from GERARDE'S Historie of Plants, a book in which the bota. nical student will find much matter of amusement, and sometimes an excellence of description rare even in modern works, though expressed in a quaint manner and antiquated style. Various other works have been resorted to, and if not particularly quoted, the circumstance of their being in common use would rebut the charge of any intentional plagiarism.

To Mr WINCH of Newcastle I am greatly indebted for his communications, and for the liberal manner in which he permitted me to submit to his inspection every species concerning which I could entertain a doubt. I was thus enabled to correct several errors into which I had fallen. In common with all who have attempted to illustrate the natural history of Scotland, I have experienced the kindness of Mr NEILL, of whose remarks I have had frequent occasion to avail myself. To my friends Dr JAMES THOMPSON, now of Jamaica, and WILLIAM BAIRD, Esq. surgeon, my grateful acknowledgments are due for their communications; but in a particular manner they are due to the Rev. A. BAIRD, whose contributions have been numerous and interesting, and with whose company I was favoured in several excursions made from "the love of Nature's works," and in quest of them, and which, when I see them spread out in the Herbarium, what are they but proofs,

L

"That man, immur'd in cities, still retains
His inborn inextinguishable thirst

Of rural scenes, compensating his loss
By supplemental shifts, the best he may."

1. SALICORNIA. Calyx tumid, undivided; corolla none; stamens 1 or 2; seed single, invested with the calyx. (Plant leafless, much branched and jointed.)

2. ZOSTERA. Flowers aggregate; spadix flat, many-flowered; drupa; nut with one kernel; stigmas 2. (Grass-like; the flowers all on one side of the spadix, which is contained in the sheaths of the leaves.)

3. CHARA. Berry with many seeds; style none. (No calyx no corolla. Aquatic herbs with whorled branches; no leaves.)

II. DIGYΝΙΑ.

4. CALLITRICHE. Calyx none; petals 2, inferior; seeds 4, naked, compressed; some flowers separated. (Inundated or floating herbs, with minute axillary white flowers.)

A

I. MONOGYNIA.

1. SALICORNIA.

1. S. herbacea, stem herbaceous, erect; joints compressed, notched; interstices inversely conical; spikes tapering upward. Common Jointed-glasswort.

Hab. Muddy sea-shores. Between Goswick Links and Fenham, Thomp. Holy Island. Aug. Sept.

Makes a good pickle, and for this purpose a small quantity is annually sold in our market.

2. ZOSTERA.

1. Z. marina, leaves entire, obscurely three-ribbed, grass-like; stems lightly compressed. Common Grass-wrack.

Hab. Salt water ditches. Between Goswick Links and the
Old Law, Thomp. On the road from Goswick to Holy
Island. Aug. 4.

Said to be excellent for packing glass-bottles and other brittle ware. In some northern parts of Europe, as in Iceland, used for bedding; and of late has been imported in large quantities from the Continent, and is now pre. pared in this country, for stuffing mattresses, and for the other purposes to which horse-hair is in general applied.

3. CHARA.

1. C. vulgaris, striated, without prickles; whorled branches tapering, with internal partitions; bracteas four together. Common Chara.

Hab. Muddy stagnant ditches, common. July. Plant nauseously fetid, and incrusted more or less with calcareous earth, which is not accidental, as many have supposed, but an essential and integral part of its constitution. Dr BREWSTER has ascertained that each group or mass of the calcareous matter is held to the stem of the plant by a very fine transparent membrane; and that the minute particles of which each group consists, possess double refraction, and have regular neutral and depolarizing axes. He also found that the plants were phosphorescent when laid upon heated iron, so as to display their entire outlines in the dark.

2. C. hispida, furrowed; whorled branches tapering, with internal partitions; bracteas whorled; prickles on the stem bristly, deflexed. Prickly Chara.

Hab. Lough in Holy Island. July, Aug.

Mr THOMPSON says, that the Chara flexilis grows abundantly at the "mouth of the rivulet at Goswick," but we could never find there any other than C. vulgaris less incrusted than usual.

II. DIGYNIA.

4. CALLITRICHE.

1. C. verna, leaves triple-ribbed, the uppermost crowded, obovate; margin of the seeds obtuse. Vernal Water-starwort.

Hab. Ditches and ponds common. May.

The upper leaves are crowded into a star-like form, and float on the surface; but sometimes all the leaves are linear, distant and immersed, a state in which it approaches C. autumnalis. It produces seed most profusely when left dry.

2. C. autumnalis, leaves linear, abrupt, single-ribbed, uniform; margin of the seeds membranous. Autumnal Water-starwort.

Hab. Pools of water in the Vale below Langleyford, with the preceding. June October.

Grows in a very bushy or cespitose manner. Stems slender, branched. Leaves very narrow, perfectly linear, emarginate at the point, cellular. The upper ones become crowded as they rise to the surface, and somewhat ovate, but, even under a high magnifier, they are all single-ribbed, and notched at the apex.

* Flowers inferior, monopetalous, regular. 5. LIGUSTRUM. Corolla four cleft; berry with 4 seeds.

6. FRAXINUS. Corolla none, or deeply four-cleft; capsule compressed, with 1 or 2 seeds; some flowers without stamens.

* * Flowers inferior, monopetalous, irregular, with seed-vessels. 8. VERONICA. Corolla wheel-shaped, deeply four-cleft; capsule of 2 cells. (Herbaceous; leaves opposite; flowers alternate, mostly blue.)

9. PINGUICULA. Corolla ringent, spurred; capsule of 1 cell; calyx five-cleft. (Marsh herbs. Leaves and flower-stalks radical, simple.)

10. UTRICULARIA. Corolla ringent, spurred; capsule of 1 cell; calyx of 2 leaves. (Aquatic herbs. Leaves finely divided, bearin bladders.)