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HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OS SIP. 



scarlet fruit, but its double or forked thorns make it a 

 rather unpleasant plant to come violently into contact 

 with. The fruit, when unripe, is rather astringent, 

 and full of a white milky juice ; and it is a standing 

 joke here, that J. C. Byrne, the emigration-agent in 

 the earlier days of the colony, when speaking in 

 England of the natural products of the place to which 

 he wished to attract the emigrants, said that in Natal 

 the strawberries and the cream grew upon the same 

 plant. The fruit is extensively used for making jams 

 and jellies, a large quantity of which is, I believe, 

 exported. At each end of this fence, and also around 

 and near the house, are trees of Eucalyptus globulus, 

 a native of Australia, some of them 70 feet high, 

 though I believe only twelve years old ; and twining 

 round one of these gum-trees is the stem of a native 

 plant, Testutidinaria elephantipes, the Tortoise-plant, 

 or Elephant's foot, a singular-looking plant, belonging 

 to the family Dioscorea, or Yams. Its rhizome, which 

 is above ground, is hard and tesselated ; and in my 

 specimen the resemblance to a tortoise is sufficiently 

 startling. It is perennial, and sends up a slender 

 twining stem to the branches of the trees amongst 

 which it grows, while the rhizeme sends down tough 

 wiiy rootlets, with which it takes firm hold of the 

 ground. The specimen under notice was the first 

 which I had seen, and in climbing up some rocky 

 ground I placed my hand upon it, but quickly with- 

 drew it under the impression that it was the shell of 

 a tortoise. There are, I believe, two species of this 

 plant in the colony, but I have only met with one as 

 yet. We have also two species of Gardenia, G. glo- 

 bosa, now completely covered with its creamy bell- 

 tnaped flowers, and G. grandiflora, with larger, 

 salver-shaped flowers, which fill the garden with a 

 delightful perfume. Then there is that rare plant, 

 Mackaya bella, with its pale lilac pendulous flowers 

 and curiously-veined corolla. I have been informed 

 that this plant is only found wild in the valley of the 

 Tongaat, but whether this is correct or not I do not 

 know ; at any rate, it is not by any means common. 

 Then we have a croquet-lawn, formed of a running 

 grass which is commonly used for that purpose here ; 

 and at one end of it stands a row of trees which have 

 originally been stakes in a post and rail fence, but 

 which have now grown into trees, some of them fine 

 ones ; two belong to a species of Aralia, common 

 here, and much used for fencing, as the post will gene- 

 rally take root. Two others are fig : trees, of a species 

 plentiful about here, and which have now grown into 

 fine spreading trees, 20 to 30 feet high, with leaves 

 which arc thickly covered underneath with small 

 peltate scales or glands, the use of which I have not 

 been able to discover. While the leaf is fresh, they 

 appear, under the microscope, to be closely adpressed 

 to the leaf; but as the leaf dries, they curl up at the 

 edges, and are then easily detached, leaving a small 

 pit or hollow. Three more of these trees belong to 

 the genus Erythrina, or, as it is called here, " Kafir 



j Boom," and are now covered with beautiful scarlet 

 ! blossoms, but without a single leaf. This tree is 

 common in the colony, and during the winter months 

 its magnificently-coloured flowers make it a very 

 conspicuous object. We have several species in the 

 colony, two of which are growing here ; one is usually 

 called the ' ' Cork-tree, " as its bark has much the appear- 

 ance of rough cork ; its leaves are large and coarse, 

 and the wood of both species is so light, that I believe 

 it is sometimes used for floats in fishing. I have used 

 it for setting butterflies, for which purpose it answers 

 almost as well as cork, which is not procurable here. 

 And I have no doubt that it may yet be put to many 

 other uses, though at present it is not used, as far as 

 I know, for anything but fencing. I have also a 

 small fernery, of which I may have something to say 

 on another occasion, should it be acceptable to your 

 readers, and also about the numerous wild flowers 

 growing so profusely in this neighbourhood. 



THE LATE ANDREW MURRAY, F.L.S. 



BY the death of Mr. Andrew Murray, which 

 occurred on the 10th ult. at his residence in 

 Bedford Gardens, Kensington, entomology and 

 botany loses an assiduous and careful worker. Born 

 in Edinburgh in 1812, he paid some attention in his 

 youthful clays to the study of medicine. He was, 

 however, educated with a view to following the law 

 as a profession, and for a short time practised as a 

 Writer to the Signet. Subsequently he assisted his 

 relative, John Murray (Lord High Advocate), in his 

 desire to provide some practically useful reading for 

 village schools by writing a little pamphlet entitled 

 "The Skip-jack; or, Wire- worm and the Slug," 

 which, though published without his knowledge, may 

 be considered as his first contribution to economic 

 entomology. The year preceding his removal to 

 London, he contributed to the " Transactions of the 

 Royal Society of Edinburgh " a paper relating to a 

 subject then under discussion, as to what extent the 

 unity of species in the parasite showed unity of 

 species in the animal preyed upon; "the pediculi 

 infesting the various races of man," giving minute 

 descriptions and considerations as to how far the 

 variations might be considered to amount to specific 

 differences. 



After his removal to London in 1S60, Mr. Murray 

 devoted himself specially to the sciences of ento- 

 mology and botany. About this time he became 

 officially connected with the Royal Horticultural 

 Society, being appointed assistant-secretary. After 

 relinquishing this post, he continued, almost to the 

 moment of his death, to show a great interest in the 

 society, being one of the strongest supporters of, and 

 most frequent attendants at, the meetings of the 

 scientific committee. 



In 1869 he formed one of a party, including Sir 



