400 Facilities available to Londoners 



novel piece of information. Can any correspondent tell me 

 in the neighbourhood of what towns rice fields may be seen ; 

 what is the extent of land employed in rice fields, the quality 

 of the grain, and the season for getting in the crop ? I had 

 always imagined, till lately, that the culture of rice did not ex- 

 tend in Europe beyond 46°, under which parallel, in Hungary 

 and Piedmont, I had known it was grown to a large amount, 

 but was not prepared to hear of the production of it in the 

 north of Germany. Surely it cannot succeed only in very 

 warm and favourable seasons. If the account is correct, it 

 teaches another wonderful instance of the Cerealia adapting 

 themselves to diversities of soil and climate. — W. A. Bromfield, 

 M. D. Hastings, March 3. 1834. 



[Vegetation relatively to Elevation. — In the Foreign Quar- 

 terly Review and Continental Miscellany for January, 1828, 

 is given an elaborate table of the state of cultivated and spon- 

 taneous vegetation in Switzerland, at different elevations and 

 in different districts.] 



Art. IX. Some Instances of the State of Natural History in 

 Britain. 



The Facilities available to Londoners in the Pursuit qf Natural 

 History. — How few of the inhabitants of this large city study 

 natural history ! and yet how many advantages do they enjoy in 

 the pursuit ! Our societies, public museums, and private col- 

 lections are aids in procuring and seeing authentic specimens, 

 and consulting every description of books, which a resident 

 in the country wishes for in vain. To London also are 

 brought natural curiosities from every part of the world. 

 Around us is found abundance of chalk, sand, clay, gravel, 

 and other soils, distributed in woods, bogs, heaths, streams, 

 &c. Under these various circumstances, need I add that a 

 very large proportion of our plants, and numberless insects, 

 are discoverable ? On Hampstead Heath, Wimbledon Com- 

 mon, and Clapham Common, are numerous curious bog 

 plants. The Thames and its tributary streams abound with 

 the water species. Blackheath, Charlton, and, still more, 

 North Fleet, are rich in the chalk plants ; while Gravesend 

 affords many of those which are peculiar to the coast. At a 

 very short distance from this place we get into the famous 

 orchis woods around Rochester : and how often do Londoners 

 go to Margate, to Heme Bay, to Southend, to Sheppey, &c, 

 and wander about for days and weeks without an object ! The 



