136 Thveedside Physical and Antiquarian Society, 



out representing the spiral cells, which Delile does not appear to 

 have detected. 



Two species of Blepharii are mentioned as possessing a structure 

 very similar to that of Acanthodium spicatum, differing chiefly in the 

 smaller and more uniform diameter of the spiral cells, and in their 

 thicker fibre, which is always single and loosely coiled. 



The seed of Ruellia formosa on being placed in water develops 

 from every part of its surface single short thick tapering tubes, 

 within which in some case a spiral fibre is loosely coiled ; whilst in 

 others the place of the spiral fibre is supplied by distant rings. 



In the seeds of Ruellia littoralis, Phaylopsis glutinosa, and Barleria 

 noctifiora, the whole surface becomes covered with separate tubes, 

 very similar in form, but destitute of spiral fibre, and terminating in 

 a minute pore, from which streams of mucilage are discharged. 



Those of several species of Barleria, Lepidagathis, &c. are entirely 

 covered with long tapering simple hairs, which expand in water, and 

 like the rest are enveloped in a thick coat of mucilage. 



In all the foregoing species the hairs occupy the entire surface of 

 the seed, and are usually directed towards its apex, though they 

 occur often most abundantly at the edges ; in others they are only 

 found attached to a marginal ring of a different texture from the rest 

 of the seed. This is the case in Strohilanthus lupuUna. The seeds 

 of many plants of this family are wholly destitute both of spiral 

 cells or of any other appendages possessing hygroscopic proper- 

 ties, such for example as Acanthus mollis and ilicif alius, Dipteracan- 

 thus erectus, Blechum Brownii, &c., Ruellia secunda, and several spe- 

 cies of Justicia and Eranthemum. 



TWEEDSIDE PHYSICAL AND ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY. 



A Quarterly Meeting of the Tweedside Physical and Antiquarian 

 Society was held at the apartments of the Institution, Kelso, Feb. 1 7th, 

 when Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane, Bart., the Society's Presi- 

 dent, occupied the chair. The attendance of Members was more 

 than usually numerous. The donations which were announced as 

 having been received by the Society, during the interval which had 

 elapsed since the last Quarterly Meeting, were numerous, and many 

 of them interesting and valuable. 



Among those in the department of Botany and Zoology, were a 

 collection of British insects, of the orders Coleoptera and Lepidoptera, 

 amounting to several hundred species, systematically arranged, being 

 the first instalment of a general collection, illustrative of the ento- 



