PEOeEEDEN-GS OF SOCIETIES. 59 



posing the laminas which bear the flowers in the former genus to re- 

 present the confluent branches of the panicle in the latter. Prof. 

 Thiselton Dyer doubted if the fibro- vascular bundles in the membra- 

 nous laminoe of the inflorescence of Pterimnthe^ could be compared 

 with truly axial structures. He suggested that these laminae might 

 be out-growths, like those of winged stems. — *' On Mosses of the North 

 of Ireland." By S. A. Stewart. The number of species of Irish 

 mosses appears to be 889, or more than two-thirds of those known to 

 the British Isles. Of these 195, or more than half, have been found in 

 the district composed of Down and Antrim, with a small portion of 

 Derry. The following species, determined by Mr. C. P. Hobkirk, 

 have not been previously recorded as Irish : — Fissidens tncurvis, Schw., 

 var. Lylei, found only on a greensand rock on the Black Moun- 

 tain, near Belfast ; Tayloria serrata, near the summit of Ben Bradagh 

 Mountain, Co. Derry ; Iltimm sulglohosum, on Cave Hill, near Bel- 

 fast, and Carrickfergus Common ; Seligeria calcarea, on Black Moun- 

 tain, near Belfast, appearing like black specks on small lumps of chalk 

 in the grass. — ''On English Nomenclature in Systematic Biology." 

 By E. B. Lankester. The author pointed out the immense difficulty 

 which descriptive and taxonomic terminology presented to persons 

 unfamiliar with the classical languages. He thought that this must 

 prove a very serious obstacle to the filtering down beyond the well- 

 educated classes of any large amount of genuine scientific knowledge 

 about animal and vegetable organisms. Now, inasmuch as knowledge 

 of the things, rather than the way that knowledge was expressed, 

 was the important matter, it would be desirable in more or less 

 popular instruction to use as far as possible a vernacular nomenclature. 

 He brought the matter before the Department with a view of obtain- 

 ing the opinion of the naturalists present on the feasibility, of his propo- 

 sals. — ** On an abnormality in Chrysanthemum Leucanthemum.^' By Prof. 

 Dickson. Specimens were exhibited in which the outer florets of the 

 ray (normally ligulate and female) exhibit an irregularly tubular 

 corolla, not very unlike that in the neuter florets in certain Centaureas. 

 Structurally, these abnormal florets are hermaphrodite, but appear 

 always to be functionally neuter or sterile. Mr. Bentham remarked 

 that similarly abnormal tubular florets structurally hermaphrodite, 

 and functionally neuter, occur in certain varieties of Chrysanthemum 

 tndicum, and in Dahlia. 



LiNNEAN Society, November 5th, 1874. — This was the first meeting 

 of the session. Prof. Allman, president, occupied the chair. The fol- 

 lowing new Fellows were elected, Mr. K. A. Pryor, of Hatfield ; Mr, 

 "W. Wright Wilson, of Birmingham ; and the Chev. W. H. Archer, of 

 Melbourne. — The following papers were read: — "On Lobelia Dorf- 

 manna in a floating island in Derwentwater," by Mr. J. E. Howard. The 

 phenomenon of floating islands in the lakes is only observed in hot 

 and dry seasons. The one examined on August 5th of this year was 

 in deep water about half-a-mile from the shore. It was entirely (?) 

 composed of the Lobelia with a good deal of soil mingled with the 

 tangled mass ; the buoyancy was great, several persons being easily 

 supported standing on the mass. On being pierced, gas escaped which 



