76 REPORT — 1841. 



corded by Jones is 774. Forty-one additional species are now enumerated for Devon, 

 and thirty-one for Cornwall, which would raise the number of plants indigenous to 

 the two counties to 846. The most interesting discoveries since the time of Jones, 

 axe Arthrolobium ebracteatum, Trichonema colunince, Viola Curtisii, Chrysocoma Lino- 

 syris, Trifoliiim Bocconi, and Hypericum linarifolium. Phycospermwm Cornubiense, 

 hitherto supposed to be Umited to the neighbourhood of Bodmin, is now mentioned 

 as growing near Tavistock in Devon. The old habitat of Scirpiis Noloschemis on 

 Brampton Burrows has been destroyed by the shifting of the sand. A new spot, where 

 the plant is in some abundance, has, however, been exposed by the same cause. It 

 is not improbable that ere long it may become extinct. 



On some Species of European Pines. By Capt. Widdrington, R.N. 



In a paper on European Pines, read at Newcastle, the author did not allude to two 

 species, as he had not seen them, viz. Pinus austriaca and P. Pumilio. Opportunities 

 of observing them have since presented themselves. Pinus austriaca of English, P. 

 nigrescens of the German botanists, partly covers the plain of Austria to the south and 

 east of Vienna. It is also found in Austria on the borders of Styria, and clothes the 

 hills near Baden. It does not appear to the north of this, and in considering its eleva- 

 tion and geographj', it must be placed in the zone below Pinus sylvestris ; at the same 

 time there can be no question that it would withstand the cold of these islands. It is 

 very nearly connected with P. taiirica, or Pallasiana ; the foliage is scarcely to be di- 

 stinguished. There is, however, a very perceptible difference in the form of the cones 

 in cultivated species. From the quick growth of this tree, the great beauty of its fo- 

 liage, thick and tangled, and of the deepest green, as well as the great value of the 

 timber, which Austrian woodmen consider superior to that of P. sylvestris, Mr. Lawson 

 of Edinburgh introduced this species. It may be planted in most places as a sub- 

 stitute for the Pinaster, to which it is much superior, both in timber and appearance. 

 Pinus Pumilio is a native, though sparingly, of Upper Styria ; it is most abundant in 

 the Bavarian Alps. It inhabits marshy districts and the borders of lakes, as well as 

 dry gravelly situations. The peculiar form of this tree consists in its having no regu- 

 lar leader. It divides into a number of small stems and branches immediately above 

 the ground. The height attained is rarely more than five or six feet, and the diameter 

 of all the branches of the largest trees is not more than twenty or twenty-five feet. It 

 grows so regularly, that, on looking over an extensive level planted with it, it is quite 

 as even as the level of a gorse cover. The foliage, in form and colour, resembles that 

 of P. uncinata, but the spicula are shorter. The cones are small and dark-coloured, 

 and differ from those of P. sylvestris and P. uncinata. It is frequently confounded 

 with stunted varieties of other pines. Its position in geographical range is by the side 

 of P. Cembra and P. uncinata. 



Notice of destruction of Plants hy Animal Odour. By Robert Ball, F. L.S. 



" Having obtained a very young porpoise (Delphinus phoccEna) a few hours after it was 

 killed, I became anxious to get the immature bones of its skull without the trouble of dis- 

 section, or the loss of time in maceration. Accordingly I placed the head in an earthen 

 . crock, and put upon it nearly a quart of large maggots (larvae of Musca vomitoria), in 

 order that they might eat away the soft parts. I then placed the crock in a fern-house 

 (that is to say, a miniature green-house) of about thirty cubic feet in dimension, with 

 the view of devoting the maggots (when they were transformed into large blue flesh- 

 flies) as food for some toads {Bufo vulgaris) and natterjacks {Bufo rubeta) which were 

 confined in the fern-house. I then left them, and on returning six hours afterwards 

 I was astonished at the change which had come on in the verdure of my plants. The 

 flowering fern {Osmunda regalis) was turned red-brown; the maiden-hair {Adiantum Ca- 

 pillus Feneris) was lying quite flaccid : several species oi Aapidium and other ferns were 

 as if they had been plunged into boiling water, as was also a braSible (Rubus corylifo- 

 lius), while a wood gourd (Oxalis acetosella) was turned yellow, and its leaflets dropped 

 on the slightest touch ; in fact, no vegetable in the case escaped destruction of its leaves 

 or fronds. The odour exhaled was not that of putridity, but of that peculiar heavy kind, 

 so characteristic of the marine Mammalia : I do not pretend to speculate on the cause ; 

 there did not appear to be any smell of ammonia." 



