5(J non^ '^(1 Zoological Society : — 



W^have very slight acquaintance with it, but fancy that it will prove 

 to be a form of the E. trachyodon (A. Br.), which is the E. Mackaii 

 (Newra.). 



The genus Chara seems to have been added to this book unad- 

 visedly ; for neither the artist nor the describer appears to know 

 much about the plants included in it. Most of the plates are copied 

 from those in * Enghsh Botany,' or its * Supplement ;' but these are 

 not all therefore good, for that of C. vulgaris, taken from an early 

 volume of ' Eng. Bot.,' is very poor. 



The new plates profess to represent C. syncarpa and C. proliferOy 

 the other five species described in Mr. Babington's Monograph 

 (A. N. H. ser. 2. vol. v. p. 81) remaining unfigured in any English 

 work. The plate of C. syyicarpa is tolerable, and might have passed 

 without notice had not a piece of some totally different plant, perhaps 

 C. polyspermay been added at the foot. Certainly C. syncarpa never 

 has the many-jointed stems there represented. As we do not know 

 from which plant the magnified nucules were taken, their value is 

 greatly reduced. In all probability the two entire nucules were 

 derived from the wrong plant, and the highly magnified piece of 

 stem is similarly erroneous. We must be allowed to doubt the 

 correctness of Mr. Johnson'^s remark, that C. syncarpa is sometimes 

 monoecious. 



The other new plate is a fair representation of C. prolifera, 

 although the jointed structure of the primary branches is not shown. 

 We may remark, that Mr. Wilson's C. gracilis from Llyn Idwell is 

 stated in the above-mentioned Monograph to be C. syncarpa, and 

 that authentic specimens now before us conjSrm that statement. 

 Mr. Johnson therefore must not think that he has disproved the 

 permanency of the monoecious structure in C. gracilis. ]^ 



The * British Poisonous Plants' deserves our approbation, being 

 good as far as it goes. The 28 plates are transferred from * English 

 Botany,' and are therefore all, or nearly all, that could be desired. 

 The recent cases of accidental poisoning with the root of Monkshood 

 is the especial cause of its publication. It would have been well if a 

 figure of the root of this plant, and that of the Horse-radish, for 

 which it was mistaken, had been given ; for at the season when 

 such mistakes are liable to occur, neither leaves nor flowers exist, 

 and they can only be guarded against by making generally known 

 the differences between the roots. 



;We hope that this little book will obtain an extensive circulation. 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



June 12, 18.55.— W. Yarrell, Esq., in the Chair. 



;vv?<' *>c6 -^^N A New Species of the Genus Prion. 

 By John Gould, FiR.S. 



Through the kindness of Mr. Yarrell, I have the pleasure of 

 bringing to the Meeting a bird which I conceive to be a new species 



