1870.] Botany. 527 



virgin forest in the Blue Mountain were acquired early in the year, 

 and were set apart for the purpose of a cinchona plantation, for 

 which the place is in every way admirably suited. The elevation 

 varies from 4000 to 6000 feet. It is well watered, has the best 

 aspects, and possesses a soil reported to be admirably adapted to 

 the requirements of the cinchona. Fifty acres were cleared, of 

 which forty were filled with cinchonas in the course of the year ; 

 about 20,000 plants of five different species having been planted. 

 By the latest accounts all of these were in full vigour, and the plan- 

 tation must by this time be doubled in extent. The plants have 

 stood one of the driest seasons that has ever been remembered on 

 Blue Mountain, without suffering in the least. There is now no 

 doubt that the cinchona can be successfully reared in Jamaica. 



Origin of Prairie Vegetation. — Professor Winchell, of the Uni- 

 versity of Michigan, has recently promulgated a new theory re- 

 specting the origin of the vegetation of the American prairies, 

 namely, that it dates back beyond the historical epoch to the Glacial 

 period. He believes the origin of the prairies to be lacustrine ; but, 

 contrary to the generally-received opinion, he maintains that lacus- 

 trine sediments contain no living germs. Diluvial deposits, he 

 states, on the contrary, are found everywhere replete with living 

 germs, which, when hidden away from the influence of light and 

 moisture, retain their vitality or power of germination for an in- 

 definite length of time. These living germs of the diluvial deposits 

 he believes to have been buried during the glacial period, in the 

 course of which the surface was ploughed up by glaciers, and 

 afterwards exposed to the commotion of the sea, which overspread 

 the land, burying everything in promiscuous ruin ; but yet by this 

 very means storing away the seeds which, when brought to the sur- 

 face after the lapse of a geological age, are possessed of vitality, and 

 able to reclothe the barren earth with verdure and beauty. Thus, 

 in proportion as the diluvial surface became exposed, the flora of 

 the pre-glacial epoch was reproduced. In support of this theory, he 

 brings forward the argument that the fossil plants which have been 

 discovered in the tertiary deposits show a correspondence of genera, 

 and in some cases even of species, with those existing at the present 

 time. 



The Herbarium of the British Museum. — The Curator of the 

 British Museum Herbarium has just published his annual report of 

 the national collection. A considerable number of families have 

 been re-arranged, and collections incorporated in the general her- 

 barium from Mexico, New Granada, Nicaragua, Ecuador, California, 

 India, and other countries. The most important additions to the 

 herbarium have been 2000 plants from Abyssinia, and upwards of 

 3000 from South Africa, as well as more than 1000 European 

 plants, and a number of smaller collections. Various portions of 



