, and has been supposed to draw blood from its
breast for their support." We thought this error had long since been
expunged from natural history, and lament to find it credulously quoted
in a book of the year 1830.

_Eyes._--Large animals have small eye-balls in proportion to their size:
this is very remarkably the case with the whales, as might be seen in
the skeleton of the gigantic whale lately exhibited in London. Those
animals which are much under ground have the globe of the eye also very
small, as the mole and shrew: in the former of these instances its
existence was long altogether denied, and it is not, in fact, larger
than a pin's head.

_Teeth._--The numerous teeth of crocodiles have this peculiarity of
structure, that in order to facilitate their change, there are always
two, (or sometimes three,) of which one is contained within the other.

_Bills of Birds._--Of all bills the most extraordinary is that of the
cross-bill, in which the two mandibles cross each other at a
considerable angle, for this formation seems to be directly opposed to
the natural purposes of a bill. The bird, however, contrives to pick out
the seeds from the cones of the fir, and it is limited to that species
of nourishment.

_Barbel._--Captain Heaviside, of Egham Hythe, while fishing for Roach
with No. 10 hook, in the deeps at Staines Bridge, a few days ago, hooked
and landed a barbel; after playing him for one hour and three quarters,
during which time he could not get a sight of him. The weight of this
fine fish was exactly 11 lbs. 2 ozs.; he measured 2 feet 10 inches in
length, and 1 foot 4 inches in girth.

C.H.

_Impromptu on seeing the Monuments in St. Paul's Cathedral covered with
scrawled names._

Oh! for a curse upon his head
Who dares insult the noble dead,
And basely scrawl his worthless name
Upon the records of their fame!
Nelson, arise! thy country gave
A heartfelt tear, a hallow'd grave:
Her eyes are dry, her recreant sons
Dare to profane thy mould'ring bones!
And you, ye heroes of the past,
Who serv'd your country to the last,
And bought her freedom with your blood,
Cornwallis, Duncan, Collingwood!
Rise, if ye can, and mark the wretch
Who dares his impious arm to stretch
And scrawl upon the graves of those
Who gave him freedom and repose!
And can no rev'rence for the dead
Ye heartless crew, no sense of dread
To place your names on aught so high
As e'en the tombs