr. Mac Culloch found the water filled with a species of animal which he considers to have been undescribed. A cubic inch of water did not contain less than 100 of these animals. In the same view, and nearly at all times, the water was found filled with several different species, resembling in size some of the Infusoria. Other animals of larger dimensions, and of many species, were equally constant, and, if less numerous, yet ten or twenty were always to be found within the space of a common tumblerglass. In all these cases the water was luminous. The light of the whole of these species disappeared when they died, either from keeping the water too long, from warming it, or from the addition of spirits. Dr. Mac Culloch has added upwards of 190 species to the list of luminous marine animals. The most con spicuous among these are about twenty small pieces of Medusa, in addition to those already known to be luminous. In the ancient genus Cancer, a considerable number of Squille were also found possessed of phosphorescence. In In the genera Scolopendra and Nereis, five or six were luminous, which were all the species observed by Dr. Mac Culloch. The other known genera in which luminous species were observed, were Phalangium, Monoculus, Oniscus, Julus, Vorticella, Cercaria, Vibrio, Volvox; to these Dr. Mac Culloch adds, among the fishes, a new species of Leptocephalus. The remaining luminous animals consisted of new genera, or at least of animals which could not be referred to any as yet to be found in authors. Dr. Mac Culloch seems to think, that the Ling and other fish which inhabit the submarine valleys at depths to which the light of day cannot penetrate, must perceive their food, and pursue their avocations, by the phosphorescence of their prey, or of the animals which abound in the sea, or by phosphorescence elicited from their own bodies. Dr. Mac Culloch's observations were generally made in harbours, but never at a distance exceeding eight or ten miles from land. Quarterly Journal of Science. The Unicorn. Mr. Campbell (the missionary), has given the following description of the head of a very singular animal which he has brought from the interior of Africa. "The animal," says Mr. Campbell, "was killed by my Hottentots, in the Mashow country, near the city of Mashow, about two hundred miles N, E. of New Lattakoo, to the westward of Delago Bay. My Hottentots never having seen or heard of an animal with one horn of so great a length, cut off its head, and brought it bleeding to me upon the back of an ox. From its great weight, and being about twelve hundred miles from the Cape of Good Hope, I was ob liged to reduce it by cutting off the under-jaw. The Hottentots cut up the rest of the animal for food, which, with the help of the natives, they brought on the backs of oxen to Mashow. The horn, which is nearly black, is exactly three feet long, projecting from the forehead about nine or ten inches above the nose. From the nose to the ears measured three feet. There is a small horny projection of about eight inches immediately behind the great horn, designed for keeping fast or steady whatever is pene trated by the great horn. There is neither hair nor wool on the skin, which is the colour of brown snuff. The animal was well known to the natives. It is a species of the Rhinoceros; but if I may judge of its bulk from the size of its head, it must have been much larger than any of the seven Rhinoceroses which my party shot, one of which measured eleven feet from the tip of the nose to the root of the tail. The skull and horn excited great curiosity at the Cape. Most were of opinion that it was all we ashould have for the Unicorn. An animal the size of a horse, which the fancied unicorn is supposed to be, would not answer the description of the Unicorn given by Job, chap. 39, verse 9, et seq., but in every part of that descrip tion this animal exactly answers to it." REPORT relative to the MovING BOG of KILMALEADY, in the ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY. King's County, made by order of RoyalDublinSociety-House, July 10,1821. IN compliance with the request of the Royal Dublin Society, I have visited the moving bog of Kilmaleady; and finding on my return to Dublin to-day, that very erroneous notions, respecting its magnitude and destructive effects, have been entertained, I think it my duty immediately to communicate to you, for the information of the society, some account of the nature and extent of this once alarming pheno menon. The bog of Kilmaleady, from whence the eruption broke out, situated about two miles to the north of the village of Clara, in King's County, is of considerable extent; it may probably contain about 590 acres; in many parts it is 40 feet in depth; and it is considered to be the wettest bog in the county. It is bounded on all sides, except the south, by steep ridges of high land, which are composed at the top, of limestone gravel, and beneath of cavernous limestone-rock, containing subterraneous streams; but the southern face of the bog is open to a moory valley, about a quarter of a mile in breadth, which for nearly half a mile in length, takes a southern direction in the lands of Lisanisky, and then turns at right angles to the west, and continues gradually widening for upwards of two miles. Throughout the centre of this valley flows a stream about twelve feet in breadth, which serves as a discharge for the waters from the bog and surrounding country, and finally joins the river Brusna, above the bridge of Ballycumber. The bog of Kilmaleady, like all other deep and wet bogs, is composed, for the first eight or ten feet from the surface downward, of a reddish brown spongy mass, formed of the still undecomposed fibres of the bog moss (sphagnum palustre) which by capillary attraction absorbs water in great quantity. Beneath this fibrous mass, the bog gradually becomes pulpy, till, at length, towards the bottom, it assumes the appearance, and, when examined, the consistence of a black mud, rather heavier than water. The surface of the bog of Kilmaleady, was elevated upwards of 20 feet above the level of the valley, from which it rose at a steep angle; and its external face, owing to the uncommon dryness of the season, being much firmer than usual, the inhabitants of the vicinity were enabled to sink their turf holes, and cut turf at a depth of at least ten feet beneath the surface of the valley, and in fact, until they reached the blue clay which forms the substratum of the bog. Thus the faces of many of the turf banks reached the unusual height of 30 feet perpendicular; when at length, on the 19th day of June, the lower pulpy and muddy part of the bog, which possesses little cohesion, being unable to resist the great pressure of water from behind, gave way, and being once set in motion, floated the upper part of the bog, and continued to move with astonishing velocity along the valley to the southward, forcing before it not only the clumps of turf on the edge of the bog, but even patches of the moory meadows, to the depth of several feet, the grassy surface of which heaved and turned over almost like the waves of the ocean; so that in a very short space of time the whole valley, for the breadth of almost a quarter of a mile between the bog-edge and the base of the hill of Lisanisky, was covered with bog to a depth of from eight to ten feet, and appeared every where studded with green patches of moory meadow. The hill of Lisanisky retarded the progress of the bog for some time; but at length it began to flow at right angles to its first course along the valley, where it turned to the west, and continued with unabated rapidity until it reached the bog road of Kilbride, (which runs directly across the valley, and is elevated five or six feet above it), and choked up the bridge through which the waters of the stream pass. This barrier retarded the progress of the bog for five days: at the end of that time, the accumulation was such from the still moving bog and the waters of the stream, that it flowed over the road, and covered the valley to the south of it for about half a mile, flowing with varied velocity, till it was again stopped for a few hours (as I understand) by a second road across the valley, leading from Clara to Woodfield: having also overcome this obstacle, it proceeded slowly westward, and if its progress bad not been checked by the very judicious means that have been em ployed, the whole extent of the valuable meadows, which compose the valley where it expands to the westward, must long since have been covered. But when the flowing bog had passed over the road of Kilbride, and the consternation in the country became general, at the desire of the lords justices, Mr. Gregory employed Mr. Killaly, engineer of the directors general of inland navigation, to carry into execution any works that could be devised to arrest the progress of the bog. Mr. Killaly at once perceived that the only feasible remedy was to draw off the water that had accumulated; and to accomplish this end he employed a number of labourers to open the course of the stream where it was choaked up, and also the drains through the valley that could be directed into the stream. By this means the head of the water was soon lowered, and in consequence the bog ceased to flow, and all the loose masses which floated on the river, were broken to pieces by labourers placed at intervals throughout its course. Such was the situation of affairs on my arrival at the bog early on Saturday morning. During the course of the day, I exerted my self to carry into execution the well-advised plans which had previously been commenced by Mr. Killaly. Towards evening, the floating masses which came down the river began to lessen considerably both in size and number; and finding every thing proceeded with regularity and certainty, I thought it useless to remain longer. At present I entertain no ap prehension of further devastation from the bog, except in the event of a very great fall of rain during the present week. Slight rains would be of service to increase the current of water, and facilitate the removal of a considerable deposit of heavy, black bog mud, which at present fills the bottom of the stream. The general current, has, however, been much increased by the breaking down of the weirs on the river Brusna, below the junction of the bog river. I shall now describe the present appearance and state of the bog and moory valley. In the centre of the bog, for the space of about a mile and a half in length, and a quarter of a mile in breadth, a valley has been formed, sloping at the bottom from the original surface of the bog, to the depth of 20 feet, where the eruption first took place. In this valley or gulf there are numberless concentric cuts or fissures, filled with water nearly to the top. The valley between the edge of the bog and the road of Kilbride, for the length of half a mile, and an extent of between 60 and 80 acres, may be considered as totally destroyed. It is covered by tolerably firm bog, from six to ten feet in depth, consisting at the surface, of numberless green islands, composed of detached parts of the moory meadows, and of small rounded patches of the original heathy surface of the bog, varying from two to ten feet above its former course, so as to flow over the road. Beyond the road to Kilbride the bog has flowed for one mile westward, and covered from 50 |