126 NOTICES OF BOOKS. 
seed-vessel, which opens at the top, contains but one seed. A plant, 
with the habit of Dryandra Fraseri, growing to the height of twelve 
or fifteen feet, has seed-vessels of the size and shape of a musket-ball, 
each bearing two seeds. There is a remarkable plant of the family 
Crucifere, which, after flowering, buries its pods underground. À 
new Dilleniaceous plant has the habit and appearance of Daviesia 
juncea, and is equally leafless. Seven new Banksias are in the collection. 
But we need not enumerate any more, as it was Mr. Drummond's in- 
tention to despatch the collections to England by the earliest opportu- 
nity, and we presume they will be consigned to our friend Mr. Heward, 
Young-street, Kensington, for distribution among the subscribers. 
Superstitions with regard to Glastonbury Thorn. 
“It is handed down that when Joseph of Arimathea, during his mis- 
sion to England, arrived at Wearyall-hill, near Glastonbury, he struck 
his travelling staff into the earth, which immediately took root, and - 
ever after put forth its leaves and blossoms on Christmas Day, being 
converted into a miraculous thorn. This tree, which has two trunks, 
was preserved until the time of Queen Elizabeth, when one of the 
trunks was destroyed by a Puritan; and the other met with the same 
fate during the Great Rebellion. Throughout the reign of Henry 
VIII. its blossoms were esteemed such great curiosities and sovereign 
specifics, as to become an object of gain to the merchants of Bristol, 
who not only disposed of them to the inhabitants of their own city, 
but exported these blossoms to different parts of Europe. There were, 
in addition to these, relics for rain, for avoiding the evil eye, for rooting 
out charlock and all weeds in corn, with similar specifics, which were 
considered at this time the best of all property." — Notes and Queries. 
NOTICES OF BOOKS. 
Harvey, Wrt11am HENRY, MD. etc.: NEREIS BOREALI-AMERI- 
CANA; or, Contributions towards a History of the Marine Alge of 
the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts of North America. Part I., Melano- 
spermez.' Royal 4to, 144 pp., twelve coloured plates, representing 
thirty-two species. 
We have not a more industrious botanist in Europe than Dr. Harvey, 
