Scientific InteUi<]cncc — Botany. oo9 



tuned ? Copse and woodland covert, hedgerow and orchard, seem 

 made purposely for the clear music of the mavis and merle. With 

 what clear accents burst forth these gladsoano notes from eve 7 dell 

 and dingle, and how harmoniously they rush through apple-blossoms, 

 and May flowers, and sweet-smelling plants. They render rusticity 

 more rustic, and are the most glorious poeans that could be sung at 

 the revels of luxuriant nature. Birds do not sing in winter amidst 

 gloom, and mist, and thick pelting snow, but reserve their songs for 

 spring and summer, nature's fairest and rosiest holidays. Where 

 shairthe skylark find a freer temple for his rich morning song than 

 the blue firmament, with azure above him and emerald shades be- 

 neath, and the bright sun-beams sparkling on every plume \ Or 

 what hour shall the nightingale choose for her clear calm orisons but 

 the watchincr hour of eve, when the earth and all its creatures are 

 hushed into" a willing auditory ? Surely the plover was made for 

 solitude, and the mavis for glad retirement, and the fowl for the 

 barn-door, the skylark for mid-heaven, and the nightingale for dewy 

 eve. — Summer Evening Rambles. 



BOTANY. 



8. Distrihxition of Plants. — If we divide the surface of the globe 

 into botanical provinces, according to the geographical distribution of 

 plants, South Africa will be one of the most distinct and strongly 

 marked of these provinces, although, in proceeding towards the north- 

 eastward, its peculiarities seem to be in some measure shaded off into 

 those of the tropical regions. It would seem that the distribution of 

 plants and that of animals are not governed by precisely the same 

 laws. Le Vaillant, Dr Smith, and Mr Swainson, have shewn that 

 very many birds are common to Senegal and the Cape of Good Hope ; 

 whereas, I believe, that these two countries possess not a single 

 flowering plant in conmion (introduced species being excepted), and 

 scarcely even a genus of plants, with the exception of such as are 

 almost universally diffused. Not a single example of any of the 

 tribes most characteristic of the Cape vegetation was found by Mr 

 Brown in the collections from Congo. The zoology of the Cape, as 

 far at least as the quadrupeds and birds are concerned, would appear 

 to bo of a much more thoroughly African type than its botany. A 

 great number of tin; most conspicuous and characteristic mamniaha 

 of the regions near the Cape, are cither identical with those inhabit- 

 ing tropical Africa to the north of the equator, or, if distinct species, 

 they arc at least closely allied, and often with difficulty distinguish- 

 able.* Not that the Cape has not several peculiar forms, such as 

 the ant-eater (Ori/ricropus), the Gnoo, the Eland, and some of the 



* As in the case of the Giraffe of South Africa, which is considcrc.l by some 

 naturulibts us a diircrciit f^^n-dcs from tliat found to liic uorlh of havoyc. 



