135 

 Art. XLVI. — Proceedings of Societies. 



LINNEAN SOCIETY. 



November 16. — ^Edward Forster, Esq., V.P., in the chair. Specimens of a hybrid linaria, found grow- 

 ing near L. repens and L. vulgaris, were exhibited. Kead, a paper on Vegetable Monstrosities, by The Rev. 

 W. Hincks ; illustrated by numerous specimens, both dried and preserved in spirits, of monstrosities caused 

 by adhesion, transformation, and increase and decrease of parts. Kead also, the commencement of a paper 

 by Dr. Gardner, on the Influence of the Dew.Point on the Temperature of Plants. 



December 6. — Eobert Brown, Esq., V.P., in the chair. Specimens of Scrophularia Ehrharti, collected 

 in Bellsize Park, were exhibited. Eead, a paper by Mr. D. Cooper, illustrated by drawings, on the Struc- 

 ture of the Fruit of a Species of Phytelephas, called "Vegetable Ivory." The albumen of the seed is so 

 hard as to take a finer polish than common ivory. Under the microscope it exhibits a tubular structure. 

 Eead also, the conclusion of Dr. Gardner's paper, on the Influence of the Dew-Point on the Temperature of 

 Vegetables. From a series of experiments the author concludes, — 1. That vegetables possess no specific 

 heat. 2. That the variations observed in plants are chiefly due to the state of the dew-point, the elevation of 

 which causes an increase of heat by checking evaporation, whilst its depression, by encouraging evaporation, 

 produces a decrease of heat. 3. That the sensible heat of plants is directly as the temperature of the air and 

 the chemical action proceeding in their cells, and inversely as the radiation, evaporation and conducting 

 power of the air and soil ; the chemical action increasing with an increase of atmospheric temperature, the 

 amount of heat resulting therefrom increasing also. 



BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. 



Thursday, November 11, 1841. Professor Graham in the chair. 



Donations to the Herbarium were presented from Dr. Von Martius, and to the Library from Mrs. W. 

 Campbell, — and Professor Balfour mentioned that since last meeting he had been in communication with the 

 Natural-History Society of Athens, to which he had transmitted a set of the Society's publications. 



The following papers and communication were read : — 



1. Account of a Botanical Excursion to Skye and the Outer Hebrides, during the month of August, 1841, 

 by Professor Balfour and Mr. Charles C. Babington ; and remarks on the plants observed by them in the Is- 

 lands of North Uist, Harris, and Lewis. In this communication the authors drew attention chiefly to those 

 facts which tend to illustrate the variations produced by climate, soil and elevation. In Skye their observa- 

 tions were confined to the south-western part of the island. They landed at Armadale, and passing by Knock, 

 Ord, and Strathaird to Loch Coiruisg, they crossed the Cuillin Hills to Sligachan, and from thence went by 

 Bracadale to Dunvegan. Among the plants observed in this route may be mentioned Eumex aquaticus, Atri- 

 plex rosea, Arabis petreea, Myriophyllum altemiflorum, Potamogeton oblongus, Orobanche rubra, Mimulus 

 luteus, &c. From Dunvegan they crossed the Minsh to Loch Maddy in North Uist, and after examining the 

 botany of that island they proceeded to Harris and Lewis. On the lofty mountains of the forest of Harris, 

 some of which they reckoned to be at least 3000 feet high, they were surprised to find very few alpine plants, 

 for which they could only account by supposing the climate of the island to be so modified by the vicinity of 

 the Great Atlantic Ocean, as to be too mild for the production of the usual alpine vegetation. The following 

 are mentioned among the more interesting plants found in Harris and Lewis : — Lamium intermedium, Eup- 

 pia maritima, Pinguicula lusitanica, Thalictrum alpinum, Salix herbacea, Aira alpina, Saussurea alpina, 

 Luzula spicata, Arabis petraea, Silene acaulis, Blysmus rufus, Juncus balticus, Scirpus lacustris, &c. They 

 also gathered Hymenophyllum Wilsoni among rocks upon the summit of Chesham, apparently the highest 

 mountain of the range. The number of species observed in North Uist, Hams and Lewis, during this ex- 

 cursion, was 311, of which 21 belonged to the orders Filices, Lycopodiaceje and Equisetacese. The number 

 of true ferns was 14 ; being in the proportion of 1 to about every 22 of the flowering plants ; that is, they 

 form about l-22nd part of the whole number of species at present known to be indigenous in these islands. 

 Mr. T. Edmonston, jun., records 249 species of native plants for the Shetland Islands, (Ann. Nat. Hist. viii. 

 287), of which 14 are ferns, Lycopodiacese and Equisetacea;, the number of true ferns being 7, thus showing 

 a proportion of 1 fern to about 33 flowering plants. 0\ving to the necessarily imperfect character of the Long 

 Island list, it is impossible to draw any satisfactory conclusions from the above proportions, between the flow- 

 ering plants and ferns, yet it may be noticed that there is a great preponderance of ferns in both these north- 

 ern and insular countries, although the actual niunbers recorded are remarkably small. The ferns in Shet- 

 land are less numerous than those in Iceland or Faroe, while those of the Long Island exceed the Faroe 

 species by four, and are exactly equal to the number found in Iceland, — the Faroe and Iceland lists being the 

 smallest recorded in Mr. Watson's valuable paper on the Distribution of Ferns, recently published in the 

 Transactions of this Society, (vol. 1, p. 89). The more mountainous character of the Long Island will pro- 

 bably account for the much larger proportion (1 to 22), which its ferns bear to the flowering plants, than that 

 which appears to exist in Shetland — for although considerable allowances be made for the imperfect state of 

 the Long Island list, on account of the short time employed in its preparation, yet it does not seem probable 

 that the number of its flowering plants will be so far increased as to raise their relative proportion as high as 

 that shown to exist in Shetland, since this would require an addition of 151 species, even if the number of 



