Some of the thunderstorms which have prevailed in this country have been very terrific and destructive. During August 14th, 15th, and 16th, 1872, portions of New York State and the New England States were visited by some of the most terrific thunderstorms ever experienced, during which over 200 dwellings were struck and damaged, about 10 persons were instantly killed, and 160 stunned. Quite a number of barns, with their contents, hay and cattle, were also struck, fired, and consumed. Cars, while running on some of the railroads, were surrounded by a vivid electric light, but no passengers were injured, although they were greatly alarmed. Telegraph wires were melted by the half mile, telegraph instruments broken, and poles shattered in all directions. One of these storms occurred at midnight, at Arlington, Mass., August 14th, in which brilliant streams of electricity darted across the sky in every direction, and the thunder which followed was constant for a period of thirteen minutes, without the intermission of an instant of silence. Three hundred and thirty-one discharges were counted in seven minutes by an observer, and each discharge was followed by loud and sometimes rattling reports, whose reverberations rolled through the heavens in an endless procession of majestic and terrific sounds. During this scene, the moon, which was about half an hour above the western horizon, was visible, but so magnified, through the haze and vapor, as to appear like a brilliant flame suspended in the sky. For a period of twenty minutes the scene was one of grandeur and sublimity rarely witnessed. In the States of Illinois and Iowa, and the prairie country west of the Mississippi river, thunderstorms are generally more terrific, and more lives have been lost there from the effects of lightning than in any other section of this country. Owing to the said country being level and devoid of trees, the equilibrium between the electricity of the atmosphere and that of the earth is principally restored by disruptive discharges.--_Spang's "Treatise on Lightning Protection"_ * * * * * A tooth of a mastodon has been dug up near the Ashley river in South Carolina. It is 11½ inches long, 6 inches in diameter, and weighs more than 5 lbs. * * * * * THE SEA SERPENT SIGHTED FROM A ROYAL YACHT. The Osborne, paddle royal yacht, Commander Hugh L. Pearson, which arrived at Portsmouth from the Mediterranean on Monday, June 11, has forwarded an official report to the Admiralty, through the Commander-in-Chief (Admiral Sir George Elliot, K.C.B.), respecting a sea monster which she encountered during her homeward voyage.