382 



the several ages at which the leaves of the Assam and 

 China Tea-plants are used for making the different com- 

 mercial varieties of black and green tea. 



An examination of these specimens seemed to prove, that the leaves 

 of the China tea-plant, cultivated at the same plantation with the 

 tea-plant of Assam, are considerably less, and somewhat thicker, but 

 otherwise so exactly similar, that the two plants may well be mere 

 varieties of the same species, — an opinion now generally adopted by 

 botanists in India. The specimens further illustrated the doctrine 

 deduced from recent investigations m India, that the different kinds 

 of green and black tea are made fx-om the leaves of one species of 

 plant, collected at different periods of their development. The spe- 

 cimens were collected in April 1841. The unexpanded shoots and 

 very young leaves are marked as yielding Pekoe, a black tea, and 

 Young Hyson, a green tea, by different modes of preparation. The 

 fully-expanded, but still young leaves, are stated to produce Pou- 

 chong. Souchong, and Campoi, among the black teas, and Imperial, 

 Gunpowder, and Hyson, among the green teas. Older and firmer 

 leaves produce Congo, a black tea, and Twangkay and Hyson-skins, 

 two of the green teas ; and the oldest and coarsest of the leaves pro- 

 duce Bohea, the lowest in quality of the black teas. 



The following Donations were presented to the Society 

 since the last Meeting : — 



Proceedings of the Royal Society. No. 52. — By the Society. 

 Theoretical Investigations on the Motions of Glaciers. By W. 



Hopkins, F.R.S. — By the Author, 

 Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Seances de 1' Academic des 



Sciences. Tome xiv, Nos. 8-12 — By the Academy. 

 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 1841. No. 116. — By 



the Society. 

 Elements of Agricultural Chemistry and Geology. By James F. 



W. Johnston, F.R.S. — By the Author. 



