(*5) “During the eruption of Hecla, in 1766, clouds of this kind produced such a degree of darkness that, at Glaumba, which is more than fifty leagues from the mountain, people could only find their way by groping. During the eruption of Vesuvius, in 1794, at Caserta, four leagues distant, people could only walk by the light of torches. On the first of May, 1812, a cloud of volcanic ashes and sand, coming from a volcano in the island of St. Vincent, covered the whole of Barbadoes, spreading over it so intense a darkness that, at mid-day, in the open air, one could not perceive the trees or other objects near him, or even a white handkerchief placed at the distance of six inches from the eye._“—Murray, p. 215, Phil. edit._ (*6) In the year 1790, in the Caraccas during an earthquake a portion of the granite soil sank and left a lake eight hundred yards in diameter, and from eighty to a hundred feet deep. It was a part of the forest of Aripao which sank, and the trees remained green for several months under the water.”—_Murray_, p. 221 (*7) The hardest steel ever manufactured may, under the action of a blowpipe, be reduced to an impalpable powder, which will float readily in the atmospheric air. (*8) The region of the Niger. See Simmona’s _Colonial Magazine_. (*9) The _Myrmeleon_—lion-ant. The term “monster” is equally applicable to small abnormal things and to great, while such epithets as “vast” are merely comparative. The cavern of the myrmeleon is vast in comparison with the hole of the common red ant. A grain of silex is also a “rock.” (*10) The _Epidendron, Flos Aeris,_ of the family of the _Orchideae_, grows with merely the surface of its roots attached to a tree or other object, from which it derives no nutriment—subsisting altogether upon air. (*11) The _Parasites,_ such as the wonderful _Rafflesia Arnaldii_. (*12) _Schouw_ advocates a class of plants that grow upon living animals—the _Plantae_ _Epizoae_. Of this class are the _Fuci_ and _Algae_. _Mr. J. B. Williams, of Salem, Mass._, presented the “National Institute” with an insect from New Zealand, with the following description: “‘_The Hotte_, a decided caterpillar, or worm, is found gnawing at the root of the _Rota_ tree, with a plant growing out of its head. This most peculiar and extraordinary insect travels up both the _Rota_ and _Ferriri_ trees, and entering into the top, eats its way, perforating the trunk of the trees until it reaches the root, and dies, or remains dormant, and the plant propagates out of its head; the body remains perfect and entire, of a harder substance than when alive. From this insect the natives make a coloring for tattooing.