458 



(0), Ruhus clavatiis, Blox. Found in various parts of Leicester- 

 shire and Shropshire. This species was long considered by Mr. 

 Bloxam as the true Rubus sylraticus of Weihe and Nees ; but, as the 

 plant of these authors seems probably to be a state of R, villicaulis, 

 Mr. Bloxam has given a new name to this, derived from its barren 

 stem becoming, as it were, bald at an early period. It does not much 

 resemble R. villicaulis, either in appearance or characters; and its 

 true position in the genus is pi'obably still to be decided. 



Mr, Evans and Mr. M'Nab remarked that it was by no means un- 

 common for the raspberry to produce flowers and fruit in autumn. 

 Every gardener knew that there were autumn-bearing varieties of the 

 plant. 



2. ' On the Growth of various kinds of Mould in Syrup ;' by Pro- 

 fessor Balfour. Dr. Balfour remarked that much interest had been 

 recently excited by the statements relative to the vinegar-plant, as it 

 had been called. This plant, which has a tough, gelatinous consist- 

 ence, when put into a mixture of treacle, sugar, and water, gives rise 

 to a sort of fermentation, by which vinegar is produced. After six or 

 eight weeks the original plant can be divided into two layers, each of 

 which acts as an independent plant, and when placed in syrup con- 

 tinues to produce vinegar, and to divide at certain periods of gi'owth. 

 The vinegar thus produced is always more or less of a syrupy nature ; 

 and when evaporated to dryness a large quantity of saccharine matter 

 is left, as was shown in a specimen produced. Various conjectures 

 have been hazarded as to the origin of the so-called vinegar-plant, 

 some stating that it came from South America or other distant regions, 

 and others that it is a spontaneous production. Lindley states that 

 it is a peculiar form of Penicillium glaucum, or common blue mould. 

 There seems to be no doubt that it is an anomalous state of mould, or 

 of some Fungus allied to it; and the peculiarity of form and consist- 

 ence appears to be owing to the material in which it grows. In place 

 of producing the usual cellular, sporiferous stalks, the mycelium 

 increases to an extraordinary extent, its cellular threads interlacing 

 together in a remarkable manner, and producing one expanded, cel- 

 lular mass, with occasionally rounded bodies, like spores, in its sub- 

 stance. The cellular filaments are seen under the microscope. The 

 tendency to divide in a merismatic manner is common in many of the 

 lower classes of plants ; and this seems to be what occurs at a certain 

 period of growth, when the plant divides into two lamina), in a hori- 

 zontal manner. If the plant is allowed to continue growing it forms 

 numerous laminae, one above the other, somewhat like the mode in 



