166 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA 
ties. I was themore surprised at this, as I was aware thatto Sarracenia purpurea 
is credited a large amount of virtue in cases of small-pox, a paper on its efficacy 
in this terrible disease having been contributed to Land and Water in 1871, 
by Captain Hardy of the Royal Artillery, who spent some time in Newfound- 
land, and who derived his knowledge of the value of the pitcher plant from 
the Indians of that region. The portion of the plant used is the root, which 
has been introduced into England, and is sold there at the high rate of 28 
shillings per pound. I mention this fact as it is more than probable that our 
own species may possess some hidden virtue which may prove equally as val- 
uable to mankind. 
I may state that Darlingtonia, though certainly a local plant, is by no means 
rare in the districts in which itis found. The locality nearest to San Fran- 
cisco in which it has been detected is in the foothills of the Sierra, about 10 
miles from Nevada City. It is, however, most abundant in the region about 
Mount Shasta, where it may be found in at least thirty or forty places within 
a radius of fifteen or twenty miles. It grows in boggy spots on the sides of 
mountains, and particularly about those known to hunters as ‘‘ deer licks,”’ 
which are abundant along the banks of the Upper Sacramento and its tribu- 
tary streams. Extreme altitude is not necessary to its growth, as it is found 
from 1,000 to 5,000 feet. Mr. Robinson, of the Field newspaper, who visited 
this country a few years ago, chiefly for the purpose of observing the plant 
in its native haunts, states that itis by no means difficult of cultivation, and 
that it is ‘‘ best treated by being grown in a soil of peat or peat and chopped 
sphagnum, kept wet, not merely moist, the pots or pans to be placed on a wet 
bottom—frame or cool-house treatment being the best in winter, warm green- 
house or temperate stove in summer.”’ 
In concluding these imperfect remarks, perhaps I may be permitted to 
hope that they may be the means of directing more perfect attention to this 
remarkable plant, which must always be regarded as one of the many vege- 
table wonders of California. 
Reeutar Mretine, SepremBer 20, 1875. 
In the absence of the President and Vice-Presidents, Charles 
Wolcott Brooks was called to the Chair. 
Fifty-two members present. 
Donations to the Museum: From L. Higbee, Los Angeles, 
specimen from an artesian well 189 feet deep. From Henry 
Chapman, Fossil Shells—cretaceous—from Alameda County. 
From F. A. Walley, Fossil Shells found in sandstone in Marin 
