Foreign J\otice$. 271 



arrived in France, they found ripe seeds on their dried specimens ; and 

 these seeds being given to M. Thouin of the Jardin des Plantes, were 

 the origin of all these showy lobelias now common in British and Con- 

 tinental gardens. This is stated on the authority of Dr. Lippold, an 

 eminent German botanist and horticulturist, now in London, and the 

 author of the Volstandig Gartner, 2 vols. 8vo, Sic. — {lb.) 



Cultivation of the Bamboo in France. — A piece of bamboo, about 

 twelve inches in height, was planted, on the 1st of April, 1833, in a 

 garden at Hieres, in the department of Var. It has already produced 

 several shoots, from twenty to twenty-six feet long. The ground in 

 which it was set was constantly irrigated during the summer. One of 

 the shoots, which only came out of the ground on the 3d of last Sep- 

 tember, had obtained twenty-five feet of elevation on the 29th of Octo- 

 ber. Its circumference at the base was nine inches, and, at the height of 

 a man, about seven inches and a half. — AthencBum, Sept. 19, 1835. — (lb.) 



Vitality of Seeds. — Several tombs were discovered last year at Mon- 

 zie, St. Martin Dordogne, the most remarkable circumstance attending 

 which is, that the head of the skeletons were placed on a heap of seeds, 

 contained in a cavity left in the cement, large enough to contain the 

 occiput. These seeds have been sown, and from them have been raised 

 the iJeliotropium europae^nn, Medicago lupvilina, and Centaurea Cya- 

 nus. This circumstance confirms the opinion lately advanced by seve- 

 ral physiologists, that certain vegetables preserve their germinating 

 power for an indefinite period, if kept out of the reach of the agents 

 necessary to germination. Some of these vegetables are birch, aspen, 

 groundsel, rushes, broom, digitalis, heaths, &c, — Athenceum, July 25, 

 1835, p. 572.— (/6.) 



Art. II, Foreign Notices. 

 ENGLAND. 



Turnip Fly. — At the ordinary meeting of the Entomological Society, 

 held on Monday evening, a communication from Mr. Raddon, respect- 

 ing the natural history and habits of the turnip fly, was read by the 

 secretary, which was accompanied by specimens of the larvte and pupae. 

 The larva is a small black caterpillar, having six legs of about the 

 eighth of an inch in length, being extremely active, and hopping about 

 with great agility, so as to render it extremely difficult to catch it. To- 

 wards the end of the sunnner it enters the earth, and there undergoes 

 its change of form, coming out of the pupa a beetle. [It is creditable 

 to the Society, that they have made this subject the theme of a prize 

 essay, and have been the means of bringing before the public even so 

 much as is stated above on the turnip beetle ; for the pamphlet of the 

 Doncaster Agricultural Association on this insect, and the means of 

 preventing its ravages, published in 1834, is a comprehensive proof that 

 the attempts at preventinsr its ravages have been more numerous than 

 the attempts to ascertain intimately its personal history ; which last ob- 

 ject is the one that would have most conduced to the discovery of what 

 was to be prevented ; and, hence, to the employment of the most effec- 

 tual means of effecting this object.] The best essay on the habits of 

 the insect, and the readiest and cheapest mode of preventing its rava- 



