58 Linnean Society. [March 3, 



slit near the apex ; outer valve white, inner valve brown, and form- 

 ing a persistent operculum or lid. Thecee roundish, stipitate, half 

 surrounded by an articulated ring. Sporules numerous, angular. 



Read, " Observations on a certain Crystalline Matter found on the 

 recently cut surfaces of the Wood of the Red Cedar." By Edwin J. 

 Quekett, Esq., F.L.S. 



Mr. Quekett remarked, that on the recently cut surfaces of the 

 wood of the Red Cedar {Juniperus virginiana) a crystalline matter is 

 observed to form, which puts on the appearance of a mouldiness, but 

 which, when viewed with a magnifying glass, is seen to consist of 

 innumerable extremely minute crystals of an acicular form. The 

 substance was observed to form on the duramen or heart wood only, 

 and not universally, but in patches. It is easily volatilized by heat, 

 and gives out the well-known odour of the wood. Mr. Quekett 

 showed that the duramen of the red cedar contains an abundance of 

 a concrete volatile oil, on which the peculiar odour depends, and 

 that the crystalline substance is a compound formed between the air 

 and the oil, for when the latter was obtained from the wood, and ex- 

 posed to the action of the air, it was soon also found to be covered 

 with the same acicular crystals. This substance, which possesses 

 many of the properties of benzoic acid, Mr. Quekett considers new, 

 and he proposed for it the name of Cedarine. 



March 3. 



Mr. Brown, V.P., in the Chair. 



Mr. Francis Boyle Garty, of Camberwell, and the Rev. William 

 Strong Hore, M.A., of Devonport, were elected Fellows; and Mr. 

 Frederick John Bird, of Wilmington Square, was elected an Associate 

 of the Society. 



Mr. Ward, F.L.S. , exhibited a specimen of the Agnus Scythicus, 

 or Vegetable Lamb, from the collection of the Apothecaries' Com- 

 pany. 



Read, " A Note on the Fern known as Aspidium Baromez." By 

 Mr. John Smith, A.L.S. 



This plant, of which a description by Mr. Westcott was read at 

 the preceding Meeting, and of which an abstract has been given, 



