1862.] REVIEW. 345 - 



trees and covered with vegetation ; that it was indisputably the 

 site of the ancient Paradise^ before the workl was turned topsy- 

 turvy, as some learned men say, by the Deluge ; and that the 

 Dovrefeldt was the cradle of all alpine species in the world. 



Who can answer a question involved in such obscurity as the 

 origin of all things confessedly is ? There are similar difficulties 

 besetting facts which our daily experience presents to our obser- 

 vation. Several plants have recently been observed on Wands- 

 worth Common, plants that have never been suspected of vaga- 

 bondizing or migratory propensities : for example^ Equisetum 

 Drummondi, Osmunda regalis, Lycopodium inundatam, Drosera 

 rotundifolia, etc. These have migrated within the last twenty 

 years, and neither the unde, ' whence,' nor the quomodo, ' how,' 

 has been satisfactorily ascertained. Their case is inexplicable by 

 the glacial theory. Even this famous theory may be as palpable 

 a rriythais an indefinite number of centres of creation, or a suc- 

 cessive multiplication of new species believed by some. 



There in this number of the ' Canadian Naturalist ' an article 

 on the failure of the apple-tree in the neighbourhood of Montreal 

 — -a fact bewailed as a domestic calamity aticd a commercial mis- 

 fortune. ''' .^-•';!"f^-' ;;-; 

 '•'The author closes his essay on this important subject with the 

 question, " Shall we ever see Montreal producing the fine fruits 

 that it did twenty- five years ago? The markets were then filled 

 ^ithi^fh^e finest Varieties of the Pliim snd the Pear, and a conside- 

 rable quantity of the Peach and Apricot produced on the open 

 walls. Now there is no such fruit to be seen as a Bon Chretien 

 ^6at,/iin%^ufiffi;'iBiei^gam6tJ^di'>%' Bfli-^ii'^&^r^ s^tibeV nttr ala&feibus 

 Bblnian's Washingtou 'plu^y fib'r'a^grfefengagg|>n'<!)b?'jeven'4,' '65ai<i^ 

 magnum-bonum." .-fji!';'')- -fiio * : ':'•:; ^o ,^?n\iKr) oj likir^-oi; 



' ''It'itlay be said, to thewiedit of the orchardmen of Britain, 

 that the pear has lately been marvellously improved, both in 

 flesh and flavour. Pears are now eatable ; they are both meat 

 and drink, and well suppily^th^e '^Ikdfe''>oif^ winfejaftei' dinner 5' they 

 cool the system while they quench the thirst. The apple has 

 been suffered to degenerate ; it may be productive in the cider- 

 milt atidfveiy useful in the liitch6ii:> hilt 'its reputation as a meri- 

 torious dessert-fruit is ibst-^iiitjiis-'^ir^lrdlff ©glial: ii'n"quality to a 



good turnip. '''jwrl r- ■,--[■( .UP.V^-yvio'/} L .!(i;iJ:)f:ll'''"> ff.;ui 



From the annual report of the Natiiral History Society of 



N.S. VOL. VI. 2 Y 



