Si04 lietrbspedive Criticism. 



motion to this footless animal on the ground (and by which their slow and 

 uniform progress is made), is also exercised in the air ; adding thereby to 

 the length of the suspending line till they reach the ground. Their 

 descent in this manner is an accident, not a purpose, and the doubts of your 

 valuable correspondent respecting them are, therefore, perfectly just and 

 rational. — M. 



The Fruit of the Artocarpus integrif alia. -^ In the Magazine of Natural 

 History (Vol. 1. p. 274.), quoting from the Botanical Magazine for July, it is 

 stated that the fruit of the entire-leaved bread-fruit (Artocarpus integrifolia) 

 is a pod or pericarp. Having seen and eaten the fruit in its native counti*y, 

 I rather suspect there is some error here. If the pine-apple (Bromeha), or 

 the cones of the Scotch pine, can be called a pod, then the Botanical Maga- 

 zine is correct. I very well remember having, in partaking of it, begun at the 

 base, and pulling off, one after another, the subdivisions of the fruit. Each 

 of these divisions contains a seed the size and shape of an almond, enclosed 

 in a thin shell or membrane. The membrane is covered with a soft yel- 

 lowish pulp, which is the eatable part. The centre of this aggregated, 

 fruit is occupied by a prolonged receptacle, to which all the subdivisions are 

 fixed in the manner of a strobile, and the interstices are filled up by the 

 eatable pulp. I never saw the seeds eaten in India ; but I have no doubt 

 they may be used like chestnuts. — J. M. 



iyitilldiia tessellata. — Your correspondent D. S. announces (Vol.1. 

 p. 289.) that he saw " Fritillkria tessellata very abundant in some meadows 

 near Harleston, Norfolk." I do notfind any species of Fritillaria in bota- 

 nical works under that name, a name certainly not inapplicable to F. me- 

 leagris, which, I believe, is the only species indigenous to this country, and 

 which is well represented by the plate annexed to p. 289., under the name 

 of F. tessellata. F. weleagris is a rare, or at least a very local, plant, but 

 it occurs plentifully near Oxford both with purple and with white flowers, 

 particularly in the meadows near Ifley, in Christ-Church Meadow, and most 

 abundantly in Magdalen Meadow. — W. T. Bree. Allesley Rectory. 



Our correspondent D. S. has adopted the name of R. A. Salisbury, in 

 Gray's Natural Arrangement of British Plants. — Cond. 



The Weather, the Winds, and falling Stars. — I am happy to find occa- 

 sional remarks on meteorology in your Magazine. It is a study yet in its 

 infancy, but, I doubt not, will, in common with the many branches of 

 natural history your publication embraces, be greatly perfected by a col- 

 lection of facts and observations. I know very little of the theory of this 

 science, but I believe the direction of the wind, and, consequently, the 

 weather, both with us as well as in the southern hemisphere, depend on 

 the degree of heat between the tropics. With respect to judging of the 

 weather, 1 know no better criterion than that which our Saviour has given 

 us : " When it is evening ye say it will be fair weather, for the sky is red ; 

 and, in the morning, it will be foul weather to-day, for the sky is red and 

 louring." Doubtless, this has been noticed by almost every one, as well as 

 the two other observations, that the livid appearance of the sun's rays bears 

 witness to the moist state of the atmosphere, and that if it sets in dense 

 clouds which reach below the horizon, these clouds will assuredly come up 

 with a westerly wind on the morrow, accompanied by rain. As to any 

 indication of the direction the wind may assume, from the appearance of 

 the higher clouds, I think many mistakes have arisen from not making suf- 

 ficient allowance for the different currents of air in the atmosphere. I have 

 no doubt but the direction of the current might be ascertained by these 

 clouds ; but this same current may never reach us at all below. I am apt, 

 however, to draw an inference quite the contrary to Mr. J. Rennie (see 

 his Observations on the Modification of Clouds called Wind Reels, Vol. I. 

 p. 454.), for I have noticed the direction of the wind to lie commonly at 

 right angles with the greatest diameter of the cloud ; and this is borne out 



