91 



large, horizontal sheath, on the top of a stalk, and present a very re- 

 markable appearance. The seeds of the large, white-flowered species, 

 Strelitzia augusta, which grows nearer the coast, are edible." — p. 296. 

 Aloe ferox. — " Near one part of the road an Aloe, with a tall trunk, 

 Aloe ferox ? formed a splendid object; its flower-stems were from 

 three to four feet high, some of them with one or two upright 

 branches ; the blossoms were tubular, and shaded with red, orange 

 and yellow; they clothed the stems from the base, so as to form 

 spikes the thickness of a man's arm. This plant is represented in the 

 etching at page 293, along with Testudinaria Elephantipes, Hotten- 

 tot's bread, found on the karroo about Uitenhage, Phoenix reclinata, 

 the little date of the valleys of Albany, Euphorbia meloformis, the 

 melon-formed Euphorbia, and Euphorbia heptagona, one of the 

 morsdoorns, from the vicinity of Uitenhage ; Aloe arborescens, the 

 tree aloe, and Acacia giraffe, the kameel doom, of Namaqua Land." 

 —p. 326. 



Notice of the ' Tyneside Naturalists' Field Club, for the year ending 

 February, 1847.' Vol. i. Part 1. Newcastle, 1848. 



Provincial Societies for the promotion of Natural History too fre- 

 quently prove unsuccessful, after starting with large promises and 

 prospectuses, which are shown to have been little better than bom- 

 bastic delusions when the time arrives for asking about their results 

 and realizations. At the first getting up of such an association there 

 is frequently a good deal of zeal and activity, the temporary efferves- 

 cence of which is misread into an earnest of permanent support and 

 prosperity. Large schemes are consequently planned on paper, and 

 a rate of expenditure commences out of present subscriptions and 

 donations, which the true permanent revenue of the society is after- 

 wards found quite inadequate to continue. Disappointment and 

 debt, diminished zeal and exhausted activity, with other depressing 

 conditions, gradually supervene ; leaving the institution to drag on a 

 precarious and unuseful existence, if its career does not become ab- 

 ruptly terminated in a sale of effects, or a very unwilling subscription 

 to pay off its liabilities. 



In large towns, where a numerous body of subscribers may be ob- 

 tained, and a sufficient number of scientific men dwell within mode- 

 rate distance from each other, a Natural History Society may exist 

 in some degree of activity and usefulness ; that is to say, a museum 



