402 Scientrfic Intelligence, '-^Botany. 



iiaciilar name, in the language of tlie Umpique Indians, is Nat- 

 cleh. 



9>0. Nutritions Substance transported by the Wind. — M. The- 

 nard presented to the French Academy of Sciences, in August 

 1828, a substance, whicli was communicated to him by the Mi- 

 nister for Foreign Affairs. This substance was sent to the Mi- 

 nister, as having fallen from the sky, in Persia, at the com- 

 mencement of the present year. It occurred in such abundance 

 that the ground was of a sudden entirely covered by it over a 

 great extent. In some spots it was five or six inches deep. It 

 was eaten by cattle, and particularly sheep; and bread was 

 made of it, which afforded nourishment to man. Such were the 

 accounts furnished to the French Consul in Persia, by a Rus- 

 sian general, who was an eye-witness. M. Thenard had first 

 presented the specimens to M. Desfontaincs, who recognized in 

 them a species of lichen described by botanists. These lichens, 

 which, it would appear, occur in very great abundance, had 

 been transported by the wind to the places where their sudden 

 appearance was observed. A similar phenomenon occurred in 

 the same parts of Persia in 1824 *. 



21. On the Fecundation of' Flowers. — Formerly the fecund a^ 

 tion of flowers, in which the sexes are separated, was almost 

 wholly attributed to the wind. Kohlreuter and Sprengel have 

 proved, with an astonishing sagacity, that bees, wasps, and a 

 great number of small winged insects, prform the principal 

 part in this operation. I say the principal part ; for to assert 

 that the fecundation of the germen absolutely cannot take place 

 without the intervention of these little animals, does not seem 

 to me in conformity with the genius of nature, as Wildenow 

 has demonstrated at length f. But, on the other hand, it must 

 be observed, that dichogamy, the coloured spots of the petals, 

 which indicate the vessels in which the honey is contained, and 

 fecundation by the contact of insects, are three circumstances 

 almost inseparable. — Humboldt, Tabl. de la Nat. t. i. p. 78. 



22. Erica ciliaris, L. — This beautiful species of heath was 

 added to the British Flora a short time ago , by the Rev. Mr 



• Specimens of this substance were sent to us, from Persia, by Mrs Mac- 

 neill, lady of the physician to the embassy in Persia. — Edit. 

 f Elements of Botany (in German)^ p. 405. 



