nd in the vicinity of Cuevas de Vera
the remains of elephants have been found, isolated and distributed in
different directions, proving the existence of a more tropical climate
in former times than now prevails in those districts.

* * * * *

In the Paris ACADEMY OF SCIENCES an extended Report was read at a recent
meeting from a committee on M. ROCHET D'HERICOURT'S third journey in
Abyssinia, in the northern part. He started in 1847, and returned in
1849. In Geography he determined directly, by observation of the
meridian heights of the sun, the latitude of a large number of
geographical points in Egypt, in Arabia Petraea, along the coasts of the
Red Sea, and in the north of Abyssinia. His meteorological observations
were constant, and are pronounced especially exact. So, those of the
magnetic inclination. The results are furnished in the Report. He
attended closely and successfully to the geology of the regions which he
traversed. The geological constitution of Abyssinia is now made known
over the greater part of its surface. The herbary which the traveller
brought to the Museum of Natural History, consists of 150 species, the
most of them, however, of plants already known. Three new ones are
described. He succeeded in getting home a sheep of Abyssinia, remarkable
for the long hairs of its fleece. Some of his specimens of fish are new.
Much attention is given to his new species of _Epeira_, or silk-spider.
At the sight of the silk which forms the web of the insect, he conceived
the hope that it might be turned to account for the silk-manufacture. It
is very fine and soft, long and firm enough, and of a beautiful yellow
color. This spider inhabits the large trees, shrubbery, and hedges, and
extends its webs to the neighboring habitations; and the webs are nearly
all more than a yard in diameter. The quantity is prodigious. "M.
d'Hericourt," says the Report, "like every person who has attempted
tissues with spiders' webs or cocoons, has not sufficiently regarded the
difficulty of domesticating them, as is done with the silk-worm, in
order to multiply them adequately, and provide them with such insects of
prey, or sufficient nourishment." The Committee proposed the formal
thanks of the Academy to the traveller, for the scientific harvest of
his new journey, and an expression of the interest felt in the speedy
publication of his narrative.

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SHOOT