40 PROCEEDINGS OE THE 



Sir DiETKiCH Beaxdis, K.C.I.E., F.R.S., F.L.S., exhibited spe- 

 cimens of Gelsemium eler/ans which Mr. Smales, Deputy Conservator 

 of Forests, had sent him from Upper Burma. It is known there, as 

 well as in China, as a most deadly poison. Mr. Smales writes : 

 " Very deadly creeper ; decoction of roots kills instantly, leaves 

 also fatal." The alkaloid seems to be similar to strycliniue and 

 gelsemine, the product of species of Strxjclinos and of the North- 

 American shrub, Gelsemium semper vir ens, both of the Order 

 Loganiacese. 



He also exhibited a most remarkable specimen received from 

 the Tharaundi Forests in Lower Burma : a hollow cylinder, about 

 12 inches high and just under 3 inches in diameter, of a soft but 

 tough white leathery substance, which had grown as the lining of 

 a Bamboo-joint. This was identified by Mr. G. Massee, F.L.S., 

 from the presence of characteristic conidia on the inner surface of 

 the cylinder, with Polyporus anthehninticus, Berk., which forms 

 thick irregularly-shaped masses on old Bamboo culms near the 

 ground. An analogous case, to which Mr. Massee drew attention, 

 is that of the Pohjjiorus which grows on Samhucus nvjra, the 

 mycelium of which is often found in the white pith of the Elder, 

 sometimes entirely displacing the pith. 



Colonel Geobge Colomb sent for exhibition a fragment of a 

 branch of a Thorn, which had been given to him by Mr. Thorns, 

 gardener in Hyde Park. This branch shows the mischief done to 

 thorns near London by larvae which had been identifi:ed as those 

 of the Wood Leopard Moth, Zeuzera yEsculi, Linn. The House- 

 Sparrow was stated to destroj^ numbers of the perfect insect on 

 their emergence. Further remarks were contributed by Dr. D. 

 Sharp, the Chairman, and Mr. E. M. Holmes. 



The following papers Avere read : — 



1. "The Anatomy and Development of Comt/s infelix, Embleton, 

 aHymenopterous Parasite of Lecanium hemisplicericum." By Alice 

 L. Embleton. (Communicated by Dr. D. Sharp, F.E.S., F'L.S.) 



2. "Notes on the Transition of Opposite Leaves into the 

 Alternate Arrangement : a new Factor in Morphologic Obser- 

 vation." By Dr. Percy Groom, F.L.S. (See p. 48.) 



June 18th, 1903. 



Prof. Sydket H. Vixes, F.E.S., President, in the Chair. 



The Minutes of the last Meeting x^ere read and confirmed. 



Messrs. Albert "William Bartlett, John Clayton, and David 

 Thomas were elected, and Messrs. E. A. Nexxell Arber and George 

 Wallace Eustace were admitted Fellows of the Society. 



A volume of portraits of eminent men of science, compiled 

 by Dr. E. C. A. Prior, about 1854, was presented to the Society by 



