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Chap. vii. Sketch of the Coníferæ. We extract the following passage from the conclusion of the 5th chapter, because it serves to elucidate certain phenomena in the decay of aged trees, which we have frequently witnessed, but, we confess, without having been able to assign an adequate cause:

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"In the boles of large trees of very advanced age, there are often singular struggles for life. In some of these, yews for instance, the very vigour of the growth seems to hasten the decay of part of the stem. branches which are nearest the earth are the least exposed to atmospheric action; and the efforts which they make occasion those gnarls and clumps that are so abundant in those trees. But they push inwards at the same time, and by that means compress the vessels in the central parts, and destroy their action. If the upper branches be feeble, as compared with the under ones, an entire excavation is the result; but if these branches be strong, each of them is able to maintain its state of growth; and in those cases, the lower part of the trunk appears like a bundle of rods in a case. In a churchyard at the picturesque village of Loose, in Kent, there is a fine old yew, with a trunk nearly 40 ft. in circumference, and a vigorous head more than 64 ft. in extent, which affords a good specimen of this resistance of decay along certain lines diffused through the trunk. Some of the other Conífera have the same habit; among others, the Norfolk Island pine; but the durable parts in it are chiefly knots, which are found dark and resinous in the decayed trunks." (p. 217, 218.)

Our author, at p. 438., appears to cast some doubt on the generally received opinion, "that the leaves and twigs of the yew are poisonous to cattle." We have been taught, and are rather inclined to believe, that though the yew may be eaten, perhaps with impunity, in a living or fresh state, yet that, when withered, it often proves fatal to cattle which devour it. There are many passages throughout the work, which we feel a strong temptation, did space permit, to transfer to our own pages. But we must forbear; and shall make but one other extract, and that relating to a subject which appears to us to be deserving of further observation and experiment:

"The old adage, 'soon ripe, soon rotten,' certainly applies to the individual structures of vegetables; and it is a popular, and, we rather think, a well-founded opinion, that in trees of the same species, and on the same soil, those which expand their leaves last in the spring, and shed them last in the autumn, afford the best timber. We know that that is the case with the ash and the beech, and we are inclined to believe that it is general, and that it extends to evergreens as well as to deciduous trees; and it is just what might, in reason, be expected. The early spring, from its frequent alternations of heat and cold, is the trying season for vegetation; and the structures, by which the timber is ultimately elaborated, being repeatedly checked in their formation, cannot, in the nature of things, perform their functions so well as when they meet with no check during the period of their growth." (p. 364, 365.)

In the same page, only a few lines above the foregoing extract, mention is made of "the great chestnut tree of Tamworth:" we presume this is a mere misprint for "the great chestnut tree of Tortworth.”

The woodcuts which illustrate the Botanic Annual, are of two classes : viz., full-length portraits of particular trees, and more detailed botanical specimens of several species of the Coníferæ. With the latter we feel no inclination to find fault; they are for the most part neat, expressive, and well executed; the former, we think, are but poor performances. We certainly should not have guessed what species were intended to be represented by the figure of the cedar of Lebanon; and the artist, as it appears to us, has almost equally failed in portraying the close and sable foliage of the yew. if Mr. Mudie is disposed, at any future time, to present us (as we hope he will) with portraits of British trees, we recommend him to apply for that purpose to the same admirable artists, to whom we have ourselves heretofore had recourse on like occasions: we mean Messrs. Strutt and Williams, whose combined efforts in the graphic art, we happen to know, from specimens of the kind which we have seen, are fully competent to delineate both the cedar and the yew, as well as other trees, to the very life.

Enough, we trust, has already been said, to induce our readers to peruse the Botanic Annual for themselves. We have only a few words more of complaint to add before we conclude, and these shall now be very few indeed. Our author seems to have a most rooted aversion to every thing in the shape of an index: a deficiency of this kind we hope to see supplied, should a second edition of the work be called for. Ere that time arrives, he would do well to revise and correct his pages, carefully purging them of those not unfrequent blemishes of style and expression, at which we have already hinted. We would entreat him, also, to send forth his offspring into the world decked in a somewhat more chaste and suitable, that is, a less gaudy, attire. This done, there would remain little, save the title of the book, to give us offence, and we might say, with Juliet : —

"'T is but thy name, that is my enemy;

--

Oh, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet;

Annual, doff thy name."

A. R. Y.

ART. IV. Catalogue of Works on Natural History, lately published, with some Notice of those considered the most interesting to British Naturalists.

ANON.: First Report of the Proceedings, Recommendations, and Transactions of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. 8vo, pp. 112. York, 1832.

This pamphlet recounts the results of the scientific meeting at York, in September, 1831, where and when, as is now well known, numerous distinguished promoters and pursuers of science assembled, and occupied themselves for several days in reading essays, delivering lectures, and taking part in scientific conversation. The pamphlet shows that these results were most highly gratifying. A similar meeting, and, as the Association matures, a more perfectly organised one, is to take place annually, in some town, to be determined on some months previous to the time of meeting. The meeting for 1832 is to take place at Oxford, and on the 18th of June.

The objects of the British Association are:- "To give a stronger impulse and a more systematic direction to scientific enquiry; to promote the intercourse of those who cultivate science in different parts of the British empire, with one another, and with foreign philosophers; to obtain a more general attention to the objects of science, and a removal of any disadvantages, of a public kind, which impede its progress."

Anon.: Arcana of Science and Art; or, an Annual Register of useful Inventions and Improvements; abridged from the Transactions of Public Societies, and from Scientific Journals, British and Foreign, of the past Year. Small 8vo, with several engravings. Fifth year. London, Limbird, 1832.

Out of above 300 pages of which this book consists, 120 are devoted to natural history, and in this part the cuts are rather numerous: one of them is a creditable representation of the whale's skeleton now under exhibition at Charing Cross, the scientific details of which were published in our last Number, p. 214-233.; another exhibits a map of the mole's mining operations, as deduced from the experiments, and their published results, of Le Court. The Arcana of Science and Art constitute a book exceedingly eligible as a manual for lads.

Jesse, Edward, Deputy Surveyor of His Majesty's Parks: Gleanings in Natural History; with local Recollections.

To which are added, Maxims and Hints for an Angler. 8vo, pp. 320. London, Murray, 1832.

A volume of very pleasing remarks, many quoted, more original, on various individuals of the respective kingdoms of beasts, birds, fishes, reptiles, insects, and plants. It seems a transcript of the natural history note-book of the author, who shows himself very observant of Nature, and especially of her more readily observable creatures, and delightfully susceptible of amiable impressions from them: he has, too, the faculty of expressing easily all his sights and sentiments. The volume produced is an entertaining and popularly readable one for those who are already disposed to derive delight from natural objects. The author disclaims all pretensions to having made his book a scientific one. In this he is right; for it will be found at fault, here and there, on points of science: the author is, perhaps, also prone to proceed to inference on too slender a stock of facts. The remarks on eels will excite research. The "Maxims and Hints for an Angler, by a Bungler," are humorously prescribed, and are doubtless by an expert practician: the author refers them to a friend of his. The chapter on "Roman Antiquities" found by the Thames at Kingston, which includes an engraving exhibiting them, and also several pages to prove that it was here, rather than at Weybridge, that Cæsar forded the Thames, on quitting his encampment on Wimbledon Common, will be interesting to the antiquary, but belongs, perhaps, rather to history than to natural history.

Jenyns, Leonard, Rev., M.A. FLS., and Fellow of the Cambridge Philosophical Society: A Monograph on the British Species of Cyclas and Pisídium. From the Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society. 4to, pp. 24, and 3 plates of highly magnified figures. Cambridge, 1832.

The object of this monograph is to digest afresh and add to the number "of certain species of bivalve mollusca' inhabiting fresh water, which were associated by the older Linnæan authors either with Cárdium or Tellìna." The author remarks that he has deviated from the arrangement of Lamarck, and most authors, in referring them to two genera, Cyclas and Pisídium; but that he has done this in conformity with the views of Pseiffer, as exhibited in his excellent Systematische Anordnung und Beschreibung Deutscher Land- und Wasser-Schnecken, &c., published at Cassel in 1821. He remarks, however, that "although Pseiffer has the merit of having first separated the above genera, his characters are

not clearly defined," &c. The author has endeavoured, and successfully it may be said, to amend Pseiffer's errors and supply his defects; and states, that, in so doing, he has, as to the relation of the parts of the animals and their shells, and the terms used to designate them, adopted the views of Blainville, as presented in his Manuel de Malacologie.

Of Cyclas, three species are described, viz.: rivícola Leach, córnea Lamarck, and calyculata of Draparnaud; as well as varieties of these. Of Pisídium, the species presented are, obtusale Pseiffer, with varieties; pusillum Jenyns, with varieties; nítidum Jenyns; pulchellum Jenyns, with varieties; Henslowianum Jenyns; and ámnicum Jenyns, with varieties.

Synonymy is ever a matter of much importance to systematic naturalists; and this monograph will to such be really valuable, for the diligence with which synonymes have been collected from Continental as well as from British writers, and for the cautious, judicious, and therefore instructive, adjustment of them. The following quotation will evince the caution exercised: "In my attempt to determine the species, I have not merely considered the general characters of the shell, but have derived much assistance from attending to the animal inhabitant. Indeed, it is absolutely requisite to caution conchologists against drawing any conclusions, with respect to the specific distinction of these animals, from a mere inspection of the shell alone. This is so liable to vary, from age, peculiarity of situation, and probably from other causes, that it becomes necessary, in some cases, to compare a large number of specimens, collected from different sources, in order to determine the characters of a single species with any degree of precision. Occasionally the shell becomes exceedingly ventricose, at the expense of its height, which is thereby considerably diminished; and the valves, which perhaps naturally meet at an acute angle, under such circumstances meet at an obtuse one. Neither can sculpture be relied upon, the stria (furrows) varying exceedingly in number and distinctness, according to the nature of the water in which the shell is found: a circumstance of which Dr. Leach was not sufficiently aware when he formed three species out of Pisídium amnicum. Age, likewise, produces great changes: not only are young shells much more compressed than adult ones, but in many instances the relative proportion of their parts is different. Indeed, in the case of the minute species, so great and general a similarity prevails amongst their young, that it is hardly possible to identify them in this state without the closest examination." From the above remarks and quotation it will be apparent that the

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