65G MISCELLANEOUS. [Feb. 



springs, where the heat of the water boils an egg in four minutes, 

 there is a species of chara growing in great abundance. The food 

 of the reindeer in Lapland is a lichen growing entirely beneath the 

 snow, and there is a vegetable substance called "red snow," that 

 grows upon the surface of the snow, and tinges it with red for miles 

 in extent. '•' Blue mould," a species of fungus, in the farthest 

 corner of a coal pit. Lichens grow upon the face of the hardest 

 rock, and seaweed has been brought up from a depth of one hundred 

 fathoms. And as the distribution of plants is universal, so the 

 vitality of tlieir seeds appears to be unlimited. We have all heard 

 of wheat being found in the mummies imported from Egypt, which, 

 when sown, has sprung up with as much vigour as seed of last 

 year's produce. In a funeral barrow near Dorchester, a skeleton 

 was dug up at a depth of 30 feet, and in the stomach of the skele- 

 ton were three seeds of raspberry, which, being sown, all came up 

 as though they had been ordinary seeds of yesterday. This body 

 had been in its grave 1700 years, as was proved by the presence 

 of coins of the Koman Emperor Hadrian, which had been buried 

 with the body. 



"Ironbauk." — We learn from an Australian paper that this is 

 one of the most valuable of Australian timber trees, and grows 

 abundantly in New South Wales. Some kinds are said to be 

 almost indestructible in any situation, impervious alike to the 

 white ant and the Teredo navalis, and, with all their defects, 

 probably unequalled in the world for railway sleepers, piles for 

 bridges, wharves, and jetties, fencing, or any kind of heavy carpentry, 

 as well as shipbuilding, for beams, keelsons, sternposts, engine-beams, 

 and other works below the line of flotation, where great strength is 

 required and a heavy material is not objectionable. The " Iron- 

 bark " stands in the first class of Lloyd's list of shipbuilding timbers, 

 and together with several other kinds is already extensively used by 

 European shipbuilders. There are several kinds of Ironbark in use, 

 all, however, true Eucalypts. The two best species are said to be 

 the white narrow-leaved Ironbark {E. crebra), and the white, pale, or 

 she Ironbark {E. jKcniculata), both growing in the open forest, and 

 on poor or indifferent soil in the northern coast districts. Three 

 other species — the red-flowering Ironbark (E. Icucoxylon), the silver- 

 leaved Ironbark {E. mdanopJdoia'), and the large-leaved Ironbark (E. 

 siderophloia) — also grow in the northern districts, and make valuable 

 timber, though inferior to the two first-named. Ironbark is largely 

 used for bridges and piles where there is no danger of the terrible 

 Teredo, and for poles and shafts of carriages, wheel-spokes, and 

 railway sleepers. Owing to the difficulty of obtaining it, Ironbark 

 is the most expensive of all New South Wales hardwoods, and has 



