454 Miscellaneous Intelligence. 
gical Society has just published a half volume of transactions,’ 
being the commencement of a new series. It contains the 
following papers: On the Geology of the Southern Coast of 
England from Bridport to Babbacombe Bay, Devon. By H. 
T. De la Beche, Esq. On the Bagshot Sand, by Henry War- 
burton, Esq. On a Freshwater Formation in Hordwell Cliff, 
by Mr. Webster. On Glen Tilt, by Dr. Mac Culloch. On the 
Excavation of Valleys by Diluvian Action, by the Rev. Professor 
Buckland. On the Genera Icthyosaurus and Plesiosaurus, by 
' the Rev. W. Conybeare. Outline of the Geology of Russia, by 
the Hon. William T. H. Fox Strangways. On the Geology 
of the Coast of France, Department de la Seine Inferieure, by 
A. T. de la Beche, Esq. On the Valley of the Sutluj, in the 
Himalaya Mountains, by H. T. Colebrooke, Esq. On the North- 
Eastern Border of Bengal, by H. 7. Colebrooke, Esg., with 
various other papers, and notices; the whole illustrated by .24 
plates, maps, and sections, many of them coloured. 
16. On the Native Country of the Potato——Since the pub- 
lication of my paper on the Native Country of the Potato, or 
Solanum tuberosum, in a late number of “ the Quarterly Journal,” 
the wild potato has been gathered in Chili by Mr. Caldcleugh, 
a gentleman who has been several years resident in South 
America, and two roots brought by him from thence, have 
been cultivated in the garden of the Horticultural Society. The 
roots, although very small, grew remarkably luxuriant, and the 
stems produced by them covered a space full four yards in cir- 
cumference. Being planted in too rich soil, they produced 
almost no tubers, but in their stead threw out numerous sub- 
terraneous shoots or suckers. The stems and leaves were 
rougher and more rigid than in the cultivated potato, and 
the flowers somewhat smaller. The leaves at first were equally 
pinnate, as described by M. Dunal in Solanum commersonii ; 
but, as the plant advanced to flower, they lost this character, 
and became unequally pinnate as in the cultivated potato. 
This plant, I have no doubt, is identical with the S. commersonit 
of Dunal, and confirms the opinion which I formerly advanced, 
that S. commersonii is the Solanum tuberosum in a wild state. 
After a careful comparison of this plant with different varieties 
of Solanum tuberosum, I have not been able to discover a single 
character by which they could be separated as distinct species, 
and the differences observable between them are of little bota- 
nical importance in this tribe of yegetables, and are merely 
what would be expected to exist between the wild and cul- 
tivated state of the same species. I have been induced to say 
thus much on this subject, having formerly ventured an opinion 
respecting these two plants being of the same species. 
