Linmean Society. 303 



as thick as in Nostoc commune) breaking up at the connecting cells, 

 so as to form two new threads, each terminated with a single large 

 cell, the central cell becoming free. Of these threads and of their 

 gelatinous envelope Mr. Berkeley gives figures. 



With regard to the Thibetan Nostoc, Mr. Berkeley adds that a 

 species of this genus, as is well known, is a native of Tartary and is 

 eaten abundantly in China. There is a box of it, sent by Mr. Tra- 

 descant Lay, in the Museum of the Linnean Society ; and mention 

 is made of it by M. Montague in the ' Revue Botanique,' ii. p. 247, 

 as having, in the form of a soup, made part of a dinner given by the 

 Mandarin Huang at Macao, to several members of the French Em- 

 bassy. The Mandarin described it as a freshwater plant, growing 

 in Tartary in streams and running water, and sold at Canton in 

 small boxes : it is highly esteemed by^the Chinese, and not very ex- 

 pensive. At this time M. Montague regarded the species as Nostoc 

 cceruleum, but specimens sent him by Mr. Berkeley proved it to be 

 distinct, and it was afterwards published in the ' Revue Botanique ' 

 under the name of Nostoc edule, Berk, and Mont., and figured by 

 Kiitzing in his ' Tabulae Phytologicse.' In the last-named author's 

 ' Species Algarum,' it is said to have been gathered by Gaudichaud, 

 who, although a great traveller, was certainly never in Tartary. 

 The Thibetan Nostoc, like the Arctic, is probably quite as good as 

 the Tartarian. After some further notes on the chemical changes 

 produced in this plant and in Nostoc commune when treated with 

 iodine and sulphuric acid, and a reference to a passage in Kiitzing's 

 * Grundziige der Philosophische Botanik,' where he speaks of these 

 plants as consisting in great measure of gelacin (a substance belong- 

 ing to the same category as bassorin, and perhaps a modification of 

 it), Mr. Berkeley concludes by stating that a thin slice of gum tra- 

 gacanth, treated with iodine and sulphuric acid, assumes after a time 

 the same tint as the Nostoc. He believes, however, that starch is 

 often present in gum tragacanth, which is not likely to be the case 

 with the Nostoc ; and thinks we may safely assume the jelly of 

 Nostoc to be a state of bassorin, passing into cellulose or dextrine. 



February 3. — Robert Brown, Esq., President, in the Chair. 



Read a Paper entitled " Further Observations on the genus An- 

 thophorabia, Newp." By George Newport, Esq., F.R.S., F.L.S. &c. 



The author stated that having had the good fortune, in September 

 last, to rediscover, at Gravesend, the parasite Anthophorabia, which, 

 twenty years ago, he found in the nests of Anthophora, at Rich- 

 borough in Kent, and an account of which is given in a former paper 

 ('Proceedings,' March 20, 1849, vol. ii. p. 24), he felt it necessary 

 to offer a few additional observations on this genus ; since one of the 

 most remarkable peculiarities of the male sex, the possession of three 

 stemmata on the vertex, and of a single stemmatous eye on each 

 side of the head, instead of the usual compound one of perfect insects, 

 had been repeatedly denied to be a fact ; the denial being printed 

 in the ' Proceedings ' of the Society for May 1, 1849, vol. ii. p. 37. 



