Jan. 16, 1844.] Linnean Society. 183 



adhering most firmly to the stone, and resembling at a distance a 

 mixture of mortar and lime. The stem rises from the centre of this 

 mass, and having first taken a bend outwards of several inches, rises 

 straight to a height of forty feet. It throws out from the top short 

 branches covered with a very bright green foliage, the leaves being 

 narrow and rounded at the end, five or six inches in length by one 

 broad, and crimped like the frill of a shirt, or rather like the sea- weed 

 called by children on the English coast " the old gentleman's ruffles." 

 The usual girth of the stem is from a foot to eighteen inches. The 

 bark is perfectly smooth and consists of four distinct layers, the 

 outermost of which is very thin ; the two next of a singularly fine 

 texture, resembling oiled letter-paper, perfectly transparent, of a 

 beautiful amber-colour, and used by the Somaulis to write upon ; 

 and the innermost about an inch thick, of a dull reddish hue, tough 

 and not unlike leather, but yielding a strong aromatic perfume. The 

 wood is white and soft. On making a deep incision into the inner 

 rind, the gum exudes profusely, of the colour and consistence of milk, 

 but hardening into a mass by exposure to the air. The young trees 

 produce the best and most valuable gum, the older merely yielding 

 a clear glutinous fluid resembling Copal varnish and exhaling a 

 strong resinous odour. During the S.W. monsoon the pastoral tribes 

 in the neighbourhood of Ras Feeluk collect large quantities of frank- 

 incense, which they barter with the Indian Banyans, of whom a few 

 reside at the vjUages along the Abyssinian coast. Boats from Ma- 

 cuUa and from other parts of the Arabian coast also come across du- 

 ring the fine season and carry away the gums that have been accu- 

 mulated, in exchange for a coarse kind of cotton cloth which is worn 

 by the shepherds. 



January 16, 1844. 



E. Forster, Esq., V.P., in the Chair. 



Thomas Harrison, Esq., M.D., Edward Hamilton, Esq., M.D., 

 WiUiam Francis, Esq., Ph. D., Augustus W. Clement, Esq., M.D., 

 and John Mussendine Camplin, Esq., were elected Fellows. 



Read an extract from a letter addressed by John Ashton Bostock, 

 Esq., Assistant Surgeon in H.M. 3rd Buffs, to his father John Bos- 

 tock, Esq., M.D., F.L.S. 



