AMERICAN SQUIRRELS.

Tamias quadrivittatus; Four-banded Pouched Squirrel. -Description.-Head long, tapering considerably from the eyes to the end of the nose, which is not, however, remarkably sharp. Mouth situated far back. Whiskers black and rather shorter than the head. Eye small when compared with a true squirrel. Ear erect, semi-ovate, obtuse, and flat, except a slight duplicature at the base of the anterior margin; it is covered on both sides with a coat of short hair. Cheek-pouches extending to the angle of the jaw. Body more slender than that of the squirrels in general. Five blackish lines and four alternating white ones occupy the whole back: sides reddish-brown, under parts grey: tail long and slender, exhibiting dusky and light-brown colours. Length 9 inches 9 lines; of which the tail measures 4 inches 3 lines.

This is the Four-lined Squirrel of Godman, and Sassacka-wappiscoos of the Cree Indians.

Locality and Habits.-Dr. Richardson, from whose long and accurate description the above characters are drawn, states that this diminutive Ground-Squirrel is common throughout the woody districts, as far north as Great Slave Lake, if not farther. It is found, he tells us, at the south end of Lake Winipeg, in lat. 50°, and, within that range, seems to replace Sciurus Lysteri. He refers to Mr. Say's observation of it on the Rocky Mountains, near the sources of the Arkansas and Platte; and to specimens brought by Mr. Drummond from the sources of the Peace River, which rises on the same ridge. It is,' says Dr. Richardson, an exceedingly active little animal, and very industrious in storing up provision, being generally observed with its pouches full of the seeds of leguminous plants, bents, and grasses. It is most common in dry sandy spots where there is much underwood, and is often seen in the summertime sporting among the branches of willows and low bushes. It is a lively restless animal, troublesome to the hunter, and often provokes him to destroy it by the angry chirruping noise that it makes on his approach, and which is a signal of alarm to the other inhabitants of the forest. During the winter it resides in a burrow, with several openings, made at the root of a tree, and is never seen in the surface of the snow at that season. When the snow disappears, many small collections of hazel-nut shells, from which the kernel has been extracted by a minute hole gnawed in the side, are to be seen on the ground near its holes. Mr. Say states its nest to be composed of an extraordinary quantity of the burrs of Xanthium, portions of the upright cactus, small branches of pine-trees, and other vegetable productions, sufficient in some instances to fill a cart. On the banks of the Saskatchewan the mouths of their burrows are not so protected. The four-handed squirrel is, in common with the Hackee, named Le Suisse by the French Canadians, an appellation which, according to Father Theodat, arose from their skins being rayed with black, white, red, and grey, like the breeches of the Switzers who form the pope's guard. The same author informs us that they bite bitterly when taken. The tails of this kind of squirrel, particularly of the males, are often mutilated in their contests with each other, and they are very liable to be broken off in the attempt to catch them, so that it is very rare to attain a specimen with a perfect tail.' (Fauna Boreali-Americana.)

Sciurus cinereus; The Grey Squirrel.

Description.-Ashy grey on the upper surface and sides, each hair being marked by alternate rings of black and grey. Inner sides of the limbs and under surface of the body pure white. Tail nearly equal in length to the body, and when thoroughly developed, completely overshadowing it. Both surfaces of the tail similar in colour to the back and sides, the under surface being somewhat lighter; the long diverging hairs ringed in such a manner as to give the appearance of an external border of white, enclosing a broad band of greyish black. No decided tinge of brown on the muzzle, nor on the sides of the body, but a slight intermixture of that colour is visible on the muzzle on close examination. Ears covered with very short close-set hairs, without any appearance of the bushy pencils which surmount those of the common squirrel. Size one-third larger than the last-named species.

Such in substance is the very accurate description given P. C., No. 1409.

exist among the numerous individuals' in the collection of the Zoological Society. The value of this description rests on the number of squirrels that are regarded by many zoologists as mere varieties of the species under consideration, which is the most common species in the United States. Locality. Nearly the whole of the United States of America: most abundant in Pennsylvania and the Carolinas.

Habits, &c.-The nest of the Grey Squirrel, which swarms in some of the localities where it is found, is made upon the extremities of branches of trees, and its food consists of buds, tender shoots, nuts, acorns, and grain. In winter the provident animal retires to hollow trunks where its stores have been laid up. The fur is sought after in the market, but the grey skins of the common squirrel are con sidered of more value. They are exceedingly destructive to the crops, especially of maize, and were proscribed accordingly. Pennant says that three pence per head was the reward for every one killed, and that such a number was destroyed in one year that Pennsylvania alone paid in rewards 80007. of its currency.

'So much confusion,' says Dr. Richardson, in his description of the black squirrel (Sciurus niger, Linn.), has crept into the accounts of the American squirrels, that great uncertainty respecting the species alluded to by authors must exist until some resident naturalist favour the world with a good monograph of the squirrels of that country. The black squirrels have been considered by some to be a variety of the Sciurus cinereus, or of the Sciurus vulpinus, and by others have been referred to Sciurus capistratus. M. Desmarest describes a small black squirrel, which is distinguished from the large black variety of the masked squirrel by the softness of its fur. Pennant's black squirrel is evidently the Sciurus capistratus of later writers.' The squirrel,' continues Dr. Richardson, which is the subject of this article, is larger than the Ecuruil gris de la Caroline of M. F. Cuvier (lesser grey squirrel; Pennant, Hist. Quad.), and rather smaller than the "large grey squirrel" of Catesby. It is not an uncommon inhabitant of the northern shores of lakes Huron and Superior, where the greater and smaller grey squirrels are never seen, and is by far the largest squirrel existing on the eastern sides of the Rocky Mountains to the northward of the Great Lakes. It does not extend farther north than the 50th parallel of latitude, but its range to the southward cannot be determined until the species of American squirrels are better known. It is probable that it is not rare in the United States. There are at present (1829) two pairs of American grey squirrels in the menagerie of the Zoological Society, which differ from each other in size, and in the smaller kind (lesser grey squirrels) having a tawny-coloured belly. Both these kinds have, as was pointed out to me by Mr. Vigors, a peculiar wideness in the posterior part of the body, and a fulness of the skin of the flanks, being an approach to the form of a Pteromys. In the Sciurus Hudsonius (the Chickaree) the hind quarters are as slender and distinct from the flanks as in common European squirrels; and there does not appear to have been any peculiar extension of the skin of the flanks in the specimen of a black squirrel procured for me at Penetanguishene by Mr. Todd, surgeon to the naval depôt there. The total length of this specimen was 26 inches, of which the tail, including the fur, measured 13. Dr. Richardson adds, that there is a specimen of rather larger dimensions procured at Fort William, on Lake Superior, and presented to the Zoological Society by Captain Bayfield. Dr. Richardson describes it as having a few white hairs scattered among the fur of the body, and rather more in the tail, and he adds, that Lewis and Clark mention their having met with grey squirrels on the Columbia, observing, that, from our ignorance of the species to which they belong, he could not admit them into his work (Fauna Boréali-Americana).

The well known industry of Dr. Richardson makes it important that these observations should be widely diffused, in the hope that some zoologist competent to the task may be induced to undertake it. He will have a tangled skein to unravel; but a well executed monograph would be highly valued by all who are interested in the subject.

A friend informs us from experience that the grey squirrel and black squirrel make excellent pies; the flesh tasted like that of the rabbit, but it was much more juicy. VOL. XXII.-3 F

Neither must the effects of friction or other resistances be confounded with those of a stable or unstable disposition. A ladder resting against horizontal ground and a vertical wall is maintained by friction; were it not for friction, there would not be rest in any position; and as it is, the angle which the ladder makes with the ground must not be too small. There is thus a set of positions, from the vertical one to a certain inclination, depending on the amount of friction, in all of which there is equilibrium; while in every other position there is no equilibrium. Again, when a bar rests on two inclined planes, without friction, there is a position of equilibrium which is really unstable: any displacement would throw the bar against one of the planes without any restoration. The stable position of equilibrium is found by inverting the position of the inclined planes, or turning their angle downwards, grooving them to support the ends of the bar, which are formed so as to be retained in the grooves. The bar will now, if left to itself, begin to oscillate about its position of equilibrium, unless it happened to be placed at first in that position. But introduce friction, and the upper position of equilibrium alters its character: a small displacement will not destroy the equilibrium. This is the effect of friction, which affords certain limits within which there is always equilibrium. For none of these cases must the words stability and instability be used in such manner as to confuse their popular with their technical sense.

We have already [SOLAR SYSTEM] pointed out what is meant by the stability of the solar system. When a system has a motion of a permanent character, it is stable if a small disturbance only produce oscillations in that motion, or make permanent alterations of too slight a character to allow the subsequent mutual actions of the parts to destroy the permanent character of the motion. Suppose a material body, for instance, to revolve about an axis passing through the centre of gravity unacted on by any forces except the weight of its parts. If this axis be one of the principal axes, the rotation on it is permanent, that is, the axis of rotation will continue unaltered, even though that axis be not fixed. The rotation however, though permanent, is not stable about more than two out of the three principal axes. Let the first rotation be established about the axis which has the greatest moment of rotation, or the least, and if a slight displacement or disturbance be given, which has the effect of producing a little alteration of the axis of rotation, that alteration will not increase indefinitely, but will only occasion a perpetual transmission of the rotation from axis to axis, all the lines lying near to the principal axis first mentioned. But if that axis be chosen about which the moment of inertia is neither greatest nor least, any disturb ance, however slight, will continually remove the axis of rotation farther and farther from the first axis, near which it will not return until it has made a circuit about one of the other two principal axes.

For the mathematical part of this subject, so far as we give it, see VIRTUAL VELOCITIES.

as the calyx. This species is the Betonica officinalis of Linnæus. It is now a species of the genus Stachys, but it was formerly a species of the genus Betonica; but the characters which constituted the difference between the latter and the former having been considered too trifling to constitute separate genera, the genus Betonica has been aboEurope and some parts of Asia, inhabiting woods, heaths, and pastures. It is very plentiful in Great Britain. It was formerly much used in medicine, and is now a popular remedy for some complaints. When taken fresh it is said to possess intoxicating properties. The leaves have a rough bitter taste, and are slightly aromatic. The roots are nauseous and very bitter, and when taken, act as purgatives and emetics.

S. lanuta, woolly woundwort: whole plant clothed with dense silky wool; leaves oblong, narrowed at both ends; floral leaves small, the upper ones of which are shorter than the whorls; whorls many-flowered; brac's linear-lanceolate, the same length as the calyx ; calyx incurved, toothed; corolla woolly. This plant is a native of Europe, in the neighbourhood of the Mediterranean. Dr. Sibthorp found it in Laconia, where it is called orayog by the modern Greeks. This plant is remarkable for its woolly covering, as well as the S. Germanica (German woundwort), on which account they have been introduced into our gardens. Many other species are covered with hairs so as to give them a powdery-looking woolly character, as the S Alpina, S. Italica, &c.

S. coccinea, scarlet hedge-nettle: stem erect, clothed with soft villi; herbaceous ovato-lanceolate petiolate leaves; flowers six in a whorl; corolla pubescent, three times as long as the tube. This is the most beautiful species of the genus, having large dark scarlet flowers an inch in length. It is a native of Chili and Peru. It must be cultivated as a greenhouse plant, and is readily increased by cuttings or parting its roots.

S. palustris, marsh-woundwort, or clown's all-heal: stems erect, pubescent, herbaceous; leaves subsessile, oblong, crenated, wrinkled, hispid; whorls with 6 or more flowers; calyx with lanceolate acute teeth; corolla twice as long as the calyx. It has pale purple flowers, with a variegated lower lip of the corolla. This plant is a native of Europe, Asia, and North America. It is abundant in watery places, by road sides, in meadows, and corn-fields in Great Britain. It is called clown's all-heal by Gerard. The young shoots and the roots also, when cooked, form an excellent esculent. On the farm it is a weed that should be well looked after, as it exhausts the soil and increases very rapidly.

S. sylvatica, the hedge-woundwort, is another common British species, differing from the last in having stalked leaves which are cordato-ovate shaped. It inhabits woods, hedges, and shady places. This herb is very pungent, and has an unpleasant fœtid smell.

S. Corsica, Corsican woundwort: procumbent, pilose; leaves with petioles; flowers in 2-4-flowered whorls; corolla twice as long as the calyx, lower lip large. This is a pretty little plant worthy of cultivation. It has downy, rosy white, or pink flowers, which are large for the size of the plant. It is a native of corn-fields in Corsica and Sardinia.

S. lavandulæfolia, lavender-leaved woundwort: leaves of the stem oblong, lanceolate with petioles, floral leaves sessile; whorls 2-6 flowered; teeth of calyx longer than corolla. It is a native of the Caucasus, in dry stony places. It is shrubby in its habit, and is well adapted for rock-work.

The whole of the species are easily cultivated in common garden soil. The herbaceous sorts may be increased by dividing their roots; the shrubby sorts, by cuttings; annuals may be sown in spring in an open border.

S. betonica, common betony: stems erect, rather pi- | lose; lower leaves on long petioles, and crenated; upper leaves sessile, toothed; uppermost ones linear, quite entire; whorls many-flowered; bracts ovate, corolla twice as long

S. Jamaicensis, Jamaica Bastard Vervain, is an undershrub, with scattered hairy branches; leaves nearly two inches long, oblong-ovate, coarsely and sharply serrated, quite entire at the base, with the midrib beset with hairs; the spike is denge, bearing flowers of a lilac colour, and

having ovate bracts which are shorter than the calyx. This plant is a native of the West India Islands, and has there a reputation something like that which distinguished our common Vervain.

STACKHOUSE, THOMAS, born 1681, died 1752, a divine of the English church, and one of the first persons who wrote extensive works in theology for the booksellers, expressly for the purpose of sale among the less educated portions of the population. Of his birth, education, and early history, nothing appears to be known. The letters M.A. appear after his name on his monument, and in the title-pages of some of his books, but his name is not found in the lists of graduates of Oxford or Cambridge. We have his own authority for saying that he was in early life living at Amsterdam, and performing clerical duties there, but we look in vain in Mr. Stevens's work on the English and Scottish churches in Holland for any notice of him; and the first that is known of him when in England is, that he was curate at Richmond, as afterwards at Ealing and at Finchley, in all which places he was much respected. He continued a curate for the greater part of his life, and the utmost preferment which he obtained was the vicarage of Benham in Berkshire, which was given him in 1733, and where he died and was buried.

.

Various anonymous tracts have been attributed to him, and there are others to which his name is affixed that are supposed to be by other writers, but none of them are of sufficient importance to require more than this general notice. His first publication was on a subject which continued ever after to be a favourite one with him-the hardships of the inferior clergy, especially those in and about London. This appeared in the form of A Letter to a Right Reverend Prelate' in 1722. In the next year he published Memoirs of Bishop Atterbury,' and in 1729 appeared his Complete Body of Divinity, in a folio volume. He engaged at this period in the controversy with the Freethinkers of the time, and in a manner to gain great credit. In 1731 he published Reflections on the Nature and Property of Language.' In 1732 he was engaged in an acrimonious dispute with a bookseller, for whom he had engaged to write a work, to be published in numbers, entitled A History of the Bible.' A full account of this affair is given in Nichols's Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century,' vol. ii., p. 394-398. The work appeared, and forms two volumes in folio. It embraces the whole of the Sacred History from the beginning to the establishment of Christianity, with maps, prints, and useful tables. In 1747 he published in folio A New and Practical Exposition of the Apostles' Creed.' There are other published writings of his not here particularly named. He lived a laborious and necessitous life, and just before his death he deplored his miserable condition in all the keen expressions of despair and bitter disappointment,' in a poem published in the year of his decease, which he entitled Vana Doctrinæ Emolumenta.'

STACKHOUSE, JOHN, principally known as a botanist, was the youngest son of William Stackhouse, a minister of the established church, and the nephew of Thomas Stackhouse. He pursued his studies at Oxford, and was made a fellow of Exeter college, which he resigned in 1763, and went to live at Bath, where he resided all his life. He employed the leisure which an independent fortune gave him in the pursuit of botany, and made many valuable contributions to that science. He was one of the earliest fellows of the Linnæan Society. His attention was principally directed to the study of Algae. In 1801 he published his Nereis Britannica' in folio, a work containing descriptions in Latin and English of the Fuci, Algæ, and Confervæ growing in England, and illustrated with coloured plates. Many new species of marine Algae were described in this work, and dissections given of some other species. Of this work a second edition appeared in quarto in 1816; the descriptions are entirely in Latin, and the plates uncoloured. In 1814 he published an edition of Theophrastus On Plants,' in two volumes, which was illustrated with plates, and contained a catalogue of the plants of Theophrastus, with a copious glossary and many valuable notes. In 1811 he published Illustrationes Theophrasti,' in which the plants of that author are arranged according to the Linnæan system, and the modern synonyms are given. He also published an essay on the Balsam and Myrrh trees, with remarks on the notices of them by modern travellers and antient writers, especially Theophrastus. He contributed two papers to the

Linnæan Transactions,' one on the Ulva punctata, the other on the preparation of plants for herbaria. He died at Bath, in November, 1819.

STACKHOU'SIA, a small order of plants belonging to the syncarpous group of polypetalous Exogens. They are herbaceous plants, with simple, entire, alternate, sometimes minute leaves, with lateral very minute stipules. The flowers are arranged in spikes, each flower having three bracts. The calyx is 1-leaved, 5-cleft equal, tube inflated; petals 5, arising from the top of the tube of the calyx, the claws forming a tube which is longer than the calyx; stamens 5, arising from the throat of the calyx; ovary superior 3-5-lobed; fruit dry, with albuminous seeds and erect embryo. This order was constituted by Brown, and its nearest relations are with Celastraceae and Euphorbiaceæ. From the first it differs in the possession of stipules, the cohesion of the petals, and the deep-lobed ovary; from the last, in the strucre of their fruit, and in the position of their seeds. All the species are natives of New Holland. The only genus of the order at present is Stackhousia, which was named in honour of John Stackhouse.

1, Spike with flowers. 2; Cutting with leaves. 3, Calyx, corolla and bracts. 4. Petals, showing their union to form a tube. 5. Stamens arising from calyx. 6. Ovary and styles.

STADE, the capital of the duchy of Bremen in the kingdom of Hanover, is in 55° 36' N. lat. and 9° 24' E. long. It is situated in a marshy country on the banks of the river Schwinge (which is navigable at high-water), which falls into the Elbe about three miles below the town. Stade was formerly strongly fortified, but the works were blown up at the end of the eighteenth century. They have however since been repaired. Among the public buildings are three churches, in which there are some handsome monuments; a town-hall, a gymnasium, an orphan asylum, and a poorhouse. The town, with the suburbs, contains about 800 houses and 5500 inhabitants, who have manufactures of flannel, worsted stockings, hats, and lace. There are breweries and brandy distilleries, a cannon foundry, and a ropewalk. This town is the seat of the public offices for the provinces of Bremen and Verden. The foreign trade is not so considerable as it appears to have formerly been. The transit trade is of some importance: the exports are fat oxen, wooden wares, and stockings. vessels go every year to the Greenland whale-fishery, and also to the seal and herring fishery.

Some

At the place where the Schwinge falls into the Elbe there is a fort with a garrison, called the Schwinger Schanze, off which a royal cutter of four or eight guns is constantly stationed, for the purpose of collecting the duties levied by the Hanoverian government on all vessels passing up or down the Elbe. The original duties, which were regulated by a treaty in 1691, were light, but have been greatly increased, and the Hanoverian government acknowledges that they now produce about 33,000l., though it is stated by some that