1145 



year, I met with it in two additional ponds, in the parish of Swarde- 

 ston. I havo this year to add another in the same parish, three in 

 the parish of Marlingford, one in that of Flordon, and one in Alping- 

 ton. I enclose specimens, in fruit, from these localities." — Kirby 

 Trimmer ; Norwich, October 13, 1853. 



British Association for the Advancement of Science, 

 (Continued from page 1108). 



Flax Plant. 



A paper by Prof. Hodges, intituled ' Report on the Gases evolved 

 in Steeping Flax, and on the Composition and Economy of the Flax 

 Plant,' was read. 



The investigations directed by the Association, at the Belfast Meet- 

 ing, with respect to the gases evolved in the steeping of flax and the 

 composition of flax straw, are in progress, and will be reported at the 

 Meeting. The gases of the fermenting vat have been analyzed by the 

 methods of Prof Bunsen, and have been found to consist of carbonic 

 acid, hydrogen, and nitrogen. No sulphuretted hydrogen has, in any 

 case, been detected. Several analyses of the proximate constituents 

 of the dressed fibre and of its inorganic ingredients have been made, 

 which show that a considerable amount of the nitrogenized and other 

 constituents of the plant are retained in the fibre, even after steeping 

 and dressing have removed the structures unsuitable for textile j)ur- 

 poses. 



Vegetable and Animal Organisms. 



A paper by R. Warington, Esq., ' On Preserving the Balance 

 between Vegetable and Animal Organisms in Sea-water,' was read. 



The public were first indebted to Mr. Warington for a statement 

 of the conditions in which animals could be kept in fresh water with- 

 out changing the water. It is not sufficient that there be plants 

 alone ; but where the higher animals, such as fish, are kept, it is neces- 

 sary that some beings should exist which will feed on decaying vege- 

 table matter. This desideratum is supplied by the various forms of 

 phytophagous Mollusca. The author's success with fresh water led 

 him to try experiments with sea water, and the results of his investi- 

 gations were given in this paper. The most important fact esta- 



