Linncean Society. 301 



January 20, 1852. — Robert Brown, Esq., President, in the Chair. 



Mr. Yarrell, V.P.L.S., communicated the following particulars of 

 tlie growth of a Cedar in the garden of E. B. Johns, Esq., at Bishop's 

 Stortford, Herts, and planted by him in the year 1832, when it was 

 turned out of a 32-sized garden-pot. It is growing in a mild brick 

 earth, and its present measurements (December 1851) are as fol- 

 li)\vs : — 



ft. in . 



Height 51 



Girth at the base 8 6 



five feet from tlie ground 6 6 



ten feet from the ground G 



fifteen feet from the ground 5 



Length of branches from the trunk to the points 22 



Read a " Note on the occurrence of an Eatable Nostoc in the 

 Arctic Regions and in the Mountains of Central Asia." By J. D. 

 Hooker, M.D., F.R.S., F.L.S. &c. Accompanied by a communica- 

 tion from the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, F.L.S., on the same subject. 



Dr. Hooker states that on the return of Captain Penny's Expe- 

 dition from the Arctic Regions, Sir W. Hooker received from Mr. 

 Sutherland a small collection of Cryptogamic plants, among which 

 was one, api)arently referable to Nostoc commune, which he de- 

 scribed as being found in great abundance upon the floating and fixed 

 ice in Wellington Channel, occurring in detached masses drifted 

 about by the wind, forming the only vegetable production of any im- 

 portance over many square leagues, and affording shelter to Podurce, 

 with other Crustacea and some insects. In the neighbourhood of 

 their winter quarters on Cornwallis Island, lat. 75° N., long. 95° W., 

 it was so plentiful that it might be taken advantage of as food, and 

 prove a material addition to the resources of the country in cases of 

 extreme want. Mr. Sutherland added that he had eaten handfuls 

 of it on several occasions, without any inconvenience ; and although 

 it was generally infested with swarms of the larvte of flies and gnats, 

 as Avell as with myriads of very active Podurce, he considered it much 

 more nutritious and agreeable than the " tripe de roche," and per- 

 haps not inferior to " Iceland Moss." On showing the plant to 

 Dr. Thomson, he drew the attention of Dr. Hooker to a very similar 

 plant which occurs in great abundance in Western Thibet, floating 

 in large masses on the surface of pools and lakes in soils impregnated 

 with carbonate of soda, and of which heaps are drifted by the winds 

 upon their banks. It occurs as high up as 17,000 feet, and is of a 

 green or pale purple colour ; and this too appeared to Dr. Hooker 

 to belong to Nostoc commune. Samples of both were forwarded to 

 Mr. Berkele)', whose notes to the following eff^ect were also laid 

 before the Society. 



Mr. Berkeley states that he has been unable to find any account 

 of the chemical constituents of Nostoc. The chemical condition of 

 Buch species as he has been enabled to examine, under the influence 

 of iodine and sulphuric acid, seems to vary not only in the difl^erent 

 species, but in individual specimens, and even in parts of the same 



