Before the present supplies from the the south of the Guadiana, and part of home-growth in America, the primitive Estremadura, between the Tagus and material used for bottle-stoppers con- the Guadiana rivers. In the latter resisted of the roots of liquorice, which were cut and formed to the shape of corks. The spongy substance of another tree, called Spondias lutea, which abounds throughout the marshy regions of South America, and there called Monbia, was also used in the same way. The roots of liquorice are still often used in North America for the making of bottle-stoppers; as also another product called Myssa, which contains some of the component elements akin to cork. gion the forests are extremely dense ;i but the quality of cork harvested is inferior to that produced in the districts of Catalonia, where the cork is of a firmer and more compact texture. Although the cork forests of Estremadura and Andalusia yield cork of a much quicker growth, and possessing some excellent qualities, its consistency is less rigid, and on this account it does not enjoy the high reputation in the open market which the cork of Catalonia does. northward towards the Pyrenees to the valley of the Muge and Ter, and southward to the boundary of the province. The whole of this area consists of ancient schist formation. In those parts of the Spanish cork forests where the trees approach the seaboard, the cork suffers from a fungous growth which renders it useless for the production of corks. It is exported to this and other countries, and often used for rusticwork, such as the adornment of ferneries and other horticultural adjuncts. In Spain and Portugal, where the In grouping the chief cork forests cork-tree, or Quercus Suber, is indige- in the province of Gerona, we include nous, it usually grows in densely a great area of territory, stretching packed groups, and attains to a height varying from thirty-five to sixty feet; and the trunk to a diameter of thirty to thirty-six inches. This species of the evergreen oak is often heavily caparisoned with wide-spreading branches, clothed with ovate, oblong evergreen leaves, downy underneath, and the edges slightly serrated. Annually, between April and May, it produces a flower of a yellowish color, succeeded by the acorns, which are oval nuts, fixed by their base into rough, closely fitting, permanent cups. They ripen in the autumn, and serve as an article of food, resembling chestnuts in taste. In order that the reader may form an idea of the vast extent of the cork forests of southern Europe, and general magnitude of the cork industry, we propose doing this to some extent by illustrating the present state of the cork industry in Spain and Portugal. In the first place, we may add that the cork forests of Spain cover an area of six hundred and twenty thousand square acres, producing the finest cork in the world. These forests exist in groups, and cover wide belts of territory, those in the region of Catalonia and part of Barcelona being considered the first in importance. The second area in extent has within its confines several groups in the south, which converge into a gigantic belt of territory, occupying the entire district lying to The cork or bottle-stopper trade is still the chief cork-consuming factor; but this branch of the industry is not free from encroachments of rivalry, which so often check a monopoly of this kind. In this trade several new inventions are introduced to the public with the object of facilitating the trouble sometimes experienced in drawing the cork bottle-stopper. Some of these new stoppers certainly possess this advantage over the cork-stopper. The specific qualities, however, of the cork-stopper are too unique in themselves ever to admit of their being totally annihilated. Imperviousness to air and water is a rare quality which cork possesses over any other known material; besides, they convey no disagreeable taste or flavor to the liquid they retain. These, coupled with such other qualities as compressibility and elasticity, are virtues which it would be difficult to find in any substance out- | to supply the demand from this source, side the range of cork. which may more than counterbalance The application of cork as a bottle- any falling off in the supply to the stopper for liquid vessels is said to be principal branch of the cork industry. of great antiquity; the earliest record The methods in vogue in barking and extant of its use in Europe is that harvesting the cork in Spain and Pormentioned by Horace, who asserts that tugal are pretty much the same. The the Romans had cork as stoppers for barking operation is effected when the their wine amphora. Certain of the tree has acquired sufficient strength to uses of cork were knowu to the ancient withstand the rough handling it reGreeks and Egyptians; but whether ceives during this operation, which they used cork for stopping the mouths takes place when it has attained the of their liquid vessels history does not fifteenth year of its growth. After the say. It was not, however, until the first stripping, the tree is left in this year 1760 that the Spaniards first com- juvenescent state to regenerate, subsemenced to work their cork woods with quent strippings being effected at insome degree of regularity for the mak-tervals of not less than three years; ing of "corks." Although, perhaps, corks were more or less in use from the time glass bottles were first invented, which Beckmann asserts to have been in the fifteenth century, yet it was not until two and a half centuries later that the Spaniards began to prepare cork for bottle-stoppers, which they did in a forest situated at the north-east of the Tigueras, on the Muge. The cork industry has since gradually risen to be one of the first magnitude, its chief centre in Spain being in Catalonia, where, at the present, a population of 8,228 persons are employed, who in the course of each year turn out about one hundred and eighty-eight thousand hundredweight of cork grown in the province; one hundred and forty-four thousand hundredweight of cork grown in other provinces of Spain; besides forty-seven thousand hundredweight of cork exported from Algeria. The revenue from the cork industry of Spain amounts to £1,073,880 per annum. Considering the number of newly invented stoppers now in use, it would be reasonable to anticipate a pro rata decrease in the consumption of cork. On comparing the past with the latest trade returns of Spain and Portugal, no perceptible change appears to have taken place in this respect. Probably we can account for it in this way, by taking into consideration the increasing progress in some branches of science, and the large draughts made upon cork and under this process the tree will continue to thrive and bear for upwards of a hundred and fifty years. If the bark is not removed artificially, it will on maturity split and dismantle itself; this is caused by the fresh growth of bark forming underneath. The cork of the first barking is termed Corcho bornio bornizo, or virgin cork; the cork of the second stripping is called Pelas, or secondary cork. The work of removing the bark from the tree is performed in summer by men, who are paid at the rate of two shillings and sixpence a day. The instruments used for the work are an axe, a lever, and a hand-saw for the cutting of transversal incisions. The first process through which the bark passes after stripping is that of boiling. This is sometimes done in the woods, but more frequently in the cork factory, in large, specially constructed caldrons, in which the bark is left to boil for upwards of an hour. This seething process increases the thickness and elasticity of the cork; and at the same time the tannin and other feculent substances generally existing in the bark are desiccated. The various uses of cork in this country are pretty generally known, and do not require recapitulating; but some of its applications where it is indigenous are not perhaps so universally known; it may therefore be interesting to mention some of them. In Spain, beehives, kitchen pails, and ception of a section of territory at the extreme south and extreme north, where a calcareous strip of country exists, separating the cork-trees of the valley of the Tagus from those of the valley of the Douro. other culinary utensils, are made of | The geographical formation of Portugal cork, including pillows. In Italy, is extremely favorable for the rearing images and crosses are carved out of of cork-trees; indeed, every evidence it, and footpaths are paved with it. In of this characteristic is well marked by Turkey, it forms cabins for the cork- the densely thick groups of cork-trees cutters, and coffins for the dead. In to be seen in certain regions, especially Morocco, it appears in the form of in the valley of the Tagus and the drinking vessels, plates, tubs, and Sierra de Portalegre, which are the water conduits. In Algeria, shoes, chief cork-bearing centres of the counarmor, and boats, and various articles try. The cork-tree virtually abounds of furniture, consume their share. in every part of Portugal, with the exCups made of cork have been recommended for the use of hectic persons. One familiar article in which a great deal of cork is used in our own country is the cork jacket, an adjunct to the outfit of the mariner which cannot be dispensed with. This life-protecting apparatus, although no doubt a vast improvement on the original, cannot be classed among modern inventions; for Plutarch, in his life of Camellus, mentions that the messenger sent by that general to his fellow-citizens when besieged in the Capitol, used a cork jacket in swimming across the Tiber, the Gauls being in possession of the bridge. The Portuguese use cork for structural purposes, such as roofing houses and lining wells, as well as in articles of domestic use. From Blackwood's Magazine. THE NEWEST ABOUT EARTH-WORMS. A PERHAPS the very last attribute that would seem likely to characterize our humble friend the earth-worm is the capacity for making a noise; we are told that the worm, when unduly provoked, will turn, but it does this in a quiet way, as a rule. It is, however, h an undoubted fact that in the island of Java there exists a worm which amuses itself in the night by producing "a sharp, interrupted sound." Darwin, as everybody knows, raised our views of the intelligence of the earth-worm to a very considerable height; but even he did not suspect the creature of this claim to a higher place in the animal world. For some time this extraordi With regard to the cork forests of Portugal, our data are unfortunately too meagre to enable us to estimate what exact proportion of the thirtyfour thousand square miles of country occupied by Portugal is devoted to the cultivation of cork. The reason assigned for the non-existence of this statistical detail by the government is, nary deviation from worms in general that the cork forests of the country are was literally "vox et præterea nihil; in the hands of private individuals, the | but ultimately it was found and chrisState forests being very few in Portu- tened in the vernacular of its country gal. In the absence of a government statistical report as to the area covered by cork forests, the only idea which can be formed of the magnitude of the Portuguese cork industry is that obtained from the trade returns of that country. tjatring son darie, a name which appears to indicate its power of speech. The more technical but not less apt name of Megascolex musicus was subsequently given to it. Whether by this. means a worm can advise its friends of the approach of the local equivalent The total quantity of cork exported for the mole, which in this country is in the year 1890 is stated to be 453,650 its chief foe, remains uncertain; but in hundredweight of cork in the rough, any case one might suppose that there and 42,427 hundredweight of cork man- was some good reason for this curious ufactured into articles of commerce.deviation from the normal. Perhaps the worm would leave its tail in the possession of the bird and go on its way rejoicing; but, unlike the fox in the fable, it would be able to grow a new tail to offer to a second bird. In this respect the worm offers a curious analogy to certain snails. Some of these have a weak spot in the extended foot; when pecked at, the latter half of the tail, which, as in the case of the the uncanny effect produced by sound issuing from so silent a creature may paralyze the energies of some intending foe. Mr. Darwin first brought the earth-worm into fashion; since he wrote about it, it has steadily gone up in position, and may now be fairly regarded as belonging to the invertebrate aristocracy. It wants, it is true, one feature of aristocracy, the earthworm is not blue-blooded like the king-worm, contains no vital organs of imcrab and some other ancient forms of life; it has, indeed, red blood colored by a pigment identical with that which tints the blood of man a further claim upon our sympathies. There is, however, no doubt at all about its very ancient lineage. It has in all probability been a native of the soil ever since there has been any soil to be a native of. portance, is sacrificed to save the animal from being swallowed entire. Though no other earth-worm, so far as is known, possesses a special provision for parting with a section of itself with impunity, a considerable loss of length can be suffered with the utmost indifference. There are even species- not indeed true earth-worms. but close allies-which voluntarily, when they find themselves getting too large, break up into shorter and, it must be presumed, more convenient lengths. The agitation caused by a slight handling of the creature is enough to produce this result. When this happens, and one or two pieces are devoured, it is difficult to say whether the animal has been killed or not; the individual becomes a little confused under these circumstances. Each fragment, be it observed, can grow into a complete worm; so that the lumbriculus, as this particular worm is called, is literally a committee of one with power to add to its number. It is superior to the hydra; for it can grow not only a new head as fast as the old one is lopped off, but a new body or a new anything. Hercules would have found his match here. Instead of retiring at the approach of man, as most savage animals do- if such an epithet can be applied to so mild a creature - it has been in many places positively increased in numbers by the appearance of man, in spite of trout-fishers. By various means it is able to triumph over various defects in its equipment for the battle of life; the struggle for existence must be a phrase absolutely without meaning for the earth-worm. In its case a familiar sentence must be reversed to express the truth, for it has no eyes and yet can see (in a sense); and indeed, generally speaking, though without organs of special sense, it possesses all the special senses: it can hear; its palate is delicate; it is aware, as already mentioned, of light and darkuess. What more can be said? It can even cir"Thus it is," recumvent, sometimes by astuteness and marked some one impolitely of the other times by peculiarities of struc- worm, "that the most contemptible ture, the early bird. In the forests of lives are with the greatest difficulty deSouth America, and in some other stroyed." These latter facts, however, parts of the world, there is a small spe- date from the time of Bonnet, Müller, cies provided with a clear spot towards and the other fathers of experimental the tail; at this point the tissues of zoology, and hardly, therefore, come the body are in a somewhat immature under the head of the "newest about condition, and seem to be softer and worms.” more breakable than elsewhere. Now, if a bird grasps the worm anywhere behind this spot-and there is at least one chance in three that this happens The fact about earth-worms which is perhaps of the chief interest to naturalists is their astonishing diversity of structure under a great uniformity of Another and almost more singular parallel between the human and vermian inhabitants of the colder and hotter regions respectively is the pigmentation of the body; not only the Ethiopian burnt by the sun, but the earth-worms of tropical countries are frequently deeper in color than those of more temperate latitudes. There is thus more similarity between worms and men than might appear, in spite of various well-known remarks and comparisons. FRANK E. BEDDARD, F.R.S. From Chambers' Journal. EGYPT FIVE THOUSAND YEARS AGO. shape. In this they contrast with many other animals. The converse is more generally true. Earth-worms, however, lead a monotonously similar life in all parts of the world, and there is therefore no scope for any varied moulding of outward form. And besides, the shape which they have already got is that which is best suited to a burrowing creature; no change would be desirable. Hence all the energy of variability, which might have been expended in producing infinite diversity of external form, has been transferred to the internal organs. It has been recently proved that every part of the world has its characteristic worms, which are as different from each other as the limits of worm organization permit. It will probably astonish some of those who read these lines to learn that there are over two hundred different kinds of earth-worms. Some of them are of the most brilliant colors. In South Africa is a monster of its kind - six feet in length of a bright grass-green color with orange underparts; this particular worm has an intelligence not usually associated with giants. Two worms dynasties—that is, of a period about were observed crawling at a great rate, evidently with an appointment to keep; they crawled rapidly and in the straightest of lines till they met. What sense could have guided them? It was mentioned just now that earth-worms had all the senses of man; but we must credit them with some additional senses not possessed by ourselves. Another curious point is the extreme power of colonization possessed by the European species-remarkably paralleled by the human races of the same part of the world; whenever a European form is introduced into a tropical country, it drives the native worm inhabitants before it into the fastnesses of the interior. The converse does not occur; when a foreign species gets into this country it does not flourish. This is a further proof of the modern characters, and therefore the great vigor, of the animals of the northern latitudes, as compared with those of the tropics the older and more wornout regions of the globe. THE Archæological Survey of Egypt undertaken by the Egyptian Exploration Fund is proceeding under favorable auspices, and the results of each year's discoveries seem of increasing interest. Last year, several artists were sent out to make fac-simile drawings of the wall-paintings in tombs be- i longing to the eleventh and twelfth two to three thousand years B.C., orè |