66 Miscellaneous. 



September 4th. — Edward Doubleday, Esq., V.P., in the Chair. 

 Dr. Becker of Wiesbaden exhibited a new species of Papilio from 

 South America, and also a specimen of the very rare P. Protodamas. 



Mr. S. Stevens exhibited specimens oiSihinia m-enaria, Mononychus 

 Pseudacori, Cicindela germanica, Micronyx pygmtea, &c., recently 

 captured in the Isle of Wight ; also of Apion Schonherri, Choragus 

 Sheppardi, Mecinus circulatus, and various Lepidoptera, the latter 

 captured by daubing sugar upon the trunks of trees in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Arundel. 



Mr. F. Smith exhibited specimens of Platypeza suhfasciata ? (a 

 Dipterous insect varying greatly in the two sexes,) reared from fungi 

 from Birch wood ; also Pissodes Pini from Weybridge. 



Mr. Evans exhibited specimens illustrating the natural history of 

 Mamestra Brassicce and Euthalia impluviata ; also a specimen oiMar- 

 garitia diversalis, taken by himself either in Yorkshire or at Darenth 

 wood in June last. 



The following papers were read : — 



Notice of a Gynandromorphous specimen of Smerinthus Populi. 

 By George A. Thrupp, Esq. 



Description of an ancient Irish Amulet made in the form of and 

 used as a charm against the Murrian Caterpillar. Communicated 

 by W. F. Evans, Esq. 



Descriptions of some new species of Exotic Spiders, and two species 

 of Poeciloptera. By A. White, Esq., by whom some additional ob- 

 servations were made on the study of arachnology, and upon the struc- 

 ture of the nests of two British species of spiders. He likewise read 

 an extract from Abbott's MSS. in the British Museum, on the habits 

 of one of the fossorial Hymenoptera which collects spiders for the 

 provisioning of its nest. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 

 Observations on the group Schizopetalese of the family of Cruciferse. 



By J. Marius Barneoud*. 

 In 1822 Mr. Francis Place, on his return from a voyage to Chili, intro- 

 duced into England a charming plant having four elegantly pinnate 

 petals, and funiished with an embryo with four yellowish cotyledons 

 rolled in a spiral. These extraordinary characters did not prevent 

 Sir William Hooker from placing this plant in the family of the 

 Cruciferce ; he formed of it the genus Schizopetalon, of which he pub- 

 lished an excellent description and a very detailed figure in the ' Exotic 

 Flora,* vol. i. p. 74, by the name of Schizopetalon Walcheri. A new 

 coloured figure, but without analysis, appeared somewhat later in the 

 ' Botanical Magazine,* tab. 2379. 



Mr. Robert Brown, on his part, had adopted in the ' Botanical 

 Register,' no. 752, precisely the determination and classification 

 of Sir W. Hooker. Nevertheless these two botanists, struck with 

 the remarkable forms which the embryo of this genus presented, had 

 not neglected to state, that it ought to serve as type of a new tribe 

 -of Cruciferce ; they diflfered solely on one point : Mr. R. Brown con- 



« From the iVnnales des Sciences Naturelies for March 1845. 



