330 Royal Society of Edinburgh. 



ing to Mr. Bentham constantly sterile, and although they are fur- 

 nished with an apparently perfect ovarium containing two or three 

 ovula, he has observed it to fall off with the calyx, and that the le- 

 gumes are produced both in hypogcea and the other species by the 

 female flowers, whose structure is very different, being destitute of 

 either calyx, corolla, or stamina ; but from between two small bractes, 

 resembling those occurring at the base of the sterile flowers, proceeds 

 a straight rigid stipes or torus, which speedily becomes reflexed and 

 elongated, and is terminated by what appears to the naked eye a 

 sharp point, which, when examined with a glass, discloses at its ex- 

 tremity a truncated, somewhat concave and dilated stigma, and 

 within it is found a cell bearing two or three anatropous ovula 

 placed transversely one above the other. After fecundation, when 

 the extremity has nearly reached the ground, it begins to swell, but 

 remains continuous with the stipes or torus, without any articulation 

 even at the maturity, when the legume is usually broken off with 

 more or less of laceration. 



We subjoin the characters of the species given by Mr. Bentham. 



1. A. hypogcea, annua; caule erecto vel adscendente ramoso piloso, foli- 

 olis obovatis obtusis mucronatis, supra glabris, subtus pilosulis. 



2. A. glabrata, perennis, glabra, vel hinc inde pilosula, adscendens ; sti- 

 pularum parte libera elongata ad foliorum par infimum subattingente, 

 foliolis oblongo-ellipticis obtusis mucronatis basi rotundatis brevissime 

 petiolulatis, supra glabris, subtus vix pilosulis. Brasilia. 



3. A. pusilla, perennis ; caule procumbente pilosulo, stipularum parte li- 

 bera brevissima, foliolis ovatis oblongisve acutiusculis mucronatis basi 

 rotundatis, supra glabris, subtus adpresse pubescentibus subsericeis. 

 Brasilia. 



4. A. prostrata, perennis ; caule prostrate villoso, stipularum parte libera 

 elongata at foliolorum par infimum non attingente, foliolis ovatis ob- 

 longisve obtusis mucronatis basi rotundatis, supra glabris, subtus ad- 

 presse villosis. Brasilia. 



5. A. villosa, perennis, caule prostrato villoso, stipulis foliolorum par in- 

 fimum superantibus, foliolis lato-ovatis rigidis mucronatis, supra pu- 

 bescentibus, subtus pilosis. Brasilia. 



6. A. tuberosa, perennis, caule brevi subsimplici, villoso, petiolis abbre- 

 viatis, foliolis obovatis oblongisve obtusis muticis basi angustatis rigidis 

 marginatis reticularis glabris subciliatis. Brasilia. 



ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. 



18th Dec. 1837.— Dr. Hope, V. P. in the Chair. 



Read, Professor Traill's remarks on the Ossiferous Caves of Cefn, 

 in Denbighshire. 



These caves, which were first described by the present Bishop of 

 Norwich in 1832, and have since been more fully explored by Dr. 



