426 Miscellaneous. 



the Anacharis is by far the commonest plant in the Whiteadder ; and 

 its minute flowers whiten tlie surface of the water. It is to me quite 

 plain that it is of recent introduction. 



" My explanation is this : The plant has been introduced into the 

 lake at Dunse Castle, with alien aquatics, for in the lake there are 

 several foreigners. Then it had multiplied itself there until it took 

 thick possession of some parts of the lake. Now, while they were 

 paddling amongst this herbage, some small bits may have adhered to 

 the plumage of the wild ducks and other aquatic birds, and by their 

 means they have been carried to the Whiteadder. This, as the crow 

 flies, is about two miles from Dunse Castle, but Whitehall is six miles 

 distant." 



Mr. G. Lawson stated that the Anacharis had appeared in a some- 

 what similar manner in the neighbourhood of Derby. Mr. Joseph 

 Whittaker of Breadsall, from whom Mr. Lawson had received a com- 

 munication on the subject, had been for some years engaged in the 

 examination of the Potamogetons of the neighbourhood ; but had 

 never met with the Anacharis until recently, although it is now in 

 great abundance. 



4. "Report on the state of vegetation in the Edinburgh Botanic 

 Garden, from Feb. 14 to March 13, 1851," by Mr. M'Nab. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



An Account of three netv species oy Animalcules. 

 By Joshua Alder, Esq. 



While examining a specimen of Sertiilaria pumila, taken from the 

 rocks at Whitburn, under the microscope, I was struck with the ap- 

 pearance of what seemed to be a very minute parasitic zoophyte, 

 several specimens of which were attached to different parts of the 

 Sertularia. 



The body was of a vase or cup-form, expanded at the top (fig. 1), 

 and set round with numerous pointed tentacles, abruptly thickened 

 towards the base, and forming more than one 

 row : they had very little motion, but were oc- 

 casionally bent forwards, and the whole were 

 sometimes slowly retracted. The body was 

 attached to the Sertularia by a tolerably stout 

 stem. 



Other specimens of the Sertularia wete exa- 

 mined and found to have the same parasite, 

 which was itself infested by still more minute 

 parasitical bodies of the family Bacillaria, In 

 addition to the first species of supposed zoophyte, 

 another, rather smaller, was also detected (fig. 2). 

 Its body was of an ovate fotm, with a very 

 slender and shortish stem : the tentacles were 

 capitate, or knobbed at the end, not so numerous 

 as in the first species, and placed in a single row round a narrow disk. 

 Under the impression that these animals belonged to the class of 



