PIIOCICEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 91 



well-voiicbed-for specimen was shown iu sllu at tlie last International Ex- 

 hibition in London, — among such the Tweed valley seeds may find be- 

 lievers. It would be unfair to criticize, in detail, so carefully condensed 

 a summary, and with two remarks we nuiy take our leave of a very useful 

 book. The first is, that a little stronger ground might have been taken 

 (p. 751) as to the assimilation by plants of uncombined nitrogen. Any 

 chemist knows how all but impossible it is that this could happen, and 

 amongst modern workers, the experiments of Lawes and Gdbert may be 

 accepted as conclusive even against those of M. Yille. Lastly, the old 

 belief that the temperature of trees exposed to great heat, is lower than 

 that of the surrounding air, is no longer justified, as the careful experi- 

 ments of Becquerel* show that the reverse is really the case, there being 

 at least as much as 1° Centigrade difference. 



W. T. T. D. 



,|1rocccbrngs ai Sociclics. 



LiNNEAN Society. — December \st, 1870.— G. Bcntham, Esq., in tlie 

 chair. The following papers were read by the President: — " A Supple- 

 mentary Note on Chinese Silkworm Oaks," from Dr. H. F. Hance. The 

 author had previously pointed out that Q. moiicjollca, Fisch., was the Oak 

 on which the silkworm larva of the north of Cliina chiefly fed. He now 

 showed that Q. serrata, of Thuuberg, is another silkworm-rearing species. 

 Also " On the Sources of the Radix Gulungce mhioris of Pharmacologists," 

 by the same. The source of the lesser Galaiigal has long been doubtful. 

 Dr. Hance, during an ex[)edition to the north coast of Haenan, found the 

 dried roots exposed to the sun in baskets, and in the same district the plant 

 itself was seen in cultivation, and subsequently discovered growing wild. 

 It is a species of Al/jbiia, not A. chlneaah as has been supposed, but a 

 species closely allied to A. culcarata. Rose. Dr. Hance believes it to be 

 undescribed, and he has named it A. officbiarum. It seems probable that 

 its fruit is the " bilter-seedcd Cardamom," figured by Mr. Hanbury in 

 riiarni. Journ. vol. xiv. p. 418. f. 8. 



December I'oth. — G. Bentham, Esq., President, in the chair. The fol- 

 lowing communications were read : — " On Sabadilla {Asagraa officinalis), 

 from Caracas," by A. Ernst. The plant is found abundantly in the 

 neighbourhood of Caracas, and the drug which is prepared from the seeds 

 is largely exported thence to Hamburg. It has not been previously known 

 out of ]\Iexico, and the Venezuelan form differs slightly from the Me:):ican 

 type ; should it prove distinct, M. Ernst proposes to call it A, caracasana. 

 — " On BarliiKjtonia califoridca, the Californian Pitcher-plant," by W. 

 Ilobinson. It grows at an altitude of 5000 feet, in the Sierra Nevada. 

 The ])itchers are as large as Jargonelle Pears, and are all twisted spirally 

 in their upper portion. At the lower part is found a layer of from 2 to 5 

 inches of the remains of insects which have been attracted by some un- 

 known cause. The pitcher is about 2 inches wide at the top, and narrows 

 gradually to about a line at the base ; the lower part is densely beset with 



* 'Memou-es de I'lustitut,' t. 35, p. 467. 



