THE EYES OF ANIMALS.

(CONTINUED.)

Illustrations of the adjusting Muscles.

Light admitted into a dark room.-If light is admitted into a dark room through a small aperture, and fall on a sheet of paper held at a proper distance, a picture of the illuminated objects without will be seen upon it, inverted. If the objects be moved farther off, the paper must be brought nearer to the hole, or the image will be indistinct, and vice versa.

Image formed in an artificial Eye. If an illuminated picture be placed before an artificial eye, a minature inverted copy of it will be seen on the retina. When the distance is changed, the lens must be adjusted accordingly, or the image will appear confused. Such changes are made in the natural eye by muscles.

THE EYE OF THE HALIBUT SEEN IN FRONT AND SIDEWAYS.

a The adjusting muscle. The gelatinous fluid. c The choroid gland, or strainer.

The muscle which serves to adjust the magnifier in the halibut's eye is larger than that of the striped bass, (given in our last number,) differently formed, and with no loop to pass through. By another, and equally ingenious contrivance, the object is perfectly attained.

The muscle is laid diagonally across the eye, with one end fastened to the magnifier, and the other to the colored circle which surrounds the pupil. Its contractions move it forward, and the membranes of the viteous humour draw it back when it relaxes. a Is the adjusting muscle, b the gelatinous fluid, and c the choroid gland.

Every eye whose magnifier is a perfect globe, is sure to have a single adjusting muscle, though the form and size are very various. But the birds and some fishes have magnifiers less than a sphere, while some animals have them greater; and in all such cases there are many adjusting muscles to each eye, curiously arranged in perfect order, round the pupil. These are called ciliary processes.

Lobsters-We learn from the Portland Bulletin, that for several years past, quite a trade has been carried on from that port, in the Lobster line. There is no better place for taking these shell fish than in Casco Bay, and hundreds of men have been engaged in this business.-During the last year, from three to five hundred thousand lobsters were taken in that bay alone, most of which were carried to Boston, New York and further south, where they brought a good price. This season fewer individuals have been engaged in the business-the market for lobsters not being as good as formerly. Several men have taken from six to ten thousand lobsters apiece; and when boiled they yielded them from two to seventeen cents a piece, according to their size.

In this vicinity, the lobsters, like the mackerel, are degenerating in size, and diminishing in number. They are caught when young and small, so that they have no chance to grow and multiply, and the race appears to be running out.-Salem Gazette.

Curious Circumstance.-The Germantown Telegraph says, for several years past, a pair of King Birds have established their royal apartments for the season, on the top of the large Buttonwood tree, standing in front of the Buttonwood Hotel, and directly opposite our office. Here they have reared their young unmolested, until the approach of autumn, when they commenced their journey for their palais d'hiver. A few days ago, a black bird was passing some distance over the abode of the King Bird, when the latter made a furious onslaught upon it, and struck it so severe a blow, that it fell to the earth completely stunned, when it was picked up and did not recover for some time after.

The Pope and Horse Racing. From the Magazine Pittoresque, (Translated for the American Penny Magazine.) The Pope has lately forbidden horseracing, railroads and bibles.

Horseracing is the favorite exhibition of the Carnival, a period of festivity which commences on the 7th of January, at one o'clock in the morning, when the bell of the capitol gives the signal. All classes of persons then emerge from their houses, and begin to crowd the ancient Flaminian way, now called the Corso, about half a mile long, which divides the city into two equal parts.

Formerly all the ancient heathen gods. and goddesses were represented by masked persons; but, through the influence of fashion alone, they are seen no longernothing but Punches and Judies, harlequins, mountebanks, song makers and singers, and fantastical personages of other kinds.

The horses intended to run on the last Carnival days, are led near the Gate of the People, placed in a line behind a rope drawn tight by a machine, with peacocks' feathers stuck in their heads, bits of copper, gilt paper, &c., shining here and there, and corks stuck with pins fastened to strings, to act as spurs when they run.

The Senator of Rome gives the signal for clearing the Corso with a trumpet, and, in a few moments, the carriages file out through the nearest streets, and the pedestrians range themselves on seats, or stand near the houses. The distance is usually run in two minutes and twenty-one seconds, which is about thirty-seven feet per second. The horses sometimes bite and kick each other in their strife to lead. To prepare them for the race, they are driven over the course several days previously, and fed at the end.

The horses were formerly furnished by the principal families of the city; the Borgheses, Colonnas, Barberinis, Santa Croces, &c., but now by stable keepers. When two cannon announce the termination of the race, the crowd disperse, exclaiming, "E morto Carnevale !" [The Carnival is dead!]

FIRE IN CHICROPEE FALLS.-On Wednesday night, between 11 and 12 o'clock, a fire broke out in a small two story frame building on the north side of the river, at Chickopee Falls, occupied by three families, which was consumed, together with most of the household effects and clothing of the occupants.One young woman had barely time to escape

without an article of clothing, but the night, dress she wore. A friend who was present at the fire relates the following anecdote :The house was occupied by some Irish families, and when the flames had got pretty well started, one of the Irishmen was noticed, busily employed in pouring water over his potatoe hills-a small patch of which adjoined the burning dwelling. His wife, a little more shrewd, (as all women are,) reproved him and asked, " why don't you holler_fire, Patrick? Och! indade," returned Pat"ye blundern woman-how can I holler when I have got to watter my pratees-don't you see they will burn up?" The Irishman's honest reply, showing his true Paddy preference for his potatoes, over wife, house or goods, created a great shout of laughter from the by-standers-Springfield Gazette.

66

HINDOSTAN.

Imagination itself can scarcely do justice to the varied and magnificent scenery of Hindostan. From the snowy summits of the Himalaya to the green slopes of Cape Comorin, from the steep Ghauts of Malabar to the sandy shores of Coromandel, it exhibits a succession of the most noble or beautiful features; at times stupendous ranges, their sides clothed with lofty forests, their peaks reposing in icy stillness; at others, vast plains rivalling the Delta of Egypt in richness, and, like it, submerged yearly by the fertil izing waters of the Ganges; her lofty ghauts running parallel, at a short distance from the shore of the ocean to the edge of its waters, and marking the line of demarcation between the low, rich or sandy plains on the seaside, and the elevated table-land, several thousand feet in height, in the interior; there, rugged hills or thick forests teeming with the riches of a southern sun.-The natural boundaries of India are the Himalaya range, and the mountains of Cabul and Candahar on the North; the splendid and rapid steam of the Indus, seventeen hundred miles in length, of which seven hundred and sixty are navigable, flowing impetuously from their perennial snows, on the North West; the deep and stagnant Irrawuddy, fourteen hundred miles in length, fed by the eastern extremity of the chain, and winding its way through the rank luxuriance of tropical vegetation, on the North East, and the encircling oceans on the coast of Malabar and Coromandel, on the South. Nature every where appears in this highly favored region in her most imposing array; the Himalaya mountains, surmounting even Chimborazo in elevation: the Indus rivalling the river of the Amazons in magnitude: the plain of Bengal, outstripping Mesopotamia itself in fertility-form some of the features of a country which from the earliest times has been the seat of civilization, and the fabled abode of opulence and magnificence. All the productions of the globe are to be found, and for the most part flourish to perfection, in the varied climate

and soils of this splendid peninsula. The forests, the fruits, the crops of Europe, are recognized by the traveller in the Himalaya Mountains, where the prodigy is exhibited of vallies tolerably peopled, and bearing crops, at the height of sixteen or seventeen thousand feet above the sea, or considerably above the summit of Mount Blanc, or the Great Glochner. The peach, the apricot, the nectarine, even apples, pears, and strawberries, refresh the European, to whom they recall, in a distant land and amidst Oriental luxuries, the images and enjoyments of his youth. Wheat, barley, and oats, with noble forests of teak and oak, flourish on the cool slopes of the mountains; while at their feet the vast plain of Bengal is covered to an incalculable extent with double crops yearly of rice, or thickets of bamboo canes, fed by the fertilizing floods, and, often to the breadth of a hundred miles, exhibits a sea of water interspersed only with tufts of wood, solitary palms, hamlets, and pagodas. Indigo grows in abundance in many districts, and forms a staple article of commerce to the country; sugar thrives as well as in the West Indies; grapes, melons, pine-apples, figs, dates, mangoes, are every where found in profusion, with many other fruits, still more delicious, peculiar to the Eastern Hemisphere. The elephant, at once the strongest, the most sagacious, and the most docile of animals; the camel, the ship of the desert; the horse, the companion and fellow soldier of man, alike flourish in a country where the tiger and rhinoceros rule the wilds of nature. Even the flowers and birds partake of the splendid character of creation: the roses of Cachmere and Dehl send their highly prized perfume through the world; the scarlet flowers of the ixora and mussonda, and innumerable other tropical plants, diffuse a blaze of beauty through the forrests; the scarlet plumage of the flamingo, the varied hues of the parrot, rival the colors of the setting sun. But

the woods are silent, or resound only with the harsh scream of the birds, or the fearful cry of birds of prey; no troops of feathered 3ongsters fill the air with their melodious voices, nor welcome in the breath of spring with the voice of gladness and the notes of love-Alison.

One of the most important and authentic sources of intelligence.

Whoever does not read the reports of our missionary societies, must necessarily be late in receiving many of the new and interesting facts which are sent us from foreign countries in the course of the year. We have now several hundred intelligent, educated and conscientious countrymen residing in most of the latitudes and climates of the earth, closely observing things around, writing home at regular intervals, whose communications are published

monthly, in popular and cheap magazines, now read by many thousands, with increasing pleasure and profit. These writers have many peculiar advantages for observation and inquiry, being in constant communication with natives of the countries in which they reside, and holding places. among them which claim respect and consideration. Having no selfish objects of pursuit, and being led or detained there by no intentions hostile to the people around, they are not in as much danger of viewing men or things through a dim or distorted medium, as if they were engaged in trade, or stationed as soldiers against the wish of the population, and perhaps against their own. On the contrary, their designs being philanthropic in the strongest sense of the word, and their lives being devoted to the study and pursuit of the highest good of all whom they can reach, their opinions must be expected to be formed with justice, and with abundant grounds, and due deliberation. Hence it is, that the information we derive from our missionaries may be relied on with greater confidence than that furnished by most other sources, while its amount is very great, and its nature various and valuable.

Few readers have probably estimated the amount and variety of valuable news sent to us within the past twenty, ten, or even five years through these channels. We have had volumes of the most accurate descriptions of countries and people before little known, with delineations of characters, manners and habits, natural productions in all the departments of the animal kingdom, important facts in history developed, the traits of numerous languages investigated and recorded, with facts illustrating the causes and effects of barbarism and civilization, never before brought to light.

Who that has read any of the numerous accounts we have had from these sources of India, Burmah, the Sandwich and Society Islands, the interior of South Africa, &c. &c., does not feel a sense of obligation to those accurate observers and faithful describers? And who can tell how much of what we now know respecting those and many other parts of the world, would have still remained imperfectly described, or wholly in the dark to us, but for their valuable labors?

It is said the attempts to abolish war is a task too Herculean to be practicable. First lop the branches.-The Calumet.

Brazilian Architecture. [Extracted from Kidder's Travels, for the Amr. Penny Mag. Concluded from our last number.]

RIO JANEIRIO.-The palace is a large stone building, exhibiting the old Portuguese style of architecture. It was long used as a residence by the Viceroys, and for a time by Dom Joao 6th, but is now appropriated to various public purposes, and contains a suite of rooms in which court is held on gala days.

The buildings at the rear of the public square were all erected for ecclesiastical purposes. The oldest was a Franciscan convent, but has long since been used for secular purposes. The old chapel remains, but has been superceded by the more recently erected imperial chapel which stands at its right. Adjoining it is that of the third order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, which is daily open, and is used as a cathedral.

The streets are generally quite narrow. They are paved with stones of a large size. The houses mostly exceed three stories in height, but nearly all are occupied by families even in streets wholly devoted to business, the first floors only are appropriated to the storage and display of goods, while families reside above.

Granite is a material of which nearly all the edifices are constructed. The outside walls, however, are not laid up with hewn blocks, but with finer and irregular fragments, cemented together, and coated with plastering. The color, therefore, is almost invariably a clear white, which, glittering in the sun, often reflects a brilliancy that is painful to the eye.

Maceio, in the province of Alagoas.Many of the houses in the extremities of the town are very small, and covered only with a thatch of the cocoa palm leaves.

Pernambuco.-Many of the houses are built in a style common in other parts of Brazil, six stories high, the first or ground floor, called the Armazan, occupied by the servants at night; the second, furnished apartments for the counting-room, clerks, &c; third & fourth, parlors and bed-rooms; the fifth, dining-rooms, and the sixth the kitchen. Hedges, at Rio, adorn many of the gardens.

Olinda.-Numbers in the town are overshadowed, and wholly or partly hid by plantains, mangairas, cajuoros and other

trees.

But this abundance of agreeable shade contrasts strongly with the exposed region which the traveller has to pass be

tween that place and Recife, which is a perfect naked sand beach.

An amusing story is told of a trick once played by some wag, on a man who had built himself a splendid house at Pernambuco, with his ill-gotten wealth from the slave trade. He laid out a spacious garden, erecting a veranda, which he ornamented with numerous statues. One mor

ning they all appeared changed to negroes, having been completely bedaubed with black paint in the night.

Curious Relic.-On Wednesday last, while the workmen were engaged in taking off the sarking from the open couples of the north transept of the cathedral, in the cleft where the couples are joined to the oxter-piece, a stuffed fish, with a ring in its snout, was found, covered with dust. It is about twelve inches in length, and the skin is in the best state of preservation. What it is stuffed with we could not discover, but the sewing up at the belly is quite discernible. It is of a species formerly known in this city by the popular name of the Braize, and of which there were immense numbers in the Clyde in former days. We have no doubt whatever that this fish has been used, very ingeniously, to eke out the armorial bearings of the city, for some part of the cathedral, as a piece of wire still projects from its side, and by which it must have been attached to "the tree that never grew." It is supposed that it must have lain in the situation in which it was found upon Wednesday, for at least three or four hundred years.-Glasgow Constitutional.

Raising Cucumbers.-"As soon as there appear several flower buds on a plant, bend the second or third joint or branch below the bloom, fasten it firmly in the ground, and cut off the capillary point of the plant. The vegetable speedily takes root when you separate it from the parent stalk. Proceed thus with the most vigorous plants; and as each root has only to support a few fruits with nourishment, you save labor and procure a constant succession of cucumbers, for a number of months, from one sort, and which are not as likely to degenerate as if they were raised from a variety of seed."--Boston Cul

tivator.

As the Russians approached Adrianople, the people of the villages, as soon as they were assured of protection, instead of embodying and fighting the enemy to the last, laid down their arms and returned to their homes.-The Calumet.

THE DRAGON FLY.

Here is another of those insects against which we are prejudiced from our childhood. Partly because they are called spindles, darning-needles, and other names which convey ideas of their being able and disposed to inflict injury; and partly because in shape they resemble large wasps, many persons regard them with apprehension, with suspicion or at least with dislike. Few ever takes the pains to learn anything of their nature or habits; and it is not the fashion to teach children even the simplest facts in Natural History, or to lead them to suppose they are of any importance or interest. The truth is, the dragon-fly is not only a beautiful insect, but a harmless one-but indisposed and unable to inflict any injury upon us; and it is moreover very curious in its habits, and well worthy of attention to an intelligent and reflecting observer.

One presents us with this insect in the act of passing from his aquatic to his form and element. After inhabiting the water for about a year, first as a lavoa, and then as a nymph with six legs, moving with great activity, by the power of its breathing apparatus alone, although it has six legs; it rises on some plant, soon bursts from its skin and takes the shape in which we more frequently see it.

The gracefulness of its form, and the brilliancy of its hues in some parts, now give it a claim to a more commendatory appellation than it bears in our language, which the French have admitted by calling them "Demoiselle," or young ladies.

Cape Minerals.-Some enterprising people in the eastern provinces are at this moment shipping large quantities of lead ore at Port Elizabeth, a beautiful specimen of which may be seen at the public library, Cape-town. In the vicinity of Kroom River, some time ago, a slender vein of coal was discovered, and near the Bushman's River an extensive vein of alum, particularly beautiful in its structure, the colour being purely white, of silky lustre, exhibiting delicate fibres, six or eight inches in length, running parallel, sometimes straight, sometimes undulating. It is very pure alum, and valuable. The lead ore is found in the same region, and it promises to become a valuable article of export. 40 or 50 years ago this lead ore was thought worthy of attention. It was mentioned by Barrow and other writers as a rich lead ore of species known by the name of "galena" (lead mineralized with sulphur.) The masses seen by Mr. Barrow had no appearance of cubic crystalization, but were gianular or amphorous in some species; the surfaces in others made up of small facets, called by miners white silver ore; the vein of the ore was three inches wide and one thick, increasing in size as it advanced under the stratum of rock with which it was covered. The matrix is a quartose sandstone of a yellowish tinge, cellular and fibrous, harsh to the touch, and easily broken. Of this ore, when assayed by Major Van Dheu, an officer in the Dutch service, 200lb. weight yielded 100lb. of pure lead, ond 8oz. of silver.South African Commercial Advertiser.

Railway Projects this Session.-A curious return has just been officially prepared, giving a list of all the railway projects submitted to the consideration of the Board of Trade, showing the date at which each such project was received, and specifying those upon which the Board of Trade have already reported to Parliament. This return occupies five closely printed folio pages, merely enumerating the names of the railways under which the plans were deposited, between the 21st of November and the 3d of December last. The 30th of November was the day named at the time as being the last on which they could be received. In this return there were enumerated the names of no fewer than 248 railways which have been projected, and for which plans have been duly prepared. Only 18 of those projects remain to be reported upon by the board.London Globe.

Wherever the elements of free citizenship and of Jesuitism come in contact, there is instantly combat, as of fire and water. One either absorbs or ejects the other.M. Thiers.