BOTANICAL NEWS. 2U7 



appear that the position of the cotyledon or cotyledons is, as a rule, constant 

 as regards the mesial plane of the seed.* It is to be presumed that the con- 

 dition in PhcBiiix depends on the developing embryo lying sometimes in one 

 way, sometimes in another, in a cavity of a definite shape which it ultimately 

 fills and moulds itself to. It is of com-se to be understood that the embryo 

 here is usually nnsymmetrical, i. e. its morphological mesial plane nsually does 

 not coincide with the mathematical mesial plane of the conical body. Dr. 

 Dickson hopes to extend his observations, and to publish some analyses of the 

 embryo. VII. Miscellaneous Communications. 1. Professor Balfour read a 

 letter from Mr. G-. Daimt, of San Paulo, Brazil, in which were enclosed the 

 seeds of the Lizard plant, a supposed snake antidote, 2. Mr. C. W. Peach ex- 

 hibited some remarkably distinct natural prints of Desmarestia aeuleata and 

 D. vlridis, on pieces of rock from Stromness. 3. Mr. Adam White, who had 

 lately paid a visit to Ben Ledi, in Perthshire, gave some account of the spring 

 vegetation on that mountain, aiid particularly noticed some of the rarer Mosses 

 he had observed. 4. A letter was read from Mr. Frere, of Roydon Hall, Diss, 

 transmitting specimens of light diiferent "Dogwoods" from the Government 

 powder works at Waltham Abbey for examination. Mr. Sadler stated that he 

 had examined these woods, and found them all to be that of Rhamniis Frangula, 

 A nurseryman in Edinburgh had lately received a large quantity of the plants 

 of Cornus masciila, as the powder " Dogwood." He was not aware, however, 

 that the wood of this species was ever used for powder charcoal, and thought 

 that the plants must have been sent by mistake. The wood of Rhamnus Fran- 

 gula was easily distinguished from that of Corniis, from its becoming yellow 

 when moistened, and having coloured medullary rays, and alternate branches, 



LiNNEAN Society. — 31ag 5t7i. — G-. Bentliam, F.R.S., President, in the chair. 

 The following letters were read. By the President from Dr. Ernst, of Caracas, on 

 the Incense plant, called Trixis neriifolia by Hvimboldt and Bonpland ; Dr. 

 Ernst proposed to make it a distinct genus, to be called Libanothamnus. By 

 Dr. Hooker, from Dr. Kirk, of Zanzibar, on the Copal Resin of the district. 

 Dr. Kirk found large masses on some trees remarkable for their size. The 

 resin, specimens of which were exhibited, had much the appearance of amber, 

 and, like it, contained fragments of plants, insects, and debris. Specimens were 

 also dug up from the earth in spots where there ai-e at present no copal- bearing 

 trees, which must have lain buried for centuries. 



The last-published part (vol. xxvi. part 4) of the ' Linnean Transactions ' 

 contains Mr. Carruthers' valuable monograph of the fossil Cycadece from the 

 secondary rocks of Britain, and Professor Williamson's paper on a new type 

 of fossil CycadecB. Professor Babington's long-expected Flora of Iceland 



* Hofmeister, Handbuch der Physiol. Botanik, AUgemeine Morphologic der 

 Gewachec, pp. 620-1. 



