58' 



THE EDINBURGH JOURNAL OF NATURAL HISTORY, 



young and aduU garbs of both sexes, and this has induced a still further tnultiplying 

 of specific names. This bird is a native of the Northern States of America, and 

 migrates southward on the approach of winter. It constructs its nest in the hollow 

 of a tree. 



DESCRIPTION OF TWO NEW SHELLS. 



Ti'.E two Shells represented beneath were procui'ed from Orkney, and are now in 

 the Cabinet of William Nicol, Esq., Edinburgh. It is difficult to determine whether 

 they arc new species, or only greatly protluced varieties of the Buccinum Angllcanum 

 and B. undatum. 



'^^^y 



Fig. 1. agrees in all its characters with the B. Anglicanitm of Lamarck, except 

 in the spire being much longer and more fusiform, the breadth of the body 

 of the shell being only about a third of its length ; while in the B. AngUcanunii 

 it measures nearly the half of the shell ; it is of a reddish brown colour, fasciated 

 and clouded with darker shades of the same colour. If it be really distinct from 

 the B. Anglicamijity it might with propriety be distinguished by the name of B. 

 elongatum. But until we have seen and examined the animal, the name must re- 

 main in abeyance. 



Fig. 2. has all the characters and appearance of B, undatum, except in its 

 greatly elongated shape, and if the animals really differ, it might be distinguished 

 by the specific name of ac^ttissimum. 



These Shells are said to be obtained by their adhering to the fishermen's lines in 

 deep sea water ; and probably their greatly lengthened shape may be peculiar to 

 this locality. 



BOTANY AND HORTICULTURE. 



Saccharine Plants — The most valuable plants producing Sugar in this coun- 

 try are Beet-Root and Parsnip, The Whits Beet (^Beta cicla) is a hardy biennial 

 plant, a native of the Sea Coasts of Spain and Portugal, and introduced into this 

 country in 1570. It was from the roots of this plant that the French and Ger- 

 mans obtained sugar with so much success during the late war, while all their West 

 India colonies were in the hands of the British. The following is the ordinary pro- 

 cess of extracting the sugar from this plant: — The roots are reduced to a pulp by 

 pressing them between two rough cylinders; tlie pulp is then put into hags, and the 

 sap it contains is pressed out. The Uquor is then boiled, and the saccharine matter 

 precipitated by quiclilime; the liquor is now poured off, and to the residuum is added 

 a solution of sulphuric acid, and again boiled; the lime uniting with the acid, is got rid 

 of by straining; and the liquor is then gently evaporated, or left to granulate slowly, 

 after which it is ready for undergoing the common process of refining raw sugars. 

 The French manufacturers have acquired so much experience in this process, that, 

 from every 100 lbs. of Beet, they extract 12 lbs. of sugar in the short space of twelve 

 hours. 



The Parsnip {Pastinaca sativa) is next in value to the White Beet as a sac- 

 charine root. It is a biennial British plant, common in calcareous soils, and used in 

 England chieSy as a vegetable. One thousand parts of Parsnips contain ninety parts 

 of sugar, nine pai-ts of starch, the rest being water and fibre. An excellent ardent 

 spirit is obtained by distillation from this plant ; but the wine manufactured from it, in 

 the opinion of many, possesses a finer flavor, and more nearly approximates to forei<m 

 wine than that obtained from any other British produce. The process of manufac- 

 turing Parsnip Wine is more clearly and fully described, in an interesting little worlt 

 entitled " The British Wine-Iilaker," recently published by JUr V/. H. Roberts, than 

 in any other work on the same subject. We may refer generally to Mr Roberts' 

 nseful and practical treatise as affording comprehensive and scientific information, 

 s'hile it seems a safe guide in the manufacture of wines from British produce. By 

 the use of the Saccliaronieter — an instrument remarkable for the accuracy of its re. 

 suits — the process, as detailed in the work referred to, is rendered simple and of un- 

 failing success, while, without its aid, wines of uniform quahty, from year to year, 

 cannot be otherwise produced. This circumstance arises from the fruits themselves 

 yielding in some years a greater or less proportion of saccharine matter than they do 

 in others, and this diffjU'ence in quality is accurately determined bv the application of 

 the Succharometer,. 



Ringing of Walnut- Tuees. — The Baron de Trehoudi, near Metz, in Lorraine, 

 has successfully introduced into his neighbourhood a practice of ringing Walnut-trees. 

 It is accomplished by abstracting a ring of two inches breadth from the outer bark 

 all around, and then plastering over the part with clay, mixed with moist manure. 

 The Walnut-trees thus treated not only prove more prohfic, but the fruit is more 

 early. — NeiU's Horticultural Tour. 



GEOLOGY. 



The Fossil Elk of the Isle of Man. — In the Royal Museum of the College 

 of Edinburgh there is now the most perfect known specimen of this animal. Its di- 

 mensions are given below, but that a more distinct notion maybe formed of its great 

 stature, we have placed beside it a human skeleton of six feet, drawn upon the same 

 scale. 



Ft. In. 



i)h 



Height to the tip of the process of the first dorsal vei'tebra, which is the 

 highest point of the trunk, ..... 6 



Height to the anterior superior angle of the scapula, . . 5 



Length from the first dorsal vertebra to the tip of the os coccygis, 5 



Height to the tip of the right horn, .... 9 



Lateral or horizontal diameter of the thorax, at the widest part, that is at 

 the eleventh rib, ...... 2 



Depth of the thorax, from the tip of the process of the eighth dorsal ver- 

 tebra, to the sternum at the junction of the eighth rib, . 2 2 

 This superb fossil was dug up in the parish of Kirk Ralaff, and secured for our 

 University Museum by the late Duke of AthoU. It T,vas found imbedded in loose 

 shell-marl, associated with numerous branches and roots of trees ; over the mai-l 

 was a bed of sand ; above the sand a stratum of peat, principally composed of small 

 branches and decayed leaves ; and on the surface of all, the common alluvial soil of 

 the country. 



Fossil Botant.. — -The researches of M. Adolphe Brongniart into fossil organic 

 remains, have in a great measure led to a knowledge of what must have been tho 

 appearance and temperature of the earth, when these fossils were vegetating on its 

 surface; and also how far the various epochs of the existence of those plants accord 

 with those remote Zoological epochs established by modern geologists. 



The primitive vegetation, according to M. Brongniart, correspondi^d in its periods to 

 the three successive formations of soil, from tho earliest times, from the Creation down 

 to that of the great Diluvian Change. 



To the first period, which is co-etaneous with the simplest and the oldest formation 

 of the globe, and lasted until the occurrence of deposits of coal strata, belong those 

 vegetable bodies, the structure of which is in the highest degree simple. These 

 organic remains are also remarkable for their rarity and the excessive magnitude 

 of their dimensions. With respect to their rarity, compared to those of an analo- 

 gous character inhabiting the present world, it is asserted, that of the formsr there 

 are only six distinct families known ; whereas of the latter, at least two hujidred 

 families exist; and with regard to the magnitude of their dimensions, it will be suffi- 

 cient to instance the Fern trees, which in the actual world, and under the most 

 favorable circumstances, grow to the height of from 20 to 25 feet only, while the 

 same trees rose, in the primitive world, as high as 40 and even 50 feet. Brongniart 

 thinks that the great coal formation which appeared at the termination of this ve- 

 .getable period is due to the destruction of the plants in question. He arrives at 

 the conclusion a priori, as well as fi-om the inspection of the strata in which such 

 plants are found, that life on the surface of the globe began with the vegetable king- 

 dom ; that the animals without a vertebrated spine succeeded next; and that probably 

 the oceans contained no fish at the time. 



To tho second period of Antediluvitm vegetation, corresponding to the geological 



