Domestic Notices. : — E?igland. 695 



Art. III. Domestic Notices. 

 ENGLAND. 



An Insect on the Leaves of Pear Trees at Kinmel Parle. — 1 have had the 

 opinions of Mr. Westwood and Mr. Children on this insect; the former of 

 whom thinks that Httle or no injury will be caused by it, because a portion 

 of the green leaf is left to perform the functions of nature, viz. the elabor- 

 ation of the sap. I am sorry to differ from Mr. Westwood on the subject, 

 though I readily admit his profound acquaintance with entomology ; and I 

 mean to pay particular attention to the progress of the insect next spring. 

 Under the brown blotches on the leaves have existed caterpillars ; but of the 

 parents of these I know little, except that some of our pear trees have 

 been almost destroyed by them. The best remedy I have found to be paint- 

 ing the wood over with coal-tar, which can be had very cheap from any of 

 the gas-works. No insect will approach tar of any kind; and I am convinced 

 that the insect spoken of deposits its eggs on the leaves early in spring; and 

 that the larva is matured, in the course of summer, in the pulp of the leaf 

 under the epidermis. — Thos. Forrest. Kinmel Park, Oct. 17. 1836. 



Vitality of Seeds. — It will be in the recollection of our readers, that, in 

 October, 1834, we published some interesting details of the opening of a 

 British tumulus, near Maiden Castle, by Mr. Maclean, who found therein a 

 human skeleton, and a portion of the contents of the stomach, containing a 

 mass of small seeds, which neither the operation of the gastric juices, nor the 

 lapse of probably twenty centuries, had sufficed to destroy. Many of these 

 seeds have been subjected to various careful experiments, to ascertain whether 

 the vital principle was extinct ; and we have the satisfaction of announcing 

 that Professor Lindley has happily succeeded in producing plants from several 

 of these seeds. These plants have confirmed the opinion expressed by the 

 learned Professor, on a first inspection of the seeds, that they were those of 

 the i?ubus idse^us, the common raspberry. The plants are now very vigorous, 

 have produced much fine fruit this season, and form an object of the greatest 

 curiosity and attraction to horticulturists. This highly interesting circumstance 

 proves the raspberry to be an indigenous plant in this country, growing at a 

 very early period, and then constituting an article of food. {Dorset Chronicle^ 

 as quoted in the Bath Journal of Sept. 12. 1836.) We have seen the rasp- 

 berry plant alluded to in the Horticultural Society's Garden. The facts are 

 extremely interesting ; and we hope Dr. Lindley will compare this case with 

 others of the kind u[)on record, and favour the world with a memoir on the 

 subject. — Cond. 



The London Botanical Society. — On September 12., a meeting of gentlemen 

 attached to the science of botany, and belonging chiefly to King's College, and 

 to St. Bartholomew's, Guy's, St. Thomas's, and other of the metropolitan 

 hospitals, took place at the Crown and Anchor Tavern, Strand, for the pur- 

 pose of establishing a society for advancing the interests of botanical science, 

 by the formation of an herbarium for reference, and for exchanging specimens 

 with other societies, or with individual collectors ; also' by the formation of a 

 library and museum, by the reading of original and other papers, and by all 

 other means which may promote the advancement of systematic botany. 

 Dr. M'Intyre was unanimously called to the chair. Several preparatory 

 meetings, it appeared, had already taken place, and the countenance and sup- 

 port of Dr. Lindley, and several other eminent botanists, had been promised to 

 the infant society. The chairman, in stating its object (as narrated above), 

 pointed out several other scientific institutions for the promotion of natural 

 history ; such as the Linnsean, &c., from which various others had emanated, 

 viz. the Zoological, and the Entomological Societies, &c. As yet, however, 

 no society existed in the metropolis of a strictly botanical character. Being 

 much attached to the study of practical botany, he could, of his own know- 

 ledge, speak of the ample field in this countrj', and even surrounding the 

 metropolis, which presented itself ; and the treasures of which were still un- 



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