216 BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 
, 
Bovista giganteum, a kind of Fungus, in damp weather, grow in a single 
night from a mere point to the size of a huge gourd; so that, sup- 
posing its cellules to be not less than 41, of an inch in diameter, and 
it is probable they are nearer the zły, it may be estimated to have 
consisted, when full-grown, of about 47,000,000,000 cellules ; and sup- 
posing it to have gained its size in the course of twelve hours, its cells 
must have developed at the rate of 4,000,000,000 Lad hour, or of 
more than sixty-six millions in the minute. 
In point of longitudinal development, perhaps the growth of the 
flower-stem of the Agave family is amongst the most remarkable re- 
corded. We shall only here mention the Agave vivipara, Linn. (Four- 
 eroya gigantea of recent authors) which blossomed in the Royal Gardens 
' of Kew, in 1844. ere were two ancient specimens in the green- 
house, which had shown no symptoms of flowering till the summer of 
, that year, when each was seen to produce a flowering-stem, which at first 
resembled a gigantic shoot of young Asparagus, and grew at first at the 
rate of two feet in the twenty-four hours! So precisely did the twin 
_plants keep pace with each other, that at the very time it was found. 
` necessary to make an aperture in the glass roof of the house for the 
height of thirty-six feet.] —Ep. 
Notice on the Peninsula of Aden, by Dr. J. R. Rots. Read before the 
Royal Academy of Sciences at Munich, on the 15th of January, 1848. 
(Bulletin of the Academy of 24th February.) 
The south-west point of Arabia Felix is terminated by three remark- 
able promontories, which, proceeding from east to west, follow each 
other in this way : Cape Aden, Cape Antonio, and Cape Bab-el-Man- 
deb; * Cape Antonio, in consequence of a slight bend outwards of the 
coast, being the southernmost. Beyond the straits, the Dschebel 
Sedschan rises in continuation of the Dschebel Manhali of this side; 
the island of Perim and some smaller ones intervening. These promon- 
tories form the projections, and also the highest points of an eminence, 
: * The author's orthography is retained throughout. 
