213 



* Proceedings of Societies :' — Botanical Societies of London and 

 Edinburgh. 



' Miscellanea :' — A note by the Rev. W. W. Spicer, of a variety of 

 Linaria Cymbalaria found on the walls of Evesham churchyard, in 

 which the flowers were pure white, excepting the front of the upper 

 lip and the palate, which were sulphur-coloured ; also the following 

 translations : — ' Methods of preparing the Tissues of Plants for Mi- 

 croscopic Examination.' ' Bracts in the Cruciferae.' 



I think Mr. Henfrey has done wisely and well in thus returning so 

 completely to his original plan. The brief (five lines) and interesting 

 notice by Mr. Spicer is the only article in which I have noticed any 

 allusion to a species or variety of a British plant. 



Notice of^ Tlie Naturalist^ No. 4, June, 1851. 



I can no longer lament as heretofore the entire absence of botanical 

 papers; we have three in the present number, intituled as under: — 



' Note on a Botanical Stroll from Plymouth to Tamerton Foliott, 

 returning through St. Budeaux. By Mr. Isaiah W. N. Keys.' 



' Yew Fruit. By J. Mc Intosh, Esq.' 



' Observations on the Floral Changes of the present day. By 

 George Lawson, Esq., F.R.P.S., F.B.S.E.' 



In the second of these papers Mr. Mac Intosh states that the ber- 

 ries of the yevf may be eaten with impunity, not only by human 

 beings, but by blackbirds, thrushes, and redbreasts. I am not aware 

 that any doubt previously existed on this subject, but I venture to 

 recommend the writer, who is " particularly fond of them," to spit out 

 the stones. 



Mr. Lawson's paper, " read before the Geological Society of Edin- 

 burgh, April 17, 1851/' is of great interest; indeed, to depreciate this 

 able paper would be to depreciate the ' Phytologist,' whence most of 

 its facts are extracted. In one instance an extract from this source 

 amounts to a page, and is given verbatim and in inverted commas, 

 but the work whence it has been taken is not mentioned. In this 

 instance, as in that mentioned in the last number of the numerous and 

 highly valuable passages the 'Phytologist' has supplied to Messrs. 

 Hooker and Arnott's ' British Flora,' the authors are cordially wel- 

 come to what they have taken. 1 have no wish but that of diffusing 

 sound and useful inlbrmation ; and if writers practise the discourtesy 



