l€6 Linnean Society. [Jan. 20, 



January 20, 1852. 



Robert Brown, Esq., President, in the Chair. 



Mr. Yarrell, V.P.L.S., communicated the following particulars of 

 the growth of a Cedar in the garden of E. B. Johns, Esq., at Bishop's 

 Stortford, Herts, and planted by him in the year 1832, when it was 

 turned out of a 32-sized garden-pot. It is growing in a mUd brick 

 earth, and its present measurements (December 1851) are as fol- 

 lows : — 



ft. in. 



Height 51 



Girth at the base 8 6 



five feet from the ground 6 6 



ten feet from the ground 6 



fifteen feet from the ground 5 



Length of branches from the trunk to the points ...... 22 



Read a " Note on the occurrence of an Eatable Nostoc in the 

 Arctic Regions and in the Mountains of Central Asia." By J. D. 

 Hooker, M.D., F.R.S., F.L.S. &c. Accompanied by a communica- 

 tion from the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, F.L.S., on the same subject. 



Dr. Hooker states that on the return of Captain Penny's Expe- 

 dition from the Arctic Regions, Sir W. Hooker received from Mr. 

 Sutherland a small collection of Cryptogamic plants, among which 

 was one, apparently referable to Nostoc commune, which he de- 

 scribed as being found in great abundance upon the floating and fixed 

 ice in Wellington Channel, occurring in detached masses drifted 

 about by the wind, forming the only vegetable production of any im- 

 portance over many square leagues, and affording shelter to PodurcB, 

 with other Crustacea and some insects. In the neighbourhood of 

 their winter quarters on Cornwallis Island, lat. 75° N., long. 95° W., 

 it was so plentiful that it might be taken advantage of as food, and 

 prove a material addition to the resources of the country in cases of 

 extreme want. Mr. Sutherland added that he had eaten handfuls 

 of it on several occasions, without any inconvenience ; and although 

 it was generally infested with swarms of the larvae of flies and gnats, 

 as well as with myriads of very active Poduree, he considered it much 

 more nutritious and agreeable than the " tripe cle roche," and per- 

 haps not inferior to " Iceland Moss." On showing the plant to 

 Dr. Thomson, he drew the attention of Dr. Hooker to a very similar 

 plant which occurs in great abundance in Western Thibet, floating 



