Gelehrte Gesellschaften. 29 



l'erufener Männer das Gelingen seines langgehegten Wunsches einer 

 Verwalirheitung sich bald erfreuen wird. 

 Messina, im Januar 1884. 



Gelehrte Gesellschaften. 



Liuueau Society of London. 



Sitzung vom 1. November 1883. 

 Frank Crisp, Esq., Vice-President, in the chair. — Messrs. T. E. Gunn 

 and A. Hutton were elected Fellows. — A donation to the Society of 

 several interesting lettres ofLinnaeus (1736 — 1769) to G. D. Ehret, the 

 eminent botanical artist, was announced by the chairman, and an unanimous 

 vote of thanks thereupon recorded to the Misses Grover and Mr. Charles 

 Ehret Grover for their valuable donation. — Mr. H. Grroves showed 

 examples of Ohara Braunii from Ashton-under-Lyne , and Mr. Arthur 

 Bennett of Najas marina from Hickling Broad, Norfolk. — Mr. J. 

 Starkie Gardner i-ead a paper on Alnus Richardsoni, a fossil fruit 

 from the London C 1 a y o f H e r n e B a y. The s^jecies has been described 

 by Bowerbank, and commented on by Carruthers, Ettinghausen 

 and many other authors v?ho have written upon the plants of the Tertiary 

 formation. Originally considered as allied to Casuarina , Dr. Robert 

 Brown suggested its affinities to the Proteaceae, a view afterwards upheld 

 by Carruthers and others. Ettinghausen thereafter regarded it as 

 a product of a conifer (Sequoia), and S a p o r t a compared the fruit to that 

 of Dammara. Mr. G a r d n e r enters fully into the structural peculiarities of 

 the fossil fruit jin question, and satisfactorily demonstrates that it belongs 

 to the Betulaceae under the genus Alnus. — A paper by Miss G. Lister 

 was read, „On the Origin oftheplacentasinthetribeofAlsineae 

 ofthe Order Caryophylleae". This communication is based on a series 

 of observations on the development of a number of genera and species. The 

 author concludes that the capsule in the Alsineae is developed on essentially 

 the same plan as that of Lychnis, the difference in the various genera 

 being merely dependent upon the relative height attained by the carpels on 

 the one band and by the central axis on the other. This being so, itfollows 

 that, if the carpellary origin of the placentas in Lychnis be accepted, the 

 placentas in the Alsineae, from Sagina apetala, which most resembles Lychnis, 

 to Cerastium triviale, which most widely differs from it, are also carpellary. 



Sitzung vom 15. November 1883. 

 Sir John Lubbock, Bart., President, in the chair. — Messrs. P. 

 Crowley and J. Murray were elected Fellows of the Society. — Mr. Chas. 

 B. Plowright exhibited a young pear tree showing Roestelia cancellata 

 Jacq., produced from Podisoma Sabinae, therefore supporting the observations 

 of A. S. Örsted, in „Botaniska Notiser" for 1865; also examples of Puccinia 

 graminis on wheat, produced from Aecidium on Mahonia Aquifolium; the 

 aecidiospores were sown on .June 2nd, 1883, the uredospores appeared June 

 lOth , 1883 and the ripe P. graminis was gathered Sept. lOth , 1883. He 

 likewise called attention to examples of Aecidium Rum icis on Rumex obtusi- 

 folius, R. Hydrolapathum, R. conglomeratus, and Rheum officinale, the same 

 being produced from Puccinia Phragmitis. — Mr. T. Christy exhibited a 

 fine living and healthy specimen of Trevesia sundaica Miq. (the so- 

 called Gastonia palmata), or probably a new species. This peculiar and 

 handsome plant has rarely been seen in this country, and of late years 

 almost been lost sight of. ~ Mr. F. J. Warner drew attention to a series 

 of specimens of Orchis incarnata from Hampshire, whei-ein considerable 

 variations in colouring were manifest. — A paper was read by Mr. A. W. 

 Bennett „On the reproduction ofthe Zygnemaceae" as a Solution 

 of the question — is it a sexual character ? D e B a r y , twenty-five years 



