BOTANICAL NEWS. 223 



(from the Hanbury herbarium) B. Plcqifaiyil, Hook, fil., from 

 Somah Land, with its gum called " Hotai," and examples of the 

 several varieties of Myrrh, Beesabol, and Bdellium. — An account 

 of a remarkable Peatflood in the Falkland Islands, by Mr. Arthur 

 Bailey, was communicated by Mr. W. T. Thiselton Dyer. Just 

 after midnight, 29th November, 1878, it was discovered that a 

 black moving mass of peat several feet high was moving towards 

 the settlement at the rate of between four and five miles an hour. 

 The next morning (30th) it was found that the town of Stanley 

 was cut in two, communication between east and west end only 

 being possible by boats. Fortunately no lives were lost. — The 

 Secretary read in abstract a i)aper ' Notes on Mognilea, with 

 description of a new species,' by Mr. John Miers. The author 

 marks the difference between Moguilea and Licania, genera often 

 confounded. In lAcania the tubular five-toothed calyx always 

 enlarges considerably, and finally encloses and conceals the fruit. 

 In Moquilea the small five-toothed calyx scarcely enlarges, but 

 remains persistent, supporting the larger fruit. .In Licania half of 

 its stamens are fertile and unilateral, the rest without anthers 

 follow consecutively, all placed on an elevated membranous ring. 

 In Moquilea the stamens vary in number in the several species 

 from five to forty, all free and distinct to the base and seated 

 in the mouth of the small calyx. In Licania the fruit is concealed 

 within the augmented calyx : it consists of a hard pericarp 

 containing a single seed, with a slender embryo embedded in a 

 fleshy albumen. In Moquilea the fruit is larger, supported by the 

 unchanged calyx, and contains a single erect seed : its testa is 

 membranaceous and bilamellar, exhibiting a branching raphe or 

 network of numerous vessels ; the albumen is solid and as hard 

 as ivory, containing an embryo of fleshy or corneous cotyledons 

 partially conferruminated and hollow in the centre. A new 

 species, Moquilea organensis, is then described. 



iSotantcal Nttos* 



At the anniversary meeting of the Linnean Society, held May 

 24th, an unanimous vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Kippist, 

 who for the long period of forty years has held the post of 

 Librarian, and whose failing health has compelled him to give up 

 some of its duties. 



Elisabetha, Contessa Fiorini-Mazzanti, died at Piome on April 

 23rd, at the great age of eighty-nine. She was the author of 

 many papers on Cryptogamic Botany, especially Algae ; and her 

 name is commemorated in the genus of Grasses Fiorinia, Pari., 

 and also in Mazzantia, Mart. (Fungi). 



The death is recorded at Sondershausen, on April 28th, of 

 Thilo Irmisch, aetat. sixty-four, well-known for his numerous 

 valuable memoii's on the morphology of Phanerogams, esx)ecially 



