MISCELLANY. 221 



demand for them will be limited and uncertain ; but that may have been said of 

 a number of other things of a similar nature, which now meet with a regular 

 sale, and which the growers, of course, endeavour to cultivate according to the 

 demand they have for them. The American Cranberry would be the easier 

 managed, and most productive for general use ; but, as many prefer the flavour 

 of the English Cranberry, there would also be a demand for it. — Id. 



The Alder Tree. — The Alder is much valued in Germany for its great use- 

 fulness. Its flowers constitute the panacea of the country and town people over 

 the whole north of Germany. They are carefully dried in airy rooms, but so 

 that the rays of the sun cannot fall upon them. Two flowers, upon which a pint 

 of boiling water is poured, give a tea of an agreeable taste and flavour, which, 

 for its diaphoretic qualities, is considered as the best remedy for all disorders 

 of the stomach, of colds, coughs, hoarseness, influenza, and all rheumatic com- 

 plaints. — Id. 



Agave Americana. — We understand that the fine specimen of this magnificent 

 exotic, in the ladies' flower-garden, at Clowance, the seat of Sir John St. Aubyn, 

 Bart., is now in a state of blossoming, and upwards of 200 of the flowers are 

 expanded ; and so richly are these blossoms supplied with honey, that it actually 

 drops from them. From the vast number of flower-buds, there is no doubt but 

 this most curious and interesting flower will continue in bloom for the space of 

 five or six weeks. No fewer than 1,360 persons have already seen and admired 

 this most beautiful plant, and we have every reason to believe many hundreds 

 more will be added to the number. — Id. 



GEOLOGY. 



Visit to the Salt-mines at Northwich. — Through the medium of The 

 Naturalist (Vol. II., p. 476) we have been furnished with very interesting 

 details of the excursions to Knowsley and Leasowes, by a " Member of the 

 British Association." Could not some of your correspondents also supply the 

 readers of your Journal with an account of the visit to the Salt-mines at North- 

 wich ?— T. B. Hall, Woodside, Liverpool, March 1, 1838. 



Teredo in Fossil Wood. — In my collection of fossils from the Iouanodon 

 Quarry, Maidstone, I have a group of Teredo in fossil wood, and in some of the 

 valves is seen a spiral shell of, I believe, an unknown species. It appears much 

 like the mealden formation. Their occurrence is very remarkable, as I never met 

 with a specimen of this spiral shell detached from fossil wood in the green sand, 

 and I have no other way of accounting for their presence than supposing, that 

 they had inserted themselves when the wood which contained the Teredo was 

 floating towards the sea, the exuviae of which surrounded the fossil in question. 

 An elucidation of this opinion presented itself to me last summer, when inspect- 



