161 



January 2Qth, 1862, 



President in the Chair. 



Professor J. D. Whitney exhibited a specimen of cinnabar, found 

 about fifteen miles north-west of Black Rock, in Nevada Territory, 

 where it is said to occur in considerable quantities. It was discov- 

 ered by Mr. C. F. Hoffman, Topographer to the Lander Wagon 

 Road Expedition. Accompanying the cinnabar was silica resem- 

 bling that occurring with the ores of mercury, in the Coast Ranges 

 of CaUfornia. 



Dr. Kellogg presented the following paper : 



The Society acknowledge their obligations to Mr. G. W. Gibbs 

 for the following new species of Astragalus, from the Sierra Nevada, 

 near the head waters of Carson river : 



Astragalus Gribbsii, (Kellogg). Fig. 50. 



Stem erect, (?) herbaceous, fistulous, flexuous (simple or) branch- 

 ing, striate, canescently short (sub-wooly) villous, one to two feet 

 in height. Leaves on short petioles (quarter to an inch in length) ; 

 leaflets dght to ten pairs, obcordate, cuneate ; on the upper stem 

 obovate, retuse, cuneate at the base, minutely villous above and 

 below, on very short petiolules, (leaflets half to an inch long, rarely 

 half an inch wide). Stipules fohaceous, triangular, acute, adnate 

 to the lowermost base of the petiole, (scarcely cohering with each 

 other beneath the petiole by a base line, which curves along the 

 insertion of either stipule to its middle, and is thence strongly 

 decurreut to the leaf below) ; upper stipules . ovate, acuminate, 

 nerved. Axillary spikes on very stout, long and striate peduncles, 

 (eight to ten inches in length) or twice as long as the leaves. 



Flowers large, (an inch long) pale-purplish tinge, nodding, rather 

 crowded at the extremity, about fifteen to twenty flowered. Bracts 

 ovate, acute, at length about as long as the pedicels. 



Calyx tubular-campanulate, the obtuse base somewhat abruptly 

 and obliquely prominent above," sub-two-Upped, two upper teeth 

 approximated, five-nerved from the teeth ; teeth very short, (about 

 quarter the tube) broadly acute, subulate pointed, calyx colored, 

 the pubescence dense, creamy white. 



Vexillum erect, broad, emarginate, plaited or folded in the center, 

 and villous on the back along the ridge, rcflexed at the sides. 

 Wings oblong, the acute apex more or less tortuous, upper margin 

 ciliate ; keel short, very obtuse. Ovary stipitate, (stipe half as 

 long as the calyx) or included, pubescent, upper suture thickened, 

 slightly inflexed from above, six to seven seeded. 



Our specimens are without mature fruit. 



