the coffee-plants, the acacia, &c. This is the kermes,
or gronilla of Spain, about which so much has been said in endeavouring
to identify it with the grona fina. At all events, this is the same
species as the gronilla found on the hairs of the green oaks in Andalusia;
and in some years large and valuable crops of the gronilla are gathered
in that part of Spain by the peasantry, and sold to the Moors to dye
their scarlet.

The gardener at Cambridge could not inform Dr. Gorman how long the
insects had been there, or from whence they came, but they went there by
the appellation of "amelca bug." The gardener found these insects very
destructive to plants upon which they fostered, and although he tried
every means short of injuring the plants to remove them, he found it
impossible, as they adhere to the leaves and parts of the stem with such
tenacity, and are so prolific, that the young ones are often found
spreading themselves over the neighbouring plants. On this account, it
would be worth while to attempt the cultivation of the prickly pear in
the open air in this country, and place the insects upon them, for in all
probability the insects would, by good management, do well.

[1] It is computed that there have been imported into Europe no less a
quantity than 880,000 lbs. weight of cochineal in one year!

* * * * *

_Fossil Turtle._

The remains of a sea turtle have lately been discovered, and are now in
the possession of Mr. Deck, of Cambridge. It is imbedded in a mass of
septaria, weighing upwards of 150 pounds, with two fine specimens of
fossil wood; and was obtained in digging for cement stone, about five
miles from Harwich, in three fathoms water, where, as a mass of stone, it
had been used for some time as a stepping block.--_Bakewell's Geology._

* * * * *

_Geological Changes._

The following are the writers whose opinions have obtained the greatest
celebrity, as advocates for particular systems accounting for the
formation and subsequent alteration of the earth:--

Mr. Whitehurst taught that the _concentric arrangement_ of the crust of
the globe was destroyed by the expansive force of subterranean fire.

Burnet's theory supposes this crust to have been broken for the
production of the deluge.

Leibnitz and Buffon believed the earth to have been liquefied by fire; in
fact, that it is an extinguished sun or vitrified globe, whose