70 



THE EDINBURGH JOURNAL OF NATURAL HISTORY, 



our rods. It was of no avail, for our punishment only increased his ire, and he 

 quitted hold of my friend's rod and made directly towards me, seemingly with an 

 intention of coming to close quarters. He was now too near us to strike at him with 

 our rods, and my friend ran to tho shore, seized a piece of paling, and made two or 

 three unsuccessful strokes at him, which served but to increase his fury; and he 

 seemed determined not to relinquish his intentions, except with the loss of his life. 

 As ho stood so nobly to the contest, I thought it but humanity to call out ** quarter, 

 quarter — allow the brave animal to pass." He landed on terra firma, and seeing that 

 hostilities had ceased, shook himself, and trotted quietly off. It was at the broadest 

 part of the lake where he crossed; and from the time when I first saw him till the 

 end of our attack, he must have been Uttle short of three quarters of an hour in the 

 water." 



EuPLEREs GouDOTTi. — A ncw genus of Mammalia has been found in Madagas- 

 car, by M. Goudot, which M. Doyere, Professor at the College of Henri Quatre, 

 proposes to call Euplei-es^ It is a lively, swift animal, with slender legs, and en- 

 tirely plantigrade, the sole of the foot being the only part free from hair. It hves 

 on the surface of the ground, is long and thin in the body, and its girth is that of 

 most Insectivora. If any judgment can be formed from its anatomy, its hearing is 

 equal to that of the other Insectivora, and the size of its orbits shows that its sight 

 is likely to be good. The thumb is much the shortest of its five fingers, and all are 

 armed with sharp, thin, and semi-retractile nails. The natives say, that it hollows 

 out the sand, and lives in pits. Flacourt mentioned this animal under the name of 

 Falanou, and thought it to be a Civet, which error has been continued in several 

 works. The animal we now speak of was too young to have completed its dentition, 

 but at present it has six incisors in the upper jaw, two canines, six pointed grinders, 

 and four tuberculous grinders in the under jaw ; eight incisors, two canines, with a 

 double root, fitting behind those of the upper jaw like the Mole, four pointed 

 grinders, and six with five tubercles in the lower jaw. M, Doyere gives the specific 

 name in honour of M. Goudot, and calls it Eupleres Goudotli. 



Introduction of Frogs into Ireland. — It is not generally known that the 

 introduction of Frogs into Ireland is of comparatively recent date. In the 17th num- 

 ber of the Dublin University Magazine, there is a quotation from Donat, who was 

 himself an Irishman, and Bishop of FesulEe, near Florence, and who, about the year 

 620, wrote a brief description of Ireland, iu which the following passage occurs : — 

 " "Nulla veneta nocent, nee serpens serpit in herba; 

 Nee conquesta canit garrula rana lacus." 

 " At this very hour," says the author of the article, " we have neither snakes nor 

 Tenomous reptiles in this island ; and we know, that, for the first time, frog-spawn 

 was brought from England in the year 1696, by one of the Fellows of Trinity Col- 

 lege, Dublin, and placed in a ditch in the University park, or pleasure ground, from 

 which these very prolific colonists sent out their croaking detachments through the 

 adjacent country, whence their progeny spread from field to field through the whole 

 kmgdom." In the Dublin MedicalJournal, however, it is stated, ** we have learned 

 from good authority, that a recent importation of snakes has been made, and that 

 they are at present multiplying rapidly within a few miles of the tomb of St Patrick." 



BOTANY AND HORTICULTURE. 



GENERAL REVIEW OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM NO. III. 



North America, under the same degrees of latitude as France and England, and with 

 a colder climate, presents a far richer vegetation. There large trees, such as the 

 Liriodendron and Magnolia, bear the most superb flowers. Those of many other trees 

 and shrubs vie in beauty with the flowers of the torrid zone; the light waving com- 

 posite foliage of the Rohinias and Gleditschias are the counterparts of the Mimosas 

 of the tropics. The single genus of Oaks comprehends within the United States 

 more species than Evu'ope reckons within the whole amount of its trees. 



In the Northern parts of Asia vegetation differs but- slightly from that of our own 

 country. We meet with nearly the same genera, and similar tj'pes prevail. But in 

 the Southern parts the character of the country is changed. Without water, and swept 

 by scorching winds, the drought is extreme. The carpet of soft verdure, and the re- 

 freshing shade of its Northern countries and of Europe, are looked for in vain. Most 

 of the plants have thinly scattered long narrow arid leaves, unscalloped and entire at 

 the edge, and of a gloomy green; several have none at all, or at least such as, instead 

 of leaves, may be truly termed thorns. Yet many of the trees and shrubs have a 

 snowy blossom. Of the former, the largest in those parts belong to the Blyrtle tribe, 

 and have a punctured foliage, diffusing an aromatic scent when bruised. There are 

 likewise many shrubs of the pulse tribe with a composite foliage ; but the leaflets of 

 the leaves are only evolved on the plants first rising from the seed. As they advance 

 to maturity, the naked footstalks widen into simple lanceolate blades, or become trans- 

 formed into acicular spines, resembling the leaves of some of the Asparagi. In New 

 Holland the Proteacecs abound; and also at the Cape of Good Hope ; but the LiliacecBj 

 which decorate the African Promontory so profusely, are, on the contrary, rare ia 

 New Holland. It is a fact as notorious as surprising, that no one vegetable belonging 

 to the countries towards the Southern pole produces a single fruit for the food of Man. 

 There are divers conditions without tho performance of which the growth of the 

 different species cannot proceed. An uninterrupted heat is requisite for some; a 

 moment's decrease in it is fatal to them ; some withstand a considerable degree of cold 

 while their sap is quiescent, but want a high degree of heat when that is once in 

 motion ; some like a moderate temperature, and dread equally the excess of both heat 

 and cold. It is upon the observation of such appearances that the cultivator grounds 

 hia practice ; he knows that it would be in vain for him to attempt to grow, without 

 shelter, either the Date or Orange beyond the 43d degree of Northern Latitude; that the 

 Olive will do a little beyond ; that the Vine is barren beyond the latitude of 50 degrees, 

 or at least never brings its grape to perfection. He is cautious of exposing in a 

 Southern aspect the species whose sap is readily set in motion by the first gleam of 

 warmth ; he knows that late frosts destroy them ; as in the vmeyards round Paris, the 

 plantations there which escape tho injui-iea of frost, are not those which look towards 



the South, but those that look towards the North. The sap of the Utter is set in 

 motion late, and when the heat reaches them the season is already settled, and no risk 

 H run from the inroad of cold. 



Late frosts are peculiarly hurtful to the delicate American and Botany Bay plants, 

 which we are attempting to naturalize in Europe. Many of these will bear a Tery 

 sbarp cold in the heart of winter; but no sooner does the spring advauce, and a softer 

 air prevail, than their roots begin to elaborate their juices underground, their bark to 

 fill with moisture, their buds to swell and open, and a fall in the temperature, if but for 

 one moment, destroys them. 



Local circumstances, such as the elevation of the place, its aspect, the nature as 

 well as dipping of its soil, the proximity of mountains, of forests, of the sea, &c. &c. 

 are all causes of variation of temperature, and must each be attended to, in account- 

 ing for the vegetation of any particular district. For instance, the winter is less 

 severe on the Northern coasts of France, than in the interior on the same level — an 

 efl"ect of the vicinity of the ocean. The sea preserves a far more even temperature 

 than the atmosphere, and is constantly at work to maintain some degree of equiU- 

 brmm in the warmth of the air. In the summer, it carries off a part of the caloric 

 from it — in the winter it gives back a part of that which it contains. It is thus 

 that the mass of water held in the vast basin of the ocean, tempers on its coasts the 

 heat of summer and the cold of winter. For this reason, on the coast of Calvados, 

 the Myrtle, the Fuchsia, the Magnolia, the Pomegranate, the Indian Rose, and many 

 other exotic plants, grow in the open air; but in the department of the Seine, the same 

 plants require shelter. This cause also permits the cultivation of many species in the 

 open ground about London, that near Paris will not thrive without a green-house. 



Local circumstances, however, have only a limited influence, and it may be laid 

 down as a general principle, that the cold m the same or nearly the same longitudes 

 is, during winter, in direct proportion to the distance from the Equator. We say 

 during winter, because the length of the days in the summer of the Polar regions 

 sometimes renders the heat even more intense than in our climates ; and it is very 

 probable that many of the herbaceous plants of the tropics w^uld succeed in Sweden, 

 Norway, Lapland, and even Spitzbergen, if the frost did not set in too early to ad- 

 mit of their completing the round of the vegetable career. 



In proportion as we advance towards the Pole, we are sensible of the change in 

 the appearance of the vegetation. Those species which require a mild and temperate 

 climate, are supplanted by others which seem to delight in cold. The forests fill 

 with Pines, Firs, and Enxhes — the natural decoration of a Northern land. The 

 Birch of all trees is the one which bears the severity of the climate the longest ; but as 

 it approaches the Pole it grows smaller ; its trunk dwindles and becomes stunted, 

 and the branches knotty, .till at last it ceases to grow at all towards the 70th degree 

 of latitude — the point where Man gives up the cultivation of Corn. Beyond this, 

 shrubs, bushes, and herbaceous plants alone are to be met with. The Wild Thyme, 

 Daphnes, creeping Willows and Brambles, cover the face of the rocks. It is in these 

 cold regions that the berries of the Ruhus arcticus acquire their delicious flavour and 

 perfume. The Shrubs disappear in their turn. They are succeeded by low herbs, 

 furnished with leaves at the root, from the midst of w'hich rises a short stalk sur- 

 mounted by small flowers. Such are the Saxifrages, the Primroses, the Andru- 

 saces, Aretiasy S:c. These pretty plants take up their quarters in the clefts of the rooks, 

 while the Grasses, with their numerous slender leaves, spread themselves over the 

 soil, which they cover as with a rich verdant carpet. The Lichen, which feeds th» 

 Rein-deer, sometimes mixes in the turf, sometimes of itself covers vast tracts of 

 country, its white tufts standing in clumps of various forms, looking like hillocks of 

 snow which the sun has not yet dissolved. If we go farther, a naked land, sterile 

 soil, rocks, and eternal snows, are all we find. The last vestiges of vegetation are 

 some pulverulent Byssiy and some crustaceous Lichens, which cover the rocks in 

 motley patches. 



On THE Rapioity of Vegetable Organization — The vegetable kingdom 

 presents us with innumerable instances, not only of the extraordinary divisibility of 

 matter, but of its activity in the almost incredible rapid development of cellular 

 structure in certain plants. Thus, the Bovista giganteum (a species of fungus) has 

 been known to acquire the size of a gourd in one night. Now, supposing with Pro- 

 fessor Lindley, that the cellules of this plant are not less than the one-two-hundredth 

 part of an inch in diameter, a plant of the above size will contain no less than 

 47,000,000,000 cellules ; so that, supposing it to have grown in the course of twelve 

 hours, its cellules must have been developed at the rate of nearly 4,000,000,000 per 

 hour, or of more than 96,000,000 in a minute 1 And, when we consider that every one 

 of these cellules must be composed of innumerable molecules, each of which is com- 

 posed of others, we are perfectly overwhelmed with the minuteness and number of 

 parts employed in this single production of Nature. 



FiBUES OF the Rose of Sharon. — Mr S. Woodruff^ recently communicated to 

 Professor Silliman that he had discovered, in the fibres of the bark of the Rose of Sha- 

 ron, which were in a decayed state, a material very much resembling flax in its tex- 

 ture. The bark on the stalks appeared to be of the earliest growth, and it was 

 separating from the wood; indeed, all of them were so much decayed that it was 

 easy to divest them of the bark. The fibres are strong, and appear much like hemp, 

 but may be divided into fibres as fine as flax. Mr Woodruff twisted a few small 

 cords from this, without attempting any process of preparation, and it was foimd to 

 be very durable and strong — even although it had not been macerated, and had, be- 

 sides, the disadvantage of having been exposed to the vicissitudes of the weather, till 

 a natural and gradual decay of its strength may have taken placL'. 



The coat of the Rose of Sharon is much thicker, as vcell as softer and more silky, 

 than that of hemp ; but whether the fibres be sufBciently slender for fabrics of the 

 finest texture remains to be ascertained. The plant is of a robust and healthy cha- 

 racter, and is easily grown in a moderately good soil. It is also highly productive in 

 seed, and, being a perennial, might be raised with great facility in a long succession 

 of crops on the same ground, and with much less labour and expense than flax or 

 hemp. Professor Silliman, judging from the specimen sent him, thinks the plant is 

 deserving of the attention of agriculturists. 



