BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 215 
- rably imitated, that even a connoisseur, if not forewarned of 
- the deception, might mistake them for genuine fossils. An- 
- fiquaries, we know, will sometimes manufacture fictitious 
` medals; at Baiæ, the poorest blacksmith sells his yesterday's 
_ productions for Roman antiquities; art may imitate art; 
- but imitation must have reached its utmost perfection when 
- it can simulate antediluvian nature. 
1 * In the cabinets of the curious, we often see flies and 
- other insects enclosed in amber. M. Goeppert has examined. 
- the amber of various lands, and has detected not only 
- animals, but mosses, fungi, hepatice, ferns, flowers and fruit 
` imbedded in it; and on these flowers the minutest organ is 
` preserved as in a mummy balm; nay, he has actually dis- 
_ cerned those microscopic hairs which adorn the velvetty sub- 
_ Stance of flowers similar to those of our Heartsease.” 
Extract of a letier relating to Swan River Botany. 
- Mr. James Drummond, in a letter recently received from 
‘Swan River, dated July 2, 1841, says: 
“Tam going on collecting specimens to send home by that 
E ship which carries our wool, and which is to sail from this 
. place about Christmas. I have entered into an agreement 
- with Messrs. Low, the nurserymen at Clapton, to supply 
_ them with the seeds and bulbs of our Swan River plants, to 
. & certain annual amount; and as the period of gathering 
- seeds, especially in this country, is exceedingly brief, I shall 
E have much to do in fulfilling their orders, together with col- 
. lecting specimens. 
* You observe, in your letter of July, last year, that the 
_ Fungi of this land must be worth picking up. "They do exist, 
indeed in great variety, and some are highly curious. We 
_ have species belonging to most of the European genera ; 
. frequently, I believe, identical with what grow in England ; 
. but there are also several genera which I think are unknown 
. at home. One genus, of which I have seen two species, never 
. appears above the surface of the earth, unless accidentally 
