Page:Journal of botany, British and foreign, Volume 9 (1871).djvu/105

 PIIOCICEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 91

well-voiicbed-for specimen was shown iu sllu at the last International Ex- hibition in London, — among such the Tweed valley seeds may find be- lievers. It would be unfair to criticize, in detail, so carefully condensed a summary, and with two remarks we nuiy take our leave of a very useful book. The first is, that a little stronger ground might have been taken (p. 751) as to the assimilation by plants of uncombined nitrogen. Any chemist knows how all but impossible it is that this could happen, and amongst modern workers, the experiments of Lawes and Gdbert may be accepted as conclusive even against those of M. Yille. Lastly, the old belief that the temperature of trees exposed to great heat, is lower than that of the surrounding air, is no longer justified, as the careful experi- ments of Becquerel* show that the reverse is really the case, there being at least as much as 1° Centigrade difference.

W. T. T. D.

��,|1rocccbrngs ai Sociclics.

LiNNEAN Society. — December \st, 1870.— G. Bcntham, Esq., in the chair. The following papers were read by the President: — " A Supple- mentary Note on Chinese Silkworm Oaks," from Dr. H. F. Hance. The author had previously pointed out that Q. moiicjollca, Fisch., was the Oak on which the silkworm larva of the north of Cliina chiefly fed. He now showed that Q. serrata, of Thuuberg, is another silkworm-rearing species. Also " On the Sources of the Radix Gulungce mhioris of Pharmacologists," by the same. The source of the lesser Galaiigal has long been doubtful. Dr. Hance, during an ex[)edition to the north coast of Haenan, found the dried roots exposed to the sun in baskets, and in the same district the plant itself was seen in cultivation, and subsequently discovered growing wild. It is a species of Al/jbiia, not A. chlneaah as has been supposed, but a species closely allied to A. culcarata. Rose. Dr. Hance believes it to be undescribed, and he has named it A. officbiarum. It seems probable that its fruit is the " bilter-seedcd Cardamom," figured by Mr. Hanbury in riiarni. Journ. vol. xiv. p. 418. f. 8.

December I'oth. — G. Bentham, Esq., President, in the chair. The fol- lowing communications were read: — " On Sabadilla {Asagraa officinalis), from Caracas," by A. Ernst. The plant is found abundantly in the neighbourhood of Caracas, and the drug which is prepared from the seeds is largely exported thence to Hamburg. It has not been previously known out of ]\Iexico, and the Venezuelan form differs slightly from the Me:):ican type; should it prove distinct, M. Ernst proposes to call it A, caracasana. — " On BarliiKjtonia califoridca, the Californian Pitcher-plant," by W. Ilobinson. It grows at an altitude of 5000 feet, in the Sierra Nevada. The ])itchers are as large as Jargonelle Pears, and are all twisted spirally in their upper portion. At the lower part is found a layer of from 2 to 5 inches of the remains of insects which have been attracted by some un- known cause. The pitcher is about 2 inches wide at the top, and narrows gradually to about a line at the base; the lower part is densely beset with


 * 'Memou-es de I'lustitut,' t. 35, p. 467.

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