300 Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



ably from two to three months. From about that time the plants had 

 been observed to droop ; but it was not until nearly the whole of a valua- 

 able stock had been destroyed, that any extraordinary cause of the evil 

 was suspected. To place it beyond doubt that the water was really the 

 cause of the mischief, twelve healthy fuchsias were procured from a 

 distance and divided into two parts ; half being watered morning and 

 evening with the water in question, and the others with rain water. In 

 B week the six plants watered from the well had turned brown, and ul- 



timately died, while all the rest remained perfectly flourishing. Assu- 

 ming, from these facts, that the common salt in this water was the chief 

 cause of the results described, it is proved that water containing about 

 seven grains of salt in each pint is, in its continued use, an effectual 

 poison to the weaker forms of vegetation ; or that when a soil is con- 

 tinually watered with a weak solution of salt, it gradually accumulates 

 in it until the soil becomes sufficiently contaminated to be unfit to sup- 

 port vegetable life. In either case an interesting subject of inquiry is 

 suggested — What is the weakest solution of salt which can produce in 

 any measure this poisonous effect ? — or, in other words, at what degree 

 of dilution does the danger cease ? For salt is an important natural 

 constituent of much spring water, quite independent of any infiltration 

 from the sea, as in this instance. Thus : — the water of the artesian 

 well, Trafalgar Square, London, contains in each gallon about 20 

 grains ; that at Combe & Delafield's Brewery 12*7 ; that at Wolver- 

 hampton Railway Station 6 ; one lately sunk at Southampton, for sup- 

 plying a private manufactory, 40. May it not be asked, whether the 

 subject of the suitableness of waters in general for the various purpo- 

 ses to which they are applied — be it in manufactures or for steam- 

 engines, domestic purposes or for drinking — is not worthy of a greater 

 share of scientific attention than it has hitherto commanded ? 



6. On the Influence of Temperature upon the Distribution of Fauna in 

 the JEgean Sea; by Lieut. Spratt, (Proc. Brit. Assoc, Athen., No. 

 1088.) — After the publication by the British Association of the highly in- 

 teresting Report of the Distribution of the Fauna of the iEgean by Prof. 

 Forbes, I was led to imagine that temperature might have a great in- 

 fluence on that distribution. With this view I pursued the inquiry by 

 making observations on the temperature of each region as opportuni- 

 ties offered for so doing, whilst employed on the survey of the iEgean 

 Sea during the summer seasons. These results show distinctly that 

 temperature seems to be the principal influence which governs the dis- 

 tribution of the marine Fauna. The summer temperature of the air in 

 the Mediterranean is about 86°, and the surface temperature reaches 

 nearly that temperature generally at that season. The zones of depth 

 as arranged by Prof. Forbes are as follows. The first region includes 

 all between the surface and the depth of two fathoms ; but this he sub- 

 divides into a superficial or tidal zone of about two feet : the inhabi- 



tants of which, he observes, are remarkable as being such as have a 



wide range in depth, eight out of eleven species peculiar to it being 

 widely distributed in the Atlantic. The temperature of this zone ran- 

 ges from 76° to 84° during eight months in the year. Its inhabitants 

 are consequently subject to great vicissitudes of climate during the 

 summer and winter. Nature having thus adapted them to these con- 



