68 Botanical Society of London. 



external primary dark grey at the base, gradually passing into grey 

 towards the tip ; all the under surface, rump and tail pure white ; 

 irides black ; bill, tongue and feet rich orange-yellow. 



Total length, 10^ inches ; bill, If ; wing, 7^ ; tail, 4^ ; tarsi, ^. 



Hah. Bass's Straits. 



BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 



May 19, 1843.— J. E. Gray, Esq., F.R.S. &c.. President, in the Chair. 



Mr. A. Henfrey, A.L.S-, exhibited specimens of Leucojum astivum, 

 collected in Greenwich Marshes. He also presented specimens of 

 Dentaria hulbifera, collected at Harefield, Middlesex. 



Mr. W. Andrews presented specimens of varieties of Saxifraga 

 Geum, in one of which the nectaries thickly surrounded the ovary. 

 The specimens were collected at the Great Blasquest Island, coast 

 of Kerry, Ireland. 



Read, " Notice of the discovery of two species of Fungi new to 

 the British Flora," by Dr. Philip, Buenos Ayres : Peziza corticalis, 

 found on woodbine between Stokenchurch, Oxfordshire, and Cadmore 

 End ; Hystericum rubrum, found on bean-stalks at Aston Rowant 

 and Tetsworth, Oxfordshire. 



Read also the commencement of a paper by Mr. Edwin Lees, 

 F.L.S., ** On the Groups into which the British Fruticose Rubi are 

 divisible." The paper was accompanied by drawings and specimens. 



June 2. — John Reynolds, Esq., Treasurer, in the Chair. 



Mrs. M. Stovin presented specimens of Anemone ranunculoides , 

 found wild in a wood near Worksop, Nottinghamshire. 



Mr. F. Bainbridge presented a specimen of Lecidea Wahlenhergii 

 (Acharius), a lichen new to the British flora, discovered by him on 

 Ben Nevis, Inverness-shire, in July last. 



The continuation of the paper (commenced at the last Meeting), 

 " On the Groups into which the British Fruticose Rubi are divisible," 

 by Mr. Edwin Lees, F.L.S., was read. 



The only European forms of the common fruticose brambles noticed 

 by Linnaeus were R. ccesius and R.fruticosus, supposed to include 

 the rest. Sir J. E. Smith, in the ' English Botany,' distinguished R, 

 corylifolius as worthy of enumeration, and Anderson, in the Trans- 

 actions of the Linnsean Society, vol. xi., described the still more 

 obvious R. suberectus. Meantime Weihe and Nees von Esenbeck 

 commenced the publication of an elaborate monograph of the genus, 

 under the title of ' Rubi Germanici.' In Smith's ' English Flora ' the 

 number of species of British Rubi is advanced to eleven, though two 

 of these appear to have been misunderstood, and therefore the real 

 number was only nine. 



Before the Rubi can be adequately comprehended, so as to reduce 

 them into groups, their mode of growth must be fully understood, 

 and it will perhaps become evident what points, from their greater 

 permanency, are to be relied upon for general as well as specific 

 characters. The general idea of the biennial continuance of the 



