SOCIETY OF PHYSICS AND NATURAL HISTORY OF GENEVA. 371 



Favre annouuccd (5th Marcli) that the Society of Natural History of Bcn-iie liad 

 purchased, in order to insure its presentation, an erratic l)h)ck meaVuriiii^- 320,000 

 cuLic feet and situated near InterUiken. It is a beautiful red granite of unknown 

 origin. 



§ G. — UOTANT. 



Tlie natural sciences have assnni(>d a new phase since the pnLlication of Dar- 

 win's work on species. What is designated hy that word ? And, since s])ecie3 

 is variable, how is that varia\)ility to be indicated? By what artifice of nonien- 

 cLiture are we to reveal to the sa\ants of future times the metamorphoses and 

 filiations which are accomplished under our eyes ? 



These philosophical prol)lems have rendered the naturalists of different coun- 

 tries sensible of the utility of reunions in which they may be discussed in a sci- 

 entific manner. Our society has not been insensible to the honor conferred on 

 one of its members, who was called in May, 1866, to preside over the first con- 

 gress of botanists assembled in the capital of England. The connnittee of the 

 botanical society of France, charged with organizing a second session at Paris, 

 in August, 1867, invited M. Alphonse de Candolle anew to act as president of 

 that assembly. The learned professor had given us the programme of a plan 

 relative to the laws of nomenclature, in which, for the first time, he had co-ordi- 

 nated them as the articles of a code. This plan, submitted to a special commis- 

 sion, was adopted by the congress, which caused it to be inseruxl in its transac- 

 tions. After an enunciation of general principles, the difl'erent subjects are 

 grouped according to their nature, and each provision is marked with a number, 

 so that it can be always referred to with distinctness. It is known that Lin- 

 nssus has given laws inider phrases thus numl)ered, but he has not indicated 

 the directing principles ; many of his laws were arbitrary and certain points of 

 view completely pretermitted. M. de Candolle has been more methodical and 

 more complete than his predecessors. lie has been led to justify the usages 

 followed by his father, by Adrien de Jussien, Robert Brown, Hooker, Lindley, 

 and still observed by jMM. de ^Martins, Bentham, the younger Hooker, and 

 others. By an immense majority of the members of the congress, the system of 

 our colleague was voted to be the best guide to follow for botanical nonienclotare. * 



At another session (7th May) M. de Candolle presented to us some additional 

 details on the subdivision of cultivat'ed species into hybrids^ mongrels, [mciis,) 

 semis, and lusus. The hybrids being designated by the sign X, the nn-tis by x, 

 the author proposes the sign y/ to distinguish the semis and a z for the lusus. 

 Such, it may be added, is the stage of advancement of descriptive botany that, 

 at the end of the jiresent century, nearly the whole of the genera will probably 

 be known, while much will remain to be done in the investigation of s})ecies. 

 {Archives dcs Sciences, (f'C, t. xxx, p. 278.) 



M. de Candolle called our attention (2d January) to a note of M. Venance 

 Payod, of Chamonix.on vegetation in the regiiju of ice ; it comprises a very (com- 

 plete list of vegetable s])ecies which are grown at the garden on thesloi)esof the 

 Mer de Glace and its alHuents. The same memlter gave an account (otli ]March) 

 of his researches respecting the important family of the Cycadea". 



It is at present composed of nine genera and 64 species, half of which inhabit 

 America, while the rest are divided between the Old World and Australia. It is 

 scarcely probable that the whole actual number of species exceeds 100, while it 

 made a conspicuous figure in ancient geological times. A thorough examination of 

 facts leads M. de Candolle to adopt tin; opinimi of Robert lirown on tho natin-e 



' Lots dc la numcnclatiire, botnnirjuc, udopttd by tlie iutcnmlioiifil conprivss of hofimy. held 

 in Piuis ill Anpust, lH(i7; foUuwed by a second edition of tlic Ilistorirnl Iiilroilurluin and 

 Coiiiinfintury wliich accompanied the preparatory aumniary presented to tlie congress. Gen- 

 eva &. Bale, Georg, editor : a vohune of 04 pages. 



