10 THE NEiLL MEDAL. [January, 



an offer of pure goodwill, the spontaneous desire of mutual gra- 

 tification. A resident botanist, if he cannot even point out the 

 way to the inquirer, may be able to tell him who can, or may 

 put him in the way of getting adequate information. 



The lisc will be printed from time to time in our pages, viz., 

 when a suitable number of names has been received. At the end 

 of the year the lists might be combined and printed together. 

 They might also be issued separately if judged expedient. 



It is hoped that our readers understand the purport of the 

 above remarks : if not, they may request further explanation. 



In fine, our thanks are respectfully tendered to our numerous 

 contributors and supporters '' for past favours," and hoping for 

 a continuance of future attentions, as the circulars issued at this 

 period express the wishes of the commercial community, we wish 

 our constituents the customary congratulations of the season. 



Chelsea, Jan. I, 1860. 



The Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Neill Medal. 



At the opening meeting on 5th ult., for session 1859-60, of 

 the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Neill medal and prize was 

 presented, through Professor Balfour, to W. Lauder Lindsay, 

 M.D., F.L.S., for his 'Memoir on the Spermogones and Pycni- 

 des of Filamentous, Fruticulose, and Foliaceous Lichens,^ read 

 to the Society during the last session. In addition to awarding 

 this prize, the Society is expending a considerable sum in pub- 

 lishing the memoir in question in the forthcoming part of its 

 'Transactions^ (vol. xxii.), and in engraving the relative illustra- 

 tions, executed by the author, which consist of twelve plates of 

 between 400 and 500 drawings. 



The Neill prize was, by the late Dr. Patrick Neill of Canon- 

 mills, the eminent Botanist, placed in the hands of the Royal 

 Society to be awarded for distinction in Natural History ; and 

 this year it was offered for '' a paper of distinguished merit on a 

 subject of Natural History, by a Scottish Naturalist, presented 

 to the Society during three years preceding 1st February, 1859; 

 and, failing such paper, for a work or publication by a distin- 

 guished Scottish Naturalist, bearing date within five years of the 

 time of award." In awarding all its prizes, the Society is prepared 



