and their expression is ferocious; the horns are small and black. The neck, withers, and chest, are covered with a profusion of long shaggy hair, contributing to render the appearance of the animal wild and terrific; the hinder quarters are clothed with shorter wool. The general color is umber brown, acquiring a rusty tint in winter. Endowed with the sense of smell in great perfection, wary and fierce, the Bison associates in large herds conducted by one or two old bulls, whose motions the rest appear to follow; but herds of bulls also live separately. Their food consists of grass and rank herbage, to obtain which in winter On the they scrape away the snow with their feet. approach of an enemy the herd immediately takes to flight; but if one be wounded, the life of the hunter.is placed in great jeopardy, for turning in a moment, it rushes on its assailant with headlong impetuosity and with determined resolution. Several fatal instances might be cited in which the hunter has perished from want of caution in attacking this formidable beast, and many hairbreadth escapes are on record.

In defending itself from a dog the Bison strikes violently with its fore-feet and easily keeps its annoying foe at bay.

The flesh of this animal is accounted excellent, the tongue and hump, or flesh on the top of the withers, being especial delicacies. The chase of the Bison is therefore assiduously carried on, both by the natives and the Europeans.

The Bison swims well, and during the heats of summer vast herds make their way to shady rivulets, streams, and pools, in which they delight to plunge and bathe. Herds of twenty thousand, crossing rivers upwards of a mile in breadth, have been seen, as

Lewis and Clarke inform us, or darkening the plains on their passage to fresh feeding-grounds.

Salt springs, or saline morasses, or salt-licks, are great attractions to this animal, and at all seasons are visited by numerous herds. These, however, are incessantly thinned by the hunters, and the time is not probably far distant when the American Bison will be as rare and as limited in its extent of range as the aurochs of Lithuania.

At certain seasons of the year the bulls engage in terrible conflicts, and rush furiously upon man, or any other animal which ventures near them. With the exception of man, the most formidable enemy against which the Bison has to contend is the huge grisly bear, ard before this dreaded monster the strongest bull goes down.

It appears that the Bison will breed with the ordinary race of domestic cattle, against which the aurochs displays the greatest antipathy, though in one respect the latter approaches nearer to the common ox than does the Bison; we allude to the number of ribs, which are thirteen in the ox on each side, fourteen in the aurochs, and fifteen in the Bison.

The Sea Otter (Lutra Marina), so renowned for its valuable fur, is found on the coast, and the Land Otter (Lutra Brasiliensis) in the rivers.

The Sea-Otter is a native of the north-west coast of America, from California to latitude 60°, and of the opposite coast of Asia, from the Yellow Sea to the north of Kamtchatka and the intermediate islands, Its fur, which is of a black color, sometimes chestnutbrown, and occasionally even yellow, is soft, full, and beautiful, and is an object of commerce, being pro

cured by the Russians for the Chinese market, where it sells for a high price.

This animal haunts sea-washed rocks, and lives mostly in the water, where it procures its food, which consists of fish, and, as is indicated by the character of the teeth, which are evidently formed for bruising hard substances, shelled mollusks, and crustacea. In summer the Sea-Otter often ascends the rivers to the inland lakes. The female produces on land a single cub. The average length of this species is three feet, exclusive of the tail, which measures about ten inches.

There are several species of rats, mice, marmots, and squirrels in California. Mr. Farnham informs us that the Pouched Rat (Pecudostonia bursarium), and the small marmot (Arctomys Beecheyi), are found in California, the latter being very plentiful in the plains near San Francisco and Monterey, burrowing in the ground and carrying in its capacious chest pouches, a store of nuts, corn, and acorns. There are several other varieties of the Arctomys, such as the Prairie Marmot (Arctomys ludovicianus), and the Woodchuck, (Arctomys Monax,) the latter is found in the Atlantic States.

It does not inhabit the very cold places of America, but rather the central and southern parts of the United States, and perhaps places further to the south; for Catesby styles it "the Bahama rabbit." In the United States it is called the ground hog, and various other local names, none of which are very applicable. Its color is rusty brown, rather darker on the flanks than on the middle of the back; a portion round the muzzle is bluish gray, and the tail is black. Among the animals of the squirrel kind enumerated

by Mr. Farnham, are the Gray Squirrel, (Sciunes Cinereus,) the Great-tailed Squirrel (Sciurus macrouveus), the Flying Squirrel, the Striped Squirrel, and the Black Squirrel (Sciurus niger.) The last is a beautiful species sometimes found in the Atlantic States.

Its face is described as being in general black, but with some white markings very differently placed in different individuals. In some the nose is white, in others the feet; in others, again, the tip of the tail; yet, again, there is a white collar round the neck; and these markings may all appear in the same individual, or any number of them may appear in any of the combinations which they can form. These circum

stances render the history of the species uncertain; but it appears, if a distinct species, to be pretty widely spread, for it has been obtained in the States and also in Mexico. It is described as being a much more social animal than the gray squirrel.

Of the Hare there are several fine species, one weighing from eight to twelve pounds, which Mr. Farnham supposes to be the Lepus glacialis; another is the Prairie Hare (Lepus Virginianus), and the