THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 91 



makes splendid jellies, but the most interesting thing about it is 

 that in China and the East Indian Islands it is used by swallows 

 for the construction of their nests. The following extract is taken 

 from Burnett's "Outlines of Botany" : — " It has been estimated 

 that 242,400 lbs. of birds' nests, worth in China nearly ,£300,000, 

 are annually exported from the Indian Archipelago." The nests 

 are dried and packed in small boxes. The nests, according to 

 Mr. Crawfurd, are obtained in deep and damp caves, and are 

 most esteemed if taken before the birds have laid their eggs. 

 The finest nests are the whitest. They are taken twice a year, 

 and, if regularly collected, the produce is very equal, and the 

 harvest very little, if at all, improved by being unmolested for a 

 year or two. The high price is, of course, occasioned by the 

 danger and difficulty of obtaining the nests. Some of the caverns 

 are extremely difficult of access, and the nests can only be 

 collected by those who have been brought up to the work. In 

 one place the caves are only to be approached by a perpendicular 

 descent of many hundred feet by ladders of bamboo and rattan, 

 above a sea rolling violently against the rocks. When the mouth 

 of the cavern is attained, the perilous office of taking the nests 

 must often be performed by torchlight, by penetrating into the 

 recesses of the rock, where the slightest trip would be instantly 

 fatal to the adventurers, who see nothing below them but the 

 turbulent surf making its way into the chasms of the rock. — 

 Shirley Hibberd . 



We noticed before the different colours of the seaweeds, and 

 that these differences must have been occasioned to a certain 

 extent by the depth of the water in which they grew. And we 

 may now further notice that the structure, reproduction, and 

 colour are closely related. First let us distinctly understand that 

 all the colours are only a masked tinting of the all-pervading 

 green chlorophyll. In shallow water we find steel blue unicel- 

 lular plants, reproducing by division (Cyanophycese) ; also green 

 seaweeds, either filamentous or formed of cell plates, and repro- 

 ducing by spores or gametes (Chlorophycese). In deeper water, 

 brown seaweeds formed of cell masses and reproducing by anthe- 

 ridia and oospheres (Phaeophyceae) ; and, lastly, red seaweeds 

 growing in deep water, with a more complicated structure, and 

 reproduced by pollinoids and cystocarps. 



ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES. 



Brown Petrel (Priqfinus cinereus, Gm.) 



The Large Brown or Great Grey Petrel frequents the southern 

 seas, being most numerous between the 30th and 55th degrees 

 of south latitudes. Gould, on his voyage to and from Australia, 



