15 



ally involved and twisted up before falling 

 off. 



As an ornamental shrub or tree, for it attains 

 to the height of fifteen feet, it will be highly 

 esteemed when more generally known. The 

 flowers are purple, about two and a-half inch- 

 es broad, and in this climate continne long 

 in bloom. 



It is remarkable that a Mediterranean ge- 

 nus should make its appearance here ; but 

 there are several other similar vegetable pro- 

 ductions, besides the evident analogies and 

 types of Western Europe, which mark Cali- 

 fornia truly the " Italy of America." 



San Francisco, Oct. 30, 1854. 



Dr. Kellogg in the chair. 



Donations to the Library. — H. G Bloomer 

 presented the 3d Vol. of Loudon's Arboretum 

 et Fruticetum. 



Dr. Kellogg exhibited a drawing and spec- 

 imen of a new species of Hydrocotyle — the 

 provisional name given was H. prolifera. 



Description, — Glabrous; leaves peltate, or- 

 bicular, slightly emarginate at the base, 

 coarsely crenate, 1 to 2 inches in diameter; 

 scape slender, as long or longer than the pe- 

 tioles; umbels proliferous in 3 whorls below 

 the fourth or proper terminal umbel; fruit 

 slightly emarginate at base and summit, and 

 ribbed on each side; petioles six inches to 

 one foot in length; twelve to twenty flowered 

 in each umbel, pedicels 1-4 to 1-2 an inch in 

 length. 



This species of Pennywort is less robust 

 than the H. ranunculoides, growing also with 

 it in marshes. 



The Editor of the Pacific presented a spec- 

 imen of fruit of the California Chestnut, Cas- 

 tanea chrysophylla, from Sierra Co. Also 

 specimen of Ceanothus prostratus. 



Dr. Winslow exhibited a Fossil bone, found 

 forty-eight feet below the surface, at the foot of 

 Telegraph Hill, corner of Kearny and Pacific 

 Streets. 



San Francisco, Nov. 27, 1854. 



Dr. H- Gibbons in the chair. 



Dr. II. B. Cole was elected a resident mem- 

 ber; Dr. A. Chase of Downieville a corres- 

 ponding member. 



Dr. H. Gibbons exhibited some Pea nuts 

 (Arachis hypogncn,) being part of a crop of 

 [PIC. 20.J 



several hundred pounds, raised the present 

 season at Alameda. The plants were cut off 

 by the frost, in the beginning of November 

 which reduced the crop very materially. 



Dr. A. Kellogg exhibited a drawing and 

 specimen of a plant from the vicinity of Los 

 Angeles, having some resemblance to Loni- 

 cera. 



Dr. Wm. 0. Ayres presented descriptions, 

 illustrated by the specimens described, of 

 the Sturgeons found in our waters. 



Acipenser acutirostris, Ayres. — Length elev- 

 en inches; greatest depth, at about the fifth 

 dorsal plate, one seventh of the length. Head 

 one fourth of the total length. Eyes midway 

 in the length of the head. Distance from 

 the nostrils to the snout, one inch; breadth 

 of the head at the nostrils, six tenths of an 

 inch. Anterior border of the mouth beneath 

 the eyes. 



lop of the head sloping forward in its 

 whole length, until the snout becomes thin 

 and horizontal, but it does not "shelve off 

 suddenly before the nostrils" as in A. trans- 

 montanus. 



Plates of the body all carinate, each carina 

 ending in a spine directed backward. The 

 dorsal plates are the most strongly develop- 

 ed; the lateral series the least so- Skin be- 

 tween the rows of plates studded with mi- 

 nute stellated tubercles. 



Two pairs of barbels, half an inch in 

 length, midway between the snout and the 

 mouth. 



Upper lobe of the caudal fin slender, very 

 acute, equalling the head in length. Pecto- 

 rals, ventrals. and anal rounded; pectorals one 

 inch and one fourth in height; length of the 

 anal half that of the dorsal with which fin it 

 is coterminal. 



Plates of the dorsal series, in this speci- 

 men, eleven; of the abdominal, eleven on one 

 side, ten on the other; of the lateral, forty- 

 nine. 



D. 45; P. 49; A. 29; V. 28; C. 22-88. 



A. acutirostris is allied to both A. oxyrin- 

 chus, M. the sharp nosed Sturgeon of New 

 York, and A. transmontanus, R. the huge spe- 

 cies found in Columbia River. It is howev- 

 er sufficiently distinguished from each of 

 them by its proportions, its bony shields &c. 



It is apparently quite rare in this vicinity, 

 only two specimens having as yet been ob- 

 served, the largest being about thirteen in- 

 ches long. 



ylcipenser medirostris, Ayres — Length twen- 

 ty three inches; greatest depth, at the third 

 dorsal plate, one ninth of the total length, be- 



