MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 
2«0 
off; to increase the heat, in 'which case dark fragments of stone are used ; or to diminish it, which is effected by 
the employment of white pebbles, which, by reflecting the light and heat, keep the ground cool. The following is 
a list of the principal genera :—Saxifrages, Sedums, Cistus, Pansies, Rock pinks, Anemones, Dry as, Myosotis, Heaths, 
Violas, Lychnis alpina, Erinus, Frankenia lae'vis, Campanulas, Ajugas, Alyssums, Anemones, O'xalis, Hepaticas, 
Antirr hinum s, Aquilegias, A'rabis, Aretias, Asters, Astragalus, Armerias, An a g alii s, Cheiranthus alpinus, Cerastium, 
Claytonias, ConvaRaria hifolia, Coptis trifolia, Cornus canadensis, Cortusa MatthioR, Cyclamens, Calceolaria 
Fothergilli, Drabas, Erodiums, Galium grse'cum, Gaultheria procumhens, Globularias, Crane’s-bills, Gypsophilas, 
Gentians, Hieraciums, Hypericums, Hippocrepis, Jeffersonia diphylla, Lathyrus, Lotus, Leontodon aureum, 
Linums, Mitellas, Moehringia muscosa, Menziesias, Ornithopus, Ononis, Onosma, O'rohus, Pinguiculas, Phy- 
tpiimas, Pyrolas, Potentillas, Primulas, Pisum maritimum, Polygala Chamaehuxus, Rubus arctic-us, Auhrietia 
purpurea, Saponaria ocymoides, Salvia pp-enaica, Statices, Silenes, Soldanellas, Solidago minuta, Beilis minuta, 
Teucrium pyrenaicum, Tiarella cordifolia, MiteRa diphylla, Trientalis, Thymus Corsica, dwarf Veronicas. The 
evergreens are chiefly yews, privets, laurels, arbutus, rhododendrons, brooms, cedars, box, daphnes, laurustinus, <fcc.; 
to which are added azaleas of every kind, and various other low-growing shrubs.” 
♦ 
jKHsriUmmras jSniins. 
Motion in Plants. —Without attempting to enter on the difficult question of “ spontaneous motion,” or the 
difference between vegetable and animal life, it may he remarked that if nature had endowed us with a microscopic 
power of vision, and if the integuments of plants had been perfectly transparent, the vegetable kingdom would be 
far from presenting to us that aspect of immobility and repose which our perceptions now ascribe to it. The 
internal parts of the cellular structure are incessantly animated by the most various currents, ascending and 
descending, rotating, ramifying, and continually changing their direction; they manifest themselves by the move¬ 
ments of a granular mucilaginous fluid in water plants (Xaiades, Characeae, Hydrocharideae), and in the hairs of 
phsenogamous land plants. Such is the peculiar molecular movement discovered by the great botanist, Robert 
Brown, (which is indeed perceptible, not only in vegetables, but also in all matters reduced to an extreme state of 
division); such is the gyratory current (cyclose) of globules of cambium ; and lastly, such are the articulated 
filamentary cells which unroll themselves in the antherides of the chara, and in the reproductive organs of liver¬ 
worts and algae, and in which, Meyen (too early lost to science!), believed that he recognized an analogy to the 
spermatozoa of the animal kingdom. If we add to these various currents and molecular agitations, the phenomena 
of endosmose, the processes of nutrition, and of growth, and internal currents of air, or gases, we shaR have some 
idea of the powers which, almost unknown to us, are incessantly in action, in the apparently still life of the 
vegetable kingdom.— Humboldt s Cosmos. 
Proposed arrangement of the British Carices. —At the meeting of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, on Xov. 
14, Mr. J. M’Laren proposed the annexed arrangement of the British species of Carex. Mr. M’Laren stated that 
in the present state of the science, unanimity could hardly be expected among naturalists with regard to the true 
limits of species ; but, as it was necessary in describing the Carices, to adopt an opinion on this subject, he thought 
it better to lean to the side of simplicity, and rather to unite two plants whose identity might be doubtful, than to 
retain them as ambiguous and ill-defined species. The result is, that about ten of the species described in recent 
botanical works he has inserted merely as varieties. While agreeing with Reichenbach in dividing this large and 
natural family, the sub-genera have not been made to depend on the number of stigmas, because, by that 
arrangement, C. ccespitosa, C. saxatilis , &c., are placed along with the species which have compound androgynous 
spikes, and C. pauciflora and rupestris are likewise separated from the species with simple solitary spikes. In the 
general classification Mr. M’Laren has foRowed the system of Fries; but in the arrangement of the species some 
alterations have been made. The usual mode of arranging the British species, with glabrous fruit and terminal 
barren spikes, appearing exceedingly vague, and Rable to many exceptions on account of the difference in the 
number, form, and direction of the spikes, even in the same species, he has re-arranged them according to the 
nature of the bracts and fruit, as shown in the subjoined table — 
Sub-genus Vignea (of Reich, in part), spikes simple, solitary 
or compound, androgynous. 
I. Spikes simple, solitary; Monostachyce, Fr. 
II. Spikes compound, androgynous; Homotachyce, Fr. 
a. Bracts not foliaceous, spikelets fertile below; Hyparrhence. 
1. Root creeping. 
2. Root fibrous. 
b. Bracts long and foliaceous ; Bracteosce. 
c. Bracts not foliaceous, spikelets fertile above; Acroarr- 
hence. 
Sub-genus Carex, ( Ueterostachyce, Fr.), spikes simple, distinct, 
the terminal ones barren or androgynous, the rest fertile. 
I. Spikes unisexual, achenes biconvex, stigmas 2; Distig- 
maticce. 
Mr. M’Laren 
II. Terminal spike androgynous, fertile above, stigmas 3; 
Tristigmaticce Meesoarr hence. 
III. Spikes unisexual, achenes trigonous, stigmas 3 ; Tristig¬ 
maticce Acroarrhence. 
1. Fruit smooth, bifid; bracts without sheaths. 
2. Fruit smooth, entire ; bracts sheathing. 
3. Fruit smooth, bifid ; bracts sheathing. 
4. Fruit pilose, deeply bifid. 
5. Fruit pilose, entire, or nearly so; bracts foliaceous. 
6. Fruit pilose, entire; bracts membranous; sheathing. 
gave descriptions of the various British species and varieties. 
