Description of NIDDRY CASTLE. THIS very ancient edifice is situated about twelve miles to the west of Edinburgh, on the road to Linlithgow. It was long a place of very considerable importance. The baron of Niddry was the hereditary Baillie of the ecclesiastical regality of Kirkliston; and, by the barony of Abercorn, he was hereditary Sheriff of the shire of Linlithgow. During David II.'s reign, Alexander Seton granted to Ade Forest two ploughs of land in the town of Niddry. It was at one time the property of the Earls of Winton, and, becoming forfeited by the Rebellion, came into the Hopetoun family, with whom it still remains. The castle, after losing its consideration, and falling into ruin, has acquired a new lustre by giving a title to the Scottish hero, Lieut.Gen. John Hope, who has just been raised to the peerage by the title of Lord Niddry.

MONTHLY MEMORANDA IN NATURAL HISTORY.

Great heat, TOWARDS the end of July some of the warmest days occurred that

the inhabitants of Edinburgh remember. On the 25th of the month, in particular, the mercury in a Fahrenheit's thermometer at the Observatory on the Calton Hill, stood at 84° in the shade, at two o'clock P. M. This is perhaps the highest temperature of our atmosphere that has ever been correctly observed. At Canonmills, about nine o'clock the same morning, a pocket thermometer lying in a room, to which the sun had not access, indicated 75°.

Fucus saccharinus. Some specimens of this sea-weed, of uncommon

size, were some time ago found wrapped many times around the beacon at Portobello Baths, after an easterly gale. There were from eight to ten plants, with their roots clustered and entangled together. Having attracted the attention of the very intelligent keeper of the Baths, Mr Samuel Reid, the whole were cleaned, and placed in the reservoir. Here they remained for a considerable time in a living state, so that the writer of this article and others had an opportunity of examining them. The longest fronds then measured about 15 feet; the shortest about 9. But Mr Reid found the length of one particular frond, when brought ashore, to be fully 16 feet. The average breadth of the fronds was not more than a foot.

The

The substance was thin and semi-pellucid, except towards the extremities, where it was thicker and darker coloured. The general colour was nearly an olive green. The margins were perfectly entire, and equally waved, from the base, to very near the extremities. From the description already given, the botanical reader will perceive that, for the greater part of the length from the base forward, the fronds were what is called secondary; that is, consisted of new leaves, which had pushed the old leaves be fore them; the manner of growth be ing similar to what takes place in the human nails. In the longest specimen, about 13 feet were secondary, and fresh and entire; the two feet of primary frond at the extremity were darker in colour, puckered on the surface, worn and shattered, and abounded with small holes, eaten by crabs and insects. The growth of last winter and spring, therefore, had been no less than thirteen feet; a thing nowise incredible, considering the striking facts lately communicated by Mr Stevenson, engineer, concerning the rapid growth of the larger fuci on the Carr-Rock at the mouth of the Firth of Forth, during the same period of the year*. There was no symptom of longitudinal division in any of the fronds. The stems of the longest of these extraordinary plants did not measure quite two feet; and of the shorter, not one foot. The largest stem was about an inch in circumference, of a tawny yellow colour, and rather more pulpy than woody in texture.

Botanists have found great difficulty in fixing on specific characters of difference between Fucus sacchaos and F. digitatus, both of which ourdant on our shores, and by the general name of tanAt first sight, indeed, the two

for May last, p. 326,

sorts seem very distinct: indeed they are quite readily distinguished by vulgar eyes; the former being denominated sea-flags, or yellow-ware, and the latter common tang or red ware.— But the one is often observed apparently passing into the other by imperceptible gradations, particularly in the young state. Without attempting to lay down any fixed character, it may be remarked that these large and certainly full-grown specimens of F. saccharinus differed very remarkably in habit and appearance from the largest specimens of F. digitatus to be seen in the frith. This last is occasionally found of the length of five feet; but very seldom does it exceed six. In such specimens, and even in those whose fronds do not exceed three feet in length, the stems are proportionally very long, perhaps not less than from 3 to 4 feet, or even more. The stems are at the same time thick, perhaps nearly 3 inches in circumference; and the texture approaches to woody: while in the large specimens of F. saccharinus, above described, the stems, we have seen, measured only from one foot to two feet in length at the utmost; were only about one inch in circumference, and had very little of the woody tex ture. The substance of the frond of F. digitatus is thick and strong, often resembling the leather used for the soles of shoes; while that of the largest saccharinus was thin and con paratively tender. The colour of F. digitatus is a shining dark brown, justifying the appellation of red ware; while the longest saccharinus was of an olive green hue. That accidental laceration in an early stage of growth should produce such changes in habit, structure, and appearance, does not appear likely.

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

BY recent accounts from St Petersburg, it appears that 45,400 casks of tallow had already been shipped off for this country, and that they continue to ship, on an average 1500 casks daily. The quantity expected down to St Petersburg from the interior was estimated at two millions of poods, or 80,000 casks; the quantity expected at Archangel was about 13,000 casks, to which may be added about 7000 casks remaining over, and in wintering ships that did not arrive last year; making a grand total of 100,000 casks of tallow,-a quantity never before known.-The quantity shipped from St Petersburg in 1812 was 46,245 casks, and in 1813, 49,298 casks;-from Archangel, in 1812, 8745 casks; and in 1813, 5871 casks. Private letters from Copenhagen contain the following information:

The Danish government, by ordinances issued in May and June 1812, prohibited the importation of all kinds of foreign merchandise, which, by draining the country of considerable sums, occasioned a loss which nothing could compensate. At the moment when the peace with England reviv ed navigation, it published an ordinance, dated April 2, 1814, which, annulling all those previously issued, placed the Danish commerce on the same footing as before the war, and restored the tariff of duties fixed in 1797. This ordinance permits the importation of all kinds of foreign merchandise, except the following:I. Cloths of all sorts of woollen stuffs that are sold by the ell.

II. Muslins and cottons, printed or stained, which are sold by the ell.

III. Fustians of all kinds, and manufactured cotton hose.

V. Porcelain and playing cards. However, till a new order, the woollens and cottons specified in the first three articles, may be admitted to remain in the country, but only at the custom-houuse of Copenhagen: and on these conditions, that they be declared at the King's custom-house, like other imported goods, and deposited in the warehouses of the custom-house. They shall be publicly sold by auction by the customs, and not delivered to the purchasers till they are marked with the customhouse's stamp after the sale, and after paying the King's duties. These duties shall be 30 per cent. on the gross produce of the sale; the proprietors shall receive 70 per cent. without other deduction. At the other customhouses of the kingdom, at which such goods shall arrive, they shall merely be stamped from one to the other, till they reach Copenhagen. The entrepots of transit and credit are re-established, as they were by the ordinance of the 1st February 1797. The entrepot of credit, is however restricted to the period of six three months, and the duties on merchandise deposited in these entrepots must be paid before the expiration of the sixth-quarter. The custom-house duties on goods not prohibited must be paid in specie, according to the tarif of the 1st of February 1797, according to the value of the old current Danish rix-dollar, which was then 4fr. 50r. and which differs nearly one-half from the new silver rix-dollar, which is worth exactly half as much as the bank, or specie rix-dollar of Hamburgh. The duties on importation have not been altered, except upon the following:

Coal, per ton

Rix-dol. Dan. Ban.

Schils.

5

16

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