and revive to visit again "the glimpses of the moon," differs in the different species. The Pipistrelle, or common British bat, is the soonest roused from its lethargic trance. It usually appears in March, and does not retire until the winter has decidedly set in, and its insect food has disappeared. Yet during the winter it will often rouse up and flit about, and that too during the middle of the day, as we have ourselves often witnessed. We have seen it abroad in November and December, though the weather was cold, and a friend shot one of these bats just before Christmas in the middle of the day, which, though the temperature was near or at the freezing-point, was clear and bright. The Noctule appears at the latter end of April, and seeks its winter dormitory in August. The long-eared bat (Plecotus auritus) is active in the early part of October. The various species of our bats differ more or less distinctly from each other in the style and character of their flight. The Pipistrelle flits quickly, making abrupt and zigzag turns, and often skims near the ground; the Noctule, which was first noticed as an English bat by White, sweeps high in the air on powerful wings, whence he termed it altivolans. On one occasion we saw three or four of this species wheeling round a row of sycamore trees in Kent, uttering continually sharp grating cries. The chafer (Melolontha vulgaris) was at the same time flying about in great numbers, and no doubt proved a source of attraction to them. The flight of the long-eared bat is rapid, and it makes large circles, or courses to and fro like the swallow. In the aërial evolutions of the bats, the tail and membrane extending between the two hind limbs act as a rudder, enabling the animals to turn more or less abruptly: it would seem moreover that the tail is to a certain extent a prehensile organ. Mr. Bell, who first noticed the circumstance, observes, that a small portion of the tail in most of our bats is exserted beyond the margin of the interfemoral membrane, and in ascending or descending any rough perpendicular surface this little caudal finger hooks upon such projections as occur, so as to add to the creature's security. When a bat traverses the wires of a cage this action of the tail is particularly conspicuous. themselves off as if endeavouring to fly. They ate flies when offered to them, seizing them with the greatest eagerness, and devouring them greedily, all of them congregating together at the end of the box at which they were fed, crawling over, snapping at, and biting each other, at the same time uttering a grating kind of squeak. Cooked meat was next presented to them, and rejected; but raw beef was eaten by them with avidity, and with an evident preference for such pieces as had been moistened with water. This answered a double purpose: the weather being warm, numbers of bluebottle flies (Musca vomitoria, Linn.) were attracted by the meat, and on approaching within range of the bat's wings were struck down by their action, the animal itself falling at the same moment with all its membranes expanded and cowering over the prostrate fly, with its head thrust under, in order to secure its prey. When the head was again drawn forth, the membranes were immediately closed, and the fly was observed to be invariably taken by the head. Mastication appeared to be a laboured occupation, consisting of a succession of eager bites or snaps, the sucking process (if it may be so termed) by which the insect was drawn into the mouth being much assisted by the looseness of the lips. Several minutes were employed in devouring a large fly. In the first instance the flies were eaten entire, but Mr. Daniell afterwards observed detached wings in the bottom of the box. These, however, he never saw rejected, and he is inclined to think that they are generally swallowed. A slice of beef attached to the side of the box was found not only to save trouble in feeding, but also, by attracting the flies, to afford good sport in observing the animals obtain their food by this new kind of bat-fowling. Their olfactory nerves appear to be very acutely sensible. When hanging by their posterior extremities and attached to one of the bars in front of the cage, a small piece of beef at a little distance from their noses would remain unnoticed; but when a fly was placed in the same situation, they would instantly begin snapping at it. The beef they would eat when hungry, but they never refused a fly. In the daytime they often clustered together in a corner, but towards the evening they became very lively, and gave rapid utterance to their harsh grating notes. One of them died on the fifth day after they came into Mr. Daniell's possession, two on the fourteenth, the fourth survived until the eighteenth, and the fifth until the nineteenth day." Each was found to contain a single young one. On the 16th of May, 1834, the same gentleman procured five specimens of the Noctule bat, four females and a male. The latter, which died in two days, was very impatient of confinement, restless and savage, snapping at the females and breaking his teeth in his attempts to escape by biting the wires of the cage. He constantly rejected food. The females were also at first sulky, but in about two days began to eat, preferring small bits of beef in preference to flies, beetles, or gentles. In the course of a few days three of these died, each found to be pregnant with a single offspring. The survivor lived for more than a month, and fed in preference upon the hearts and livers of fowls: she rejected large flies, but partially devoured one or two chafers (Melolontha In the Proceedings of the Zoological Society' for vulgaris). In taking food, it was remarked that the 1834 we find the following interesting details relative wings were not thrown forward as in the Pipistrelle, to the habits of the Pipistrelle in captivity, by Mr. G. the food being seized with an action similar to that of Daniell. In July, 1833, he received five specimens of a dog. The water that drained from the food was this little bat from Elvetham, Hampshire; all were lapped, but the Noctule did not raise its head in drinkfemales, and pregnant. "They had been kept in a tining as the Pipistrelle was observed to do. This Noctule powder-canister for several days, and on being turned loose into a common packing-case with a few strips of deal nailed over it to form a cage, they exhibited much activity, progressing rapidly along the bottom of the box, ascending the bars to the top, and then throwing White observes that it is a common notion that bats will descend chimneys "and gnaw men's bacon," and adds that the story is by no means improbable, as a tame bat did not refuse raw flesh, though insects seemed to be most acceptable. The common bat often enters larders, and has been seen clinging to a joint of meat in the act of making a hearty meal upon it. Of this circumstance we are assured by Mr. Bell. That bats can be tamed is a remarkable fact; but various species differ in the degrees of their docility. Mr. White's bat, a Pipistrelle, was so tame, that it would take flies out of a person's hand. "If you gave it anything to eat it brought its wings round before the mouth, hovering, and hiding its head in the manner of birds of prey when they feed. The adroitness it showed in shearing off the wings of the flies, which were always rejected, was worthy of observation, and pleased me much." took great pains in cleansing herself; she used the hinder limbs as combs, parting the hair on either side from head to tail, and forming a straight line down the middle of the back. The membrane of the wings was cleaned by the creature's nose, which it forced through 66 purposely across the apartment. This endowment, which almost exceeds belief, has been abundantly demonstrated by the experiments of Spallanzani and others: it is the sense of touch refined to the highest and most exquisite degree of perfection. Thus are the bats aërial in feeling as in habits. Full, then, of interest is the history of our British Bats, of which we have selected a few details. To watch their ways and actions, what time evening assumes "her gradual dusky veil," when the silence of the tranquil scene is unbroken, save by their sharp reiterated cry, the churr of the goatsucker, and drowsy hum of the shard-borne beetle, is alike pleasing to the contemplative man and the naturalist. THE PRIVILEGES AND LIABILITIES OF the folds so as to expand them. During her captivity | through apertures, or the interspaces of threads placed she brought forth a single offspring perfectly destitute of hair and blind: this she wrapped up so closely as to prevent any observation being made. In the evening of the day after giving birth to her offspring she died. But the young one was alive, and attached to the teat of the mother; whence it was removed, wrapped in warm flannel, and fed with milk, which it took from a sponge. It survived eight days, at which time its eyes had not opened, and it had acquired very little hair. The long-cared bat seems to be far more docile than the Noctule. In captivity this elegant species is confident and familiar, very careful in cleaning its fur, and enjoying to gambol and play with others of its species, pretending to bite as we see dogs do when in good-humoured sport. Mr. Bell informs us that Mr. James Sowerby possessed a long-eared bat, which when at liberty in the parlour would come to the hand of those who held a fly towards it, and take the insect without hesitation. If the insect were held between the lips, the bat would then settle on its young patron's cheek, and take the fly with great gentleness from the mouth; and so far was this familiarity carried, that when either of my young friends made a humming noise with the mouth in imitation of an insect, the bat would search about the lips for the promised dainty." The Barbastelle (Vespertilio Barbastellus, Linn.) is timid and restless, and very impatient of confinement. This bat seems to become torpid more readily than most of our British bats, and also more completely so. The reddish-grey bat (Vespertilio Nattereri) was found by Mr. Bell to be very familiar and confiding, readily taking food from the hand; while the whiskered bat (V. mystacinus) is timid and restless, and, refusing food, soon dies after its capture. The Barbastelle, the long-eared bat, and the two last mentioned, often hybernate in caverns. Mr. Bell's specimens were found with others in a large chalk cavern in Kent excavated at the bottom of a shaft seventy feet deep. With regard to the senses possessed by these interesting animals, those of smell and hearing are, as might be expected from the development of their respective organs, wonderfully acute. Connected with the refinement of these senses, we often find, as in the horse-shoe bat, the nose furnished with a membranous foliation of most delicate structure and complex in its arrangement; or, as in the long-eared bat, the external membranous ears largely expanded, having furrows and an inner reduplication, and capable of being folded down. The sight also is quick, and the position of the eyes, which are small, but bright, is favourable for the chase and accurate seizure of insects during rapid flight. There is a singular property with which the bat is endowed, too remarkable and curious to be passed altogether unnoticed. The wings of these creatures consist, as we have seen, of a delicate and nearly naked membrane of vast amplitude considering the size of the body; but besides this, the nose is in some furnished with a membranous foliation, and in others the external membranous ears are enormously developed. Now these membranous tissues have their sensibility so high, that something like a new sense thereby accrues, as if in aid of that of sight. The modified impressions which the air in quiescence, or in motion, however slight, communicates; the tremulous jar of its currents, its temperature, the indescribable condition of such portions of air as are in contact with different bodies, are all apparently appreciated by the bat. If the eyes of a bat be covered up, nay, if it be even cruelly deprived of sight, it will pursue its course about a room with a thousand obstacles in its way, avoiding them all, neither dashing against a wall nor flying foul of the smallest thing, but threading its way with the utmost precision and quickness, and passing adroitly ACCUSTOMED as we are to the use of articles of foreign produce, and conscious as we may be of the vast maritime arrangements involved in the importation of such articles into England, there are yet probably few, unconnected commercially with the subject, who bestow much thought on the privileges conceded to English shipping, ship-owners, and commanders, in this respect. The tea, the sugar, the hemp, the timber, the wine, which find their way to England, must obviously do so in ships belonging either to British or to foreign ship-owners; and the determination of the ratio in which this freighting privilege shall be divided has led to laws and regulations which merit a little attention. Mr. M'Culloch states that so long ago as the reign of Henry VII. a law existed whereby the importation of certain commodities was prohibited, unless imported in ships belonging to British owners and manned by British seamen. In the early part of the reign of Elizabeth foreign ships were excluded from our fisheries and coasting-trade. In the time of the Commonwealth foreign ships, belonging to whatever nation, were prohibited from trading with the plantations in America, without having previously obtained a licence. These however were minor regulations, quite eclipsed by a law passed in 1651, which gave a tinge to the maritime transactions of England from that time down to a comparatively recent period. England was at that period in bitter enmity with Holland, whose shipowners were the great carriers for nearly all the nations of Europe; and it was to crush this power in a rival nation that the republican parliament passed the law in question. By the terms of this enactment, no goods or commodities whatever, grown, produced, or manufactured in Asia, Africa, or America, could be imported into England, Ireland, or the Colonies, except in ships belonging to English subjects, and of which the master and the greater number of the crew were also English. The import-trade of three out of the four quarters of the globe having been thus secured to the English ship-owners, the act proceeded to secure to them as much as possible of the European trade; and for this purpose it declared that no commodities of any European country should be imported into England, except by English ships, or by ships belonging to the countries where the exported goods were produced. This latter clause was intended expressly to act against the Dutch; for scarcely any of their produce came at that time to England, the merchant-ships of Holland having more frequently come to this country in the capacity of carriers for other countries. By the new law, any commodities imported from France, Spain, or Italy, for example, were to be brought either in English ships, or in French, Spanish, or Italian ships, as the case might be; thus excluding the carrying ships of Holland. Shortly afterwards the prohibition was relaxed to this extent that while Russian and Turkish produce, as well as timber, grain, tar, hemp, flax, wine, spirits, sugar, and a few other articles, were to remain subject to the above regulations, all other commodities might be imported in any ships whatever. But this change was of little importance, for all the most important articles came under the "exceptions." In the reign of Charles II. the national animosity between England and Holland led to an enactment of extreme rigour, carrying the maritime exclusiveness to an extravagant extent; for it prohibited the importation from Holland, the Netherlands, and Germany, of a long list of commodities, under any circumstances, or in any vessels, whether British or foreign, under the penalty of seizure and confiscation of the ships and goods. This last-mentioned act was virtually one of exclusion rather than of commercial regulation; but it had for many years considerable influence on foreign ship owners. It was not until a very recent period (1833) that these laws were placed upon such a footing as to allow to foreign ships a privilege at all analogous to that enjoyed by English; and this change was only wrought when experience showed that other nations were about to retaliate. It may be flattering to the national vanity to know that British ships and British seamen are employed to bring foreign produce to our shore; but the maintenance of an analogous principle by other countries would be a perfectly just retaliation. The Americans in 1787, and the Northern powers of Europe at a later period, adopted, or proposed to adopt, measures avowedly copied from the navigation laws of England; so that if timely concessions had not been made, the English ship-owners would have severely suffered. officers. Vessels which are claimed by their owners to be placed on the registry, must be the property of the British sovereign's subjects, and must have been built in the British dominions or dependencies, or have been prize vessels legally condemned. The collectors and comptrollers of the Customs are generally the parties who register the shipping, and who grant certificates of registry to the owners. So severe are the laws in this respect, that if any ship were to exercise the privileges of a British ship before the owners have obtained a certificate of registry, the ship with the whole of its contents would become forfeited to the crown, and might be seized by the officers of the Customs. In order to reduce the immense mass of shipping within something like navigable order, every registered ship is supposed to "belong" to some particular British port, the Customs' officers of which grant the requisite certificate, and make the requisite entry in the register. The port to which a ship is said to belong is generally the nearest one to the residence of the chief owner of the vessel. The proprietorship of every ship, if there be more than one owner, is supposed to be divided into sixty-four equal parts or shares, which may be held by few or many shareholders, not exceeding thirty-two; and not only must every shareholder's name be entered on the certificate of registry, but if any transfer of shares should take place, the registry must be re-effected. No person, with some few exceptions, who has taken the oath of allegiance to a foreign power can become the owner of a British ship. In order that the registry may be a bona fide one, it is necessary that the kind and quality of the ship be recorded; and in order to effect this, every ship is thoroughly examined and surveyed before registry by certain Customs' officers and shipwrights, to determine the tonnage and the general character of the ship. The ship is registered by a particular name, which is not to be afterwards changed. If the vessel after being registered undergoes any material alterations, it must be registered anew. If the vessel undergoes repairs in a foreign country exceeding the amount of 17. per ton burden, it ceases to be a British ship, unless the owners or commander can show that such repairs were absolutely necessary at the time for the safe completion of the voyage. The regulations which came into force nine years ago, respecting the relative privileges of British and foreign shipping in importing foreign produce into England, involve the following as the chief points:A list of what are called" enumerated articles" includes those which must be imported under one of these three circumstances; in British ships; in ships of the country where the goods were produced; or in ships of the country from whence the goods were shipped. It will thus be perceived that a great many condiThis list includes masts, timber, boards, tar, tallow, tions must be fulfilled before a vessel can rank as a hemp, flax, currants, raisins, figs, prunes, olive oil, British ship, and share in the privileges granted to corn or grain, wine, brandy, tobacco, wool, shumac, British shipping. But besides the vessel itself, there madder, madder-roots, barilla, brimstone, oak-bark, are other matters to be attended to before a ship can cork, oranges, lemon, linseed, rape-seed, and clover-engage in commerce as a British ship. For instance, seed. Goods which are the produce or growth or manufacture of Asia, Africa, or America, are not to be imported into England from any European country, with some few exceptions: this evidently has relation to the employment of English shipping, in preference to foreign European shipping, in bringing produce from distant countries to England. All goods imported from the Channel Islands must freight British ships only. All exports to our own colonies are to be in British ships; as likewise goods carried coastwise from one part of the British Islands to another, or from any one of our colonies to another. Lastly, any goods taken to one of our colonies in a foreign ship must be so taken only in a ship of the country where the goods were produced, or from whence they were exported. As many advantages are thus given to English shipping over those of foreign countries, it may be asked how these British ships may be always able to designate themselves and to maintain their identity as such. This is effected by a remarkable system of registration maintained through the medium of the Custom-House every such ship must be navigated during the whole These regulations render necessary a determination of the question, not only what constitutes a British ship, but who are British seamen? A British seaman, in the legal acceptation of the term, must be a naturalborn subject of the British sovereign, or must have been naturalized by act of parliament, or must have been made a denizen, or have become a British subject by the conquest or cession of some newly-acquired territory, or (being a foreigner) must have served on board an English ship of war, in time of war, for the space of three years. Any of these may obtain the privileges, such as they are, of British seamen, and are protected by certain laws respecting hiring, payment | should go on to Barnaoul on wheels, a distance of two hundred of wages, and the conduct of their officers. and eighty versts: but the road was represented as good, and we A committee of the House of Commons, appointed were told we should find much snow, it being mostly over a dead in 1836 to inquire into the causes of the numerous flat. Accordingly the carriage was fortified with very strong shipwrecks which occurred about that time, suggested, ashen shafts, which were fixed all round it, so as to force a pasin reference to the registration of ships and seamen, sage through the snow in the case of need; and thus we started that a Mercantile Marine Board,' appointed for the it was evident we had not reached the maximum, and that every for Barnaoul. Bad as our journey had been for some time past, control of merchant-ships generally, should perfect "a day the roads would be worse, till the snow had settled down system of classification of ships, to the utmost attain-into solidity, which, in parts where there is little communication, able point of accurately defining, by such classification, requires some time. We had generally ten or twelve horses the the real state and condition of every ship registered;" whole of this journey, and did not with all average above five --should" collect information as to the best materials versts an hour. Our first stage was mountainous; but after that for building, surveying, fitting-out, equipping, load- the steppes began again, with driving snow and wind, almost ing, and furnishing with the requisite supply of men, amounting to what is called in this country a buran, or whirlprovisions, water, and boats, all ships built and regis- wind, which is often fatal to travellers if accompanied with snow tered in the United Kingdom;"-should form certain in any quantity. Having tried the effects of fire, water, and air, standards of qualification in seamanship, navigation, under their most fearful forms, we are inclined to give the preand nautical astronomy, to be attained by officers and eminence in point of horror to the latter. A buran which overmasters before receiving licences of appointment in get out of the right track, and the only danger is being buried you in a forest is less formidable, because you cannot well the merchant-service;-and should form registry-offices alive in the snow. But in an open steppe country, when it is for recording the name, age, capacity, and character very violent, the snow which is falling becomes whirled round, of British merchant-seamen, with a view to advance and mixed with that which the wind raises from the ground; so the praiseworthy and set aside the unfitting. These that in broad daylight the driver cannot see an inch before him, recommendations have not yet been acted on. Mean- and does not know whether he is going to the right or to the left. while the " underwriters," or insurers of ships, have Many fatal accidents occur in this way; carriages being rolled adopted a system of registration for their own pur-down precipices, or men and horses frozen to death in the drifted poses well worthy of our notice in a future article. snow, which naturally collects round the only object which interrupts its course for miles and miles.---Cottrell's Recollections of Siberia. Usefulness of Moles.-Our Correspondent, whose communication on the utility of moles in destroying the wire-worm and other grubs which feed on the plants of the young corn will be found in No. 618, has furnished the following additional information on this subject:-" I had," he says, "a small field of rye-grass and clover, oue end of which, early in the spring, was like a honeycomb from workings of moles. A farmer would have destroyed the workers; I, on the contrary, protected them, and not one was destroyed: but I took care to level the mould which they threw up almost every day; and now to the practical result. I lately cut my crop, which was a very good one generally; but at the end, where the moles worked, the crop was better than in any other part; and now not a mole can be discovered in the field. They did the work designed to them by a wise Providence-ate up all the grubs which would have destroyed my young plants, and then took their departure to some neighbour's field, where doubtless they will be trapped. Another remark as regards birds: for example, as to those small birds which are seen upon fruit-trees, such as the titmouse: the vulgar opinion is that they destroy the buds, and thus injure or ruin the crop. Now I never suffer one of that kind of birds to be killed, but rejoice to see them, and protect them; and I would rather see a superabundance of sparrows than none at all, even by way of profit; and the consequence is, that I have very frequently had a crop of fruit when my neighbours have had none. Again, as you pass cottage-gardens, you very frequently see the leaves eaten off the cabbages and gooseberry and currant bushes growing near the doors by caterpillars; whilst cabbages in the fields and fruit-trees at a distance from houses are flourishing and left uutouched. Here again the same cause is in operation; the small birds, which would have destroyed the insects, are driven from the doors, but perform their natural operations at a distance from them." takes Importance of Cities.-If the history of cities and of their influence on their respective territories be deducted from the history of humanity, the narrative remaining would be, as we suspect, of no very attractive description. In such case, the kind of picture which human society must everywhere have presented would be such as we see in the condition, from the earliest time, of the wandering hordes of Mongolians and Tartars, spread over the vast flats of Central Asia. In those regions scarcely anything has been "made " by man. But this most happy circumstance, as it seems to be accounted-this total absence of anything reminding you of human skill and industry-has never been found to realize our poetic ideas of pastoral beauty and innocence. It has called forth enough of the squalid and of the ferocious, but little of the refined, the powerful, or the generous. If anything be certain, it would seem to be certain that man is constituted to realize his destiny from his association with man, more than from any contact with places. The great agency in calling forth his capabilities, whether for good or for evil, is that of his fellows. The picturesque, accordingly, may be with the country, but the intellectual, speaking generally, must be with the town. Agriculture may possess its science, and the farmer, as well as the landowner, may not be devoid of intelligence; but in such connexions, the science and intelligence, in common with the nourishment of the soil, must be derived, in the main, from the studies prosecuted in cities, and from the wealth realized in the traffic of cities. If pasturage is followed by tillage, and if tillage is made to partake of the nature of a study and a science, these signs of improvement are peculiar to lands in which cities make their appearance, and they become progressive only as cities become opulent and powerful.-Dr. Vaughan's Age of Cities. Fossil Trees.-During the progress of the works for reclaimAutumnal Travelling in Siberia.-We made our first journeying the extensive waste called White Moss, between Middleton en traineau here; and bad enough it was in that way-on wheels and Failsworth, a large number of trees, of enormous magnitude, it would have been impossible. The road was very mountain- have been discovered at a depth of about six feet; some of the ous, and lay through forests for eight or ten versts together, oaks have been nearly twelve feet in girth and forty feet in where the snow was drifted to the height of many feet; through length. Several trees of the oak, fir, and yew tribe have been which we had to force our way, it not being yet sufficiently hard found to be thoroughly sound, even to the outermost part. to resist the horses' feet. In the rapid descents we constantly Many of the oak-trees have proved more tough and flexible than rolled over and over; and three horses to a light traineau had the this tree is under ordinary circumstances. A large quantity of greatest difficulty in getting up the long steep hills of snow, the timber has most unquestionably been on fire. It seems that where there was no solid footing for them. What we should during some remote age the fossil-trees at White Moss have been have done with our carriage on such roads we know not; and we burat, for there are examples of the main shaft of these timbers had still a long journey before us before we should come to any having been consumed. Singular as it may appear, the trees town where we could leave it till our return from the far East, found in this moss have invariably been met with lying in a and to take it on the whole way was out of the question. The direction either south-east or due cast. next day a council of war was held; when it was decided we [Chandalas. From Les Hindoos' of Solvyn.] THE CASTES AND TRIBES OF INDIA. THE Institution of castes in India is one of the most curious chapters in the social history of mankind. The distinction of ranks and the separation of professions appear to have been established before the remotest era which Hindoo tradition reaches. According to their sacred books the Brahmen proceeded from the mouth of the Creator, which is the seat of wisdom; the Cshatriya from his arm; the Vaisya from his thigh; and the Sudra from his foot. These castes comprise the four orders of a primitive state of society. The Brahmen were priests, the Cshatriyas soldiers, the Vaisyas husbandmen, and the Sudras servants and labourers. The Hindoo religion teaches its followers that it would be impious to confound these different orders. This distinction of caste is the framework of Hindoo society, and all its inconveniences and palpable injustice have been submitted to for ages from a sense of religious duty. The punishment for crime varies in severity with the caste to which the offender belongs, and while the law is merciless towards the Sudra, its force is mitigated when persons of the three higher castes are brought within its reach. In other matters the abuse of natural rights is equally outrageous. For the interest of money on loan the Brahmen only pays two per cent., while three per cent. is exacted from the Cshatriya, four per cent. from the Vaisya, and five per cent. from the Sudra. Mill says:-"As much as the Brahmen is an object of veneration, so much is No. 692. the Sudra an object of contempt and even of abhor- |