777 



of matter from the stomach of the dead person was brought to Dr. 

 Lindley in London, and the raspberry-seeds discovered in it, he had 

 no doubt of the correctness of the conclusion, that the seeds which 

 had thus been swallowed and buried had germinated after the lapse 

 of centuries. 



On a Microscopic Alga as a Cause of the Phenomenon of the Colour- 

 ation of large Masses of Water, by Prof Allman. 



It appeared in little conglomerated gelatinous-like masses ; and 

 when submitted to the microscope, it was found to consist of a num- 

 ber of fronds. The younger fronds were nearly spherical, and con- 

 sisted essentially of a central mass of transparent gelatinous matter, 

 surrounded by a crust composed of minute cells, containing a green 

 colouring substance. The crust, being much slower in its growth 

 than the internal nucleus, soon bursts ; and the nucleus then, by an 

 apparent spontaneous action, assumed a regular form, not unlike an 

 hour-glass, which soon separated into two distinct fronds. Some of 

 them being put into a glass tube, and placed in the window, were 

 observed to arrange themselves in a mass on the side of the tube op- 

 posite to that exposed to the sun's rays, that side of the mass towards 

 the light being formed into a beautiful concave curve, which might, 

 he thought, when fully investigated, reveal some important facts as to 

 the nature and influence of light. 



On the Distribution of the Marine Alga on the British and Irish 

 Coasts, with reference to the (probable) Influence of the Gulf 

 Stream, by Prof Dickie. 



There were, the author said, forms of Marine Algae generally ad- 

 mitted to be characteristic of our northern coasts, and others of the 

 southern. The remarks he was about to make referred to those ge- 

 nerally deemed of southern type ; that is, those which usually are 

 more or less abundant in low localities, and, on the other hand, are 

 absent from high latitudes. Such species, natives of our coasts, may 

 be classed under three heads : first, those confined to the southern 

 parts of Great Britain and Ireland ; second, species of more extensive 

 range, since they extend to the north of Ireland and south-west of 

 Scotland ; third, those found abundantly in the south of England, and 

 ranging along the western coasts of both islands as far as Orkney and 

 Shetland : and the species enumerated under these three classes, and 

 amounting to more than twenty, are, so far as we can ascertain up to 

 the present time, absent from a certain part of the east coast of Scot- 

 VOL IV. 6 G 



