The snake turned quickly round, and seized the head of
the crawfish, as if to swallow him; but the crawfish soon put an
end to the conflict by clasping the snake's neck with his claws,
and severing the head completely from his body. This may appear
marvellous; but Audubon tells a story of a rattle-snake chasing
and over-taking a squirrel, which folks in America doubt.
[2] Is not this a species of land-crab?--ED. M.
* * * * *
SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY.
* * * * *
POTTERY.[3]
_(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 284.)_
_CHINA._
The name China, by which the ware that I am about to describe is known
in England, shows sufficiently the country from which we have received
it. The term porcelain, which is applied to it on the continent of
Europe, is Italian; _porcellana_ being in that language the name of
those univalve shells forming the genus _cypraea_ of the conchologist,
which have a high arched back like that of the hog (_porco_, Ital.),
and are remarkable for the white, smooth, vitreous glossiness of the
surface about the mouth of the shell, and sometimes, as in the common
cowry (_Cypraea moneta_), over the whole surface.
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