I also have bows in my collection which are strengthened on the same principle, though not exactly in the same manner. There are several Indian, Chinese, and Japanese bows which are curved almost like the letter C, and have to be reversed when strung. These bows are of no very great size, but possess wonderful elasticity. They owe the latter quality to sundry layers of sinew which have been affixed to the back when wet, and which add enormously to the power of the bow, while they very little enlarge its dimensions. Another bow, made by the natives of Vancouver’s Island, has the back strengthened by a number of cords spun from sinew fibres, and possessing the strength and elasticity to which we are accustomed in the strings of the harp, guitar, or violin. * * * * * WE will now turn to a parallel in Nature. This is to be found in the lower jaw of the Crocodile, as is pointed out by Professor Owen, in his work on the “Skeleton and the Teeth.” All persons who have a smattering of anatomy are aware that even in the human body the most solid bones of the adult were originally composed of several pieces, and that they only become fused together in course of time. The jaw-bones, for example, were once so composed, and in the Crocodile the junction is never completed, the pieces of bone remaining separate, but being pressed firmly against each other during life. I have now before me the skull of a Gangetic Crocodile, in which, although the animal was an adult when killed, the bones of the long lower jaw are so loose that unless they were tied together the jaw would fall to pieces. This analogy between Art and Nature is thus described by Professor Owen in the work which has just been mentioned:-- “The purpose of this subdivision of the lower jaw-bone has been well explained by Conybeare and Buckland, by the analogy of its structure to that adopted in binding together several parallel plates of elastic wood or steel to make a crossbow, and also in setting together thin plates of steel in the carriage spring.” Dr. Buckland also adds: “Those who have witnessed the shock given to the head of a Crocodile by the act of snapping together its thin, long jaws, must have seen how liable to fracture the lower jaw would be were it composed of one bone only.... The splicing and bracing together of thin flat bones of unequal length and of varying thickness afford compensation for the weakness and risk of fracture that would otherwise have attended the elongation of the parts.”