856 



extends as far south as lat. 3° N. The wood is close, cross-grained, 

 and difficult to split : it is considered by the most competent judges 

 to be superior to oak (as it is not subject to dry-rot) and the very best 

 wood that can be procured for ships' timbers. It may be obtained 

 from 10 to 20 inches square, and from 30 to 40 feet long ; and its 

 branches having a tendency to grow crooked it affords natural knees, 

 while the trunk may be used for keels, beams and planking. A full 

 account of this useful tree was published by Mr. Bentham in the So- 

 ciety's ' Transactions,' vol. xviii. p. 207. 



Note on the Occurrence of an Eatable Nostoc in the Arctic Regions 

 and in the Mountains of Central Asia ; by J. D. Hooker, M.D., 

 F.R.S., F.L.S. 8fc. 



Dr. Hooker states that on the return of Captain Penny's Expedi- 

 tion from the Arctic Regions, Sir W. Hooker received from Mr. Su- 

 therland a small collection of Cryptogamic plants, among which was 

 one, apparently referable to Nostoc commune, which he described as 

 being found in great abundance upon the floating and fixed ice in 

 Wellington Channel, occurring in detached masses drifted about by 

 the wind, forming the only vegetable production of any importance 

 over many square leagues, and affording shelter to Podurae, with other 

 Crustacea and some insects. In the neighbourhood of their winter 

 quarters on Cornwallis Island, lat. 75° N., long. 95° W., it was so 

 plentiful that it might be taken advantage of as food, and prove a 

 material addition to the resources of the country in cases of extreme 

 want. Mr. Sutherland added that he had eaten handfuls of it on 

 several occasions, without any inconvenience ; and although it was 

 generally infested with swarms of the larvae of flies and gnats, as well 

 as with myriads of very active Podurae, he considered it much more 

 nutritious and agreeable than the " tripe de roche,''' and perhaps not 

 inferior to " Iceland Moss." On showing the plant to Dr. Thompson, 

 he drew the attention of Dr. Hooker to a very similar plant which 

 occurs in great abundance in Western Thibet, floating in large masses 

 on the surface of pools and lakes in soils impregnated with carbonate 

 of soda, and of which heaps are drifted by the winds upon their banks. 

 It occurs as high up as 17,000 feet, and is of a green or pale purple 

 colour • and this too appeared to Dr. Hooker to belong to Nostoc 

 commune. Samples of both were forwarded to Mr. Berkeley, whose 

 notes to the following effect were also laid before the Society. 



