152 



Notices of Boohs. [no. 5, new series, 



Scarcely less surprising is his account of African Melons. " But 

 tke most surprising plant of the Desert is the 4 Kengwe or Kerne' 

 (Cucumis caffer), the Water Melon. In years when more than the 

 usual quantity of rain falls, vast tracts of the country are literally 

 covered with these Melons ; this was the case annually when the 

 fall of rain was greater than it is now, and the Bak wains sent trad- 

 ing parties every year to the lake. It happens commonly once 

 every 10 or 11 years, and for the last three times its occurrence 

 has coincided with an extraordinarily wet season. Then animals 

 of every sort and name, including man, rejoice in the rich supply. 

 The elephant, true lord of the forest, revels in this fruit, and so 

 do the different species of rhinoceros, although naturally so diverse 

 in their choice of pasture. The various kinds of antelopes feed 

 on them with equal avidity, and lions, hyaenas, jackals, and mice, 

 all seem to know and appreciate the common blessing. These Me- 

 lons are not, however, all of them eatable ; some are sweet, and 

 others so bitter that the whole are named by the Boers the 1 Bitter 

 Water-melon.' The natives select them by striking one Melon 

 after another with a hatchet, and applying the tongue to the gashes. 

 They thus readily distinguish between the bitter and sweet. The 

 bitter are deleterious, but the sweet are quite wholesome. This 

 peculiarity of one species of plants bearing both sweet and bitter 

 fruits occurs also in a red eatable Cucumber often met with in the 

 country. It is about 4 inches long, and about 1 J inch in diameter. 

 It is of a bright scarlet colour when ripe. Many are bitter, others 

 quite sweet. Even Melons in a garden may be made bitter by a 

 few bitter Kengwe in the vicinity. The bees convey the pollen 

 from one to the other." 



Decandolle 1 's Prodromus Systematic naturalis Regni Vegetabilis.-— 

 We have just received the second part of the fourteenth volume, 

 comprehending Thymelceacece by Meisner, and Santalacece by 

 Alph. deCandolle, two volumes more are expected to complete the 

 Exogens. Professor Anderson undertakes the difficult task of 

 elucidating the Salicaceous order. Dr. Buek of Hamburg, to 

 whom Botanists were indebted for an admirable index of the first 

 seven volumes, has now in the press a second index up to the end 



