456 



Dr. Balfour also exhibited the following specimens, presented to 

 the museum at the Botanic Garden : — Cones of Pinus Pinea, stone 

 pine, from Italy, presented by Mr. William Gourlie, Jan., Glasgow; 

 dried specimen of a turnip affected with the disease called anbury, or 

 finger-and-toes, from Lanarkshire, presented by Dr. Douglas Mac- 

 lagan. 



There were likewise exhibited specimens of Arenaria ciliata, from 

 Ben Bulben, Co. Sligo, at a height of 1000 feet, and of Rosa hiber- 

 nica, from Holywood Road, near Belfast, both collected by Dr. Dickie, 

 and presented to the Society's herbarium by Professor Balfour. 



Dr. Balfour stated that, by mistake, in printing the notice of Dr. 

 M'Cosh's paper ' On the Fuchsia, considered Morphologically,' read 

 at a previous meeting, the angle of the veins of the leaf is stated at 50 

 in place of 60 deg. Dr. M'Cosh says that the angle is the siime for 

 all fuchsias he examined ; for leaf and branch, 60 deg. 



Dr. Balfour read a letter he had received from Dr. R. C. Alexander, 

 in which he remarks : — " Should any collector be undecided where to 

 fix himself, I would recommend the West Indies. Although longer 

 known to us than any other tropical country, it is still very imperfectly 

 explored ; and every island yields different results. The Blue Moun- 

 tain peak is almost unexplored. I ascended it once only, not being 

 aware how many of the species were new till my return ; the usual 

 case, for even if you have the books you have no time to use thera. 

 The Cuban species, as far as can be deduced from De Sagia's Flora, 

 seem to be very different, and almost equally to those of St. Domingo, 

 of which there is a large collection at Philadelphia, made by a French 

 botanist (Poiteau, I think), before the Revolution. If it were but pos- 

 sible to use the same exercise there as in cold countries, what a field 

 those islands would be ! " 



Mr. M'Nab mentioned that on the 7th instant the following plants 

 were in flower, in the open air, in the Royal Botanic Garden : — Tri- 

 tonia media, Helleborus niger, Phlox verna. Primula veris, Hepatica 

 triloba, Doronicum caucasicum, Pyrus japonica, and Tussilago fra- 

 grans. 



■ In allusion to Mr. M'Nab's notice. Dr. Greville stated that he had, a 

 few days ago, received sweet violets from the neighbourhood of Dar- 

 lington. 



The following papers were read : — 



1. ' Descriptions of Rubi ;' by Charles C. Babington, M.A. The 

 author states ; — " In the third edition of the ' Manual of British Bo- 

 tany,' I have endeavoured to arrange and characterize the Rubi in a 



i 



