8 CRYPTOGAMIA EQUISETACE.E. 



gently breathing on them, and be then examined with a 

 magnifier, they will be seen crawling about on the paper, 

 like so many little spiders. DRUMMOND'S First Steps, 

 p. 34 L 



5. E. limosum, stem smooth, green, striate, fistular ; branches in 

 imperfect whorls, often wanting, short, smooth, square ; sheaths 

 remote, with about 16 black teeth; catkin small. Paddock-pipe. 



Hab. Ponds and mill-dams, common. June, July. If 



The striated appearance of the stem is produced by the pel- 

 lucidity of the part opposite to the longitudinal canals. 



6. E. hyemale, stem glaucous green, naked, rough, striated, 

 mostly branching at the base ; sheaths distant, black at the top 

 and bottom, with very small deciduous teeth ; catkin terminal, 

 small. 



Hab. Rough boggy places, rare. On Lambert on Moor, 

 plentiful. July, Aug. 11 



SIR H. DAVY first ascertained that the cuticle of this species 

 contains a large quantity of silex, or flinty earth, so dispo- 

 sed as to make a natural file, which renders it useful in 

 polishing wood, ivory and brass. For this purpose the 

 stems are imported from Holland under the name of Dutch 

 rushes. All the Equiseta contain this silex in greater or 

 less quantity, and thus offer another remarkable analogy 

 between them and the cereal grasses and bamboo. WAL- 

 LIS tells us that the dairy -women in the neighbourhood of 

 Nunwick and Chipchase, where the plant is plentiful, use 

 it for smoothing their milk -vessels, a purpose for which it 

 is well fitted ; but it is too rare in Northumberland to be 

 generally so applied, as the words of LIGHTFOOT seem to 

 imply. 



f{ The various species of the Equisetum have been recommend- 

 ed by Professor LENHOSSJJK of Vienna as a very powerful 

 and specific diuretic, which neither oppresses the digestive 

 organs, nor induces any bad consequences in the vascular 

 or nervous systems, and is therefore preferable to squill, 

 digitalis, colchicum, and other diuretic remedies, whose 

 unpleasant consequences are too well known." Some par- 

 ticulars relative to the mode of administering this remedy, 

 which, so far as I know, has not been tried in this country, 

 may be found in the Edin. Med, and Surg. Journal, vol. 

 xxvii. p. 218. 



