564 Notices of Communications to the Society, of which 



it to grow in. The plant is called by the French Macre ; its 

 seeds are used in the dessert, either raw or roasted like 

 Chestnuts ; they contain a white farinaceous kernel, the size 

 of a large nut, which is very agreeable to the taste. In this 

 country the Trapa Natans requires a high temperature, and 

 the aid of bottom heat for its support. Mr. Lambert 

 cultivates it successfully in very large earthen pans plunged 

 in the bark-bed. When the fruit intended for seed has drop- 

 ped into the water, the pans in which the plants grew are 

 taken out of the hot-house, the water in them is changed, and 

 they are then placed in the green-house; about March they 

 are returned to the stove, when the seeds soon vegetate. Whilst 

 the plants are young they require the water to be changed. 



November 21, 1820. The Rev. George Swayne, whose 

 attention to the propagation of Fig trees, in the west of Eng- 

 land, has been already noticed, exhibited some of the produce 

 of his trees in a dried state. They were of the common Blue 

 Fig, which had been suffered to remain on the trees as long 

 as the weather continued dry, and were afterwards hung up in 

 crape bags in an airy kitchen. When the moisture had evapo- 

 rated they were packed, being sprinkled with a little pow- 

 dered sugar, to prevent their adhering to each other. They 

 had all the appearance of foreign Figs, were good and pleas- 

 ant, though perhaps not so rich as the best of those imported 

 from Turkey. 



December 4, 1820. Thomas Hunt, Esq. of Stratford-on- 

 Avon, in a letter to the Secretary, received this day, continued 

 his Observations on the subject of Ringing, to which he has for 



