Xf# Frmch National JnJiiiuid'^Boianj, 



fquJIs take place only under certain clouds, which con-t 

 ceal the caufe of them : they traverfc a band of the atmo- 

 fphere in a ftraight line, and in the direiSiion of the wind "by 

 which they are impelled ; produce only tranfient effects, and 

 cither do not make the barometer fall, or make it fall very 

 little. Storms, on the other hand, extend their effefts to ^ 

 diftance ; continue at leaft ten or twelve hours, and may ever^ 

 prolong their duration to thirty -fix ; they do not come on of 

 a fudden, and make the barometer fall. According to thefe 

 obfervations, the violent winds in November laft were th^ 

 refult of a real ftorm, ai^d not of a hurricane. 

 - Botany, — ^Ventenat, in a mernoir on the plants called 

 arum^ has ihown, that fevera| of thofe which ihe botanift^ 

 have hitherto referred to that cl^fs are fo different as to au- 

 thorife their being formed into a particular genus, the cha- 

 rafters qf which Ventenat deterrnines, and whjch he calls 

 caladium, 



Beauvois has prefented feveral drawings of plants growing 

 in the country of Oware and Benin, a Flora of which he 

 intends foon to publilh. He has given a particular defcrip- 

 tion of a new genus of the family of the cucurbits, which 

 he calls myriantbus ; the only one of that family which is 4 

 tree properly fo called. It might be diftinguifhed by th^ 

 name of the melon-tree. 



Ramond has difcovered in the Pyrennees a new genus of 

 plants which approaches near to the colchica, bulbocoda, ancj 

 faffron ; he has called it mtnderera with the Spaniards, and 

 has fpj^t a figure and defcriptiop of it. He has alfo made a 

 curious obfervatjpn, hitherto unique of its kind : he has 

 found the aquatic ranunculus douridiing, not as ufual at 

 the furface of the water, but at a ccrtaui depth under it. 



Picat-Lapeyroufe has announced that he propofcs to pab- 

 lifh a particular defcription of the plants named Jaxjfragii 

 and he has communicated the motives which induce him to 

 do fo, and the bafes on which he propofes to eftablifh it. 

 The leaves, according to which he has hitherto diltinguiflied 

 thefe plants, do not afford conflant characters : befides, iri 

 this genus there are more hybridae fpecies ; that is to fay, 

 fpecies arifing fropi a mixture of two, than has been hitherto: 



believed. 



