186 Linncean Society. 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



LINNjEAN SOCIETY. 



February 17, 1846.— E. Forster, Esq., V.P., in the Chair. 

 Mr. Ward exhibited specimens of the extreme states of Chondrus 

 crispus, Lyngb., gathered by him at Linmouth, N. Devon, growing 

 within a few feet of each other, but under different conditions ; the 

 broad variety being found in pools among the rocks, where it is 

 always submersed ; the narrow on the outer ledge of rocks, where it 

 is fully exposed to the action of the waves, which produce the same 

 effect upon it as is frequently observed in freshwater aquatics, the 

 submersed leaves of which become more or less finely divided, in 

 proportion to the greater or less rapidity of the stream. It is worthy 

 of remark, that the broad state, which is found in comparatively still 

 water, is wholly free from zoophytes, while the narrow is entirely 

 coated with them. 



Read some observations " On the Axial and Ab-axial arrangement 

 of Carpels." By T. S. Ralph, Esq., A.L.S. &c. 



Mr. Ralph begins by referring to the differing position of the odd 

 sepal pointed out by Mr. Brown as constituting a character of or- 

 dinal value between Leguminosce and Rosacea, and to the uniform 

 position of the solitary carpellum in the former, and endeavours to 

 determine, either hypothetically or from actual observation, the re- 

 lation of carpella to axis in various families and genera of plants. He 

 notices a specimen of Heracleum giganteum, in which three mericarps 

 were developed, and states that in each case the additional mericarp 

 was placed side by side with the ab-axial (or anterior) mericarp, 

 from which circumstance he concludes the axial (or posterior) to be 

 in this case the odd carpellum. In a specimen of an (Enothera with 

 five instead of four carpella, he found the fifth carpellum apparently 

 ab-axial. He conjectures from the position of the abortive stamen 

 in ScrophularinecB, that the odd carpellum is in that family ab-axial ; 

 and in other cases, such as Lychnis for example, he endeavours to 

 determine its position by means of the odd style. He refers the ar- 

 rangement of carpella in relation to axis to four heads ; viz. definite, 

 1. axial or centripetal, 2. ab-axial or centrifugal; indefinite, 3. an- 

 terior and posterior, 4. right and left. In the two latter cases the 

 position must be determined theoretically. He concludes by giving 

 a list of genera examined by himself, and arranged under the heads 

 of carpels " axial," and " ab-axial." 



Read also a continuation of Dr. Boott's " Caricis Species Novse v. 

 minus cognitse." In this, the third part of his paper, Dr. Boott de- 

 scribes seventeen species, the characters of which are as follows : 



1. C. rara, spica simplici oblonga fusca androgyna apice mascula, stig- 

 matibus 3, perigyniis ovatis acuminatis rostratis ore emarginatis crebre 

 et valide nervosis divergentibus squama ovata obtusa v. acutiuscula fer- 

 rugine& longioribus. 



Hah. in Mont. Khasiya Indiae Orientalis, Griffith in Herb. Lemann. 



Oba. C. polytrichoides, Muhl. affinia. 



