Report from Botanical Section, 197 



1847. 



Nov. 3.— By Books, £88 16 3 



— Binding Books, 16 10 



— Printing Proceedings, 16 10 



— Stationery, &e 15 19 6 



— Rent of Hall, 15 



— Sundries for Postages, &c 14 18 6 



— Cash in Union Bank, 119 15 2 



£287 9 5 



At the beginning of last session the members on the roll were 182, and 

 during the session 41 were admitted members; 2 of these have died, and 

 several have removed from Glasgow, leaving the number on the roll 213. 

 The Treasurer also reported that the amount of overplus from the Philo- 

 sophical Society's Exhibition was now £471 Is. lid. 



Mr. Gourlie gave in the following report from the botanical section : — 



" 1st Nov. 1847. — The section recommenced its meetings this evening 

 — Mr. W. Gourlie in the chair. Dr. Walker Arnott was elected Presi- 

 dent, Mr. Gourlie Vice-President, Mr. Francis Leeshing Curator of the 

 Herbarium, Mr. W. Keddie Secretary. Dr. Arnott presented specimens 

 of Schizaea pusilla from Quaker's Bridge, New Jersey, being the only 

 station in the world where this fern has been found ; also specimens of 

 Phylloglossum Drummondii, from New Zealand, a plant allied to Lyco- 

 podium, not having a bulbous root. A small collection of Fungi were 

 received from Mr. James Davis, Edinburgh. Mr. Leeshing reported on 

 the state of the Herbarium, and presented some German plants." 



Mr. Gourlie moved for a grant of £5 to be expended on the Herbarium 

 of the botanical section, and, in the absence of Mr. Smith, described a 

 living plant of the Tussock grass, or Dactylis ccespitosa, from the Lews. 

 The seed was brought from the Falkland Islands, and sown in the spring 

 of 1845 in pure moss simply delved, with a small quantity of guano thrown 

 upon the surface. The specimen shown was one of the most perfect yet 

 produced in this country. Thirty-seven plants have come to maturity, 

 two of which carried seed last year. They grew in an inclosure fourteen 

 yards square, formed by a turf wall six feet high, and situated within 

 thirty yards of the sea. 



Dr. R. D. Thomson exhibited a specimen of chrome iron ore, on the 

 surface of which was a green crystalline body, which had been mistaken 

 for oxide of chrome, but which, on being analyzed last winter in the College 

 laboratory by Mr. Brown, was found to be a carbonate of Nickel. The 

 specimen was from North America, and was presented to Dr. Thomson 

 1>\ Mr. John Tennent of the Bonnington Chemical Works. 



Mr. Gourlie exhibited several star fishes dredged by him last summer 

 off the Island of Bute. 



