piece of water, rendered it particularly well calculated to support a few of those very elegant birds-the mergansers, of which a solitary male smew has now lived there for three years, acquiring the female colours after midsummer without shedding any of its feathers, and resuming its breeding dress at the autumn moult, (none of the diving ducks changing their plumage twice a year, like the others, although they all undergo an analogous mutation of colour immediately at the close of the season of propagation). This smew generally associates with two females of the Clangula vulgaris, and appears well disposed to breed if it had a mate of its own species equally tame; expressing its desires by a very peculiar low rattling note, during the utterance of which the neck is gradually stretched backward, with the beak pointing forward: it will readily feed on bread, at least at times, for which it is a particularly able scrambler; and I have repeatedly seen it come on shore, and preen its feathers within a few yards of me, indeed it has taken food from my hand. The brilliancy of its white nuptial livery renders its rapid evolutions under water comparatively easy to follow with the eye.—Id.

Note on the Fossil from Marychurch, figured in Geolog. Trans.'-Last winter I took no little trouble to procure specimens of the singular fossil of which a figure is given by M. De la Beche, in the Geol. Trans.' as having been found at Marychurch, in this neighbourhood. At that time all my endeavours were unsuccessful; the very first visit, however, which I paid this winter to a quarry at Barton, near Marychurch, I procured two fragments, one of which apparently shows the internal structure, but still so obscurely that I do not think it worth while to send you a sketch. My friend Dr. Battersby, however, in the course of the past summer, obtained three specimens from a quarry near Newton Bushel, which, being "weathered," show something of the interior surface. As it is mentioned in a note to De la Beche's paper, that a recent specimen allied to the fossil is deposited in the museum of the Zoological Society, presented by an officer in the navy,' you will probably be glad to have a sketch of the interior surface of the fossil to compare with the recent specimen.

The plates, when most perfect, are hexagonal and radiated on the outside (fig. 62). The interior is divided into a number of little squares by raised lines; those running in one direction always pass over those in the contrary direction, and

1 On enquiring at the Museum of the Zoological Society, we could not meet with, or obtain any information respecting, the above specimen.—Ed.

the point of crossing is always immediately underneath the raised dots in the centres of the plates on the outside.-John Edw. Lee.-Torquay, 1838.

New Metal.-Mr. Kersten, Professor of Chemistry at the College of Freiberg, in Saxony, has lately received a letter from Prof. Berzelius, in which it is stated, that Prof. Mosander of Stockholm has discovered, in the ore called cerite, a new metal, to which he has given the name of Lantanum. Its colour is grey, and it appears to be soft and ductile. It is also contained in the oxide of Cerium which Prof. Kersten has lately found in Monazite, a new mineral from the Ural mountains, which was determined by Breithaupt, and sent by Mr. Kersten to Berzelius for further analysis. Prof. Kersten has since discovered the same new metal in an ore from Sweden, called Godolinite. This fifty-fifth elementary body has therefore been found already in minerals coming from very distant localities, and it is somewhat remarkable that the north of Europe has come in for so large a share in furnishing the simple bodies of modern chemistry.-W. Weissenborn.-Weimar.

An immense erratic block of Granite has been floated on the ice, during the winter 1837-38, from Finland to the Island of Hochland. It weighs about a million of pounds, according to the estimation of M. de Baër, who lately communicated the circumstance to the Academy of St. Petersburgh.-Id.

An Entomological Society has just been formed in Stettin, whose chief object is to promote our knowledge of the habits and economy of insects. It is partly on account of this peculiar feature of the Society, and partly as one of the most recent instances of the liberality with which the Prussian government encourages every scientific undertaking, that this Society appears to deserve being more generally noticed. For M. de Altensheim, the Minister of the Cultus, besides other liberal support which he has given to it, has carried the measure, that the Society do not pay for postage throughout the kingdom.-Id.

THE MAGAZINE

OF

NATURAL HISTORY.

OCTOBER, 1839.

ART.I.-On the Natural History of the German Marmot (Hamster). By W. WEISSENBORN, Ph. D.

HAVING been engaged, at different periods of my life, in studying the habits of the German marmot, I have made various communications on this curious animal to foreign scientific societies, more especially to the Zoological Society of London; in consequence of which Mr. Charlesworth did me the honour of wishing me to draw up a more complete article on a creature which presents so many interesting and uncommon features, both in its organization and habits, and with which the English, luckily for their agricultural population, have, in their own country, no opportunities of becoming acquainted. I have, therefore, arranged all the materials I could collect on the subject from authentic sources, especially from Dr. Sulzer's monograph, as far as it has not become obsolete, adding to them such of my own observations as I thought sufficiently substantiated and interesting, and now venture to submit my article to the readers of the Magazine of Natural History.

I shall begin with a general statement of the most prominent features which render the epithet of "curious" applicable to the German marmot.

1. Its peculiar outward form, in which that of several other rodents is blended. It has the truncated snout, cleft upper lip, and downcast under lip, of the hare; the shape of the trunk approaches to that of the rat, though it be fuller, whilst the hamster possesses the short tail of the Hypudæus arvalis, Illig. As to the relative size of the head, it stands between the rat and the guinea-pig (Cavia Cobaya, Illig.)

2. The colour of its hair, which presents the great peculiarity of being black all over the belly, and of a much paler VOL. III.-No. 34. N. s.

3 F

tint (greyish brown) on the upper part of the body, in the common variety.'

3. The buccal pouches, which the German marmot has in common with but few animals, and which in it are comparatively larger than in any other.

4. Its subterranean habits, which besides present many curious peculiarities.

5. Its hybernation. And

6. Its moral disposition, especially the courage in defending itself, which it has in common with the badger; and its ferocity in devouring its congeners, which it has in common with the mole.

Synonyms. Both the zoologist, and the more general amateurs of knowledge, may, in many instances, feel interested in knowing the different names which apply to the same animal in different countries or writings. These synonyms often clearly indicate the localities where the creature is indigenous, and where it is not so. Such as German marmot, or marmotte de Strassbourg, will at once show, that our animal is originally neither found in England, nor in France proper. In the latter country it was once even exhibited in a strolling menagery, under the curious name of "un animal sauvage d'Allemagne, nommé, 'Fruges consumere nati.' The German name 'hamster' has found its way into the Scandinavian (as also into the Dutch) languages; and the great Linnæus procured his first specimens from an illiterate herbalist, named Dietrich, residing at a little village called Ziegenhain, near Jena, whom Linnæus took for a member of the university, when he wrote to him,-" Mittas mihi, quæso, animal Hamster dictum." As to the true vernacular names of the German marmot, we may distinguish two sets, viz., those which are an imitation of the yelling sound uttered by the animal when irritated; as Krictsch, Germ.; Krziczieti, Illyr.; Skrzeczeck, Pol.; Sskrecek, Boh.; Schurks, Serb.; Gringie, Hung.; Surka? Tartar; the Latin name of Cricetus, which Albertus Magnus appears to have first used, is perhaps derived from

1 This feature would stand quite isolated among all our indigenous quadrupeds, but for its existence in the badger, which coincidence, in my opinion, deserves the attention of the physiologist, as both these species are crepuscular, winter-sleepers, and live underground. The cause of this peculiar coloration in these two animals, may perhaps he traced to some general law of nature, the more so as the mole, which is strictly subterraneous, is altogether black, although the exclusion of light be, in general, a hindrance to the development of pigments. Also in the German marmot, there is a great tendency to become black all over the body, and the black variety is extremely common in some localities, whereas albinoes have been met with only in a few instances.

ngitw, I scream :-and such as have, or appear to have, a different origin, as Arlan, Tart.; Bakuk, Bashkir; Tsharligan, Osljak; Chomäk, Karbush, Russ. In Germany the animal has several names of that class, as Kornferkel, corn-farrow; Kornhamster, corn-storer; and is most commonly called Hamster.

CRICETUS, Cuv. GEN. CHAR.-Teeth much like those of the rat; tail short, hairy; buccal pouches, as in some of the apes, widened into large bags, which serve for carrying home food.

CRICETUS frumentarius.

DESCRIPTION.-Length of the largest male specimens from the tip of the nose to that of the tail, up to 15 inches Eng. of which the tail measures scarcely more than 2, the grown female being smaller by about one fourth. Weight, up to 14 tb. Shape.-Trunk rather broad than high,' clumsy; head oval, nose truncated, upper lip cleft, under lip short and hanging down; incisor teeth partially exposed; eyes moderately large, as well as projecting and almost circular; ears large, rounded; feet rather short, formed more for digging than for running, with five toes, the thumb being very short in the fore feet, and furnished with an obtuse nail, whereas the other nails are long, hooked, and grooved below; five callosities in the sole of the fore feet, and six in that of the hind feet; tail short, tapering, and becoming rather bare towards the point. Colour.-Greyish brown (hare-coloured) above, and black beneath, with three large yellowish spots on each side occupying the flanks, the regions above the shoulders, and that behind the cheeks, the latter spot being continued towards and round the mouth. Cheeks, regions round the ears, and anus russet; feet white. There is a black variety, rather common in several neighbourhoods, 2 with only the nose and feet white, and a mixed breed of the common and black variety is said to exist, and to be grey. Albinoes are very scarce, but have been occasionally met with.

Senses. The organ of vision is moderately developed; the iris is dark brown, and it is difficult to distinguish it from the pupil, so that the whole visible portion of the eye-ball appears of a dark colour. As it is protected only by a few short bris

1A fresh-killed hamster, when thrown at random on the ground, will lie on its back or belly, whilst a rat will more commonly lie on one of its sides. 2 The black variety was very scarce near Gotha about 1770, when a specimen was exhibited at court as a great curiosity; whereas in the beginning of this century they were of rather common occurrence there. Among three dozen which I procured about eleven years ago from the vicinity of the borough of Buttelstädt, five English miles from Weimar, there were four or five black ones.