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Scientific Intelligence. 



III. BOTANY AND ZOOLOGY. 



1. Journal of the Proceedings of the Linncean Society, London, VoL 

 I, No. 1, 8vo, 1856. (Longmans, & Williams and Norgate.) — The Lin- 

 naean Society, awaking to renewed activity, proposes " to issue four num- 

 bers annually, as nearly as possible at definite intervals, containing papers 

 on Natural History read before the Society, and not inserted in its [4to] 

 * Transactions.' The Zoological and Botanical papers will be separately 

 paged, so that either section may be taken separately. The ' Journal of 

 the Proceedings' for the present year will be sold to the public at 12 shil- 

 lings for the entire Journal, or 8 shillings for either the Zoological or Bo- 

 tanical section taken separately ; the separate numbers being charged 35. 

 for the whole, or 2s. for either section." The first number was issued in 

 March last. It contains for the botanical portion; 1. an extended paper, 

 entitled, Remarks on the Botany of Madeira and Teneriffe, by Charles J. 

 F. Bunbury. What appeared to the author as the most striking botani- 

 cal features of these islands are summed up at the close, as follows : — of 

 Teneriffe : (1.) " In the coast region, the remarkable forms of the Euphor- 

 bia Canariensis, E. piscatoria, Kleinia neriifolia, and Plocama pendula ; 

 the social growth of the Artemisia argentea, covering great spaces of 

 rocky and stony ground with its whitish foliage ; the conspicuous abun- 

 dance (especially on the Orotava side of the Island) of cultivated Date 

 Palms and Dragon-trees ; and in the ravines, the striking and peculiar 

 forms of shrubby species of Rumex, Echium, Solanum, and Sonchus. 

 (2.) In the woody region, the prevalence of trees of the Laurel type of 

 foliage ; the vast extent of ground occupied by the Erica arborea, and the 

 surprizing size to which it grows in favorable localities ; the abundance 

 of Ferns and Hypnoid Mosses in the more damp and shaded situations, 

 and of Cistineee and Genisteai on the dry and open grounds ; and the 

 noble form of the Canary Pine in the upper part of this zone. (3.) The 

 great zone occupied by the Adenocarpus frankenioides above the region 

 of trees, and that of the Cytisus nubigenus at a still higher level. 



" The striking botanical features of Madeira may be summed up thus : 

 (1.) The tropical cultivation in the lower region, contrasted with the 

 South-European or Mediterranean character of the native vegetation. (2.) 

 The frequency, in that same region, of plants evidently or probably in- 

 troduced, and belonging to very different countries. (3.) The abundance 

 and variety of Ferns, more particularly indeed in the forest region, but 

 also in the ravines at lower levels, and even down to the coast on the 

 northern side. (4.) The great abundance of two large and conspicuous 

 species of Sempervivum, especially in the ravines of the north side. (5.) 

 The forests of Laurel-like trees ; and (6.) The prevalence of Vaccinium 

 padifolium, Erica arborea, and E. scoparia, not only as undergrowth in 

 the forests, but almost entirely covering the upper mountain-region. The 

 most remarkable negative characteristics of Madeira botany, as compared 

 with that of Teneriffe, are, the absence of most of the peculiar and strik- 

 ing forms belonging to the coast-region of the latter country, especially 

 of the succulent Euphorbia, the Kleinia, and the Plocama ; the absence 

 of Pines and Cisti, and the small number of shrubby LeguminosceP 



