284 Natural History hi Foreign Countries, 



ther is long continued, it descends to the bottom of the lake. {American 

 Journal of Science.^ 



Port Royal Cassia. — At a meeting of the Jamaica Society for the En- 

 couragement of Agriculture and other Arts, held in the early part of the 

 present year, a paper by Dr. Bancroft was read, concerning a species of 

 Cassia growing wild on the sands near Port Royal, which has long been 

 used by the inhabitants of that town instead of Senna, and which Professor 

 Swartz had described, in 1791, under the name of Cassia Sinna^hut express- 

 ing a doubt of its being the same with the Cassia Senna of botanists. The 

 uncertainty, however, that has existed until lately, concerning the plants 

 that yield the senna of commerce, had prevented the doubt of Swartz 

 from being cleared up. Fresh and dried specimens of the plant were pro- 

 duced, and various omissions and differences were pointed out between 

 these and the description of fewartz ; and proofs adduced to show that the 

 Port Royal Cassia is a very distinct species from Cassia obovata, commonly 

 called S^nna italica, to which it had been referred by some botanists. It 

 was also stated to be essentially different from any of the species of Cassia 

 described by systematic authors, particularly by DecandoUe, in the second 

 volume of his ProdromuSy whose enumeration, comprehending 211 species, 

 is the most recent, complete, and scientific ; whence it seemed probable 

 that it was to be considered as a nondescript. A full description of its 

 botanical characters was accordingly given, and it was proposed to designate 

 it by the name of Cassia porturegalis (intimating its native place), and its 

 specific characters were recorded. Proofs were given of its being equally 

 active with common S^nna ; its taste is, besides, less disagreeable, and it 

 seems, moreover, to possess the advantage of causing much less griping ; as a 

 proof of which, it was mentioned that mothers of families were in the habit 

 of giving it to their children, even to infants, in the form of tea, with milk 

 and sugar, and without any ginger or spice as a corrective. It had been sup- 

 posed that it would not grow in any place but the sands near Port Royal ; a 

 fine specimen, however, was produced, that had grown in Kingston, which 

 rendered it probable that it might be cultivated in the low lands, at least, 

 of this island ; and the ready sale which a mild yet active Senna, such as 

 this, was likely to meet with in the markets of Europe, afforded encourage- 

 ment towards attempting to raise it by cultivation here. — Y,B* Aprilf 

 1818. 



Botanic Garden at the Havannah. — This is a new establishment, said to 

 be finely laid out, and though not yet finished, to contain many curious 

 plants and trees. On passing some low bushes in a wet situation, the 

 attention of Mr. Bullock was attracted by the singular carved or embossed 

 appearance of the leaves ; but on endeavouring to reach one, to examme 

 it, he was greatly surprised at the ornaments disappearing in an instant, 

 and discovering that the appearance was occasioned by a numerous family 

 of beautiful little frogs, which had attached themselves to the foliage, and 

 on his approach had leaped into the water. {Bid. Mex., vol. i. p. 233.) 



The Ascent of Popocatapetl, by Lieutenant William Glennie, R. J^. — 

 The ascent commenced during the month of April 1827, from the village of 

 Ameca, situated in the province of Puebla, and near the N.W. foot of the 

 volcano, at an elevation of 8216 ft. above the level of the sea, and distant 

 14 leagues from Mexico. 



The author describes the sides of the mountain as thickly wooded with 

 forests of pines, extending to the height of near 12,693 ft., beyond which 

 altitude vegetation ceased entirely. The ground consisted of loose black 

 sand of considerable depth, on which numerous fragments of basalt and 

 pumice-stone were dispersed. At a greater elevation, several project- 

 ing ridges, composed of loose fragments of basalt, arranged one above an- 

 other, and overhanging precipices 600 or 700 ft. deep, presented formidable 

 impediments to the author's progress ; and, in one direction only, a ravine 



