deposited had an offensive smell, the entire animal had probably undergone decomposition, and it perhaps formed one of a race of elephants which, at some remote period, appears to have inhabited the more northerly regions of the globe: a conjecture which derives support from the carcass of an animal of this genus having been found which was long locked up in the ice of Siberia, and also from the circumstance of a deep hollow at the small end of the tusk in question. We may add that most of the Scandinavian and Runic monuments exhibit the rude figure of this animal, which is possibly emblematical of some moral or mythological quality.

Description of Seven New Scottish Fungi. By Robert Kaye Greville, Esq. These are denominated Sporotrichum minutum, S. tenuissimum, S. sulphureum, S. aurantiacum, Penicillium candidum, Stachylidium candidum, and Botrytis diffusa. They were observed about Edinburgh, and are neatly described and figured. We hope that Mr. Greville will be induced to persevere in the exercise of his cryptogamic talents on the northern portion of the island, which promises to reward his researches with numerous discoveries.

Meteorological Journal kept at Clunie, Perthshire, for Twelve Years, from 1809 to 1820. By the Rev. William Macritchie. -It results from Mr. Macritchie's tables that the average temperature, at nine o'clock A. M. for the twelve years, was 46; that the average pressure of the atmosphere was 29.8; and that the lowest fall of the barometer was 28.1., which occurred at noon of the 5th March, 1818: that the highest rise of that instrument was 31.2 on the 8th of January, 1820; and that the warmest day was 12th June, 1818, when the thermometer stood at 844. The coldest day during the twelve years was the 18th January 1820, when the thermometer fell before sunrise to zero, and at ten o'clock A. M. rose to 7°. Hence the greatest range of the thermometer in the shade, here, during the twelve years, was from zero to 84.'

A Description of a new Species of Grimmia, found in Scotland. By Robert Kaye Greville, Esq. &c. Mr. G. designates this non-descript G. leucophea, and lays down its characIt abounds on rocks in the ters with great distinctness. King's Park, near Edinburgh, but has not yet been noticed elsewhere. The mosses to which it is most nearly allied are Grimmia campestris of Burchell, and Campylopus lævigatus of Bridel. Before the capsules arrive at maturity, the leaves of G. leucophaea gradually assume a blackish hue; which, contrasted with the hoariness arising from the long silvery terminations of the leaves, gives an appearance to the plant that

belongs

belongs not to any other, particularly when viewed covering a large surface of rock.'

On the Geognosy of Germany, with Observations on the Igneous Origin of Trap. By Amie Boué, M. D. In this paper, Dr. Boué rapidly sketches the outlines of the stratified and unstratified rocks of various districts of Germany, assigning their counterparts in certain portions of France and Great Britain but we cannot pretend to accompany him in his accelerated march, with any degree of satisfaction to our readers; and we regret this circumstance the less because he promises to transmit the details of his geological wanderings at some future period. It is, however, of importance to remark that the Erzgebirge furnished him with numerous appearances which might be quoted in support of the Huttonian theory, and that many of the German basalts are quite analagous to those of Ireland and Scotland: one class of these rocks having been apparently formed under water, and another bearing evident marks of having flown in the open air. The points of discrimination between these two classes are thus enumerated:

1. The igneous rocks formed under water, at least those posterior to the chalk-formation, do not rise into hills of so great a height as those formed above the surface, and, in general, the first class of rocks must have certainly, in all periods, had more difficulty in attaining the same height as the second.

2. The first class produce veins or dikes more easily, and in greater number, than the second.

3. When the first class of rocks form a kind of coulée or stream, these streams seem generally not to unite the length and the small breadth of the streams (coulées) above the water.

4. The rocks of the first class are generally more compact than those of the second.

་

5. The basalts of the first class are often intimately united with basaltic tuffs, and the porphyries with some kind of felspathic breccia; an appearance which is almost entirely unknown in the basalts produced above the surface of the water, because in them the small pieces which form the tuffs had been ejected by the volcanoes under the form of rapilli.

6. Rocks with the vitreous character abound much more in the igneous rocks formed above water than in those formed under it.

7. The igneous rocks formed under water contain many substances, produced by infiltration, unknown in the other class of rocks, and more frequently also substances produced by subli

mation.

8. The basalts formed under water show imbedded, very often, pieces of the neighbouring rock, which are more or less indurated or altered. Beautiful examples of this I observed in the basaltic cone of Dosenberg, near Warburg, where the rock is full

of

of pieces of the shell lime-stone (Muschel kalkstein); and in the small clinkstone-cone near Banow, upon the borders of Hungary and Moravia, the rock contains great and small masses of clay and sand-stone, so much indurated and altered, that they are like the rock of Portrush in Ireland.

9. The neighbouring rocks are rarely altered near the lavas: on the other hand, near the basalts formed under water, these same rocks are very often subjected to various indurations, alterations, and penetrations of igneous gaseous matters.'

We have transcribed this passage because it may, if we mistake not, materially conduce to explain the natural history of basaltic rocks in general, and to bring near to a termination the jarring discussions to which they have given rise.

A New Arrangement of the Genera of Mosses, with Characters, and Observations on their Distribution, History, and Structure. By R. K. Greville, Esq. &c., and G. A. Walker Arnott, Esq.

This memoir, which we hope is only the first of an intended series, bespeaks much familiar acquaintance with the structure and history of the elegant and minute plants comprized under the order of Musci, and much critical acumen in expounding the principles of their arrangement. The method, as far as it is unfolded by the joint authors, embraces the double advantage of correctness and simplicity; and, if successfully prosecuted to its completion, we doubt not that it will prove eminently serviceable to the student of muscology. Having explained the names and nature of the parts on which they found their criteria of generic distinctions and of family groupes, the writers proceed to give a definition of the tribe, and to state the characters and history of the genera Andrea, Sphagnum, Phascum, and Voitia. They reject the idea of ascribing stamens and pistils to acetyledonous plants: they have availed themselves, with judicious discrimination, of the acute remarks of Hooker, Brown, Hornschuch, and other celebrated cryptogamists; and they advert to some of the crude and hasty statements of Bridel and Palisot de Beauvois. Andrea is placed in the first station, because it forms a closely connecting link between the Hepatica and Musci. All the four species are natives of Great Britain, but are by no means confined to it. Three are common on all the mountainous rocks of Europe: but A. nivalis has been detected only on the summit of Ben Nevis in Scotland, and on some of the more elevated of the Swiss Alps. Hitherto none

of the species have been found out of Europe, to whose rocks nature seems to have restricted them.'

To the preceding genus, Sphagnum is related by artificial affinity but it is obviously separated from it by the integrity

:

of

of the theca, the deciduous operculum, &c. Being a very natural genus, it has by some persons been reduced to perhaps too few species, and by others extended to too many: but all of them inhabit damp or wet situations; and they enter, in a very large proportion, into the composition of turf and peat bogs.

The fructification of Phaseum is characterized by a dimidiate and very fugacious calyptra, which is generally much shorter than the theca, while the latter is deciduous from the seta. In this country, only two species seem to have been known in the days of Hudson: but eleven are now enumerated as accurately ascertained species by Drs. Hooker and Taylor, in their Muscologia Britannica. Their most congenial abodes are moist banks and open fields in the low countries.

In Voitia, the theca falls along with the seta, and the caHyptra is large and persistent; characters that separate it from Phascum, to which it is in other respects so nearly allied. The species appear to be two, Nivalis and Hyperborea; and they have been hitherto found only on the summit of the Carinthian Alps, and on Melville Island.

The text of the present memoir is well illustrated by figures of different parts of the plants described, more or less magnified.

Short Account of the Rocks in the Neighbourhood of St. John's, Newfoundland. By Mr. John Baird. According to this report, the stratification of St. John's is sufficiently simple; consisting of a regular series of trap-tuff, much harder than that compound rock is usually found to be, and gradually shading off into amygdaloid, on which reposes green-stone. Above the last are strata of clay-stone, and with this alternates compact felspar. Such is the geological constitution of the island, as far as Mr. Baird's observations extended. The general direction of the strata is from N. E. to S. W.; and their angle of inclination varies from 35 or 40 to 70 or 80, according to the materials of which they are composed, the dip of the trap-tuff being the greatest. The country presents a tolerably uniform outline of hill and dale, and abounds in lakes and forests. The soil is generally light, but yields crops of oats and barley, and esculent vegetables. The summer is short and warm, the winter uncommonly severe, and the spring and autumn are very variable.

Observations on the Snowy Owl, Strix Nyctea, Linn. By Laurence Edmonston, Esq.-This gentleman first ascertained that the Snowy Owl occurs in Unst, the most northerly of the Shetland Isles, where it is also supposed to breed.

There

There it preys chiefly on Sandpipers, and towards evening ; generally remaining through the day beneath some stony projection,-affecting solitary, rocky, and elevated districts, — but, on the approach of twilight, descending to the low grounds in quest of mice and small birds. Its form and manner are highly elegant: its flight less buoyant, and more rapid, than that of the other owls; and the superior boldness and activity of its disposition, the uncommon size of its talons, and vigour of its limbs, secure it against danger from feathered enemies.' Although it seems to swallow its food entire, the stomach is comparatively small, and less membranous than in most carnivorous birds. Unless wounded or irritated, when it hoots vehemently, it is silent; or, at least, it is never heard to utter the romantic screams described by Pennant.

Meteorological and Hydrographical Notes. By Capt. R. Wauchope, R. N.In the first of these notices, we are presented with a table of the relative temperature of the surface of the water of the ocean, and of the atmosphere, between the island of St. Helena and England. The importance of keeping such registers is obvious, because they may frequently contribute to determine the situation of banks and shoals; for, when the bank approaches the surface within 140 fathoms, the temperature upon it will be found to fall very considerably below that of the surrounding water.' In the like manner, we may judge of a near approach to land when other indications are wanting, and when perseverance in the same course may be dangerous. In the second note, an apparatus is described for ascertaining the temperature at great depths; by means of which it is found that the difference in 1000 fathoms is not less than 31 degrees. The third relates to the effects of the weather on the barometer at the Cape of Good Hope. As these effects appear to be very steady, they are so much the more valuable; and the multiplication of similar records would prove of signal service to nautical science. In the author's own case, the state of the barometer enabled him to provide against a violent gale, which he could not otherwise have anticipated. It will readily occur to him, however, that the variations of this instrument, in tropical climates, though less sensible, are more reducible to general rules of interpretation than in the temperate regions, where the state of the atmosphere is more fluctuating and capricious.-The three remaining notes, on under-Currents, on the Range of the Barometer at St. Helena, and on the Phosphorescence of the Sea, are of less practical utility; for the existence of currents beneath the surface of the ocean is no longer questionable; the range of the barometer at St. Helena,