74 Miscellaneous. 



tesutural dark brown band, which becomes broader towards the lip. 

 Found on leaves of bushes at Tanhay, in the Isle of Negros. 



k. Ground-colour very pale yellow-brown ; a brown circumferential 

 band, which is only perceptible on the latter half of the last volution. 

 From Loboc. 



/. Shell of an uniform pale brownish colour. From Loboc. 



m. Apex reddish-brown ; upper part of the shell pale yellowish 

 brown, increasing rapidly in intensity, so that nearly the whole of 

 the last volution is of a dark chocolate-brown ; columella white ; lip 

 nearly black. From Loboc. 



MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. 



At a meeting of the Microscopical Society held July 21st, J. S. 

 Bowerbank, Esq., in the Chair, a paper was read from the Rev. J. 

 B. Reade, M.A., F.R.S., on the process of charring vegetable tissue, 

 as applied to the examination of the stomata in the epidermis of 

 Garden Rhubarb. The author, after mentioning the great advantages 

 derivable from charring objects for the microscope, which he first 

 suggested, goes on to state that it is peculiarly advantageous for ex- 

 hibiting delicate membranes, which cannot from their transparency 

 be well seen by the ordinary method of viewing objects, in water 

 between glasses. It having long been a disputed point with bota- 

 nists, whether the stomata in plants were open or closed by a mem- 

 brane, the author was led to examine the subject, and for this pur- 

 pose took the cuticle of the common garden rhubarb, which was 

 obtained by macerating the sheaths investing the flower- stalks for 

 a few days in water and then charring it ; from his observations he 

 arrives at the following conclusions : That the application of the 

 process of charring proves beyond a doubt, that the stomata in this 

 tissue of the rhubarb are distinct openings into the hollow chambers 

 of the parenchyma of the leaf ; that the perforation is the rule and 

 not the exception in the structure ; and that the exception, where it 

 exists, i. e. where the stomata are closed, proves the existence of the 

 overlying membrane discovered and described by Dr. Brown. Some 

 discussion then followed, in which Messrs. Gray, Lindley, and 

 Quekett took a part. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Analogies of European and Indian Geology. — " Notwithstanding 

 the difficulty of establishing the identity in remote quarters of the 

 world, of rocks so vaguely characterized as the saliferous marls, yet 

 when we have coal-measures affording a certain fixed point, or land- 

 mark to guide us, we cannot be very far out in fixing upon the green 

 marls, or often friable sandstone, which extend along the lower 

 ridges of many parts of the great Himalayan chain, immediately ad- 

 joining the plains of Hindostan, as the Indian equivalent of the beds 

 in question. Along the southern side of Assam we have the same 

 rocks as well as brine-springs, and an earthy limestone, probably 



