39 



same axils, solitary, on long, enlarging, ebraeteo- 

 late peduncles. 



Specific character. — Stem smooth, angled. slight- 

 ly ribbed, and furrowed, sparsely pubescent ; ten- 

 drils many-parted, (three to five) lateral or oppo- 

 site the leaves ; ten to thirty feet long, climbing 

 over shrubs. Leaves slightly scabrous above, 

 pubescent beneath along the veins ; four or six 

 inches broad, roundish, sub-hast ate, cordate pal- 

 mate, with an obtuse sinus at the base ; five to 

 eight sinuate-lobed ; lobes angled entire or re- 

 paud- toot lied, mucronate, alternate. Corolla 

 white, glaudularly pubescent within ; petals ob- 

 long-lanceolate sub-acute ; sterile flowers in sim- 

 ple or compound paniculate racemes eight inches 

 to one foot in length, from the same axils of the 

 leaves as the fertile. Fertile flowers three-fourths 

 to one inch broad on an elongated tapering point 

 of the fruit and calyx tube. Calyx divisions sub- 

 ulate, often lanceolate petaloid, one-fourth to one- 

 half the length of the petals. 



Fruit four to five inches in length, two to three 

 • in breadth, oblique tapering to both ends. 

 green, marked from base to apex by six eir seven 

 dark green stripes, slightly depressed and some- 

 what irregular; fleshy, bursting olastically by ir- 

 regular fissures on the swelled side near the sum- 

 mil, the lacerated edges of the orifice becoming" 

 lute; two-celled (rarely three-celled at th. 

 iii a.) Seeds three-fourths of an inch long by 

 ards of an inch broad, Cattish, undulated, 

 rounded obtuse margin, sub-reniform or hilum 

 apparently on the side, imbricately ascending 

 ]i! icoutal attachment opposite the gibbosity, 

 surface slightly pitted, dark brown verging to 

 black. 



This plant we have seen growing nowhere ex- 

 ccpt on the declivities of the hills back of the 

 Mission Dolores, on Mr. Hutchinson's Ranch, 

 near San Francisco. 



The fruit is somewhat in six divisions, by (he 

 i veins that mark the surface, and after dis- 

 charging; the seeil fades to a whitish creamy 

 brown, drying on the stem. The drawing in the 

 archives of the Academy represents one instance - 

 of the "leaves being opposite ; this is sometimes 

 observed, but more frequently this secondary lit- 

 tle axillary leaf is only partially developed, and 

 more generally still, entirely wanting. 



The seed of this fruit is remarkable for its size 

 ami shape, position, &c. It bears a resemblance 

 to some forms of Kidney or Butter Beans. 



The flower, also, sometimes anomalously has a 

 Bix-parted border, and corresponding divisions 

 of the calyx, but such instances arc rare. 



The significance of the name we have chosen 

 would lie better understood by perusing Exodus 

 xv : 22-2G. 



Amu, 2, 1855. 

 Col. Ransom in the chair. 



Mr. S. R. Throckmorton was elected a Resi- 

 dent Member. 



The Committee appointed, some months since, 

 to make examination in regard to a method for 

 preserving submerged timber from the attacks of 

 the Ship Worm, offered the following report. 



"Shortly after our appointment we made to the 

 Academy a partial report, stating that the meth- 

 od proposed had every prospect of being highly 

 successful. We had visited the ship-yard of 

 Neelns «\: Tichenor, below Rincon Point, where 

 a set of "ways" had been coated with the prepar- 

 ation recommended by Mr. Swan. We were as- 

 sured that the timber was then entirely sound, 

 though timber equally exposed near it for the 

 same period was almost destroyed by the Teredo. 

 A recent visit however to the same '-ways'' re- 

 veals the fact that the Ship Worms are now rap- 

 idly destroying them, and that the coating of 

 the supposed preservative has merely delayed 

 their attack a few months. In the judgment of 

 tiie parties interested, the success is not sufficient 

 to induce a renewal of the attempt. 



We are therefore forced to the conclusion that 

 we are scarcely more advanced in knowledge con- 

 cerning this important subject than wc were be- 

 fore the trial of these experiments of Mr. Swan. 

 Such a result is much to be lamented. A very 

 great number of buildings, in the lower part of 

 the city, are supported upon piles which must 

 sooner or iatcr yield. The fall of a block of 

 dwellings on Sacramento St., a few days since, is 

 merely a warning of much greater losses; the 

 piles which were there found bored to a honey- 

 comb, hail been driven only about tweive months. 

 Timber covered with the bark is nearly safe, so 

 long as the bark remains, but so soon as that is 

 removed, by a blow, or by the gradual wear of 

 the water, the destruction commences. And it 

 is therefore a source of great regret that no meth- 

 od of protection from this evil, at once cheap 

 and effectual, has yet been discovered. Many 

 have been devised, but none have thus far result- 

 ed in any degree more favorably than that which 



your Committee were appointed to investigate." 

 VV. O. Avkks, M. D. 



J. B. Tbask, M. D. 



Mr. Frcebel presented specimens of Tertiary 



