shelter to the creatures of God's mercy when the 'waters prevailed,
and were increased greatly on the earth,' till 'all in whose nostrils
was the breath of life, and all that was in the dry land, died!'

"Though distant forty miles at least from the base of Ararat, the
magnitude of the mountain, of about the centre of which our elevated
position now placed us abreast, caused it to appear contiguous to our
route, and produced that indefinable thrill and sense of humility
which the immediate presence of any vast and overpowering object is so
eminently calculated to generate. I continued to gaze until the
decline of day warned us to seek a shelter, and Phoebus, casting a
parting glance at the crystal summit of the noble glacier, for a
moment diffused over all a soft rosy tint,[20] then sunk into the west
and left the world in darkness."

[20] This peculiar effect of the setting sun on snow-covered
mountains has been observed by other travellers in other
regions. In Switzerland the phenomenon is by no means
rare.

"And sun-set into rose hues sees them wrought."

_Byron._

* * * * *

NUTRIA FUR.

(_To the Editor._)

I read with much pleasure the article in your Number, 574, on Nutria
Fur: it was, to me, particularly acceptable, as I have been connected
for the last ten years with an establishment where, on an average,
150,000 Nutria Skins are annually manufactured, and the wool cut for
the use of hatters. I have searched every book of travels in Brazil,
&c., that I could procure, and the chief English works on zoology,
without being able to gather any description of the scientific name or
habits of the animal. All the information I could collect was from the
captains of various vessels that had visited Buenos Ayres, and brought
cargoes of skins; but their accounts were extremely vague and
unsatisfactory.

I perceive, however, that you have overlooked a peculiarity generally
attributed to the animal, which, if true, is, in my opinion, deserving
notice: viz.--the position of the female's teats, which are not placed
on the belly, as with most animals, but on the side, approaching to
the back, by which means it is enabled to suckle its young on both
sides at once, whilst swimming on the surface of the water; and it
presents, I have understood, a singular group to the observant
traveller.

I have sent the skin of a female Nutria h