Fish conveyed by a Water-spout.-As Major Mackenzie, of Fodderty, was traversing his farm, he was surprised to find a considerable portion of his land covered with herring fry, from three to four inches in length; the fish were fresh and entire. The only rational conjecture is, that the fish were conveyed there by a water-spout. This place was situated about three miles from the sea, all level ground. Gent. Mag. 1828. Mr. Arnot relates that showers of herrings fell near Loch Leven, Kinrosshire, in 1825. Jamieson's Journal. Showers of herrings fell in Galloway. Symon's Galloway. Showers of herrings fell in Argyleshire, March, 1817, on a range of moorland, about three hundred feet above the level of the sea. Shower of Shells in Ireland.-In the year 1825, shells fell at Monastereen, in the county of Kildare; at this time the tides were remarkably high, and the sea exhibited unusual disturbance. Jamieson's Journal. Fish ejected from Volcanoes.-Mr. Humboldt communicated to the French National Institute, amongst other curious facts, the following:Several of the volcanoes of the Cordilleras of the Andes occasionally threw out large volumes of fresh water, with an immense number of fishes. The volcano of Imbaburo threw out, at one time, such a great number near the town of Ibarra, that their putrefaction occasioned disorders. This phenomenon, astonishing as it appears, is not even extraordinary, but, on the contrary, of frequent occurrence; so that the facts are authentically preserved in the public records. It is most singular that these fish are not all injured, and sometimes arrive at the foot of the mountain still living; these animals are thrown from the mouth of the crater, at the height of twelve or thirteen hundred fathoms, and the same species are found in the brooks that run at the foot of the mountains; it is the only species that subsists at the height of fourteen hundred fathoms above the surrounding plain: it is a new species to naturalists, and Mr. Humboldt has given them the name Pimelodrus Cyclopum; they may be found in the first number of his Zoology; he supposes there are lakes in the crater. Shower of Fishes.—An extract of a letter was read from Mrs. Smith, dated Monradabad, July 20, 1829, to a gentleman in Somersetshire, giving an account of a quantity of fishes that fell in a shower of rain at that place. Many were observed by Mrs. Smith from her window, springing on the grass immediately after the storm. The letter was accompanied with a drawing taken on the spot, which represents a small species of Cyprinus 2 inches in length, green above, silvery white below, with a broad lateral line, bright red. Linn. Soc. vol. xvi. part 3. Shower of Muscles.-According to the Pittsburgh (American) Gazette, a fine shower of muscles fell within the walls of the jail there, on the 9th of August, 1834. The French National Institute mentions that they have had repeated information of showers of toads, perhaps frogs. Method of obtaining the Skeleton of Small Fishes. Suspend the fish by threads attached to the head and tail, in a horizontal position, in a jar of water from a pond, with a few tadpoles in it, the tadpoles acting in the same manner as the ants, always using the smallest tadpoles. Bluet's Phil. Mag. N. S. vol. vii. Fish enclosed in Stone on Monte Bolca in the Veronese territory, considerably elevated above the sea. The fish are of a dark brown colour, and therefore appear very distinctly on the light ground of the stone; they lie flat between the laminæ ; their profile, and their several parts, are little, if at all, distorted from their natural shape and dimensions; their whole form is well defined. These quarries belong to the Marquis Gazola, who has already in his cabinet one hundred different species of these fish, with a scientific catalogue of them. For other particulars see the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. v. Temperature of Fishes and warm-blooded Animals.-Dr. Davy, in a paper read before the Royal Society, stated that he had occasion to observe, many years ago, that the bonito had a temperature of 99 Fahrenheit, when the surrounding medium was 80° 5′, and that it therefore constituted an exception to the generally received rule, that fishes are universally cold-blooded. Having found that the gills of the common thunny of the Mediterranean Sea were supplied with nerves of unusual magnitude, that the heart of this latter fish was very powerful, and that its muscles were of a dark colour, the Doctor was led to conjecture that, like the bonito, it was warmblooded. The author endeavours to extend this analogy to others of the same family.-Edin. New Phil. Journal, vol. xix. No. 37. |