Linncean Society, 1% 



on being taken brought the two parent birds to its assistance, and 

 they continued to fly round in circles, uttering piercing cries, for a 

 considerable time. The bird is usually a spring visitant, and but 

 very rarely continues throughout the sunniier, and breeds in this 

 country. Neither Latham nor Montagu mentions an instance of 

 its continuing and breeding with us. 



Read also a description of the Pithecia leucocephala of Geoffroy 

 St. Hilaire, the Saki and Yarke of Buffon. By Robert H. Schomburgk. 



This monkey belongs to the Plaii/rrhirii, a tribe which comprises 

 all the American forms, with the exception of the genera Jacchus 

 and Midas (the Marmzeit monkeys). The adult male is of a shin- 

 ing black, except the face, and the female is of a brown colour. It 

 is a native of the interior of British Guiana, about a day's journey 

 from the banks of the Rupununy, where they were observed by 

 Mr. Schomburgk in considerable numbers. 



Dec. 6. — Flowering specimens of the sea-side grape (Coccoloba 

 puhescens) were exhibited from the Botanic Garden at Cambridge. 



A. B. Lambert, Esq., V.P., exhibited specimens of two sorts of 

 the Peruvian grain called Quinoa, from his garden at Boyton House, 

 Wilts, one of which, the dark-coloured kind, he regards as a distinct 

 species, for which he proposed the nan^e oi' Chenopodium altissimum. 

 The stenjs exhibited to the meeting were upwards ol 12 feet in height. 



Mr. Ward, F.L.S., exhibited specimens of two remarkable para- 

 sitic plants, one the Aphyieia Hydnora^ from the Cape of Good 

 Hope, and related to tlie gigantic Rqfflesia of the Indian Islands; 

 the other Cynomorium coccineum from the vicinity of Mount Sinai, 

 where it is eaten by the natives. This last is also found in Malta, 

 Sicily, and Barbary, where, however, the plant is extremely local. 



Read, a notice by Mr, Lambert, on the culture of the Quinoa 

 in Upper Peru, where, on the high plains, at an elevation of 

 13,000 feet above the level of the sea, scarcely any other grain is 

 cultivated ; but since the introduction of corn from Europe, the 

 cultivation of the Quinoa has greatly diminished in Lower Peru 

 and in Chili. 



Read also. Descriptions of two species of the natural order Co" 

 niferse. By Professor Don, Libr. L.S. 



One of these is the Pinus brutiay a native of Brutium or Calabria, 

 and nearly related to the maritime pine of Greece j the other is the 

 Araucaria Cunningham ii, from the east coast of New Holland, ob- 

 served by Banks and Solanderin tiie first voyage of Cook, and since 

 by Brown in the voyage of Flinders, and by Mr. Cunningham in 

 that of Capt. King, and in the land expedition of Oxley to the river 

 Brisbane. We subjoin the characters of these two species. 



PiNUS BRUTiA, Ten. 

 P. foliis geminis praelongis tenuissimis undulatis, strobilis sessilibus 

 conglomeratis ovatis laevibus : squamis apice truncatis planius- 

 culis umbilicatis. 

 Distinguished from P. maritima and halepensis by its very long 

 wavy leaves, and by its shorter, sessile, clustered cones, with the 

 scales de})ressed and slightly concave at their apex. 

 Third Series. Vol. 10. No. 58. Jan. 1837. L 



