lo8 PllOCEKDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



by swarms of insects, -wliicli certainly assist the fiuclification. Among 

 the other researches noticed were Oersted's paper on Bldens plalycepha ; 

 Warming, on the spiral arrangement of the leaves of (JucurbitacecB, and on 

 Scopiola atropoidt'S and other Solanacere ; Laiige's addition to his 

 ' Handbook of the Danish Flora,' Didriclisen's ' History of Daiii;~h 

 Botany,' and Warming's ' Inaugural Thesis on the Inflorescence or Deve- 

 lopment of Enphorhia.'' The review concluded with some account of 

 recent Danish excursions to Iceland and Greenland, and the results 

 derived therefrom. — " On the Phyllotaxis of Lepldodendron." By Prof. 

 Alexander Dickson. (This will be printed in e.xlemo next month.) — 

 " On Li'ium canadense, L., var. puberutum, Toir. By Dr. Eobert 

 Brown. In the enumeration of Dr. Bigelow's C;ilifornian collections 

 in the fourth volume of the ' Pacitic Eailroad Surveys ' (Bot. p. 146), 

 Professor Torrey notes a variety of LUium canadense, distinguished by 

 its stem and peduncles being minutely pubescent, the leaves broadly 

 lanceolate, with the margin and nerves pubenilous, the flowers (2-7) 

 largely pedunculated, the sepals markedly reflexed and purple-spotted 

 within. In the course of examining his own and the late Mr. 

 Jeffrey's collection, Dr. Brown had found specimens which corre- 

 sponded to Torrey's description, but the characters are by no means 

 constant, nor are all fouud on or.e plant. In specimens of Lilium cana- 

 dense, gathered in Canada, the leaves were found quite as broad as any 

 from North-West America, and in numerous specimens of Lilium cana- 

 dense frum Oregon, California, and British Columbia, the leaves were 

 almost linear-lanceolate. The pubescence is not a constant character; 

 for while it was found on young plants, it was absent from old, nor was 

 constant in either ; most probably it is caducous. The result of this is, 

 that in all likelihood there is only one form of Liliion canadense found over 

 the whole North American continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and 

 that any varieties are merely local, and the result of habitat, age or other cir- 

 cumstances, which do not give the characters derivetl tiierefrom any kind 

 of speciiic value.—" Report on the Open Air Vegetation at the Eoyal 

 Botanical Garden." By Mr. M'Nab. 



LiTt-RARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIE'IY OF MANCHESTER. 



Feb. 21ili, 1871. — Joseph Baxendale, Esq., President of the Section, in 

 the chair. " Notes on Polygonum minus and its allies," by G. E. Hunt, 

 In reference to the discussion at this Society in November last (see p. 30), 

 as to the claims of Polygonum mite, Schrank, to rank as a native of 

 Cheshire, in support of which it was stated that "so long ago as 1828, 

 Mr. W. Wilson, of Warrington, sent the plant from a Cheshire locality 

 under the erroneous name of P. minus to the late Sir W. J. Hooker, in 

 whose herbarium at Kew the specimens still are," — Mr. Hunt stated that, 

 through the kindness of Mr. Baker, of Kew, he had been since furnished 

 with the perianths and fruit of the original specimen referred to above, 

 and had compared them carefully with P. minus and miie from various 

 stations both in Britain and from the Continent. The comparison quite 

 satisfied him that the Kew specimen from Cheshire could not be asso- 

 ciated with P. mite, but was correctly referred by Mr. Wilson to P. minus, 

 Huds. Specimens were sent to Mr. Baker for his opinion, and his reply 

 was as follows, in a letter dated 31st January, 1871 : — " I believe, now that 

 I have laid the nuts side by side, and compared them carefully, that you 

 are quite right about t\\e'Polygouiim." 1 may further add that all the 



