271 



development of bogs. — Mr. R. Ball, of Dublin, had lately observed 

 a number of trees which were blown down in 1839, covered over with 

 gi'ass, and the interspaces between the trees was filling up with vege- 

 table matter, and in the course of time he believed they would form a 

 bog. — Prof. Oldham, of Dublin, observed, that there was a difference 

 in the mountain limestone of Ireland and Russia, inasmuch as the 

 former was covered with beds of clay, and it was on these clay beds 

 that the bogs were formed. 



Sir R. ScHOMBURGK read a description of the Murichi, or Ita Palm, 

 of Guiana. This tree grows from the Llanos of Cumana to the west- 

 ern tributaries of the Rio Negro and the mouth of the Amazon, or 

 over an area of 550,000 square miles. It was called by Father Gura- 

 illa the arbol cle la vida, or tree of life, on account of its various uses. 

 It is of the greatest importance to the inhabitants of the country in 

 which it grows. The trunk and its leaves are used for various house- 

 hold purposes. The sap is a saccharine fluid, much drunk by the 

 natives. The flowers afford a sweet fermentable liquid, resembling 

 champagne. The pith of its trunk affords a kind of sago. Even in its 

 decay, this palm is of use, and affords a delicacy to the Indians, which 

 likewise many colonists do not refuse, namely, the larva of a large 

 beetle. The Curculio palmarum is found in large numbers in the pith 

 when the trunk is near its decay, and which, when boiled or roasted, 

 resembles in taste the marrow of a beef-bone. Its average height is 

 about 50 feet, and it has been observed growing at a height of 3000 

 to 4000 feet above the level of the sea. 



Prof. Allman laid before the Section a monstrosity occurring in 

 Saxifraga Geum. The three external verticils of the flowers were 

 normal, but between the stamens and pistil there was developed a se- 

 ries of adventitious carpels crowded upon the margin of a cup-like 

 production which surrounds the lower half of the pistil. These ad- 

 ventitious carpels were characterised by their backs being turned to- 

 wards the axis of the flower. The carpels bear ovules on their mar- 

 gins, which acquired a very considerable degree of development, 

 becoming completely anatropous, like those of the normal ovary. Dr. 

 Allman explained this monstrosity by supposing the existence of a 

 series of secondary axes, which are given off in a whorl between the 

 stamens and the primary axis of the flower. These axes terminate in 

 imperfect flowers, of which the additional carpels are the only 

 remains. 



Prof. Henslow exhibited a specimen of Papaver orientalis, in which 

 the filaments of the stamens were converted into bodies bearing ovules. 



