PfiOCEEDlNGS. V 



is the Black Nig-htshade (Solanum nigrum), which is 

 generally considered to be poisonous. The Morelle de 

 Guinee differs from the common Morelle in having much 

 larger leaves, even Avhen grown in the same kind of soil. 

 The leaves of both sorts, it appears from the following 

 extract from ' Le Bon Jardinier ' of 1846, may be eaten 

 like Spinach : — " The Morelle (Solanum nigrum) is an 

 annual, growing naturally in Europe and America. It has 

 hitherto been considered a dangerous plant in France, 

 where, consequently, it has been treated as a noxious weed; 

 but it appears that the leaves may be used as Spinach. 

 Although it belongs to the Solanum tribe, it is, periiaps, 

 not unwholesome. It is extensively used in the Mauritius 

 under the name of Brede, and likewise in the West Indies 

 under that of Laman. Many of the Creoles who came to 

 France searched for the plant and ate it without experienc- 

 ing the least inconvenience. This plant may therefore 

 afford to iiorticulturists another resource for the summer 

 season, and can be easily increased by seeds, sown wliere the 

 plants are intended to be grown, in any open space in 

 March, April, and May," Notwithstanding, however, this 

 favourable account of a plant which has ah\ays been re- 

 garded as a poison, due caution was advised in testing its 

 qualities. 



Books Presented. 



Materials for a Fauna and Flora of Swansea and its Neighbourhood. By L. W. 



Dillwyn, F.K.S. From the Author. 

 Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. Vol. IX., Part 1. From the 



Society. 

 Review of the Agricultural Statistics of France. By the Right Hon. the Earl of 



Lovelace. From the Author. 

 Flora Batava. Nos. CLII. and CLIII, From His Majesty the King of Holland. 

 The Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society. No. XV. From the Society. 

 Ricerche intorno ad alcune Specie di Aceri." By the O&valier Michele Tenore. 



From the Author. 

 Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York. Vol. IV., Nos. X. and XI. 



From the Society. 

 Coraptes Rendus des Seances de I'Academie des Sciences, tome 'JG, and Tallies des 



Comptes Rendus, &c., tome 25. From the Society. 

 The Athenaeum for August. From the Editor. 



October 3, 1848. (Eegent Street.) 



Elections. O. C. Lane, Esq., Clifton, Bristol ; M. Ricardo, 

 Esq., Kiddington, Oxfordshire. 



Awards. Banhsian 3Iedals: To Me.ssrs. Loddiges, of Hack- 

 ney, for a collection of Orchids ; more especially for 

 Oncidium oblongatum, a somewhat scarce species, and a 

 specimen of the self-coloured variety of Miltonia spectabilis. 

 To Messrs. Rollisson, of Tooting, also for a collection of 



h 2 



