270 Miscellaneous. 



On the Influence of Moisture upon the Direction of Roots. 



By P. DUCHARTRE. 



The author, after refernng to the experiments of Johnson and Knight, 

 in which seeds placed beneath a mass of moist earth, or under a damp 

 sponge hung up in the air, directed their radicle either horizontally, 

 so as to be applied against the moist body, or even vertically from 

 below upwards, and indicating that the experiments of Duhamel, 

 Dutrochet, &c., the results of which were unfavourable to the idea 

 that moisture has any influence upon the direction of roots, were 

 made in such a way that they do not authorize any conclusion to be 

 drawn from them, proceeds to describe some observations of his own 

 on this subject. These observations were made upon two plants of 

 a Hortensia and a shrubby Veronica (F. Lindleyana), the pots con- 

 taining which had been placed in a hermetically closed apparatus. 

 Under the influence of a confined atmosphere, saturated with humi- 

 dity, these plants first of all developed, upon the lower part of their 

 stems, roots several centimeters in length, which extended themselves 

 in the moist air, some horizontally, others in a more or less ascending 

 direction. Numerous roots issued from the moderately moist earth 

 in the pots of the two last-mentioned plants, and rose into the moist 

 air, sometimes obliquely, sometimes directly upwards. — Comptes 

 Rendus, 5 January 1857, p. 10. 



On the Migration of the Starling. By James Harley, Esq., of 



Leicester. 



To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History/. 



Gentlemen, — I am more than half inclined to believe that the 

 observations made by Col. George Montagu on the migratory habits 

 of that pretty bird, the Starling, are correct, although none of our 

 •own more recent out-door naturalists have ventured, in their writings, 

 when engaged on its monograph, to advert to that part of its history. 

 Ool. Montagu is the only writer, at least with whose descriptions of 

 its habits I am acquainted, that has made mention of the annual 

 migration of this species. 



Towards the close of the summer of last year, the writer, accom- 

 panied by a near relative, crossed from Folkestone to Boulogne, 

 quitting Folkestone at 4 p.m. The evening was serene, with a smooth 

 sea, and an unruffled Channel. On our losing sight of the English 

 coast, and reaching the midway of the Straits, while engaged in our 

 remarks on the peculiarities of the different passengers who were 

 fitroUing about the deck of the vessel, a large flock of Starlings crossed 

 our pathway overhead ; we observed them at an altitude of thirty or 

 forty yards. The flock appeared to us to consist of many hundred 

 birds, each little creature pursuing its course in a direct line towards 

 the Kentish coast. 



After a lapse of several seconds, another flock appeared in view^ 

 fled past us, and, in a hurried manner, and by the same aerial route, 

 made the same course towards the land of the free. 



Before night-fall, and as we drew near to the coast of France, a 



