452 Entomological Society, 



Mr. Hincks affects a specimen of Anagallis arvensis, resembling one 

 described by M. Moquin-Tandon as found by M. Gay, in which an 

 increased development of the exterior circle is accompanied by dimi- 

 nution in the interior ones : the effect produced is stated to be very 

 unequal in different flowers, but the more the calyx is enlarged, the 

 more the interior circles are contracted. The second case is the well- 

 known wheat-ear carnation, Dianthus Caryophyllus imbricatus, L., 

 which is noticed as probably affording the best example of the mon- 

 strous multiplication of a particular circle. A third case occurs in 

 a capitulum of Matricaria, in which the bractea?, consisting under 

 ordinary circumstances of paleaceous scales, are enlarged into full- 

 sized leaves, completely deforming the flower : the rose-ribwort is 

 noticed as a phenomenon of the same kind. Fourthly, Mr. Hincks 

 mentions a monstrous variety or highly developed form of Convallaria 

 multiflora, cultivated at Kew, which he presumes to be the var. 

 bracteata of De Candolle and Duby : in it the number of flowers 

 usually reaches five or six, and each of them proceeds from the 

 axilla of a small leaf on the pedicel. And lastly, the author notices 

 under this head a case of abortion or atrophy affecting the leaf of 

 a fern cultivated by Messrs. Rolleston, by which in one instance the 

 whole side of a frond, and in another the secondary veins with the 

 parenchyma at both sides are entirely suppressed ; a phenomenon 

 which he has also observed in Scolopendrium officinale. 



Read also the commencement of a paper •* On the Influence of 

 the Dew-point on the Temperature of Plants," by D. P. Gardner, 

 M.D., of Hampden Sidney College, Virginia, communicated by the 

 Secretary. 



December 7. — R. Brown, Esq., V.P., in the Chair. 



Read, " On the Structure of the Nut known as Vegetable Ivory," 

 by Daniel Cooper, Esq., A.L.S. 



Read also the conclusion of Dr. Gardner's paper " On the In- 

 fluence of the Dew-point on the Temperature of Plants." 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



August 2nd, 1841.— John Walton, Esq., V.P., in the Chair. 



Mr. S". Stevens exhibited a number of minute British Coleoptera 

 recently captured in Kent, including specimens of a species of Mi- 

 crony x Schonh., a genus not hitherto recorded as British, but which 

 Mr. Curtis had described as a species of Pissodes (P. pygmecus). 

 Mr. Curtis still however considered his insect as distinct, being 

 smaller than Mr. Stevens's specimens ; but Mr. Walton stated that 

 he possessed specimens smaller than any of Mr. Curtis's. 



Mr. F. Parry exhibited two cases of splendid insects (chiefly non- 

 descripts) from the Himalayas. 



Mr. Westwood stated that three specimens of Carabus Schonherri 

 were taken on Ben Lomond in 1822 by A. Melly, Esq., in whose col- 

 lection he had recently observed them. Mr. White also stated that 

 there was a specimen in the British Museum cabinet, taken on Ben 

 Lawes by Dr. Leach, which had also been supposed to be this species. 



