278 CHAPTER OF MISCELLANIES. 



BOTANY. 



Backwardness of the late Spring. — With regard to the backwardness of 

 the Spring, I may remark, that Gentiana verna was only just coming into flower 

 at the beginning of June this year, and the rest of the larger Teesdale plants I 

 found, during a recent excursion, very backward.: — At York, last year, Caltha 

 palustris flowered on the 10th of April, about which time also did Ranunculus 

 ficaria, and in April R. aquatilis ; Oxalis acetosella, and Anemone nemorosa, on 

 the 4th of the same month. — E., York, July 19, 1837. 



Derivation and Accentuation of Veronica. — I am sorry to find that none 

 of your correspondents have given in No. X. the derivation and accentuation of 

 Veronica. Withering has it Veronica ; Hooker Veronica. Is not the latter 

 correct ? e. g., Betonica livornica. Withering and others give various suppo- 

 sitions as to its derivation. E., York, July 19, 1837- [We have generally 

 heard the name pronounced Veronica. As to its derivation we are uncertain. 

 —Ed.] 



A venerable Elm. — At Brignolle, near Toulon, is an old Elm under which 

 a dance was performed before Charles IX. of France, in 1564. Michel de 

 l'Hospital*, born in 1563, speaks of this tree as an object worthy the atten- 

 tion of travellers. — Athenceum. 



Foliage of the Oak. — It is seldom that the Oak first appears in leaf so late 

 as in the present season. In a table of " Indications of Spring," observed by Ro- 

 bert Marsh am, Esq., at Sratton, in Norfolk, published in the Transactions of 

 the Royal Society, the earliest appearance of the Oak leaf, in a period of fifty 

 years, is stated to have been March 31, 1750; and its latest appearance dur- 

 ing the same period, May 20, 1799. It was somewhat later in the present year. 

 — Gloucestershire Chronicle. 



Remarkably large Poplar. — A week or two ago, a Poplar tree, of 25 years 

 growth, was cut down at Wigginton, near York, the wood of which measured 

 sixty feet in length, and seven in diameter at the top or small end ; and the 

 solid wood weighed upwards of two tons. Several eminent wood-valuers have 

 stated, that the above extraordinary weight and dimensions are unprecedented 

 by anything that has yet come within their knowledge. — York Chronicle, 

 June 22. 



MINERALOGY. 



A Test for distinguishing Amber and Copal. — In perusing No. X. of 

 The Naturalist, for July, I noticed amongst the Correspondence a letter by Mr. 

 Levison (p. 211), on Amber, &c. That gentleman has omitted an important 



* Th!» individual, the Athenceum informs us, was born in 1563, and Chancellor in 1560 .'—Ed. 



