426 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
effect of atmospheric action. All the specimens hitherto obtained are very 
fragile. At Mr. Pilke’s pits, near Corfe, the line of fault has lately been 
worked, and specimens obtained. The effect of the disturbance extends but 
a short way into the Bagshot Sands. The hope was expressed that the 
relative horizons of the Alum Bay and the mainland beds would soon be 
determined by a survey now being made under the direction of the Com- 
mittee. 
The Botany of Thibet. — At a meeting of the Botanical Society of Edin- 
burgh, held on July 8, a paper was read by Dr. J. L. Stewart, conservator 
of Forests Puujaub, entitled, “Notes of a Botanical Tour in Ladak or 
AVestern Thibet.” The author gave a detailed account of a tour he made in 
the autumn of last year through a considerable portion of Ladak, and 
enumerated the plants he met with, and the elevations at which they grew. 
From August 5, when he crossed the Baralucha from Lahoul, to October 8, 
when he crossed the Parang into British territory again, were fifty-one 
days, on which there was no complete halt. In that time 837 miles were 
travelled, and seventeen passes of more than 14,000 feet were crossed. He 
collected nearly 400 species of plants, representing the following natural 
orders: Ranunculacese, 17 species; Cruciferae, 30; Caryophyllaceae, 14; 
Leguminosie, 21 ; Rosaceae, 17 ; Crassulaceae, 10 ; Saxifragaceae, 6 ; Umbel- 
liferae, 10; Compositae, 57 ; Primulaceae, 9 ; Gentianaceae, 8 ; Boraginaceae, 
5 ; Scrophulariaceae, 11 ; Labiatae, 21 ; Salsolaceae, 12 ; Polygonaceae, 13 ; 
Cyperaceae, 9 ; Gramineae, 39. 
The Famine Plants of Central India . — During the last terrible famine in 
Mnrwar a number of plants, not generally eaten, were employed as food, 
and of these a list was made out in a paper lately presented to the Botanical 
Society of Edinburgh by Dr. G. King. The rainfall of the district in ques- 
tion is usually three to four inches, but in 18G8 the rain utterly failed, and 
the deficiency of food and forage was very calamitous, and attended with 
loss of life. Dr. King in his paper enlarged upon the effects of denudation 
under native government, and the subsequent dessication, which called for 
a system of forest conservancy. In the event of the proposed railway being 
constructed from Delhi to Bombay, great want of fuel will be experienced. 
The trees suggested for prospective planting during the rainy season are 
Acacia Arahica, A. leucophlcea, and A. Catechu^ Salvadora Persica, and Capparis 
aphylla. Tlie chief jungle products used as food during the late famine 
were — 1. The root of Jlymenochccte yrossa, a tall rush, growing on the 
margins of tanks ; it is called Mothee, and is eagerly dug up for human food. 
2. The bark of Acacia leucophlt^a, a common tree in Rajpootana. 3. The 
seed of Anchyranthes aspera, a common herb. 4. The capsules of Trihtdus 
lanuyinosus, and other common plants. 5. The seed of a grass, probably an 
Elusine. 0. The seeds of fiesaynum orientale, the gingelly oil plant, and of 
various Cucurbitaceous plants. The whole of tliese products appear to be 
deficient in nutritious qualitie.s, and were brought into use to supplement 
the scanty supplies of esculents in tlie province at a time of great distress. 
The Distribution of Tracheal Vessels in Fenis is the subject of a paper by 
M. Tr<5cul, in the Comptes-liendus (July 20). The author describes the 
arrangement of these vessels in a vast number of indigenous and exotic 
ferns. 
