MISCELLANEA. 61 



IX. — Miscellaneous Notices and Observations. 

 Note on Volvox Glohator. — This highly interesting Micro- 

 scopic Plant, so familiar to the observers of the metropolis, 

 our member Thomas Atthey, of Cramlingtcn, has discovered on 

 Prestwick Car. He kindly conducted me to the pool which had 

 furnished the Alga some two weeks before ; the volvoces were then 

 not very numerous, perhaps the multitude of lively Entomos- 

 tracans which the water contained might have availed themselves 

 of the whirling globes for the very ordinary purposes of a dinner. 

 I am not aware that the Volvox has been hitherto recorded as 

 occurrinof in our counties. From the recent debates as to its 

 supposed animal or vegetable alliances, and the minute investiga- 

 tions to which it has been subjected by Williamson, Busk, and 

 others, this organism has acquired a prominent interest, which, 

 indeed, its beauty, as a mere object under the microscope, was 

 sufficient to establish. I need hardly add that Prestwick Car, 

 notwithstanding its recent improvements, furnishes many a rich 

 slide for the microscopist. — D. Oliver, Jun., F.L.S., Xeiv, London. 

 ' Notes on Northumberland and Durham Plaiits. — I have had, 

 during the past summer, an excellent opportunity afforded me of 

 examining the plants of our counties contained in the herbarium 

 of the late N. J. Winch, in the possession of the Linntean Society. 

 A few of these were particularly interesting, and I think worthy 

 of a brief memorandum. Ranunculus ijarvijlorus, L. The record 

 in Winch's " Flora" is confirmed by his herbarium. According 

 to Walton (" Cybele," vol. i., p. 90), this station, '^ between 

 Cockerton and Norton," remains the most northern locality for 

 the species in the island. It would be well to ascertain if it 

 has maintained itself there to the present time. My friend, J. 

 G. Baker, mentions two localities in Yorkshire for it in his valu- 

 able supplement to Baines' " Flora." Vicia lathyro'des. Does 

 this still grow about Cullercoats, as recorded by Winch ? The 

 plant from thence is in his herbarium. Crepis biennis, L. Winch 

 records several stations for this species, and Watson, in the 

 " Cybele," admits his authority. Northumberland, however, 

 appears from this work to be its northern limit, and it would be 



