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COURSE OF EXCHANGE.

Jan. 26. 30th. (Feb. 2. 6th. 9th. 13th. 16th. 20th.

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WM. TURQUAND, Exchange and Stock Broker, No. 9, St. Michael's Alley, Cornhill,

NATURALIST'S MONTHLY REPORT,

JANUARY.

Reviving Winter Month.

In beaded rows if drops now deck the spray,
While Phabus graets a momentary ray,
Let but a cloud's broad shadow intervene,
And stiffen'd into gems the drops are seen.

MY notes respecting the state of the weather, from the 1st to the 18th of January, hare been mislaid and lost In the morning of the 13th, however, I find that the wind, which had been westerly, had suddenly changed to the east, and was very cold and piercing. In the night of the 13th there was a hard frost, which continued for several days afterwards. The weather during this time was fine, but extremely cold. On the 17th, the rivers were, in some places, frozen over. The wind was southerly in the morning and afternoon of the 18th, but it was again easterly before the close of the day. In the nights of the 18th and 19th, the frost was peculiarly severe. We had some snow in the afternoon of the 22d, but it continued on the ground only during the next day. Although the wind was easterly till the end of the month, a thaw commenced on the 234, which lasted till the evening of the 27th. The frost again set in, and continued for about three days, when the wind changed, and we had rain.

In the early part of the month a green sand-piper was shot. This is a rare bird in England, particularly in the southern districts. It chiefly frequents the lakes and rivulets of mountainous countries, and is seldom seen near the sea. In several parts of Switzerland, it is said to be a very common bird.

In the Report for March last, I mentioned that a white weasel had several times been seen about the premises of a farm-yard in this neighbourhood: an ermine or white stoat, has, this month, been shot within a few miles of the same place. It is certainly an unusual circumstance to see these animals, in their white winter's dress, in a county which lies so far south as Hampshire.

January 12th. Redbreasts approach the houses, and are now almost the only birds which are heard to sing. When, however, the days are occasionally warmer than usual, the blackbirds and thrushes do not neglect to cheer the gloomy scenery with their song; and I likewise sometimes hear the twittering notes of the wren.

January 18th. The season for salmon-fishing commenced with the beginning of the month; but hitherto only three fish have been caught in our rivers. The first, which

weighed

weighed seventeen pounds, was on new-year's day; the second weighed twenty pounds; and the third was not quite so large as the first.

January 20th. The catkins of the alder and hazel are nearly ready to burst. I this day observed the following plants to be in flower: chickweed, purple dead nettle (lamium purpureum), daisy, and furze.

No additional quantity of wild-fowl appears to have yet been driven in by the severe weather which we have experienced for the last seven or eight days.

January 24th. In consequence of the surface of the earth having been loosened by the thaw of last night, I this morning remarked that the earth-worms had come out of the ground during the night in great numbers. Some of the pastures were, in particular spots, almost covered with the earth that they had thrown up.

January 29th. The flower-buds of the Laurustinus are beginning to open in sheltered and warm situations.

January Sist. Of indigenous plants, the following are now in flower: Groundsel (senecio vulgaris) wall-flower, (cheiranthus fruticulosus) and Dandelion; and in gardens the buds of the Snow drop and Hepatica will soon expand their petals.

Hampshire.

Errata in our last Report.-For " ezeret," read "leveret ;" and omit the comma after the word leisure, 1. 4 from the end.

MONTHLY BOTANICAL REPORT.

OF the monthly botanical publications, we have not, for some time, had to notice any but the Botanical Magazine, and English Botany: all the others, either unable to cope with the difficulties of the times, or from the leisure of their authors being occupied with other pursuits, have been dropped, or at least suspended.

Dr. Smith has lately published the first part of his Prodromus Flore Græcæ; and the LinDéan Society have published a part of the tenth volume of their Transactions: but of these works we must defer any further notice till another, opportunity.

The Botanical Magazine for the last month contains:

Yucca gloriosa. Mr. Gawler observes, that this species has been confounded with alfolia, which is very distinct, and that the Yucca gloriosa of the Botanist's Repository, is really the aloïfolia of Linnæus. The synonymy of this plant seems to be very complete.

Iris pumila var. violacea. The purple and yellow varieties of this specics have appeared before. In all these three, something generally different from each other, besides the colour of the flowers, may be observed, which to us leads to a doubt whether they may not in reality be distinct species; we are therefore glad to see good figures of all of them in the magazine. Mr. Gawler shows the difficulty of ascertaining the Linnean species; the one here figured is usually called biflora in the nurseries. The biflora of Linnaeus, according to the synonym from Besler, appears to Mr. Gawler, to be a dwarf variety of the subbiflora of the Botanical Magazine.

Narcissus triandrus var. luteus. As this appears to be precisely the same variety as the one figured in an early number of the magazine, we do not see the reason of repeating it here; it cannot have been an oversight, because the former one is quoted. In the two figures howewer, there is a considerable difference in the length of the nectarium. We nave heard a story of this species having been found apparently wild, somewhere in the north of England; but we have no doubt that this is a mistake.

Mimosa pubescens. This appears to us to be one of the most beautiful figures in the work, and we doubt not will be selected by many a fair artist to ornament her fire-skreens and tables, if the quantity of labour should not deter her from the undertaking.

Nigella orientalis. Nigella Hispanica. Garidella Nigellastrum. Nigella and Garidella are so nearly allied, that we are glad to see these three plants, which mutually illustrate each other, brought together.

The English Botany for February, except three species of mint, contains no other phenogamic plant.

Mentha gentilis. The original of the variegated variety, which is so universally cultivated by cottagers, in several counties of England, and usually called Orange Mint. We have found this species in a ditch on Stroud's Green, near Hornsey, and obs.ve the character mentioned by Dr. Smith, of the smoothness of the lower part of the calyx and of the peduncles to to be constant, though in some specimens of Mentha gentilis from gardens, it does not appear to be so.

Mentha arvensis. This figure does not appear at all characteristic of the habit of the plant. Mentha agrestis of Sole, and considered by Smith, in his FloraBritannic, as a variety of M. arvensis. The two figures, as here given, are certainly so much alike, that they can hardly be supposed to represent two distinct species; but neither of them gives us an idea of Mentha arvensis, as it has usually occurred to our observation. MONTHLY

MONTHLY AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

THE young wheats have. in most places, experienced a seasonable check by the severity of the frosts in the beginning of the month, and those that were early sown will probably now turn out good crops.

Most sorts of green crops are pretty much in the same state as in last month, and they will probably not go nearly so far in the support of stock as is commonly the case.

The ploughing has b en greatly retarded during the last two months, so that much of it will require to be performed in the ensuing month, which must render it a busy season for the teams.

The prices of grain have continued pretty much the same as our last, which is an extremely favorable circumstance for the country.-Wheat fetches from 78s. to 102s. per quarter; Rye, 42s to 48s.; Barley, 30s. to 42s.; Oats, 20s. to 25s.

All sorts of stock, both fat and lean, still keep up to their former prices.-Beef fetches from 4s. 6d. to 6s. per stone of 8lb.; Mutton, 5s. to 6s. 6d.; Veal, 5s. to 8s.; Pork, 5s, to 7s.

Good hay rather looks up in the London markets. Hay fetches from 41. to 6l. 10s.; Clover, 61. to 71. 15s.; Straw, 11. 15s. to 21. 13s.

The late snows have done great injury in many places to the sheep, and particularly to the forward lambs, which are soon destroyed by them.

METEOROLOGICAL REPORT.

Observations on the State of the Weather, from the 24th of January, 1810, to the 24th of February 1810, inclusive, Four Miles N.N.W. of St. Paul's.

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Owing to an accident which has occurred by the frost to our rain-gauge, we are unable to give an accurate account of the quantity fallen since our last Report; but from circumstances it is supposed to be about equal to two inches and a half in depth. There has indeed been fain eleven or twelve days during the present month; but the quantity has not been great. The average height of the barometer is nearly the same as it was for the last month. viz. 29.63, and the mean temperature for the month is 36 21. We had a good deal of severe weather between the 14th and 22d inclusive, but the remainder of the period was in general mild. The wind has been chiefly in the west; on some days we had foggy and very dark weather, and we understand, that on one in particular, the darkness was so considerable, as to cause a suspension of business in the middle of the day for an hour or two.

The thermometer has again been as low as 15°, this was in the morning of the 21st. It stood at the same degree on the 17th of January; we have heard that on the same day, and at the same hour, in January, a thermometer stood as low as 8° at Camden Town; as, how ever, we noted our's very accurately, we suspect this prodigious difference must have arisen from some sudden evaporation, or other cause, not immediately connected with, or dependent upon, the state of the atmosphere.

At Shide, in the Isle of Wight, the average temperature for September, October, November, December, 1809, and for the first twenty-two days in January, 1810, was as follows:

September
October

579. 7 48 •

4

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January

39 .00

The quantity of rain fallen at the same place from August to December 31, 1899, was 10.7 inches in depth.

PRICES

PRICES or STOCKS, from the 26th of January, to the 22d of FEBRUARY, 1810, both inclusive,

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A. B. In the 3 per Cent. Consols the highest and lowest Prices are given; in the other Stocks, the highest only.

WM, TURQUAND, Stock and Exchange Broker No. 9, St. Michael's Alley, Cornhill.

MONTHLY MAGAZINE.

No. 197.]

APRIL 1, 1810.

[4 of VOL. 29.

As long as those who write are ambitious of making Converts, and of giving their Opinions a Maximum of Influence and Celebrity, the most extensively circulated Mifcellany will repay with the greatest Effect the Curiality of those who read either for Amusement or Indru Aion.———- JOHNSON.

ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

IN reply to your correspondent in the

Monthly Magazine for last month, p. 123, I beg leave to give my reasons for continuing to write the name of Linhæus in its original form, rather than Linné. The Swedes did not adopt the use of regular surnames till the early part of the last century. When each family took a name, literary people, in general, chose one derived from Greek or Latia; hence arose the family-names of Mennander, Melander, Solander, Dryander, Aurivillius, Celsius, &c. Some gave a Latin termination to names of barbarous origin, as Bergius, Retzius, Afzelius, Browallius; and these became Swedish names, even with that termination entire. The name of Linnæus was in this latter predicament. Its termination therefore is by no means boorish, or plebeian, or vile, but of classical origin; and these nai: es have the peculiar felicity of being transferable into any language without inconvenience, and especially of entering spontaneously into Latin composition. If your correspondent be in the habit of writing or reading many scientific books in Latin, he will duly appreciate this last consideration. With respect to English writing, as we mention Titus, and Marcus Aurelius, in their original orthography, without following the French, who call them Tite and Marc Aurele; no one has found any difficulty in making an English word of Linnæus.

When this great man became ennobled, I am well aware that, in conformity to the court ceremonies of the day, which were all French, a termination borrowed from the language of that people was, in his case, as in others, adopted, with the strange jumble of a Gothic prefix; and he became in Swedish von Linné, as in French de Linné, and in barbarous Latin Linné. No one, that I know of, has adopted any of these in English; though MONTHLY MAG. No. 197.

some have called him Linné, but hitherto
with little success.
I presume no one

would wish to anglicize bis name into
Linny; and yet that, however ridiculous,
would be the only correct and consistent
measure, unless we retain the von, the
de, or the à.

I have therefore always used his original name, without any design, or surely any suspicion, of slighting the honours which his sovereign conferred upon him, and which, I will venture to say, reflected glory on his royal patron in return. By such a disposal of honours their lustre is preserved, as in the cases of a Marlborough, a Newton, and a Nelson, from that deterioration to which, from human imperfection and error, they are, in their very nature, otherwise prone, but from which it is the interest of every good citizen to guard them. I do not conceive however, that any one needs to be reminded of the various dignities, whether courtly or academical, conferred on the illustrious Swede. His simple name Linnæus recals them all. We have no occasion to say the emperor Julius Cæsar, king Henry the 4th of France, Mr. secretary Milton, or the right honourable Joseph Addison. Neither is it necessary to say sir Charles Linnæus, or the chevalier de Linné, to remind us that he was knight of the polar star; and the first person who ever received that honour, equal to the garter with us, for literary merit. I must therefore protest against any interpretation of an intended slight in this case, for my meaning is the very reverse. I believe the practice followed in England, has decided the conduct of other nations. In Latin he is now always called Linnæus, even by the Swedes; and what is still more striking, the French now write Linnæus, even in their own language.

1 presume your correspondent had never a design of recommending for Latin composition any thing but Linnæus; and I hope he will not bereafter think me 2 C pertinacious,

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