Proceedvtigs of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 191 



adpressed petiole remaining. Flowers in verticelled terminal itpUces, 

 8j)ringing sin^^ly or in pairs, or three together from the axils of braetete 

 resembling the leaves. Pedicels (about one line long) nodding, bibrac- 

 teate at the apex ; bracteoke ovate, adpresstfd, caducous. Calt/x twice as 

 long as the pedicel, bilabiate ; limb twice as long as the tube ; upper lip 

 bidentate, teeth large and divaricated at the apex ; lower lip 3.partite, 

 segments linear ; the calyx, bracteolae, and pedicels green, and closelj 

 covered with minute dark spots. Corolla orange-red, all the claws short ; 

 vexillum twice as long as the calyx, broader than long, notched, yellow 

 at the base, reflected over the upper lip of the calyx ; alae as long as the 

 vexillum, projecting forward in the centre of the flower, and spread ho- 

 rizontally, their upper (inner) edges being in contact, and tne lower 

 (outer) slightly turned upwards ; keel blunt, shorter than the alae, claws, 

 and limb as far as the angle, free, in the fissure and at the teeth on the up- 

 per edge slightly ciliated, emarginate at the apex, lobes blunt, teeth blunt 

 and equal in length to the claws. Stamens 10 ; filaments free, glabrous, 

 the upper ones somewhat flattened near the base ; anthers greenish-yel- 

 low; pollen granules small, oblong. Pistil r&ther longer than the stamens, 

 like them included within the keel, green, glabrous ; stigma small, capi- 

 tate ; style ascending, expanded into a thin colourless sickle-shaped edge 

 on its upper side unuer the stigma ; germen oblong, stipitate ; ovules 2. 

 This plant, native of the SW. coast of New Holland, was introduced into 

 Britain, according to Mr Brown, by Mr Peter Good, in 1803, but has 

 never been common in collections, and perhaps was subsequently entirely 

 lost. It was raised at the Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, from seeds com- 

 municated by Mr Newmann in 1830, and flowered for the first time in 

 April 1834. Its habit is very similar to SphceroloUum vimineum^ but its 

 spikes are more clustered, its flowers are twice as large, and their colour 

 is much finer. It should of course receive in the greenhouse the same 

 treatment as iS'. vimineum. 



Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 

 (Continued from Vol. XVI. p. 194.) 



1833, Dec, 2. — Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane, 

 President, in the Chair. At this Meeting the following com- 

 munication was read : — 



On a New Species of Coloured Fringes developed between 

 certain pieces of plate-glass, exhibiting a new variety of 

 polarization, and a peculiar property which renders them 

 available for the purposes of Micrometry. By Mungo 

 Ponton, Esq. 



The author, when he first observed these fringes, found that they 

 presented the appearance of three rectilinear bands, each consisting 

 of black, white, and coloured stripes ; but the central band was after- 

 wards found to be composed of two united into one. There is thus 

 a band for each of the four surfaces of the plates, the two side ones, 

 appertaining to the uppermost and undermost surfaces, and the cen- 

 tre ones to the surfaces which are approximated. The peculiarities 

 by which they are distinguished are as follows : — 



