36 



Director of the Botanic Garden at Peraclenia, addressed to the Colo- 

 nial Secretary at Colombo. Communicated by the Right Hon. Earl 

 Grey, Chief Secretary for the Colonies.' 



' Short Notice of the African Plant, Diaraba, commonly called 

 Congo Tobacco. By R. O. Clarke, Esq., Surgeon and Colonial 

 Apothecary to the Colony of Sierra Leone. Communicated by the 

 author. 



' The Origin of the Existing Vegetable Creation. By Professor J. 

 F. Schouw. From the Transactions of the Meeting of the Scandi- 

 navian Naturalists at Copenhagen, in 1847. Appendix K, 119. 

 Translated from the Danish, by N. Wallich, M.D., F.R.S., V.P.L.S.' 



' Decades of Fungi. By the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, M.A., F.L.S. 

 Decade xxxi., consisting, with the exception of one species, of the 

 novelties collected by Mr. Spruce in his visit to the Pyrenees and the 

 province of Para, in Brazil.' 



' Physical Geography of Sikkira-Hiraalaya. Extract of a letter 

 from Baron Humboldt to Sir W. J. Hooker, iogether with a copy of 

 a letter on the Physical Character of Sikkim-Himalaya, addressed to 

 Baron Humboldt, by Jos. D. Hooker, R.N., M.D., F.R.S., &c.' 



Advertisements of 'Plants for Sale.' 



However unbotanical, this number is far from uninteresting ; in 

 fact, the entomological communication from the late lamented Mr. 

 Gardner and the physico-geographical paper by Dr. Hooker are far 

 more readable than the more botanical contribution, ' Descriptions of 

 Fungi,' of the Rev. Mr. Berkeley. 



The entomological paper is one of great interest, not only in a sci- 

 entific point of view, as exhibiting the empire attained in some 

 instances by the animal over the vegetable world, but also in an 

 economical point of view ; it is, however, greatly to be regretted that 

 the numerous remedies proposed have been found totally ineffectual. 



Diamba, Congo tobacco. Bang, and Indian hemp are presumed to 

 be local or mercantile appellations of the plant known to botanists 

 under the name of Cannabis sativa, and its poisonous properties have 

 long been known Pareira, in his ' Materia Medica,' informs us that 

 in Asia and Egypt it is used for the purpose of intoxication. In the 

 interior of tropical Western Africa it is supposed to be indigenous, 

 and " a story is told of its discovery by a huntsman, who observed a 

 number of antelopes, who had browsed upon the Diamba, to be stupe- 

 fied ; and having informed his neighbours of the extraordinary cir- 

 cumstance, they repaired in a body to the spot. The approach of the 

 people, or firing of their muskets, had, however, no cfiect in rousing 



