Miscellaneous. 467 



lake-dwellers were much smaller than ours ; in form and size they 

 approach much more closely to Linum perenne, Linn., a species 

 which still grows in the wild state in Germany ; so that we might 

 conclude that our common flax ig a form produced by cultivation 

 from the L. perenne. 



A great number of remains of wild plants have also been recog- 

 nized. The following species of eatable fruits and tubers have been 

 observed : — 1. Raspberries {Rubus idteus, Linn.) ; 2. Strawberries 

 {Fragaria vesca, Linn.), of which the seeds are found in masses; 

 3. the Elder (Sambucug nigra), the berries already serving for the 

 preparation of cakes ; 4. the fruit of Trapa natang, which was 

 formerly widely diffused, but is now an almost extinct plant among 

 us ; 5. a great quantity of nuts, belonging to the two forms which 

 have been recently distinguished — Conjtxu avellana, Linn., and C. 

 fflandulosa ovata, Willd. ; 6. seeds and leaves of the beech (Fagut 

 tylvatica, Linn.), indicating the abundant use of the fruit of that 

 tree ; 7th and lastly, the peculiar tubers of a plant similar to our 

 Equisetum Telmateja, Linn., which is very rich in starch, serving, no 

 doubt, as food for the inhabitants, as it is likewise found carbonized 

 among the grains of wheat. 



Of weeds, we find at Robenhausen the carbonized capsules of a 

 Silene and of the poppy (Papaver Rhaas, Linn.), which still occur 

 in our country. 



At Robenhausen, as previously at Meilen, much amadou {Poly- 

 poms igniariui) is found, and at Parma also Dtedalea quercina. Of 

 the conifers three have been found — the berries of the common juniper 

 (Junipertts eommunis, Linn.), trunks or wood of the pine (Pintis 

 svlresiris, Linn., and P. montana, Duroi) and the fir {Abies exceUa,^ 

 1)C.). Of the yew {Taxus baccata, Linn.) bows were made. Of 

 deciduous trees there arc, besides the hazel and the beech, the witch- 

 elm, the oak, the lime-tree (much bast), the holly, and the dogwood. 



Of aquatic plants, the seeds of Seirpus lacustris, Ceratophtjllum 

 demersum, Potamogeton, Polygonum hydropiper, Galium, Pedicularis, 

 Menyanthes, Nymphaa alba, Nuphar luteum, and N. pumilum are 

 found in great abundance. — Bibl, Univ. Oct. 1864, p. 160. 



On some Norwegian Crustacea, By M. G. O. Sars. 



M. Sars has made some curious observations on the persistence in 

 the Scandinavian lakes of certain marine Entomostraca of the glacial 

 epoch. Harpacticus chelifer was found in a freshwater lake in the 

 neighbourhood of Christiansund. In the Mjcesen lake (the largest in 

 Norway) he discovered two species of Cythere, Mysis relicta, Lov., 

 and Gammarus cancelloides, Gerstfeldt ; the two latter species were 

 also found by Loven in the Swedish lakes. In ponds of tne environs 

 of Christiania the Amphipod Pontoporeia affinis was discovered. 

 These species all inhabit the deepest parts of the water, and live quite 

 separate from the true freshwater forms of Crustacea. M. Sars con- 

 siders the presence of these Crustacea in the Scandinavian lakes to 

 furnish evidence that at the glacial epoch the basin of the Baltic was 

 in communication with either the eastern or western Arctic ocean. — 

 Bihi r..;.. Sept. 20, 1864, Bull. Sci. p. 84. 



