Mr. E. Forbes on the Botany near Triei^te. 307 



Cryptostoma, p. 298. 

 There must be some mistake here. Neither the shell nor 

 the animal of Cryptostoma in the least resembles either Corio- 

 cella or Buccinum ; but is closely allied to Natica, and passes 

 by means of Natica melanostoma into the typical form of that 

 genus. The reason why the animals of various species of 

 Lamarckian Buccina differ so considerably from each other, is 

 that he has confounded in that genus many shells belong- 

 ing to other genera. Thus, of the species noticed above, 

 Bucc. Linncei is a Columbella ; Biicc, mutabile a Nassa ; and 

 Bucc. maculosum a Pollia, or subgenus of Triton, Lam. On 

 the other hand, Cardita is by no means so very different from 

 Astarte, into which it readily passes by means of Venericar- 

 dia. Indeed, two fossil Astartes have been described by La- 

 marck as species of Cypricardia, which is the next genus to 

 Cardita. 



XXXV. — Notices of Botanical Excursions in the Neighbour ^ 

 hood of Trieste. By Edward Forbes, M.W.S., For. Sec. 

 B.S., &c.* 



I VISITED Trieste in the month of June J 838, and spent five 

 most delightful weeks in the neighbourhood, making the 

 town my head-quarters. No locality could afford greater plea- 

 sure to the botanist, Illyria being famous for the peculiarities 

 of its Flora ; and I was especially fortunate in finding two of 

 the most distinguished Italian botanists resident in Trieste, 

 M. Tommasini and M. Biasaletto, to whose guidance and to 

 whose company I chiefly owe the profit and the pleasure I 

 reaped during my stay. Trieste is beautifully situated on the 

 Adriatic at the base of Monte Spaccato, one of the border ele- 

 vations of that great and singular calcareous plain the Karst. 

 On the south-east side of the town the country bordering the 

 sea is somewhat flat as far as the boundary of Istria, a few 

 miles distant, and presents us with the salt marshes of Zaule ; 

 on the north-west the bounding precipices of the Karst rise 

 directly from the sea. The exc'ursions which I shall notice in 



* Read before the Botanical Society, Nov. 14, 1S39. 

 z 2 



