201 
place. The method of introduction of the latter is not yet ex- 
plained. 
Prof. Claypole reported Velumbium luteum, Willd., from Con- 
gress Lake, near Akron, Ohio. Dr, Newberry remarked on the 
dissemination of Nelumbium by the Indians, who used the seeds 
for food. Hon. D. F. Day spoke of its occurrence in Grand River, 
forty miles west of Buffalo, and said that Mr. C. E. Smith had 
informed him of a station for the plant on the northern shore of 
Lake Ontario. Dr. Farlow and Dr. Rusby spoke of the station 
at Osterville, Cape Cod. Judge Day remarked on the Mummy 
specimens of Nelumbium speciosum, Willd., in the museum of the 
New York Historical Society. Dr. Britton stated that he had 
recently been informed by Dr. C. C. Abbott that VV. speciosum, 
Willd., had escaped from the grounds of Mr. Sturtevant at Bor- 
dentown, N. J., and was becoming naturalized in streams flowing 
into the Delaware River. 
Mr. E. E. Sterns showed fruit of the Soapberry (Sapindus 
marginatus, Willd.), and remarked on its use as a substitute for 
soap. Dr. Newberry said that the most delicate fabrics may be 
washed with it without injury; he remarked further on other 
“ soap-plants,’— Yucca, Dasylirion, Agave, etc., and stated that 
an attempt was being made in Mexico to utilize the parenchy- 
matous tissues of some of these plants after the fibre had been 
separated for cordage. 
Miss Steele exhibited a mounted set of the plants from the 
vicinity of New York, prepared by members of the Club for dis- 
tribution to the visiting botanists of the A. A. A. S. In spite of 
the very unfavorable season for collecting, sixty-three species 
were obtained. 
Dr. Newberry remarked on the geological history of Lzguid- 
améar, and showed a large number of drawings and specimens 
of Cretaceous and Tertiary species of this and other genera. In 
‘the ensuing discussion, Prof. Porter, speaking of the present dis- 
tribution of the tree, said that there are a few individuals along 
the Delaware River, in northeastern Pennsylvania, but he had 
not observed any in the central portions of that State. Dr. 
Newberry had not met with it in Ohio, and Judge Day said it 
was not native in western New York. Dr. Kunzé called atten- 
