Miscellaneous. 235 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



CARHAMINE SYLVATICA, A BRITISH PLANT. 



Having been recently led to re-examine our native Crucifera, I find 

 that I have specimens of this species in my Herbarium, gathered in 

 the dean at Twizel House, Northumberland, the seat of P. J. Selby, 

 Esq. It has been confounded with Cardamine hirsuta, of which my 

 specimens are from the neighbourhood of Edinburgh. The former 

 is distinguished by the latent pedicels of its pods, which are tij)ped 

 with a style, longer than the breadth of the pod, while in C. hirsuta the 

 pedicel is erect and straight, and the style extremely short and obsolete. 

 See Koch, Fl. Germ. Syn. i. 43. — George Johnston. 



HIMALAYAN GYPAETOS. 



The species of Gypaetos from the Himalayan range has hitherto 

 been considered identical with that of Europe, both by our British 

 ornithologists and by Mr. Hodgson resident at Nipaul. Lieut. T. 

 Hutton has printed a paper in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of 

 Bengal giving minute descriptions and measurements taken while 

 residing among the mountain ranges of India, and from which he is 

 induced to believe the bird found there to be distinct. "The rela- 

 tive length of the quills, together with the black gorget on the lower 

 part of the neck, furnish two constant characters, uniformly foreign 

 to the bearded vulture of authors, and I have therefore ventured to 

 offer it as a distinct species new to science, under the title of 



Gypaetos hemachlaniis, supra fusco-niger, subtus ferrugineus, collo obscu- 

 rior infra pallidior ; collo inferiore nigro circumcincto, primoribus 

 rectricibusque cinereis, marginibus nigrescentibus, remige tertio caeteris 

 longiore 3i poll, primum excedente. In caeteris G. barbato similis. 

 Long. 4 ped. Lat. alarum 8 ped. 6 poll. 



Journ. Asiatic Sac. Bengal, No. 73, p. 20. 



NASTURTIUM ANCEPS, REICHENBACH. 



The plant which I have hitherto considered the same as Nastur- 

 tium sylvestre of British botanists, and which grows all along the 

 sides of the Tweed (between Coldstream and Berwick), appears ra- 

 ther to belong to Nasturtium anceps of Reichenbach. See Koch Fl. 

 Germ. Syn. i. 35. — George Johnston. 



ACTION OF free CARBONIC ACID ON THE NUTRITION OF PLANTS. 



Dr. Schleiden of Berlin has published in Wiegmann's Archiv some 

 observations on the luxuriant development of various plants in water 

 containing carbonic acid. The springs in the valley of Gottingen are 



