344 Botanical Society of Edinhuryh. 



horn exhibited a drawing of the Ilottteria tinctoria, named by Rox- 

 burgh in honour of his friend Rottler, and stated that he hoped to 

 obtain sufficient information to draw up a short memoir of one who 

 seems to have passed away with so shght a notice in the annals of 

 botany. 



Dr. Balfour exhibited a specimen of peat from Canty re, received 

 from His Grace the Duke of Argyll, which was composed of leaves of 

 trees and shrubs in a good state of preservation. As the examination 

 of the peat was not completed. Dr. Balfour deferred a notice of the 

 plants composing it until next meeting. 



Feb. 13, 1851. — Professor Balfour, President, in the Chair. 



Dr. Balfour exhibited a specimen of Polysiphonia subulifera, new 

 to Scotland, gathered at Lamlash, Arran, in August 1850, by Mrs. 

 Balfour. 



Dr. Balfour likewise exhibited, from the Palm House of the Royal 

 Botanic Garden, a flowering specimen oi Livistona chinensis, taken 

 from a plant 38 feet high (measuring from the floor to the extreme 

 point of the centre leaf) . The lower portion of this palm is 5 feet 

 8 inches in circumference. Above this point the stem is covered to 

 the extent of 10 feet by the bases of the fallen leaves, above which 

 54 large palmated fronds are fully expanded, besides numerous others 

 in various stages of development, and so arranged as to give the head, 

 which is 20 feet in diameter, a somewhat globular shape. This palm 

 has three flowering spadices standing upright, the largest being 3 feet 

 6 inches long. It grows in a box 5 feet square, and 5 feet 3 inches 

 deep, in soil composed of very rough brown loam, leaf mould, and 

 sand. 



The following papers were read : — 



1. "On the Composition of the Ash of Armeria maritima,^' by 

 Dr. Voelcker, Professor of Chemistry, Cirencester. (See p. 266.) 



2. " Remarks on numerous species of Diatomacece found in Peat 

 from Cantyre," by J. H. Balfour, M.D. The author observed that 

 the peat is remarkable on account of its containing an immense accu- 

 mulation of leaves which are comparatively unaltered in their structure. 

 The bed in which it occurs is stated by the Duke of Argyll to be in 

 an extensive flat or plain very little raised above the existing level of 

 the sea, full of peat mosses, strata of clay, with vegetable stems, &c. 

 It must be of ancient date, as it is covered by clay and gravel, and 

 there is reason to believe that a peat moss which is now cut away lay 

 over it. This moss, where it remains still uncut, is from 10 to 12 

 feet in depth. The forms of the leaves are well marked, and the fol- 

 lowing appear to occur : — 



Leaves of Salix caprea, S, viminalis or stipularis, and of Rumex 

 Acetosella. 



Stem and leaves of a moss. 



Stems of grasses, and of a rush. 



Leaves of a heath-like plant, either Empetrum niyruniy or a species 

 of Erica. 



Epidermis of birch. 



