Dr. Selah Merrill, in a note describing a late visit, says that the west wall of what he called the "main building," toward the apse of the church, has been removed and the floor cleared, exposing a fine pavement. This pavement, the threshold before mentioned, and the mosaic floor all belong to one period, and to a structure very much older than the date of the "main building." It puzzled the doctor, because the threshold west of the mosaic floor was not square with the east wall of the "main buildings," but the reason is now clear. Captain Conder says of this church with such of the ruins about it as were exposed when he was there, that "the whole is evidently of the Crusading period." As regards the church itself, this is not clear, and the mosaic floor especially may belong to a time many centuries previous to that era. At the south side of the floor of the "main building" a new mouth to the largest cistern has been discovered; over the mouth there is a thick stone 5 feet in diameter. This was eight sided, and was built against the wall, so that five sides are exposed. The stone was cut in such a way as to leave on two of its sides small brackets shaped like the two halves of the utensil called a "tunnel." It may be of interest to state that this piece of land was offered for sale a few years since, and for a long time went a begging for a purchaser; at last it was sold for 40 Napoleons. During the present year it has passed into the hands of the French for 2,000 Napoleons. * * * * * DAMMARA AUSTRALIS One of the noblest evergreen trees in that noblest of collections of such plants contained in the Temperate House at Kew, is the subject of the present note. Some months since cones were observed to be forming on this tree, and a representation of which we are now enabled, through the courtesy of Mrs. Dyer, to lay before our readers. We are not aware whether the tree has previously produced cones at Kew, though we have the impression that such is the case; at any rate it has done so elsewhere, as recorded in the _Flore des Serres_, 1856, p. 75, but fertile seed was not yielded, owing to the absence of pollen.