65 



Dr. Balfour exhibited specimens of Ceramium acanthonotum, from 

 the shores of the Frith of Forth. 



Mr. James M'Nab announced the death of Mr. James Smith, of 

 Monkwood Grove, near Ayr, at the advanced age of 88. Mr. Smith 

 has long been known as a scientific gardener, and did much to diffuse 

 a taste for Botany in the district where he so long resided. 



The following gentlemen were elected ordinary members of the So- 

 ciety, viz. : Robert Heddle, Esq., 13, Dundas Street; Henry L. Wil- 

 liams, Esq., 15, Dundas Street; and William Gilby, Esq., 30, North- 

 umberland Street. Professor J. E. Wikstrom, Stockholm, was elected 

 a foreign member. — W. W. E. 



BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 



Friday , February, 5th, 1848.— John Reynolds, Esq., Treasurer, in 

 the chair. 



Donations of British plants were announced from Mr. David Moore, 

 Mr. J. W. Salter, and Mr. F. H. Goulding. Edward Phillips, 

 M.D., F.L.S., of Coventry, Mr. John Dorrington, M.A., of Linton, 

 Cambridgeshire, and Mr. Fen ton J. A. Hort, of Trinity College, 

 Cambridge, were elected members. 



The following papers were read : — 



"On Ergot," by Mr. S. P. Woodward, A.L.S. ; "On the Potato 

 Disease," by Dr. G. M. Scott; " On the Potato Disease," by Mr. T. 

 Austin, F.G.S.— G. E. D. 



Notice of ' The Flora of Forfarshire. By William Gardiner. 

 London: Longman & Co. 1848.' 



The true uses and objects of a local flora are so simple and familiar 

 as to render it a somewhat remarkable circumstance that there should 

 be so very little of uniformity among the volumes published under the 

 title. Diversity of matter, both the included and the excluded, diver- 

 sity of form and method, both typographical and scientific, seems to 

 be the only constant rule. Instead of following the best previous 

 model, or improving upon it, each succeeding author strives only to 

 differ therefrom. Instead of uniformity or superiority, the great effort 

 Vol. hi. l 



