239 



were announced from tlie President, Rev. Mr. Ilinclcs, Mr. Ward, Mr. Isaac Brown, 

 Mr. Joseph Dickson, Mr. Sowerby, Mr. Strieker and Mr. Watson. 

 The following communications were read : — 



1. On Fumarla pardjlora, as a native of England : by Mr. C. C. Babington, M.A. 

 F.L.S., &c., Cambridge. Mr. Babington, in reference to an opinion formerly express- 

 ed by him, that this species was a veiy doubtful native of England, not having then 

 seen any specimens agreeing with the true characters of it, now states that he has ob- 

 tained satisfactory proofs of its being a native, but that most botanists have been in 

 the habit of calling F. Vaillantii by that name. He says, however, that the flowers of 

 English specimens of F. Vaillantii are decidedly smaller than those of some which he 

 possesses from Montpelier, and that in some white-flowered English specimens of the 

 same plant, he perceives traces of an apiculus; — also that in French specimens of i^. 

 parviflora the flowers are of the same size as those of F. Vaillantii, but the fruit has 

 an apiculus. Mr. Babington then proceeds to give a minute description of the prin- 

 cipal characters which distinguish this and other allied species of the genus, and among 

 which there has hitherto been much confusion. 



2. On the occurrence of Gelidium rostratum, Harv., at Aberdeen : by Mr. George 

 Dickie, Lecturer on Botany, Aberdeen.* This remarkable plant, which Mr. Turner 

 was disposed to consider, though with some hesitation, as merely a variety of Delesseria. 

 alata, but which Dr. Arnott and Mrs. Griffiths refer to Gelidium, Mr. Dickie states to 

 be abundant at Aberdeen, though it has not hitherto been found in situ. It occurs on 

 the large stems of Laminaria digitata, and appears to be an inhabitant of deep water 

 — being only found cast up after storms. Mr. Dickie says, — " after comparing nu- 

 merous fresh specimens of G. rostratum and D. alata, I feel convinced that there is no 

 essential diff'erence in the structure and outward fonn of the fiiiit in these plants. In 

 both the ternate granules are tenninal and axillary, and the capsules occupy the same 

 position. The seeds, however, diff"er in form ; those of D. alata are mostly oval, in the 

 other they are spherical." 



3. On some anomalies in form in Scolopendrium vulgare : by Mr. Joseph Dickson. 

 The fronds exhihited by Mr. Dickson presented every possible variety of shape, from 

 lanceolate to reniform, and from entire to lobed or rather digitate. The more usual 

 form is certainly entire and oblongo -lanceolate, and it is difficult to account for the 

 freaks of fonn which not unfrequently occur in this species of fern. 



After these papers were read Professor Graham exhibited some very beautiful and 

 interesting specimens of exotics from his own green-house. — The Edinburgh Evening 

 Post and Scottish Standard, Saturday, May 21, 1842. 



BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 



April 18, 1842. — Dr. W. H. Willshire in the chair. Various donations to the li- 

 brary and herbarium were announced and members elected. 



Mr. Edward Doubleday exhibited a Primula found at Bardfield, Essex ; and sta- 

 ted that some few years ago his brother, Mr. Henry Doubleday, observed that the ox- 

 lips growing near Bardfield, in Essex, were strikingly different from those found in the 

 vicinity of Epping, where the oxlip is not common ; and that further observation had 

 induced him to believe that the Bardfield plant was a distinct species, an opinion in 



* See note by 3ihs. Griffiths, Phytol. 203. 



