the vast quantity of earthy matter brought down by | as to require the protection of a sea-wall or bank; and large rivers; and therefore the formation of new it has more than once been proposed so to manage this beaches, islands, and portions of dry land, by the sub- embankment as to enclose a considerable portion of sidence of such materials, may seem surprising. Mr. the Wash, and render it convertible to useful purposes. Barrow computed, from observations which he made, Mr. Lyell, in the sixth edition of his Geology,' says: that the Yellow River in China brings down two mil---"It has been lately proposed by Sir John Rennie lion cubic feet of earthy matter every hour. The Rev. and others to rescue from the dominion of the sea a Mr. Everest has computed that the Ganges, in one large part of what is called the Wash,' between the hundred and twenty-two days of the rainy season, counties of Lincoln and Norfolk. The plan for accomcarried down six thousand million cubic feet of earthy plishing this object consists in deepening and straightenmatter; and Mr. Lyell, in commenting on this extra-ing the channels of the rivers Ouse, Nene, Witham and ordinary result, says: "In order to give some idea of Welland, all of which are to be confined between wellthe magnitude of this result, we will assume that the formed banks, and united into one grand channel in specific gravity of the dried mud is only one-half that the centre of the Wash. The land already gained by of granite (it would, however, be more): in that case similar operations since the middle of the seventeenth the earthy matter discharged in a year would equal century is of vast extent, and the additional space 3,184,038,720 cubic feet of granite. Now about twelve which the projectors hope to reclaim on the opposite and a half cubic feet of granite weigh one ton; and it shores of Lincoln and Norfolk will amount to a hunis computed that the great pyramid of Egypt, if it were a dred and fifty thousand acres, and be half as large again solid mass of granite, would weigh about 6,000,000 tons. as the county of Rutland in area." The mass of matter therefore carried down annually, would, according to this estimate, more than equal in weight and bulk forty-two of the great pyramids of Egypt." As a further means of conveying to the mind an idea of the enormous quantity of solid matter brought down by the Ganges, Mr. Lyell states that if a fleet of eighty Indiamen, each freighted with fourteen hundred tons of mud, were to sail down the river every hour of every day and night for four months continually, they would only transport from the higher country to the sea a mass of solid matter equal to that borne down by the Ganges in the four months of the flood season; or, in other words, a fleet of two thousand such ships going down daily with the same burden, and discharging it into the Gulf, would be no more than equivalent to the operation of the great river. We need not wonder, then, at the formation of new land by such a vast mass of earthy matter.

Our own island is not without indications of similar phenomena going on. Not many weeks ago a paper was read before the Institute of Civil Engineers, bearing on this point. It was thus briefly noticed in the Athenæum :-"A description was read Of the formation of the townland of Musselburgh on the Frith of Forth,' by Mr. James Hay. This was a curious instance of an extensive tract of nearly four hundred acres of land being formed by an alluvial deposit in about three hundred years. The river Esk, when swollen by rains, is stated to bring down quantities of the detritus from the hills, which, with the soil washed from the banks of the lowlands, is arrested when it meets the tide, and is thrown upon the beach. This, being mixed with large boulder-stones, becomes fixed, and the sand is blown over it by the heavy north-winds to which the shore is exposed. Thus this large tract has been formed. The diagram exhibited showed the several lines of high water at various dates, and that nearly the entire town has been built upon land thus recovered from the sea, without the aid of art."

On the eastern coast of England, especially about Norfolk, tracts of sandy land have been formed where before was to be seen only sea. But these have in most cases been formed by a different agency from that which has hitherto engaged our notice. These sandy tracts have been mostly produced by tides and currents, which carry the loose sand from the bed of the German ocean across the mouths of rivers and æstuaries. These encroachments of the land on the sea are therefore hurtful rather than beneficial; but there is a peculiar inlet of the sea, called the Wash, which is of a different character. The Wash is the estuary of the rivers Nene and Welland, and its bed is occupied for the most part by sand-banks, dry at low water. Between the mouths of the two rivers, the coast is so low

Some years ago a gentleman named Harriot, living in Essex, purchased for a trifling sum a small island which had been of no use to any one. It was situated near Great Wakering, and contained two hundred and sixteen acres of land, which was covered by the sea every flood tide, but left dry at the ebb. His object was to try to bring this little island into cultivation; and for this purpose he began to enclose it with a bank of earth thirty feet wide at bottom, seven feet high, and four feet wide at top, with an external battis' or slope of two feet horizontal for one foot perpendicular. The wall encircled the island, and was about two miles and a half in circuit, having in it only one gap about seventy feet wide, through which the tide flowed in and out. At length attempts were made to close this gap. Earth was at first used; but the sea broke away this earth as fast as it was thrown in. Piles were then driven in in a double row, and clay rammed in between them. This succeeded, and the little island was gradually drained. For the first two years it was too unsound and wet to become of much value, but afterwards it became cultivable. Rape-seed, mustard, and oats were first sown, but the land contained at first too much salt to be fitted for wheat. A house, a barn and a stable were built on the reclaimed island, and inhabited by a few farm-labourers. It was many years ago that a description of this undertaking was given in the Transactions of the Society of Arts, and that Mr. Harriot had a gold medal awarded to him for his ingenuity.

Cudbear. This valuable article is the Lecanora tartarea of

Acharius. It is common in Derbyshire on limestone, and incrusts most of the stones at Urswic Mere. It is gathered for the dyers by peasants, who sell it for a penny a pound; they can collect 20 or 30 pounds a day. It gives a purple colour. The same rock is not scraped oftener than once in five years. It is prepared for use with volatile alkali and alum, by the manufacturers in Glasgow; and, when sold to the dyers, it appears in the form of a purple powder, called Cudbear. Much is imported from Norway. Dr. Hooker states that in the neighbourhood of Fort Augustus, 1807, by collecting this lichen with an iron hook, a person could earn 14s. per week, selling the article best. Pennant also records it as an article of commerce about at 3s. 4d. the stone of 22lbs. The fructified specimens are the Taymouth; and Miss Roberts informs us that it is collected in North Wales at three half-pence per pound, for the London market. Several lichens, possessing somewhat of the same quality, would appear to have occasioned some confusion in the application of the terms arcele, argol, orchal, cocker, or corcar.Notes of a Naturalist.

[1, Antiqua; 2, Ziczac; 3, Cossus; 4, Russula; 5, Jacobea; 6, Oo; 7, Parthenias.] CURIOSITIES OF BRITISH NATURAL

4. The Clouded Buff moth (Euthemonia Russula, Stephens), Perfect Insect, Caterpillar and Pupa. The Clouded Buff moth measures about an inch and a half in the expanse of its wings. It is a common insect on heaths and commons; in the New Forest it is abundant and is in considerable plenty on Stockton. Heath and in the neighbourhood of York, and, accord-inch and a quarter.

The caterpillar has the head black, the body ferru- | warm, composed of the raspings of the wood scooped ginous with white spots and lines. It feeds on the oak, and the perfect insect appears in May and June. 7. The Orange Underwing (Brepha Parthenias), Perfect Insect, Caterpillar, and Pupa.

The Brepha, observes Mr. Stephens, "are distinguished by the beauty of the under surface, and the liveliness of the colouring of the posterior wings, which are generally orange or flavescent with black or dusky fascia and margins;" the Palpi are concealed, and the head is densely pilose.

This elegant species is diurnal in its habits, appearing early in the spring, and flitting about in wooded places on rapid but vacillating pinions, generally over the tops of the bushes or patches of underwood, and occasionally descending and settling near little pools of water, but ever on the alert, and flitting off on the least alarm. It is very local in its distribution, being common in a few places only. Mr. Doubleday instances Ongar Park woods, and Mr. Stephens says that near Hertford, Highgate, Colney-hatch, and at Combewood he has seen and captured specimens, and that at certain seasons it is not uncommon.

The general colour is fuscous. The anterior wings are sprinkled with cinereous, and marked with several obscure whitish, striga; two decided spots are seated on the anterior margin; the first forming a transverse bar. The posterior wings are dull orange, with the base and inner margin broadly black, with an interrupted transverse bar of the same colour, and also a posterior marginal fringe. We may observe, however, that in the arrangement of the markings there is considerable variation. The caterpillar is yellowish green, with a bluish black lateral line, and some black spots. It feeds upon the leaves of the poplar and oak. The perfect insect appears in March.

In looking over the group of moths, thus briefly described, the most remarkable is the Goat moth (Cossus liguiperda). It is among the finest of our British species, and the caterpillar was selected by Lyonnet as the subject of his minute and laborious dissection, the results of which are described and delineated in his Traité anatomique de la Chenille du Saule,' the plates being engraved by the author. Of this work Cuvier says, "It is at the same time the chef-d'œuvre of anatoiny and of engraving," and certainly it is a monument of patience, industry, and skill, conspicuous among the works of science. The caterpillar of this moth we have stated to feed on solid wood, boring galleries as it gnaws its way into the heart of the oak, willow, or poplar; and it may occasion no little surprise to learn that a caterpillar is capable of mining through the hard trunks of trees: such, however, is the fact; and Cuvier says it emits from the mouth an acrid and fetid liquor, which, it would appear, has the property of softening the wood; of this, however, we are by no ineans certain.

out of the cell, united with the strong silk which so many species of caterpillar are capable of spinning. In this snug retreat the caterpillar, if it had not Leen disturbed, would have spent the winter without eating, but upon being removed into a warm room, and placed under a glass along with some pieces of wood, which it might eat, if so inclined, it was roused for a time from its dormant state, and began to move about. It was not long, however, in constructing a new cell for itself, no less ingenious than the former. It either could not gnaw into the fir plank, on which it was placed with a glass over it, or it did not choose to do so, for it left it untouched, and made it the basis of the edifice it began to construct. It formed in fact a covering for itself precisely like the one from which we had previously dislodged it, composed of raspings of wood given it as food, the largest piece of which was employed as a substantial covering and protection for the whole. It remained in this retreat motionless and without food, till revived by the warmth of the ensuing spring, when it gnawed its way out, and began to eat voraciously, to make up for its long fast.' The cell, or rather cocoon, in which the pupa state is assumed, and the last change undergone, is of similar manufacture, but of stronger and closer texture. It is well known that a large caterpillar feeding on the wood of the oak, according to Pliny, was esteemed by the Romans a delicacy for the table, and was purposely fattened with 'farina.' Ray and Linnæus are inclined to think that the caterpillar thus prized was the present; but it is impossible to arrive at a certainty on the subject. It is, however, surprising to find that the taste of the luxurious Romans agrees with that of the savage natives of Australia as respects the use for food of wood-eating caterpillars. Besides the Bugong moth, which is very oily, and accounted when pounded delicious fare, the Australiansrelish certain caterpillars which feed on the substance of the grass-tree and the wattle-tree: they are eaten either raw or roasted; and when the natives arc taunted with eating such disgusting food, they invariably retort upon the European by accusing him of eating raw oysters, which they regard with perfect horror.

The Doctor in Abyssinia.-Whilst invalids of all classes daily flocked to the camp of the Europeans for medical assistance, applications were not wanting from the palace in proof of the reputation acquired. One of the princesses royal, who had been lodged with the illustrious visitor from Achun-Kurra, in the crimson pavilion presented by the British government, found herself in need of advice; and, on being visited, lay concealed beneath the basket pedestal of a wicker dining-table, whence her sprained foot was thrust forth for inspection. Divers respectable duenuas of the royal kitchen, who had been severely scalded by the bursting of a pottage-cauldron, were also treated with success when they had been given over by the body-physician, at whose merciless hands the sobbing patients had been plastered over As this caterpillar lives for the space of three years with honey and soot; and a mutton-bone was extracted from Lefore undergoing its final change, it is not unreason- the throat of a page, where it had been firmly wedged for three able to ask in what manner does it spend the colder days. But the cure which elicited the most unqualified and months of the winter? We may answer-apparently universal amazement, was that of a favourite Baalomaal, in a state of hybernation or torpidity. Not contented who, labouring under a fit of apoplexy, which had deprived with the maze of galleries it has already scooped out, him of animation, was suddenly evived by venesection, and which perhaps do not afford it sufficient protection, after fumigation with ashkoko goomun had been tried without the it begins before the arrival of the severe season to scoop smallest avail, and preparations were already commencing for out a cell or chamber in the bole of the tree, if it does his interment.-Medicine, in fact, now engrossed the entire of not find one already prepared; and to this it retires, the Royal attention. Phials and drugs without number were and bending its body, sinks into repose. Mr. Rennie sent to the tent, with a request that they might be so labelled as to admit of the proper dose being administered to patients labourinforms us that on sawing off a portion of an old poplaring under complaints for the removal of which they were rein the winter of 1827, he found such a cell with a cater- spectively adapted. Two or more invalids, who chjected to be pillar coiled up in it. "It had not, however," he says, seen, were certain to arrive at the palace within every four-and"been contented with the bare walls of the retreat, twenty hours; and no subterfuge that ingenuity could devise which it had hewn out of the tree, for it had lined it was left untried by which to augment the already ample stock with a fabric as thick as coarse broad-cloth, and equally of pills on haud.--Major Harris's Highlands of Ethiopia,