Miscellaneous Facts and Observations. 165 



teresting. A species of Erica, or Heath, is said to 

 be one of the plants which they found, in their bota- 

 nical excursions, on the mountains. Should this 

 prove to be the case, it will appear that North- Ame- 

 rica is not, as has been supposed, wholly destitute of 

 this family of plants, both the species and individuals 

 of which are so extensively diffused through the old- 

 world. 



Editor. 



38. It is a circumstance worthy of the attention of 

 our citizens, that Oysters can be preserved upon 

 heaps of coal, beaten into small pieces, for a longer 

 time than in any other situations, except those in 

 which they are naturally found. By many of the 

 dealers of oysters in Scotland, it is believed, that there 

 can be no more effectual method of fattening these 

 animals, than by placing them upon such beds of coal, 

 on which salt and water are occasionally besprinkled, 

 to keep the oysters moist. Beds of coal, or other 

 similar matters, seem, in some countries, to be the 

 favourite places of residence of oysters. This is re- 

 markablv the case in Scotland. In the Firth of Forth, 

 especially opposite to the coal-works of Lord Abcr- 

 qorn and Sir Archibald Hope, where the strata of coal 

 gradually descend to the sea-coast, and begin there 

 to make their appearance, oysters are dragged in the 

 greatest quantities, and of a remarkable line quality. 



Editor's MS. Journal, 

 Edinburgh, May 8, 1788. 



