462 Linnccan Society. 



Feb. 5. — Read, a paper entitled " A Note upon the Anatomy of 

 the Roots of Ophrydeee." By John Lindley, Ph. D., F.R. and L.S., 

 Prof. Bot. University College. 



The object of the author in this paper was to show that salep, the 

 prepared roots of certain Ophi-ydea, is not a substance consisting 

 principally of starch, as is the common opinion among writers of the 

 present day, but is composed of a bassorine-like matter, organized 

 in a peculiar manner. 



After statmg the opinions of recent authorities, the author gives 

 the results of his own microscopical examination of the tissue of re- 

 cent and prepared roots, by which it appears that the tubercles of 

 Ophrydea universally contain large cartilaginous nodules of a muci- 

 laginous substance, not coloured by iodine, and a small quantity of 

 the grains of starch, lying in the usual manner in the parenchyma 

 which surround the nodules, and readily susceptible to the usual ac- 

 tion of iodine. The tubercles of many South-African Ophrydea pre- 

 sent when dried the appearance of bags filled with small pebbles, as 

 if the epidermis had contracted over hard bodies in the inside. If a 

 fresh root of Satyrium jMllidum be divided transversely the cause of 

 this appearance is explained, for with its soft parenchyma are mixed 

 tough nodules, clear as water, and often twenty times as large as the 

 cells which surround them. These nodules are easily separable, are 

 tough like horn, and on being sliced appear to be perfectly homo- 

 geneous. They are scarcely soluble in cold water; when boiled they 

 become tumid and partially dissolve into a transparent jelly. If ex- 

 posed to the air they rapidly dry and become brown. The aqueous 

 solution of iodine has no sensible effect upon them in their natural 

 state. 



On charring slices of some salep procured at Covent Garden, a 

 coarse preparation of wild Ophrydece, the author found that the no- 

 dules apparently homogeneous were composed of extremely minute 

 transparent cells, filled, as he supposed, with a secretion of the same 

 refractive power as themselves, and adhering naturally to each other 

 firmly ; the double walls of the cells and intercellular spaces being 

 only made apparent by the charring process. The author explains 

 the error of those who have considered salep to consist chiefly of 

 starch, by allusion to the mode of its preparation. The tubercles 

 are first parboiled and then dried, the effect of which is to dissolve 

 what starch exists in the cells surrounding the nodules. The dis- 

 solved starch flows over the surface of the nodules, from which when 

 dried it is undistinguishable, and consequently when iodine is ap- 

 plied to salep the mass appears to become iodide of starch. If the 

 nodules, however, after this action of iodine, be removed, they are 

 seen to retain their original vitreous lustre. 



The author remarks that these nodules of Ophrydece are, as far as 

 his observations extend, absent in the tubercles of the other tribes 

 of Orchidacete. 



Read, a paper entitled " Some Data towards a Botanical Geogra- 

 phy of New Holland." By Dr. John Lhotsky, late of the Civil Ser- 

 vice, Van Diemen's Land. Communicated by Prof. Don, Libr. L.S. 



