424 Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 



form the office of stomata ; but he was unable to discover any orifice 

 among the cells, or any communication with intercellular spaces 

 below them. In their structure and general arrangement they bear 

 a closer resemblance to certain modifications of hairs than to any 

 other epidermal organs ; and the author considers it not improbable 

 that they are the result of the same tendency of the epidermal tissue 

 under water as that which produces hairs when this tissue is ex- 

 posed to the influence of the atmosphere. 



June 18. — Robert Brown, Esq., President, in the Chair. 



The President exhibited portions of ti-unks of Winter's Bark Trees 

 from the Straits of Magellan, cut down in 1826 by Captain P. P. 

 King, R.N., offering inscriptions made through the bark by a mid- 

 shipman who accompanied the Spanish expedition under Captain 

 Cordoba in 1786, and by one of the companions of Captain Bou- 

 gainville in 1767 ; the annual rings in the former case distinctly cor- 

 responding with the interval between 1786 and 1826. He also made 

 some observations on the structure of the woody vessels of the genus. 



Mr. Adam White, F.L.S., exhibited several elaborate drawings 

 by Mr. P. H. Gosse, A.L.S., representing various species of Rotifera 

 found in the neighbourhood of London, and stated that Mr. Gosse 

 had confirmed the opinion which Cuvier entertained in regard to 

 the true position of the Rotifera, and that they have no connexion 

 with the Radiata, by his observations on their internal structure, and 

 especially by the presence of mandibles, maxillae and maxillary palpi. 

 The drawings exhibited the development of Stephanoceros Eichhorni 

 from the egg to the adult state, as also that of the males of 

 Asplanchnu Brightwellii and a species of Brachionus. Mr. White 

 added, that in 1843 at least. Professor Milne-Edwards was also 

 aware, from the researches of Ehrenberg, of the true division of the 

 animal kingdom to M'hich the Rotifera belong. He further stated 

 his own belief that the so-called Acarus folUculorum, Simon (Demo- 

 dex, Owen ; Entozoon, Wilson), and probably also Tardiyradus, are 

 parasitic Rotifera, with legs or leg-like appendages adapted to their 

 peculiar habits ; and that their retractile antenna-like subtelescopic 

 appendages may have eyes passing through them as in the snails, 

 and may also be the equivalents of the rota, but from the limited, 

 or rather the absolutely restricted, power of motion of these animals, 

 liaving neither the ciliary processes nor the movements and cecono- 

 mical uses of the appendages so characteristic of most of the Ro- 

 tatoria. 



BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. 



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



The followmg papers were read : — 



1. " On Lastrea uliginosa, Newm.," by Thomas Moore, F.L.S. 

 (Seep. 301.) 



Sir Walter Trevelyan noticed the occurrence of L. spinulosa in 

 woods near Dingwall. 



2. " Notice of British Hieracia,'" by James Backhouse, jun,, Esq. 



