Blooms blushing to her lover's tale; So intimate are the bonds of attachment between the rose and the bulbul, and so sensitive is the former to the song of the latter, that it is said to burst from the bud and open at the sound. Oh, sooner shall the Rose of May Open her bosom's glowing veil, than that we should longer continue to chant the praises of both, or lull our readers to sleep over the song of the one or the sweet odour of the other. The very common expression, "under the rose," has been referred to two or three sources. Haydn, in his "Dictionary of Dates," says,—“The rose a symbol of silence, gave rise to the phrase 'under the rose,' from the circumstance of the Pope's presenting consecrated roses, which were placed over confessionals to denote secresy." Whilst others contend that the old Greek custom of suspending a rose over the guest-table was employed as an emblem that the conversation should not be repeated elsewhere. Whichever was the true origin, whether Christian or Pagan, it is evident that both regarded the rose as an emblem of secresy, and in the same sense, but less studiously followed, we are supposed to regard the same flower, whenever we pick up a stray scrap of scandal, "under the rose." This reminds us of the association of this flower with the names of persons, places, and things. It has been said that Syria derived its name from Suri, a beautiful and delicate species of rose, whence came "Suristan," the land of roses. Now upon Syria's land of roses Beside a goodly number of such more evident compounds as Rosenthal, Rosenberg, Rosenau, &c., to say nothing of the beautiful visions of feminine humanity which have blessed the day-dreams of prosaic man, bearing for themselves the fragrant appellations, not merely of the Rose of Arragon or the Rose of Castile, but the less assuming Rose, Rosa, Rosina, or Rosalind. Ill-natured old bachelors and gouty sexagenarians may mutter incoherently about "thorns" and "briars" but we will not listen to them, we will not believe them We have a vision of our own, And why should we undo it? Cultivated Roses are supposed to have been first planted in this country in A.D. 1522. The damask rose (Rosa damascena) being introduced from the south of France some time prior to A.D. 1573. The Province rose (Rosa provincialis), from Italy, before A.D. 1596. The moss rose not much earlier than A.D. 1721, and the China rose perhaps about A.D. 1787. Besides these we have, and had long before these dates, wild roses, less beautiful and fragrant, but equally deserving of a remembrance at a "Feast of Roses." 66 How are we to enumerate the species of Rosa which are indigenous to Great Britain, since so much depends on the limitation of the word "species," upon which point botanists are not agreed. If we take the last edition of Sowerby's ‘Botany,” we find that the first place is given to sixteen, which are by many authorities accepted as good species. These are again subdivided by others, for under the name of the Dog-rose twentyone forms are named and characterized as species, so that there are to be found men of strong faith who can believe that in the British Islands we possess forty distinct species of native roses. On the other hand, Mr. Bentham limits the number to five. It matters but little to us for our present purpose whether there are forty species or only five. We believe in the Dog rose, the Burnet rose, and the sweetbriar; and if there were no others, we should still delight in the fragrance of the Eglantine, and have faith in the roses of England so long as a rose could be found to entwine with the thistle and shamrock, and never quarrel, whether it be known to science as Rosa canina, or Rosa verticillucantha, or Rosa platyphylla. A wild rose-tree (Rosa canina) grows in the crypt of the cathedral of Hildesheim, which has the reputation of being one thousand years old. Baron Humboldt states that, from accurate information which he obtained, the age of the main stem did not exceed eight hundred years. This is, however, a respectable antiquity, and he adds that a legend connects this rose with a vow of the first founder of the cathedral, Louis the Pious, and a document of the eleventh century says, that when Bishop Hezilo rebuilt the cathedral, which had been burnt down, he inclosed the roots of the rosetree within a vault still remaining, raised on the latter the walls of the crypt, which was re-consecrated in 1061, and spread the branches of the rose-tree over its sides. The stem, still living, is nearly twenty-seven feet in height, and only two inches thick, and spreads across a width of thirtytwo feet over the outer wall of the eastern crypt. It is undoubtedly of very considerable antiquity, and well worthy of the renown it has so long enjoyed throughout Germany. The Abbé Berleze gives an account of a rosetree which he saw flourishing at Caserta, near Naples, in 1819, and which had been planted near a poplar sixty feet high, and had clambered up to the topmost branches of its companion tree. The giant of all the roses is said to have flourished some few years since at Toulon, with a stem two feet eight inches in circumference at the surface of the soil, and when in full bloom bears the enormous quantity of from fifty to sixty thousand roses, and The last rose of summer left blooming alone does not fall to the ground till chilled by the cold of November. And who has not heard of the Otto or Uttur* of Rose? This valuable and delicious perfume is admired both in the East and in the West. The "Utturs" of India and Persia are highly esteemed both in the broker's sale-room and the lady's boudoir. And not to possess a soul for Otto of Rose is equivalent to vulgarity, or worse. Let any rash mortal confess that he doesn't care for "strawberries and cream" or otto of roses," the summum bonum of two of the senses, and he will at once be regarded as "out of his senses” altogether. And there is also that delicate luxury of the East called "Rose-water," so refreshing in sultry weather, that one cannot wonder that it is almost one of the necessaries of life with the Hindoo. Avicenna, an Arabian physician of the tenth century, is said to have invented the method of extracting and preserving the odour of flowers, and to him the merit of distilling the first rose-water is attributed by those matter-of-fact men who seek for causes in the regions of science rather than in the realms of mystery and romance. Around one station in India, that of Ghazeepore, in Bengal, there are about 150 acres of ground laid out in small detached fields as rose-gardens. These gardens are let out for about three pounds sterling per thousand rose-trees for the season, and the cost of cultivation is about another sovereign. The value of the roses yielded should be nearly double this sum, or from six to eight pounds. The cultivators seldom distil their own flowers, but dispose of them to contractors. From the beginning of March to the end of April is the great rose harvest. Early in the morning men, women, and children swarm about the rose-trees like a colony of bees, plucking the flowers, and carrying them in bags to the contractors. The "still" is of the simplest and rudest construction; its boiler will hold from eight to twelve gallons; into this are cast from 12,000 to 16,000 roses, about fifteen to twenty quarts of water are added, and the result will be about one quart of rose-water from each thousand of roses. After distillation the rose-water is placed in a glass carboy and exposed to the sun for several days to ripen, or mix well the floating attar with the water. The value of one still of rose-water is Written as Attur, Attar, Uttur, and Otto; the last, perhaps, least correct. about 24s. to 30s. on the spot. This is for the pure unadulterated rose-water. Adulteration is duly appreciated and resorted to in the East, and neither rose-water nor attar of roses are exceptions. It is difficult to obtain either of them pure. The great medium of adulteration is oil of sandal-wood, and the native does not appear to trouble much whether he gets the odour of the rose or the sandal. At the commencement of the rose season, people arrive from all parts at Ghazeepore to purchase their rose-water, and large quantities are prepared and sold. The value of the roses sold in this district for the manufacture of rose-water has been estimated at from 15,000 to 20,000 rupees a year, or 1,500l. to 2,000/., and the value of the rose-water made therefrom is about double this sum. We had almost forgotten the most valuable product, but the "attar" must share a little of our attention; and, at the risk of being regarded as tedious, a brief notice of how it is obtained. The origin of this delicious perfume is thus chronicled in the romantic stories of the East:Noorjehan Begum, the favourite wife of JehanGeer, was once walking in her garden, through which ran a canal of rose-water, when she remarked some oily particles floating on the surface. These were collected, and their aroma found to be so delicious, that means were devised to produce the precious essence in a regular way.* The roses are distilled just in the same manner as for rose-water, and the product, which is indeed rose-water," is transferred to a large metal basin, and tied over with wet muslin to keep out the insects. This vessel is let down into a hole in the ground about two feet deep, and allowed to stand quiet all night. The attar is always made early in the season when the nights are cool. In the morning a little film of attar has risen to the surface of the rose-water. This is skimmed off with a feather, and placed in a bottle. When obtained only three or four days it is of a pale greenish hue, but in a few weeks' time it subsides into a pale yellow colour. It requires the produce of 1,000 rose-trees to obtain a tolah, or 180 grains of attar. The attar obtained in the Indian bazaars is always adulterated, as not even the richest native will give the price for pure attar, which is only sold to Europeans. The price ranges between £5 and £10 per tolah, or, according to our English weights and measures, from £13 to £25 per ounce. So that a vial of the best Indian attar of roses the size of that which contains a "black draught," would be worth nearly £50. Attar of roses made in Cashmere is considered superior to any other, a circumstance not surprising, as, according to Hugel, the flower is *Lieut.-Col. Palier in "Asiatic Researches." here produced of surpassing fragrance, as well as beauty Who has not heard of the vale of Cashmere, With its roses the brightest that earth ever gave? A large quantity of rose-water, twice distilled, is placed over night in a running stream, and in the morning the oil is found floating on the surface, and is carefully skimmed off with a leaf of the swordlily. When cool it is greenish, and nearly solid. Between 500 and 600 pounds of roses only produce one ounce of attar. Extensive rose-farms exist also in Turkey, at Adrianople, Broussa, and Ushak. The cultivators are chiefly the Christian inhabitants of the low countries of the Balkan. In good seasons 75,000 ounces are said to be produced in this district, and it is estimated that 2,000 flowers are required to produce one drachm of attar. In the Orient the "Atar-gul," or essential oil of roses is used as a perfume, and rose-water is sprinkled about from vessels constructed for the purpose over the guests and apartments, often to the astonishment of Europeans, when their first greeting chances to be, as it often is, a shower of rose-water "squirted" in their faces. She snatched the urn wherein was mixed The drops that through his glittering vest As if that breast were marble too. We are told that after the taking of Constantinople the church of St. Sophia (or Constantine) prior to its conversion into a mosque was washed throughout with rose-water; that Saladin would not enter the walls of the temple of Jerusalem in 1188 until it had been purified by similar ablutions of the same odoriferous fluid; that the Moslems employ it universally in the dedication of their temples, and that even young French nobles were formerly baptized in "Eau de Rose," or Their earliest sniff Of this world was a whiff Of the genuine Otto of Roses! During the whole season in which the roses are in bloom, the inhabitants of Cashmere are said to hold the "Feast of Roses." Why should we attempt to draw the veil which conceals the mysteries of this long festival, of the sad or happy hearts upon which the sun rises and sets in the vale of Cashmere; of the moonlight meetings in the alcoves of roses; and of the consummation attained by the "maid of Cashmere" when at the close of this glad season all doubts and fears shall have vanished like the morning dew from the petals of the rose. And happier now for all her sighs, As on his arm her head reposes, THE BIRDS OF NORFOLK.* LOCAL Floras have always been, from some cause or other, more numerous than local Faunas. During the past year or two several good Floras of English counties have made their appearance, but, until now, not one county has had a recent record of its "birds, beasts, or fishes." Those who know anything of the ornithology of Norfolk will not be surprised that a county so rich in birds should be the first to set the example. That the plants of a county should change with the increase of cultivation may be reasonably expected, and pleaded as an excuse for the publication of new Floras. It may be urged, with equal truth, that this change in vegetation also necessitates a like change in the insects and birds, as well those birds which are insect-feeders as those which are entirely vegetarians. Hence a revision of the lists of birds which inhabit counties is as much a necessity as revised Floras. In the present instance it is not a list which has been given to us, but a "history" in two large octavo volumes, of which the first only is at present published. In all departments of Natural History, when no monograph or other special work is published during a long series of years, much valuable and important information becomes scattered over the pages of our current scientific literature, and is almost buried and forgotten. To recover all that relates to the birds of Norfolk from this semioblivion, has been one of the objects of the present work. For many years the author has been one of the chief contributors of "stray facts" to the Zoologist, and similar publications, from this locality, and hence he is now to a large extent the collector and reviser of his own contributions. This forms but a portion of the work which, though professing to be only a local bird-Fauna, is a valuable addition to the ornithology of the British Islands. In the "Introduction," the county is divided into six districts, which are called respectively the broad, cliff, meal, breck, fen, and inclosed districts. It was in the first of these that most of our ornithological experience was gained. It is only necessary, as Mr. Lubbock remarks, to draw an imaginary triangle on the map from Lowestoft to Norwich, and thence in a north-easterly direction to the sea at Happisburgh, to include the whole of that 'great alluvial flat, once the bed of the Gariensis ostium," whose sluggish waters give rise to those shallow lakes, or lagoons, here locally termed "Broads." These lagoons are peculiarly rich in water fowl, and consequently the "Broad" district will contribute much to the second volume. The "The Birds of Norfolk, with Remarks on their Habits, Migration, and Local Distribution." By Henry Stevenson, F.L.S. In 2 vols. London: Van Voorst. frontispiece view of Surlingham brod (not executed in Hanhart's best style) will give a general idea of one of these waters. This will be assisted by Mr. Stevenson's description. "Deep, sedgy 'ronds,' or dense masses of reeds and rushes, shut out, at times, the adjacent marshes. On the one hand, a wide expanse of swampy ground, relieved here and there with belts of alder and birch, or dwarf coverts, And to the general reader it will commend itself by its popular style, the absence of pedantry, and the presence of an earnest purpose, and an ardent love for the feathered ornaments of God's creation. GERMINATION OF THE TOAD-RUSH. suggestive of pheasants and woodcocks in autumn, PASSING through a deserted brickfield, some blends broad with broad; on the other, some slight recess in the waving reed-screen is covered in summer with a profusion of water-lilies, or an aldercarr, fringing the water's edge, casts a grateful shade in strange contrast to the surrounding glare. Everywhere the rich aquatic herbage teems with bird-life. Reed and sedge-warblers, with their constant companion, the black-headed Bunting, are heard on all sides; and occasionally, though yearly becoming more scarce, the beautiful little Bearded Titmice, may be seen uttering their sweetly musical notes as they flit amongst the reeds. Coots, Rails, and Water Hens, appear and disappear at every bend. Black-headed Gulls from their breedinggrounds at Hoveton, mingle their incessant cries with the warning notes of the Lapwing and Redshank; and the common Snipe, which here breeds regularly and in considerable numbers, adds its strange drumming noise, at intervals, to the armony of fowles.' Wild Ducks in large quantities, and many a 'coil' of Teal, are also reared on these waters, and afford good 'flapper' shooting in July and August; and of the rarer species that may still be named as summer residents on the larger broads, are the Shoveller, Garganey, and Great Crested Grebe; the Ruff, now confined entirely to Hickling, and the Marsh Harrier, if by chance escaping the doom of its race. The Spotted Crake, as well as the common Water-Rail, nest in the almost impenetrable swamps, which accounts for their eggs being so rarely obtained; and the accidental discovery, at Potter Heigham, during the past summer, of the nests and eggs of Baillon's Crake, never before known to breed in Norfolk, shows that even greater rarities may pass unobserved in such localities." It is stated, on the authority of Professor Babington, that out of 1,767 species of flowering plants found in Britain, 1,067 are found in Norfolk. Out of somewhere about 350 species of British birds, our author observes that the actual number forming the bird-Fauna of Norfolk, amounts to no less than 291 at the present time. The book before us could hardly have been written by any one except a resident, and no better resident for the purpose need be desired than Mr. Stevenson. All will read it (or should do so) who are interested in the Natural History of the Eastern Counties. To ornithologists it will be welcome as the production of a field naturalist, and a practised observer. few weeks since, my attention was drawn to a dense carpet of minute bright green threads, each tipped with an orange-brown knob, which, wet with recent rain, now glistened in the sun like a veritable little topaz. Not recognising at the moment to what this appearance was due, and having no time for investigation, I hastily snatched up a tuft of the mossy, jewel-bespangled pile and brought it home for more leisurely examination. When an opportunity occurred, I tried to make out what my carpet was composed of; but, at first, I could see nothing but the green threads, a little curved at the upper end, and there bearing the glistening knobs aforesaid. What could they be? It was little use speculating vaguely when a pocket-lens was at hand which might dissipate the conjecture in a moment. Better to use the lens first, and if that did not reveal the structure there would then be all the more room for Fig. 149. Toad-rush Seedlings. conjecture. The lens, however, solved the mystery at once, by showing that the little knob was a seed; but what was the thread supporting it? Not a root, from its green colour; besides, there was the root below it, fine, hair-like, and all but destitute of colour. Was it the stem? IIardly, for stems do not usually, at any rate, go downwards; besides, when one came to look at other specimens, there was a little thickening to be seen at this junction between the hair-like root and the green thread, while the lower part of the latter was clearly seen to be split on one side; and, in other cases, emerging from the chink so formed, another green thread was seen to protrude. So, then, the green thread resolved itself into a sheath; now, neither roots nor stems form sheaths of this character, so our green thread must be a leaf, and if so it must be the first leaf-the seed leaf, or cotyledon-one end of which remains within the seed, the other end being pushed downwards along with the root. Clearly, then, the plant was monocotyledonous; and, putting two and two together, I arrived at the conclusion that the seedlings were probably those of the Toad Rush (Juncus bufonius). A subsequent visit to the brickfields enabled me to confirm this impression, and to collect numerous specimens in all stages of germination. Many of the seeds sprout while still within the rotting capsule, and emerge from its cavity in brilliant little tufts, such as those which first caught my eye. The seeds are very small, oblong, somewhat three-cornered, and venture merely to recommend those of my readers in search of an occupation to watch the processes of germination in our common wild plants. No great trouble and but little skill are requisite for these observations, which, nevertheless, are interesting, all the more so that it is comparatively new ground; in hardly a tenth part of our wild plants has the process been correctly observed and recorded. Nor is there the sameness that might be expected; on the contrary, there is much diversity, in some cases of a very singular character, e.g., in some of the genera of Umbellifers, while systematic investigation could hardly fail to be productive of results of great value to botanical science. I have only to add that in all essential points the mode of germination here described in the Toad Rush finds its parallel in many other monocotyledons, e.g., Allium, Canna, some palms, M. T. M. &c. on cutting them down lengthwise they may be seen to be filled in the interior with floury matter (albumen), at one end of which is a very minute embryo, which a lucky touch with the needle will serve to detach; and which, when examined under a lens, is seen to be a mere torso, a headless, limbless trunk,-in other words, a solid embryo in which no distinction of parts is visible. As germination proceeds, one end of this lengthens and protrudes to form the first root; afterwards comes the green thread, or cotyledon, the upper end of which never separates from the seed till both decay together, while its lower extremity forms the sheath before mentioned, encircling what must be considered as the extremely contracted stem, from which the other leaves proceed in due time. Ultimately, a tuft of leaves is formed around a little bulb-like mass, from whose lower surface proceed a number of young rootlets. While all this is going on, the original cotyledon and the primary root are gradually decaying; they have accomplished their parts, and give place to a new generation. Not heeding the temptations which the very simplicity of the embryo in this plant holds out to go into "transcendental" dissertations as to the intrinsic identity or diversity of leaf and stem, I AT OOTOLITES. T the meeting of the Quekett Microscopical Club (April 26th), Mr. Higgins read a communication on "The Auditory Apparatus of Fishes," of which the following is a digest: All air-breathing animals live in a different medium from that inhabited by those living in water, and the adaptation of their organization to the conditions of their existence is nowhere more clearly marked than in their organs of hearing. In the Mammalia the complexity of structure in these organs is much greater than in lower orders, and probably enables them to distinguish in a greater degree the modulations of sound. In air-breathing animals the auditory organs may be said to consist mainly of the ossicula auditûs and the cochlea, with an external ear, the use of the latter being to receive and collect the vibrations of sound. In fish an auditory organ of this description would be a very great nuisance, because water conveys sound so much more readily than air that the effect of a small sound would produce the sensation of stunning. True fish are, therefore, deprived of the external ear, except in some members of the Ray family and the Sharks, where there is a small process which occupies the position of an ear. In almost all other fish the whole of the auditory organs are contained in the ootochrones, which are two holes, one on either side of the head. The internal surfaces of the bones of the heads of fish are covered with cartilage, and the semicircular canals, though not large, are not more than half the size of the holes through which they pass, and they are delicately suspended in the middle of them by means of a number of fine threads, the object of this probably being to lessen the shocks which loud sounds might otherwise produce. There are very |