1868. ] Botany and Vegetable Physiology. 219 
brightness of the sun’s surface observable in the beginning of the 
year and the almost total absence of facule, both which phenomena 
were lately submitted to the attention of astronomers, have dis- 
appeared, and since October the luminosity has again diminished 
near the edge of the sun’s disc. 
Mr. Browning has invented an ingenious contrivance for re- 
ducing the angular velocity of meteors, so as to facilitate the observ- 
ation of their spectra. The contrivance consists of “a direct-vision 
prism, having in front of it a deep concave cylindrical lens, and in 
front of that a double concave lens of the usual kind.” With this 
apparatus he has found it easy to obtain the spectra of balls shot 
from a Roman candle, placed but a few yards from the instrument. 
The angular velocity of the projected balls (estimated from the 
instrument) is, of course, very great under such circumstances, yet 
the characteristic lines of baryta, strontia, &c., can be readily dis- 
tinguished in their spectra. 
4, BOTANY AND VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. 
Enauanp.—A new British Morel—tIn the ‘ Journal of Botany’ 
we read of a new British fungus. It was first found in a hedgerow, 
near Kingskerwell, South Devon, by Miss Lott, of Barton Hall, 
at the end of last April. The first specimens were sent to Mr. 
W. G. Smith for identification, and it bas since been found else- 
where. It is a very large form, and when well grown is one of the 
finest fungi of our fl-ra; the spores are oval, yellow, and depressed, 
having a length of -0007 inch. The substance of the flesh is not so 
firm as that of our common Morel (Morchella esculenta, Pers.), aud 
is not so readily dried ; it becomes moist, and is apt to decompose. 
It is, however, excellent for the table, and with a little pains may 
be readily dried for winter use. 
Different kinds of India-rubber.—In the same journal is a most 
interesting article, by Mr. James Collins, on india-rubber. It ap- 
pears that india-rubber first became known when Columbus dis- 
covered America, and was described by the earlier travellers as a 
great curiosity. The natives used it to make balls, with which 
they played a sort of game like tennis. The ordinary pr.stice of 
coagulating the milky juice of the cow-tree on bottle-mouatds held 
over a fire is well known: it appears that this is the method prac- 
tised on the Amazons; but that in other districts and countries 
sheets are prepared, or the juice is dried in the sun. Some persons 
have supposed that the black colour of parts of india-rubber is due 
to the smoke of the fire over which it is dried. This is quite a 
mistake ; freshly prepared india-rubber is, as the Indians make it, 
VOL. V. R 
