18 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



the lower portion of the stem there was exposed, about midway 

 between the centre and outer bark of the tree, the initials of a 

 name, with the date 1810, as distinct as if newly cut. 



From the conversation which ensued it seemed to be the unanimous 

 opinion of the members that the letters had been cut into the wood 

 through the bark, which had afterwards closed, and allowed of a 

 yearly addition to the trunk, the space between the letters and the 

 exterior being about nine inches. 



Mr. John Kirsop exhibited a specimen of Claytonia alsinoides, 

 from Dumfriesshire, forwarded by Miss Johnstone, Solsgirth. 

 This American plant is now getting very generally diffused over 

 the country, examples of this species having been found at Gourock 

 and Rothesay. It has not been admitted into any British Flora 

 until recently, when Dr. Joseph Hooker gave a place in the 

 Student's Flora to C. perfoliata, which he says occurs too frequently 

 to be omitted, and he includes it in the order Portulaceae. Mr. 

 Kirsop also showed a portion of the spike of Xantheria kingiana 

 from New Zealand, a plant belonging to the Typhaceae, or some 

 , closely-allied order. The two species of Typha which occur in this 

 country are small in comparison with the New Zealand specimen, 

 the spikes of which, when entire, would probably measure about two 

 feet in length. These plants are commonly misnamed bullrushes, 

 the proper name being Heed Mace or Cat's-tail. the spikes closely 

 resembling an angry cat's tail. The roots are farinaceous, and 

 bread is made of the pollen by the natives of New Zealand. 



Mr. John Young, F.G.S., exhibited some large and well-preserved 

 specimens of fossil ferns, from the new pit at Bothwell Station, 

 which is being put down by Messrs. Baird <fc Co. through part of 

 the upper coal measures of the district, to the valuable seams of 

 coal which lie about 200 fathoms below the present land surface. 

 Mr. Young stated that the strata passed through in the upper 

 portion of this pit consist of beds of reddish sandstone, reddish-gray 

 shale, gray fire-clay, dark gray shale, grayish-white sandstone, 

 and one or two irregular thin seams of coal. The plant-bearing 

 beds in this pit lie 700 feet below the surface, but in a much 

 higher geological horizon than those beds yielding plant remains in 

 other districts of our coal-field, chiefly the roof shales that overlie 

 some of the lower workable seams of coal. On a visit to the pit 

 last autumn the secretary and himself had found the remains of the 

 following plants in the fire-clay and gray sandy shales, viz. ; — 



