Sketches of the Botany of South Africa. 27 



ravenous nature. The stomach is a large membranous hag, 

 and contained nothing except some slimy shreds. The intes- 

 tines were fourteen feet in length, of equal calibre through- 

 out, and with very strong thick coats. The eyes are very 

 large, each three inches and two tenths in diameter, and 

 considerably exceeding that of the same organs in a young 

 whale of twenty-three feet in length. The sockets of the eyes, 

 or orbits, were padded with a cellular substance, containing 

 a vast quantity of aqueous fluid, and each lens was an inch in 

 diameter. 



Sketches of the Botany of South Africa. By Mr. J. 

 Bowie, Member of the South African Institution. 



[Head at the South African Institution .\ 

 In the endeavour to direct the attention of individuals to the 

 study of Indigenous Botany in this country, a difficulty occurs 

 in the selection of species from the number of plants with 

 which we are surrounded ; it being necessary to confine those 

 lists within certain limits, but at the same time attempt 

 to render them as useful as possible, by giving a general 

 idea of the floral changes in each month, and exhibiting 

 the affinities which the vegetable productions here bear, to 

 those of other parts of the world. 



The Amaryllideee of the colony, connecting that tribe of 

 the bulbous productions of South America, Asia, and Europe, 

 with those of Africa, are striking features in the botany of 

 the Cape during the months specified in the present list ; and 

 in their native wilds exhibit those peculiarities in the periods 

 of their flowering which have been alluded to before, and being 

 generally remarkable for their size and beauty, have led more 

 particularly to the notice of those circumstances. 



Of this tribe, however, the most beautiful and' interesting 

 kinds are not found in the Cape District, nor have many from 

 the more distant parts of the colony, as yet, been introduced 

 to the flower gardens of the Cape; and even those cultivated, 

 flower but sparingly, owing to the treatment they receive. 



The prevailing droughts during the months of December, 

 January, February, and March, materially affect the vegeta- 

 ble productions, especially those on the lower grounds ; it is 

 in such seasons that the productions of the mountains shine 

 forth in their most splendid array, and we frequently meet 

 with several plants in flower at great heights, whicli are 

 equally flourishing in other months on the lower grounds. 

 The trees and shrubs of the Cape are generally perfecting 

 their seeds during the summer months, still, however, there 

 are several in blossom during that period, as their pro] 

 on. 



