lungs in decarbonizing the blood. In support of this, he refers to blood collected by the vena porta being much darker in consequence of superabundant carbon, than the blood which has returned from the skin. This carbon the liver separates in the form of bile, which is chiefly composed of carbonic matter. In this manner the liver assists the lungs in decarbonizing and purifying the blood; and it may be intended by Providential wisdom that the liver should in part supply the place of the lungs in this respect, when they are disordered by colds, violent exercises, &c.

SONG.

My lady pluck'd a blooming rose
To plant upon her lily breast;
It softly closed its crimson leaves,
And fondly kiss'd its snowy nest;
The silken leaves were gently stirr'd
As her soft-heaving bosom shook,
Like the white plumage of a dove

That coos beside some breezy brook.
Oh! had I been that waving rose

Which on her angel bosom blush'd,
And revell'd 'mid those heaving sighs,
Whose lovely music none hath hush'd;
Lived on the pantings of her heart,

And caught her eye in tranquil rest,-
Then, like that crimson-waving rose,

I should have been for ever blest.-Monthly Mag.

HEDGE-HOGS OMNIVOROUS,-Man is not, it should seem, the only animal that can with justice be called omnivorous, feeding on animal and vegetable substances, in some measure, indiscriminately. The hedge-hog apears to possesss an almost equal variety of tastes with ourselves. Mr. White, of Selbourne, had his gravel walks ploughed up and disfigured by the hedge-hogs digging for the roots of plantain (Plantago major), which they ate from the bottom upwards, leaving the foliage untouched. The common opinion that they live upon fruits is so far correct, but they cannot procure nuts and apples all the year round, and must find substitutes when these are not to be had. Mr. Buckland had one which killed a snake and devoured it, and it is not therefore improbable that they will eat frogs, lizards, and other reptiles.

In London, they are kept in a tame state to destroy the black-beetles, or cock-roaches (Blatta Americana), which infest the sunk floors, and in this domestic state they are fed upon milk, bread, &c.

FASCINATING POWER OF CATS.-The fascination of serpents is beyond a doubt, though it is often disbelieved by those who are afraid of obtaining a reputation for credulity, and who delight to feed their vanity by rejecting opinions that are deemed vulgar or common. The celebrated Montaigne was not a person who could be accused of credulity, and he informs us that, near his house, a cat was observed watching a bird at the top of a tree. For some time they mutually fastened their eyes on each other, and at length the bird let itself fall as if dead into the cat's claws; either, he remarks, being dazzled by the force of terror, or by some unknown attractive power in the cat.

SERIES OF LIVING FORMS.-First, a few plants of very doubtful character in the oldest graywacke slate; then zoophites and crustaceous mollusca with trilobites; afterwards, an abundant creation of cotyledonous and monocotyledonous plants; following these, a great increase of marine cestaceous and crustaceous molluscæ and zoophytes; then fishes, birds, and oviparous quadrupeds, comprehending the saurian or lizard family; afterwards dicotyledonous plants; then marine mammalia, and the present race of animals. The fossil remains of these lie buried in beds that overlie each other, nearly in the order above detailed; and between beds or strata are generally found others which do not contain any fossil remains, and which mark the flux of considerable intervals of time in the process of their extinction.

ODE TO LIBERTY.

HAIL! heaven-born Goddess, from thy native skies;
With joyous hearts we see thee come,

Bidding dark nations from their sleep arise-
Spreading thy light through slav'ry's home.

Lo! Superstition falls beneath

The prowess of thine arm,

And dreaded tyrants sleep in death,
Unable to alarm:

Thy voice is music to the brave;

Thy voice is music to the slave

Thou bear'st a magic charm!

Britons have ever proudly worshipp'd thee
Within their own fair sea-girt land;
And never shall thy soaring banner be
Struck to the dust by British hand!
Undaunted still her sons shall rush
The foremost in the fight,
With lion-heart, the power to crush
Of despots in their might;

And Fame shall fondly point the grave
Where sleep the ardent and the brave,
Who perish'd for the right!-T.

AMPHIBIA, REPTILIA, &c.

THE third class of living animals is constituted of amphibia. These have a naked or scaly body, pointed teeth, and no fins. There are four orders: 1, reptiles, as the crocodile, tortoise, lizard, frog, &c. ; 2, serpents, as the rattlesnake, boa constrictor, viper, &c., some of which are harmless; 3, meantes, as the siren; 4, nantes, as torpedoes, sharks, &c.

THE DUGONG.-The habits of this singular race of animals bring them into affinity with land animals on the one hand, and fish on the other. The manatee of the West Indies stands intermediate between the dugong and the hippopotamus, from its having no tusks, and feeding upon plants growing at the mouth of large rivers. The dugong is the only animal yet known which grazes at the bottom of the sea without legs. It is of the form and figure of the whale. The position and structure of the mouth enables it to browse upon sea-weeds (Alga), like a cow in a meadow; and the whole structure of the masticating and digestive organs shews it to be truly herbivorous. It never comes on the land nor into fresh water, but frequents shallow inlets of the sea, of two or three fathoms' depth. The usual length of the dugong is eight or nine feet. The flesh, when cooked, is very much like the best young beef. It would be worth while to try to rear flocks of these animals within enclosed inlets of the sea.

THE RED VIPER OF DORSETSHIRE. -The Rev. Mr. Rackett informs us that a serpent, known to the gamekeepers of Dorsetshire under the name of the red viper, was recently killed in Cranbourne Chace. It does not appear to have been previously known to British naturalists. It is considered to be more poisonous than the common viper, but is fortunately very rare. Mr. Rackett describes it as of a marked red colour, and thinks it probably the Coluber Chersea of Linnæus.

THE VIPERS OF LUGANO.-At the foot of Mount Salvador, on the lake of Lugano, is a villa of considerable extent, the proprietor of which has been compelled to abandon it, and neither by war, nor pestilence, nor ghosts, but by the incredible multitude of vipers in its vicinity. This tribe of

serpents, which, since the classical work of Fontana on the viper, and his experiments on its poison, has regained its ancient importance, is annually increasing in this favourable locality, and to an extent so formidable, that the founder of the deserted villa must have been half mad to build in such a spot, if this pandemonium of serpents contained a twentieth part of the numbers observed there a few years later. Vipers are, notoriously, migrating serpents; and those of Mount Salvador take their departure when the summer heats become oppressive, and swim in mighty columns across the lake, to the cool and shady wood of the opposite shore. There they reman until late in the autumn, and return to the sunny side of the lake, where they pass the winter and spring on the chalk slopes beneath Mount Salvador. In their winter quarters, they coil and twist themselves together into knotted clusters, from which their peeping heads project, and give to the whole mass the appearance of the imposing ball-thistle, or of the head of Medusa.

CHARLES LAMB.

QUAINT master! why hide, 'neath a garb so uncouth,
A well-spring of song, and a day-star of truth?
Why struggle to bury a heart-cherished brood
Of fine fancies and feelings, in crambo so rude?
Yet thy "faces familiar" are welcome to all,
And a host of warm wishes arise at their call.
For what if thy Muse will be sometimes perverse,

And present us with prose, when she means to give verse
For her freak to atone, and her critics to pose,

She'll as often vouchsafe us a poem in prose;
So sparkling with dew from the fountain sublime,
That we drink in its beauty, and miss not the rhyme.
Henceforth may the plant 'tis thy joy to illume
For thee ever send forth its mildest perfume;
"Dream Children" revisit thy slumbers, and play
In the light of thy love, till morn melts them away!

For this, may thy fortune be often to list

To thy worthy "Aunt Battle's" opinions of whist;

Thine ears ne'er be pestered again with a jig,

And thy stomach become a depôt for "Roast Pig!”—A. A. W.

THE YELLOW SERPENT OF MARTINIQUE.-The yellow serpent of Martinique has, for a long period, been the object of much dread, and that alone, perhaps, has retarded the population of the island for a century. In spite of the assiduity with which it is pursued, and the numbers that are killed, it still occasions annually the death of a considerable number of individuals, especially among the negroes.

Its length is sometimes greater than seven feet. It is called the yellow serpent because frequently found of that colour, but there are some which are blackish, and others spotted with black. Its venomous denticles are about 15 lines long. Along the belly it has from 220 to 240 scales, but uniformly sixty-two on the under side of the tail. In other respects, it has all the characteristics of the other species of its kind. Its celerity of motion, except in the time of digestion, is alarming. Its fierce instinct teaches it to dart out upon passengers, and commonly it has already assumed a hostile position ere it is perceived; rolled up spirally, its head being the top of the sort of cone which it forms, it takes but a moment to reach its victim. M. Moreau de Jonnes asserts that it is able to erect itself upon its tail, and then exceeds a man in length. Its ear is very acute, and it is roused by a slight noise. Its eyes, projecting and lively, by means of enlarging or contracting the pupil, can be made to look or not like those of cats. It keeps in dark places, and chooses sunset or lowering cloudy days as the seasons for taking its prey; it lives to a great age. When the head of one is struck off, the body continues to be spontaneously agitated for eight hours, and longer, if any external force is applied. It has been believed that a person may become aware of its being near by the tainted smell which it exhales; but nothing is more dangerous than trusting to this indication-they do not all emit this odour, and those which do, not at all times. The productiveness of this dangerous animal is extraordinary; from thirty to sixty young ones at a litter. At birth, they are from eight to twelve inches in length, and already possess all their faculties. Frequently sixty or eighty of them are discovered in gathering the crop of one field of sugar-canes, and these the offspring of only one or two mothers. The immense breadths of cane afford them their principal retreats, and thus it is that the advance of cultivation is favourable to these noxious creatures, and increases instead of diminishing their numbers. Their means of subsistence, no less than their places of shelter, have been multiplied, as the prodigious quantity of rats which come along with the Europeans now fill the whole island. They prey upon birds, other reptiles, and all small four-footed animals. What is, perhaps, the most extraordinary thing in the history of this serpent is, that all the Antilles are free from it, with the exception of three-Martinique, St. Lucia, and Beconia the others have no venomous serpent whatsoever. The Caribbees pretend that they were introduced from the Continent, along with a hostile settlement; but it is also

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