Miscellaneous. 257 
alternations of about four hours’ washing with sea-water, and eight 
hours’ with fresh. I have met with no other instance of a Calli- 
thamnion growing under exposure to fresh water ; and when C. Rothi 
is found (as is often the case) on rocks near high-water mark, it is 
almost always so stunted as to amount to little more than a red film 
or crust, in which state it constitutes the Byssus purpurea of old 
authors*. In the Hawthorne locality, however, it attains a size 
larger than usual even in favourable situations; so that the fresh 
water cannot be supposed to exercise any prejudicial influence on its 
growth. Now, it so happens that there is another genus described 
by algologists (Tventepohlia), which, according to Professor Harvey, 
differs from Callithamnion in no other respect than its fresh-water 
habitat. Indeed, in the first edition of his ‘ Manual of the British 
Algze,’ he remarks “that C. Daviesii and T’. pulchella, when the latter 
is well coloured, are scarcely distinguishable under the microscope.” 
It seems to me that the Hawthorne plant goes a great way to 
establish Dr. Harvey’s view of the identity of the two genera; for, 
though exposed for about sixteen hours out of twenty-four to the 
influence of fresh water, it is certainly referable to the marine species 
Callithamnion Rothii, and at the same time is undistinguishable, so 
far as I can gather from figures and written descriptions, from the 
fresh-water species Trentepohlia pulchella. There is nothing ex- 
ceptional in the case of a plant growing indifferently either in 
salt water or in fresh. The common Lnteromorpha intestinalis, a 
marine species, flourishes in streams, ponds, and ditches quite away 
from sea influence. Bangia fusco-purpurea has been found in like 
circumstances; and even with animals, instances of a similar toler- 
ance might be brought forward. In short, it seems quite unphilo- 
sophical to separate plants which are to all appearance precisely 
similar, merely on account of a difference in habitat ; for what does 
such a circumstance show, more than that a single species possesses 
the capacity of existence under widely different conditions ’—TZrans. 
Tyneside Naturalists’ Field Club, 1861. 
Vitality of the Seed of Fumaria muralis (Sonder) and Hyoscyamus 
niger (Z.) By the Rev. ALrrep Mer te Norman, M.A, 
The ancient churchyard of Embleton, in the parish of Sedgefield, 
was surrounded by a very old hedge, which, last year, when the church 
was rebuilt, was grubbed up. Upon this freshly turned-up ground— 
earth which had not been disturbed for centuries—there sprung up 
in profusion two interesting plants, Fumaria muralis (Sonder) and 
Hyoscyamus niger (L.). What makes the circumstance the more 
* Byssus purpurea is noted by Mr. Winch as occurring “on rocks and 
stones in alpine situations.” Assuming that the plant alluded to is the 
same as that found on rocks with marine exposure (which, though evidently 
inferred by Mr. Winch, is perhaps reasonably open to doubt), there seems ~ 
the less reason to hesitate m uniting the two aquatic forms. But, without 
further evidence of the identity of the two terrestrial plants, it is impossible 
to push this argument, 
