OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 323 



one dollar per gallon, which is fifteen cents' worth of oil per 

 bushel of corn. The alcohol or whiskey was also a valuable 

 product. 



" Dr. Jackson had separated from six to eleven per cent, 

 of pure corn oil from the eastern varieties of Zea mays, and 

 had found most oil in the Canada and rice corn. It is con- 

 tained in the gluten-cells of the grain, and is set free by de- 

 composition of those cells by fermentation." 



Three Iiuiidred aud sixty-first meeting. 



May 4, 1852. — Monthly Meeting. 



■^The Vice-President, Mr. Everett, in the chair. 



Professor Agassiz made an oral communication at considera- 

 ble length, " On the Foundation of Symmetry throughout the 

 Animal Kingdom." 



Dr. Asa Gray communicated the characters of two new 

 genera oF plants of the order Violaceas, discovered by the 

 naturalists of the United States Exploring Expedition. 



" One of these genera, of a single species, was discovered in the 

 Feejee Islands. It belongs to the tribe ViolecB, having an irregular 

 corolla, which is not unlike that of lonidium ; but the fruit is probably 

 baccate, and the stamens are diadelphous, the posterior one being dis- 

 tinct from the four others. Something like this structure occurs in 

 Corynostylis ; but the corolla of that genus is very different. The 

 genus is named in memory of the botanical draughtsman of the expe- 

 dition, the late Alfred T. Agate. I trust that the name Agatea will be 

 deemed sufficiently different from Agathea and Agati to be retained. 



^ " AGATEA, Nov. Gen. 



^ " Calyx 5-phyllus, subsequalis, basi baud productus, deciduus. Petala 

 5, erecta, insequalia ; postica lateralibus paullo minora ; anticum majus, 

 labelliforme, spathulatum, basi dilatatum gibboso-saccatum. Stamina 

 5, diadelpha, nempe ; filamenta brevia, plana, antica (glandula carnosa 

 aucta) et lateralia marginibus connata, posticum angustius distinctum : 

 antherae introrsum adnatae, loculis appositis apice liberis mucronatis ; 

 connectivo in appendicem petaloideam latam producto. Ovarium glo- 

 bosum ; placentis parietalibus 3 pluriovulatis. Stylus apice clavatus, 



