Whirlpool and Rapids below the Falls of Niagara. 25 

 Rhynchospora Knieskernii : culmo trigono gracili ; spicis 



numerosis in glomerulis 4-6 distantibus aggregatis; mice lagvi 



obovata substipitata setas 6 retrorsum hispidas sequante tuberculo 

 triangulari subduplo longiore. 



Hah. In pinetis Nov-Caesar., detexit cl. R D. Knieskern, M.D. 



Culm 12-18 inches high, branching from the base, slender, 

 nearly smooth : leaves short and narrow. Spikes small, seta- 

 ceously bracteate, forming small distant clusters throughout the 

 entire length of the culm, each subtended by a long foliaceous 

 bract. Nut obovate, lenticular, attenuate at the base. Tubercle 

 compressed, broad at the base, about half the length of the nut. 



In its characters this species is closely allied to R. capillacea, 

 Torr. y from which, however, it is readily distinguished by the 

 shorter and more numerous aggregated spikes, and the much 

 smaller nut and short bristles. In general appearance it more 

 nearly approaches to R. gracilenta, Gray, but the nut is quite 

 different, and the bristles are not antrorsely hispid as in that spe- 

 cies. I learn from Dr. Knieskern, that it grows exclusively on 

 banks of iron ore in the Pine barrens of New Jersey. He 

 distributed it, as new, under the name of R. Grayana, which 

 name being preoccupied by Kunth for the R. Elliottii, Gr. Mon. 

 Rhynch., I dedicate it to the discoverer. 



Art. V .—Observations on the Whirlpool, and on the Rapids, 

 below the Falls of Niagara ; designed by illustrations to ac- 

 count for the origin of both; by R, Bakewell, New Haven. 



On my return to England soon after visiting the Falls of Niag- 

 ara in the year 1829, I published in Loudon's Magazine a short 

 memoir illustrated by drawings, exhibiting the physical structure 



rade 



Niag 



deavored to prove from the conformation of the strata, and the ero- 

 sive action of water, that the falls were once at Queenston. Du- 

 ring the six days that I remained there, I made several sketches 

 of the falls and the surrounding scenery, little expecting at the 

 time that I should ever see the cataract again. I returned to 

 America to reside in the summer of 1830, and in the autumn of 

 1846, I spent eight days at Niagara, taking with me the sketches 

 which I had made seventeen years before. After a lapse of so 

 many years, I was sensibly impressed with the change, which 

 had taken place, particularly in the Canada fall. The waters 



had receded from 



parts 



awards 



entirely hid by the descending tiood. The water which then 



— . mm •» r ■ ir 1 r m. ■ *.% VI i f -i ft m» A 



Second Series, Vol. IV, No. 10.— July, 1817. 4 



