380 On the Growth and Prepm-ation of the 



To the above letter of Captain Sykes, I add no farther note 

 or comment. Your readers will judge for themselves how far 

 it may confirm the theory I have proposed in my Reliquice Di- 

 luviance, to explain the accumulation of teeth and bones in the 

 Cave of Kirkdale. 



P. S. — I beg to correct an omission that occurs in No. 

 XXVIII. of your Journal, p. 363. in the description of frag- 

 ments of gnawed bones, from the cavern of Kent's Hole, near 

 Torquay, that are stated to have been sent to the Edinburgh 

 Museum by myself. They were only transmitted through me, 

 and at my request ; but they were both discovered and present- 

 ed by the Reverend J. M'Enery of Torquay, a gentleman who, 

 during two years' past, has exerted himself with the greatest 

 zeal and success in exploring the contents of this cavern, and 

 who has formed the most extensive and most instructive collec- 

 tion of gnawed and mangled fragments of skeletons of antedi- 

 luvian animals, that has yet been made. It is highly gratifying 

 to me to add, that the conclusions he has drawn from his own 

 independent observations in the larger cavern of Kent's Hole, 

 are in perfect harmony with those I had founded on a display of 

 similar phenomena, though on a less extensive scale, in the cave 

 of Kirkdale. 



On the growth and preparation of Straw used in the Tuscan 

 Trade *. 



JL HE following observations have been extracted from some 

 valuable communications which have reached the Highland So- 

 ciety from Mr H. Hall of Florence, Mr Bos well of Kingcausie, 

 and others ; and will perhaps afford information on some points of 

 management in the growth and preparation of the straw used 

 in the Tuscan trade, which may not yet be quite familiar in this 

 country. 



" The seed from which the straw for plaiting is grown, is a small 

 round grain of wheat, called grano marzuolo, or more properly grano 

 marzolano. It is so called from being sown in the month of March, 

 and diflfers from common wheat in appearance, from its rounder and 



• Extracted from the printed List of Premiums of the Highland Society 

 ofScotland for 1827. 



