Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 205 



down, and had the appearance of being powdered. The egg of this 

 Quail is of a pale buff colour, 1 inch and yV^h in length, by yo^hs 

 of an inch in width. 



I take this opportunity of bringing to the notice of the members 

 of this Society distinguishing marks between the Rock Quail and the 

 Grey and Black-breasted Quail, and of proposing that the former 

 species should not be confounded with the two last. The distinguish- 

 ing marks of the former, the Rock Quail, are the stoutness and depth 

 of the beak in proportion to its length, the much more rounded form 

 of the wing, the secondaries and tertials being much more equal in 

 size with the primaries than those of the Grey and Rain Quail ; the 

 much more defined scaly protection of the legs and feet in the Rock 

 Quail, and what I believe the most disthiguishing mark, the smaller 

 number of eggs laid by the Rock Quail. I believe that the Grey 

 and Rain, or Black-breasted Quail, lay eight or nine eggSy the Rock 

 Quail not more thanybwr. 



BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. 



December 13th, 1855. — Professor Balfour, President, in the Chair, 



Colonel Madden was elected President for the ensuing year. 

 A considerable number of foreign botanists were elected Hon. 

 Members. 



The following papers were read : — 



1. "Report on the State of the Society's Herbarium." By the 

 Curator. 



2. *' Notes of a Botanical Trip to Ben Lawers and neighbouring 

 Mountains in August 1855." By Prof. Balfour. 



This appears to have been a very successful trip. It was stated 

 that the alpine plants flowered remarkably well in the summer of 

 1855. Amongst the plants found may be mewtionxedi Poly podium 

 alpestre and P. flexile^ and Cystopteris montana. The latter grew 

 in a different place from that where Mr. W. Wilson originally de- 

 tected it. Mr. J. Backhouse has recently gathered it in Caenlochan 

 Glen, in Forfarshire. 



3. " Report on Musci collected during the same trip." By Dr. 

 Greville. 



4. " Additional List of Mosses." By Mr. W. Nichol. 



5. "On the rare Lichens of Ben Lawers." By Mr. H. Mac- 



millan. 



6. " List of Desmidese." By Mr. H. G. Stewart. 



7. " List of Diatomacese." By Prof. Gregory. 



8. " Geological Notes." By Mr. Hector. 



The above-enumerated papers, 2-7, all relate to the results of the 

 same trip, and argue well for the attention paid by Dr. Balfour's 



