Nov. 2, 1882 | 
The early morning tide marked about 2 inches higher. During 
the past springs we have 
Tuesday, Oct. 10, p.m. 11 below ... 6 below ... 5 Sol wBs 
Wednesday... IT, y, 5 45 Giabove'... 11 ... 9.914. 
Sansa yee gL onyes Ls  enD2 ys c+. 13’... WNL W. 
Friday on Sip op Gee Gers Che aty 6... N.N.W. 
The comparatively quiet autumnal weather sufficiently accounts 
for the slight variations. 
The tide ebbed as low as 23 feet 6 inches below Trinity in 
October last year at the London Docks Shadwell entrance, 
yielding a total tidal vertical oscillation of fully 28 feet in the 
Port of London. J. B. REDMAN 
6, Queen Anne’s Gate, Westminster, S.W., October 19 
P.S.—The springs succeeding those described in my letter 
show a greater difference, influenced doubtless by the great gale 
of Tuesday, October 24, when the barometer fell as low as in 
‘the gales of October 28 and November 16, 1880, on these three 
occasions reading a tenth under 29 inches. The tide of October 
28, 1880, was a low neap, but on November 19, 1880, at the top 
of the springs estimated at 6 inches under Trinity high water 
it was 2 feet 9 inches above, or 3 feet 3 inches excess three days 
after the gale. 
The excessive amount of land water now meeting the tide adds 
to the increase, together with the northerly gales, 
Estimated. Observed. Excess. 
a4 ‘ “ -u4(S.S.W. 
Tues. Oct. 24, noon 0 g below...o 6 below... 0 3 gale 
Wed. ,, 25, p.m. 0 5 above...o0 12above...0 7 W.S.W. 
Thurs, Pes 20y eer STATUS. By 2h Oh 35 Kor) ets} S: 
Fri. cy PAE. ore Goh meen Py Aes) ges) oe 20 ING Bee 
Rintementys) (29, 7 To 7%, 5 .3 5 N.N.E.} 
tia ee 
In effect the last with that of January 18, 
1881.—J. B. R. 
Note.—The estimate of excess due to wind over and above the 
forecasts is somewhat overstated in this letter, as the Admiralty 
heights are for London Bridge and those observed are for West- 
minster, where the reading will be quite 2 inches higher. 
= 
tide is identica 
Umdhlebi Tree of Zululand 
THE following note has been communicated to us by the Rey. 
Dr. Parker, a well-known missionary in Madagascar. ‘The 
story reminds one of the old myth about the Upas in Java. No 
light can be thrown upon it at Kew, but perhaps in the pages of 
NATURE it might meet the eye of some person who could give 
some more information about it. W. T. THISELTON DYER 
There are two species, in both the leaf is lanceolate, dark 
green, glossy, hard, and brittle, and from both a thick milky 
juice exudes, while the fruit is like a long black pod, red at the 
end. One species is a tree with large leaves, and peculiar 
looking stem, the bark hanging down in large flakes, showing a 
fresh growth of bark underneath: in the words of my in- 
formant, ‘‘ What a villainous-looking tree! nasty, rough, ugly ! ” 
The other species is a shrub, with smaller leaves, and the bark 
not peeling off the stem. Both species are said to possess the 
power of poisoning any living creature which approaches it ; the 
symptoms of poisoning by it being severe headache, blood-shot 
eyes, and delirium, ending in death. The person affected dies 
either in delirium, or ins‘antaneously without any delirium. A 
superstition is connected with this plant. Only a few persons in 
Zululand are supposed to be able to collect the fruits of the 
Umdhlebi, and these dare not approach the tree except from the 
windward side. ‘They also sacrifice a goat ora sheep to the 
demon of the tree, tying the animal to, or near the tree. The 
fruit is collected for the purpose of being used as the antidote to 
the poisonous effectsof the tree from which they fall—for only 
the fallen fruit may be collected. As regards habitat, these 
trees grow on all kinds of soil, not specially on that which , 
exudes carbonic acid gas, but the tree-like species prefers barren 
and rocky ground. In consequence of this superstition, the 
often fertile. G. W. PARKER 
The Origin of our Vernal Flora 
Ir is usual to assign an Arctic origin to our mountain flora, 
and floral comparisons and statistics fully bear out this brilliant 
generalisation. It is formulated that height above the sea-level 
is climatally equivalent to northern latitude. This is an 
* Gales. 
NAGRORE 
7 
assumption that flowering plants are largely conditioned by heat. 
Thus latitude and oreographical habitats are more or less equal. 
Might I introduce another element into this question? Seeing 
that temperature is so largely influential in explaining the distri- 
bution of flowering plants, it occurs to me that not only may 
height above the sea-level answer to northern distribution, but 
seasonal occurrence as well. 
All botanists must have been struck by the fact that the 
earliest plants to bloom among our vernal flora are genera pecu- 
liarly Arctic and Alpine. In some instances (as with Chrysosple- 
nium oppositifolium and C. a'ternifolium) the species are identi- 
cal. These latter plants blossom with us in March or April; 
within the Arctic circle not until June and July, and even so late 
as August. Thus, with them, seasonal blossoming is equivalent 
to northern latitude, as regards the thermal conditions under 
which they flower. The generic names of all our early flower- 
ing plants are those pre-eminently Alpine and Arctic in their 
distribution—Potentilla, Stellavia, Saxifraga, Chrysosplenium, 
Draba, Ranunculus, Cardamine, Alsine, &c. I contend, 
therefore, that our vernal flora is explained by the fact that 
their seasonal occurrence, as regards temperature, is equivalent 
both to height above the sea-level and northern latitude. In 
every instance it will be found that the blossoming of the species 
of the above genera necessarily takes place in Great Britain two 
or three months earlier than within the polar circle. May we 
not therefore contend that we owe our English vernal flora to 
the same causes as distributed our English Alpine plants ; and 
that they are as much protected by being able to flower earlier 
in the year, as if they had been located on the tops of high hills 
and mountains ? 
The power to endure cold and wet displayed by many mem- 
bers of our vernal flora is very remarkable. Thus Ranznculus 
bulbosus and R. acris, Stellaria media, &c., are frequently found 
in flower all through the winter, unless the season be extra cold. 
Many other early bloomers among our common flowers are also 
remarkable for their durability, whilst the late flowering plants 
are equally noticeable for the short space during which they 
bloom, ‘This indicates a hardihood on the part of our vernal 
flora which cannot be explained except by reference to the cli- 
matal experience of the species. Some of them, as the groundsel 
and chickweed, may have exchanged an entomophilous for an 
anemophilous habit, or have become self-fertilised by the change. 
Again, it must have been observed that many of our early 
flowering plants display a tendency towards a seasonal division 
of labour, All of them either flower before they leaf, or show a 
tendency to do so, as with the Coltsfoot (Zusstlago farfara), the 
Crocus (C. vernus), the Snow-drop (Galanthus nivalis), &c. 
Eyen the violets (Viola odorata and V. canina), the Daffodil, 
Primrose, Cowslip, &c., although they in part leaf when they 
flower, develop leaves much more abundantly after flowering 
than before, thus showing an inclination towards dividing the 
period of active life into two distinct stages—the reproductive 
and the vegetative. Everyone knows how completely this has 
been effected by the Meadow Saffron (Colchicum autumnaile). 
My impression is that this early flowering tendency is a survival 
of the habit these plants had to blossom under more rigorous 
climatal conditions. In short, that our vernal flora must have 
the same origin assigned to it as an Alpine; that it has sur- 
vived through being able to bloom at an early period of the year 
at low levels, instead of flowering at a later season higher up, 
above the sea-level ; protection and advantage being secured in 
both instances. J. E. TAYLor 
Ipswich 
On Coral-eating Habits of Holothurians 
BEING struck with a remark of Mr. Darwin in his work on 
“Coral Reefs,” where it is stated on the authority of Dr. J. 
AJlan, of Forres, that the Holothurize subsist on living coral, 
and that by these and other creatures which swarm on coral 
reefs, an immense amount of coral must be yearly consumed and 
ground down into mud (p. 14), I determined to commence a 
country around one of these trees is always uninhabited, although , series of observations on this subject, in order to ascertain the 
rate at which these animals void the coral sand from their intes- 
tinal canal, and “ ergo” the amount of coral an individual would 
yearly transform into sand, 
I have by no means satisfied myself that the Holothurie do 
subsist on living coral. This may be due, however, to my field 
of observation being confined to the fringing reefs around Santa 
Anna, and the neighbouring coast of the large island of St. 
Christoval— where living coral occurs only in scanty patches, the 
greater portion ofthe coral ‘‘ flats” being formed of coral detritu 
