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 then, the roof of the cavern having fallen in, by gradually widening it, and so converting a cave into a ravine. Similar instances of this kind of action I have also met with at the base of Ingleborough, in Yorkshire.

The district of which Castleton is the centre is one in which the student of the marvels of creation will find much to instruct and interest him. Here he will find a record of some of the changes to which our globe has been subjected at the hands of Him who by His Almighty fiat said "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered into one place and let the dry land appear;" who has settled the bounds of the different animals inhabiting the name, and who has fitted it for the welfare and happiness of man, the last and greatest of His productions. 



Since any district or hunting-ground which is appropriated to the study of natural history loses much of its productiveness and interest if it does not embrace a portion of the seaboard, or, at any rate, if there is no occasional excursion made with the object of studying marine zoology and botany, the following paper relating to one portion of the Isle of Man may not he out of place in the "Midland Naturalist," especially as its coasts, together with those of North Wales, are more easily accessible to Midlanders than any others, and the island is especially rich in all marine productions, whether botanical or zoological.

When the writer of this paper saw for the first time the still-regretted Naturalist whose name occurs at the head of it, he could not fail to be struck with his intellectual appearance, juvenile look, expressive eyes, and somewhat truant hair. This was in 1839, as he spoke in his section at the meeting of the British Association at Birmingham, the year and place, we think, which gave birth to the Red Lion Club, consisting of himself and other congenial spirits. His then auditor, who was also his senior, little expected that so many years after his death, (which took place in 1854,) circumstances which may be termed fortuitous would bring it about that himself, with tastes not very different from those of poor Forbes, should become acquainted with the family estate, and be domiciled for a time at the homestead which belonged to him; also hear his praise from the worthy old Manxman who accompanied him in his rambles and dredgings; to whom, as to all with whom ho had intercourse, he became much endeared, The old man recounted, amongst other things, with what glee Forbes found a rare Arca (tetragona) in the mud which filled the valves of a Modiola; his gourmandise in respect to the raw mollusks of the scallops, (called tanrogans by the natives;) his long and lithe fingers allowing nothing to escape them; and the interest he took in a beetle which the narrator brought to him — three-spined, and which burrowed in the roads—probably a Typhews or bull-comber, (Anglice.)