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(1840). XXXVI. Observation of the blood corpuscles, or red particles, of the mammiferous animals. The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science: Vol. 16, No. 102, pp. 195-200.

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(1838). XXV. Researches on suppuration. The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science: Vol. 13, No. 81, pp. 193-202.

(1865). XII.—Observations on raphides and other crystals in plants. Annals and Magazine of Natural History: Vol. 16, No. 92, pp. 115-117.

(1878). XIX.—Measurements of the red blood-corpuscles of the American Manatee (Manatus americanus) and Beluga leucas. Annals and Magazine of Natural History: Vol. 2, No. 8, pp. 172-174.

1. Report of Dr. Is. B. Balfour. I left England upon the 1st July 1874, and embarked at Marseilles on board the Messageries Maritimes steamer. I reached Mauritius with my confrères on the 4th of August. On our arrival there we met Lieut. Neates, the head of the expedition to Rodriguez, who had come by the troopship “Elizabeth Martin” some days previously. H. M. S. "Shearwater” with the other astronomers and the astronomical instruments arrived at Mauritius on the 6th, and as there was no cause for delay there, Captain Wharton decided to sail for Rodriguez on the 11th. This was carried out, and after a week’s voyage the ship anchored in Mathurin Bay, Rodriguez, on the afternoon of Tuesday the 18th. Owing to the difficulty of carrying heavy baggage over the reefs, rendered doubly so by the neap tides which then occurred, some days elapsed ere we could take up our abode on the island. These days I spent in making an examination of the general features of the island. On the 28th of August I quitted the ship, and went to live on shore, and at once commenced my botanical and geological work. As I have already explained in my letters to the Royal Society, the flora is very scant owing to the frequency of the fires which have swept across the island. Indeed fully one half of the island is entirely bare of vegetation, save the few social weeds which now occupy the place of the destroyed indigenous plants. The only parts of the island where any amount of vegetation is to be found are the upper regions of some of the valleys, round which the fires have evidently passed, leaving them comparatively unscathed; but even here the plants are few and the dryness of the soil precludes any luxuriance. I explored thoroughly all those valleys which promised any botanical treasures, and I regret to say the result is very poor.

WE have heard much of late about the emotions of animals, and might have heard it sooner had Charles Bell's profound work on the “Anatomy and Expression,” received due attention. The moral or psychical emotions of the brutes most resembling man in structure are peculiarly interesting, and sufficient observations as to this point on the monkeys seem to be yet wanting. Before I saw a picture of a weeping monkey, by Edwin Landseer, I always thought that this animal could be moved neither to tears nor laughter; and I still think that more observations, by persons most familiar with monkeys, are required on this subject, and hope to elicit them by this note in NATURE. But an affectionate care of brutes for their dead has been considered either very rare or inexistent, though it would seem to have been shown by monkeys. At least, we have evidence to this effect in the “Oriental Memoirs,” 4 vols. 4to, London, 1813, by James Forbes, F.R.S., and indeed, very likely, there may be still better observations, with which I am unacquainted, on the subject. Here is an extract thereon from Mr. Forbes's book:—

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The author has found that the blood of the Muntjac, the Porcine, and the Mexican Deer, contains, together with corpuscles of the ordinary circular form, a still larger number of particles of less regular shape; some curved and gibbous in the middle, and acutely pointed at the ends, with a concave and convex margin, like a crescent; others approaching more nearly to segments of a circle; some shaped like a comma, being obtuse at one end and terminated by a pointed curve at the other; others having an acute projection of the convex part, so as to constitute a triangular, or even quadrangular outline; some having the figure of the head of a lance; while a few presented a double or sigmoid flexure, as if they had been twisted half round at the middle. Like the ordinary blood-discs, these peculiar corpuscles are deprived of their colouring matter by water; but with only a small quantity of water they quickly swell out, and assume an oval or circular figure, forming long bead-like strings by the approximation of their edges. In saline solutions they become rather smaller, but preserve their figure tolerably well. In an appendix, the author gives an account of his observations of the blood-corpuscles of a new species of Deer inhabiting the mountains of Persia, of which a specimen has been lately received by the Zoological Society. Many of these corpuscles presented the singular forms above described.