IT PEOCEEDINGS OF THE 



Read a Paper " On a new genus of Ferns ;" by Thomas Moore, 

 Esq., r.L.S. &e. 



The reading was commenced of a Paper " On the Natural His- 

 tory of the Glowworm {Lmnpyris noctiluca, L.) ;" by the late 

 George Newport, Esq., F.R.S., F.L.S. &c. Prepared from the 

 Author's MS. by Prof Ellis of University College. (See " Zoolo- 

 gical Proceedings," p. 40.) 



January 15th, 1856, 



Thomas BeU, Esq., President, in the Chair. 



Nathaniel H. Mason, Esq., John E. Mummery, Esq., and E. J. 

 Shuttleworth, Esq., were elected EeUows. 



The Eev. C. A. Johns, E.L.S., exhibited a drawing, and a spe- 

 cimen in spirit, of the SpJiceria militaris, found by him in June 

 last, growing upon a chrysalis among dead leaves, in Buckley Yale, 

 Devon. 



Mr. "WiUiam Matchwick, with the permission of the President, 

 exhibited specimens of the fruit, and a tracing of the leaf, of 

 Paulownia imperialis, gathered by him on the 18th ult. in the 

 neighbourhood of the Champs Elysees, Paris, where the fruit had 

 ripened in the open air, on a tree about 20 ft. high. 



Mr. "W. "W. Saunders, E.E.S., E.L.S. &c., exhibited several spe- 

 cimens of a kind of insect- wax, and of several vegetable substances, 

 collected by Mr. E. W. Plant in Natal ; and read the following 

 extract from INIr. Plant's letter relating to them, dated Natal, 

 15th August 1855 :— 



" Loose in the box you will find some berries (Atvmber). The 

 outer covering contains tannin of great strength, and excellent ink 

 is made of them. The kernel yields oil, but of its quality or 

 quantity I cannot speak. I have also sent a small parcel of 

 insect-wax (^Gian), which, if it does not compete with that of 

 China, may have peculiarities of its own worth knowing. It is in 

 extensive use among the Kafiirs for a very singular purpose. 

 Every man taking a wife is distinguished by wearing a coronet, 



