176 Miscellaneous Intelligence. 
implies situations open to the south and west, and sheltered from 
the north-east wind, the height varying very much according to the 
aspect in an alpine country. The heights are expressed in English 
feet above the level of the sea, lat. 45° 30’ to 46° 30’. 
Vines . : : 4 2380 
Maize ‘ ‘ 4 PME 
Oak A 4 : 2 3518 
Walnut tree ; . : 3620 
Yew tree . : . ; 3740 
Barley, : : . 4180 
Cherry tree. ! 4270 
Potatoes . " 4 4 4450 
Nut tree . £ - - 4500 
Beech tree i 4 Z 4800 
Mountain Maple " 4 5100 
Silver Birch ns , ‘ 5500 
Larch 4 F : x 6000 
Fir le sapin . : ; 6300 
Pinus cembra . 4 6600 
Rhododendron . : 7400 
The line of trees reaches the height of 6700, the line of shrubs 
8500. Some plants on a granitic soil grew at 10,600, above which, 
are a few lichens, but vegetation ceases at 11,000. In the Garden 
of the Inn, kept in summer at the Schwarrenbach, on the passage 
of the Gemmi, carrots, spinach, and onions, are cultivated at the 
height of 6,900 feet. 
In the southern part of Savoy, the height at which pines will 
grow is about 2,600 feet, but near this elevation the crops failed i in 
the cold summer of 1821.—Bakewell’s Travels. 
2. Irritability of Plants —Whilst experimenting on the irrita= 
bility of certain plants,as the sensitive plant for instance, Dr. Meyer 
had occasion to observe, that of those substances which acted by. 
being absorbed into the plant, the most volatile were also the, 
most powerful, although not the most destructive. When the ex- 
treme leaflets of a branch were moistened with naphtha or essential 
oil, the influence gradually extended itself to the neighbouring 
leaflets, and even to the other leaves of branches. ‘Their recovery 
was in the inverse order of their depression. Another observation 
by the same author on these plants is, that when affected by a 
trembling motion the leaflets close, but if the motion be continued 
or some hours they will again open.—Brb. Univ. xxv. 53. 
3. Notice of an undescribed Larva which attacks and devours 
Snails.—The account of this larva was read before the Society of 
Natural History of Geneva, by Count Milzinsky. As far as the 
