Taxadermia.— Herbarium. 171 
not so large. Does not this go to prove, concerning the po- 
tatoe, what Sir H. Davie has shown of the apple—that the 
substance which constitutes the fruit, if not derived wholly 
from the atmosphere through the leaves, is at least modified 
by it, and then descends, through the pores of the plant, to 
its proper location, and in its proper state to constitute fruit ? 
In this case, as the natural communication was interrupted, 
the substance descended but a little way from the leaves, and 
there assumed the natural form. If this be the true theory, it 
is obvious that greater care should be taken than is common- 
ly the fact, not to injure the vines of this important plant, till 
the crop is mature. I have seen them occasionally mown for 
forage. Itis likewise obvious to remark that this hypothesis 
little, if at all, as the substance is supposed to be derived prin- 
Cipally from the atmosphere. 
XV. Taxadermia.—* A very interesting work has lately 
been received in this country, from Vienna, by Baron Lede- 
rer. It is styled Taxadermia, or the art of preparing and 
preserving, in a simple and effectual manner, specimens 
the animal kingdom for a cabinet of natural history, by J. 
F. Hanman. With a laudable zeal for diffusing in this 
country the valuable information which this book contains, a 
translation of it from the German has been undertaken by 
John Knevills, Esq. of Newburgh, from which we are prom- 
ised such extracts as will greatly contribute to assist those 
who are engaged in the study of natural history, as well as 
in the curious and useful art of stufling and preserving ani- 
mals in general. We shall, in our next number, commence 
with the mammalia and amphibia, and shall continue, as we 
find room, to proceed with instruction, for the preparation of 
birds, fishes, insects and vermin.” ' 
XVI. Herbarium —A gentleman in New-England has an 
herbariu mie above three thousand species of plants, 
served and carefully arranged, of which he would 
be willing to dispose for a reasonable compensation. It con- 
tains nearly all the indigenous plants of New-England, with 
many species collected in every Atlantic State south of Con- 
~ necticut, and in several of the western States; also foreign 
specimens, from Europe, Asia and Africa. It contains a 
arge proportion of cryptogamic plants. ‘The specimens are 
