316 Miscellaneous. 
On the twenty-fifth day the vesicles were larger. On the twenty- 
sixth day they were of the size of a lentil ; the envelope began to be 
formed and the first traces of heads appeared. 
On the thirtieth day, the heads, under the form of tubercles, were 
visible to the naked eye. On the thirty-eighth day the eminences 
appeared more distinctly on the surface, and the heads exhibited signs 
of their suckers and hooks. Towards the forty-fifth day the Coenuri 
were of the size of a bean, and the cavities in which the heads are 
lodged were formed. 
Besides the brain, the heart, the oesophagus, and the diaphragm 
of some of the lambs also contained encysted vesicles ; but these are 
not the Cysticercus tenuicollis, as I was at first inclined to think vnth 
M. Leuckart, — they are strayed and aborted worms. 
The following is the result to which my researches have led : — The 
adult Coenuri live and become developed in the intestine of the dog, 
forming the TcBnia coenurus, which has hitherto been confounded 
with the Taenia serrata. 
The malady known as the twm-sick, staggers or vertigo is propa- 
gated in the following manner : — The shepherds cut off the heads 
of the sheep affected with this disease and throw them to the dogs, 
which swallow the Coenuri along with the brain, and these Coenuri 
give rise to Tsenias in their intestines. As the Coenuri sometimes bear 
as many as 300 heads, and each head {scolex) can produce a Tcenia, 
it will be easily imagined that these worms must multiply with great 
rapidity. 
The dogs following the sheep in the meadows, pass the proglottides 
filled with eggs along with their excrements ; and these eggs are thus 
scattered over the herbage upon which the sheep feed. 
Moist meadows are most favourable to the development of the 
malady, as the proglottides and eggs dry there more slowly. — Bull, 
de VAcad. Royale de Belgique, 1854, p. 306. -^ ^^^ ^' 
iIoi"9jii 9m toa 
On the Occurrence of Zinc in the Vegetable Organiir^^ ' ^^^' H 
ByA.BRAUN. '"■^'"^ 
3:. It is well known that the calamine hills of Rhenish Prussia and 
the neighbouring parts of Belgium possess a peculiar flora ; visitors 
to these regions are particularly surprised by a species of violet 
allied to Viola tricolor, which unfolds its beautiful yellow flowers in 
uninterrupted profusion from spring until the end of autumn, and is 
known in the neighbourhood of Aix as the Calamine violet, or in 
the dialect of the district " Kelmesveilchen," This plant has been 
described by Lejeune in his "Revue de la Flore de Spaa" as a 
distinct species under the name of Viola calaminaria, but he has 
since characterized it (Comp. Flone Belgica) as Viola lutea. Smith. 
Koch and other authors have also rightly considered it as a variety 
of V. lutea. Smith (^grandiflora, Huds.), a species principally distin- 
guished from V. tricolor by its filiform subterraneous runners, by 
means of which it survives the winter. In its habits it is remarkably 
distinct from the ordinary Viola lutea of the Alps, as well as from 
Miscellaneous. 317 
the form of this plant occurring on the higher Vosges on granitic 
and syenitic soils (described by Spach as Viola elegans) ; its stem 
being more procumbent and repeatedly branched at the base, and 
the flowers being generally smaller. I will not, however, express 
any further opinion as to whether this violet may or may not be a 
distinct species, for the violets of the same group as V, tricolor pre- 
sent so many difficulties to systematic botanists in consequence of 
their extraordinary variability, that it is difficult to find the middle 
course between the union of them all under one name, and the 
establishment of a multitude of species. Many other plants grow 
in company with the Viola calaminaria, which, although in this 
district peculiar to the calamine hills, nevertheless grow in other 
localities in soil free from calamine. 
1'he colour of the flowers of the Viola lutea of the Alps and 
Vosges varies from the darkest violet to the purest yellow, whilst 
the flowers of V. calaminaria, at least in the neighbourhood of Aix, 
are almost always yellow. On the borders of the calamine district 
specimens are met with here and there with pale violet, or bluish, or 
mixed blue and yellow flowers, which have been regarded by Kalten- 
bach as hybrids between this plant and the F. tricolor, which cer- 
tainly occur on cultivated land in the neighbourhood. But I have 
also seen a specimen of the true V, calaminaria from the calamine 
region of Westphalia which is of a dark violet colour. The plant 
when cultivated in gardens is said to change and become like the 
common V. tricolor. 
The connexion between the occurrence of the V. calaminaria and 
the presence of calamine in the soil, which is so constant that even 
mining experiments have been undertaken with good results from 
the indications furnished by this plant, induced me, when in Aix, to 
urge M. Victor Monheim of that place, to examine the plant 
especially with reference to its containing zinc. He afterwards 
sent me the following account of a chemical investigation of the 
plant, performed in his laboratory and under his eye, by M. F. Bel- 
lingrodt, wliich I give in the latter gentleman's own words : — 
"The plants, some of which were still in flower, were collected 
in the month of October on the Altenberg and in the immediate 
neighbourhood of its large zinc works. To get rid of adhering 
earth completely, the fresh, uncut herbage with the roots was 
washed with water, until, when macerated for sixteen or eighteen 
hours with water containing muriatic acid, it gave no inorganic 
matter to the dilute acid. The whole was then finely chopped and 
digested on the vapour- bath for twelve hours with water and mu- 
riatic acid; the vegetable matter was separated from the extract, 
and this treated with chlorate of potash. The addition of an excess 
of ammonia to the decolorized extract, now produced a precipitation 
of alumina, organic substances, and partially of the iron. 
" The precipitate produced in the filtrate by sulphuret of ammo- 
nium was dissolved in muriatic acid, oxidized by nitric acid, and 
the iron then completely separated by ammonia- A portion of the 
Sl8 Miscellaneous. 
filtered fluid was boiled with solution of potash, when traces of man- 
ganese were precipitated. Solution of sulphuretted hydrogen then 
rendered the presence of zinc in the filtrate quite evident. 
" Another portion of the fluid filtered from the iron precipitate 
was precipitated at once by sulphuret of ammonium, the dried pre- 
cipitate calcined in a platinum crucible, moistened with nitric acid, 
again calcined, and then treated with dilute acetic acid ; the zinc 
was precipitated from the solution in acetic acid by solution of 
sulphuretted hydrogen. 
" From another portion of the herb, freed from external impurities, 
the juice was expressed, and the presence of zinc in this was also 
distinctly proved by the above process." 
This metal must therefore be added to the eighteen elements 
hitherto known to occur in the vegetable organism. — Poggendorff's 
Annalen, vol. xcii. p. 175. 
Notes on the Bovine Animals of the Malay Peninsula. 
By George Windsor Earl. 
1 . The Sapi, or Wild Ox of the Malay Peninsula, was scarcely 
known to exist until 1850, when Dr. Oxley, and a hunting-party 
from Singapore, killed a young cow on the banks of the Muah River. 
He described it as 6 feet 2 inches high at the shoulder, from hoof 
to dorsal vertebrae ; back curved, highest about the centre. Horns 
small, curved inwards, white, tipped with black. Forehead flat, with 
tuft of long hair, large in the bulls. Hair smooth and silky. Colour 
brown, with white about the feet. Mane 2 inches long, running along 
the entire back. No dewlap. The bulls are from 7 to 7\ feet high. 
The flesh is described as delicious. Calves could be obtained with a 
little trouble, but I suspect it would be difficult to get a full-grown 
animal ; but he would be worth something if caught. 
2. The Saladang, another species of wild cattle, is even less known 
than the Sapi, as no specimen has yet been shot by Europeans. It 
seems to me to be a sort of Bison, or Bos Gaurus. The males are 
10 feet high at the shoulder, and they are altogether fiercer and 
more formidable than the Sapi, but not so graceful. In my opinion 
it would be worth while for the Zoological Society to send a man out 
expressly for the purpose of bringing home specimens of these two 
beasts. The Muah River, where both varieties abound, would be the 
best spot to seek them ; and Inchi Basow, a Malay chief who takes 
great delight in hunting, would soon procure live specimens of each 
at a small expense. 
3. The Water Buffalo does not seem to be known in England, 
although it is common all over the Archipelago. The larger speci- 
mens stand 7 feet at the shoulder, sometimes more. Barrel very 
large. Legs short and strong. Skin black and wrinkled, and almost 
hairless, like that of the Elephant. It is amphibious, and has been 
known to swim across straits as wide as the Channel at Dover ; in 
fact, the way the head is set on the body, with the nose up, and the