46^ Botany, 



venerable Bede, again, in his Ecclesiastical History i says,' the British pearls 

 were excellent, and of all colours, — reddish, pale, violet, and green, which 

 account is confirmed by Origen. Not many years ago, a patent was granted 

 to fish for pearls in the river Jut, in Cumberland {Gibson in CamderCs Bri- 

 tannia), but it does not appear to have been much acted upon. — J. Rennie. 



Art. hi. Botany, 



Changes made in the Karnes of Plants. — I cannot help producing a few 

 instances, from amongst a very large number, where the alterations appear 

 to me to be decided improvements. I say nothing respecting generic terras, 

 but have confined myself to the trivial or specific name : — Fritillaria rae- 

 leagris of Linnaeus, Mr. Salisbury proposes to change to F. tessellata ; iiTip- 

 pophae rhamnoides to H. littoralis ; and Campanula Trachelium to C. uyvl- 

 cifolia, all certainly changes for the better. Who will not prefer, if he thinks 

 for a moment, Veronica fontinalis and bibarbata (one expressing the place 

 of growth, and the other alluding to the situation of the hairs on the stem) 

 to the barbarously sounding words Beccahunga and ChameeMrys, to which 

 few are able to attach any meaning ? And is not Gerard's name of the 

 common Scurvy-Grass, Cochlearia rotundifolia, expressive of the form of the 

 leaf, better than C officinalis ? I think it highly objectionable to continue 

 the name officinalis to so many plants merely because they have been used 

 medicinally, and shall be glad to see some one take up the subject, and 

 " reform it altogether." (See Gray's Nat. Arrangement of Brit. Plants.) — 

 D. S, Bungay. 



Preservation of Trees in Winter. — In iron founderies, such as the 

 foundery for cannon at Munich, it is customary to stir the melted metal 

 with a branch of green oak ; and notwithstanding the great heat of the 

 metal, the green wood is not affected deeper than about the twentieth 

 part of an inch. This striking fact is explained from the non-conducting 

 power of the sap j and upon the same principle it is that the bodies and 

 branches of trees, not having the covering of snow which the roots have, 

 are protected from the operation of cold by their sap increasing in spissi- 

 tude, and, of course, in non-conducting capacity, as the winter approaches. 

 On similar principles we may account for the preservation of various kinds 

 of fruits. — J. R, 



Sap of the Rose Tree. — From a plant of i26sa rubiflora, at Hammersmith^ 

 with a stem 3^ ft. high and 2i in. in diameter, when deprived of its 

 branches and the head sawed off, 29th of July, 51 ounces of sap flowed in 

 about a week, which, together with loss by evaporation, probably exceeded 

 three pints. Chemical analysis gave the following ingredients : — 

 Oxalate of lime - - - 2*9 grains 



Acetate of lime - « - 1'097 



Acetate of potass - - 0*7 



- Gum and extractive - - 2*1 



Sugar ? soluble in alcohol = - o* l 

 Loss - . - - 0*355 



7*25 



R. Adams in Brande's Journ. 

 With respect to what Mr. Adams chooses to call extractive, I may be 

 permitted to remark that the term ought to be exploded altogether from 

 vegetable chemistry, since it does not, like the terms gum, acid, or alkali. 



