651 



The disadvantage of the new method is, that it takes more time if a 

 large number of specimens have to be treated. The expense is so 

 trifling that it need hardly be taken into account. I use the same 

 solution as for poisoning the plants in my herbarium, viz., 150 grains 

 of corrosive sublimate dissolved in 24 ounces of wood naphtha. 



Orchis hircina. 



The President announced that four flowering plants of Orchis hir- 

 cina had been found during the present year at the old Kentish sta- 

 tion, but that he himself, having been obligingly conducted to 

 the spot, by a gentleman who found it last year, could not discover 

 a single plant. This was on the 7th of July, and probably too late to 

 find any. 



Eleocharis Watsoni. 



The President wished to call particular attention to the addition of 

 a new species to the list of our flowering plants, under the name of 

 Eleocharis Watsoni, the characters of which were given at p. 625, 

 since the publication of which report Mr. Babington had published 

 the following summary of the differences between the allied species : — 



1. The lowest glume is larger than the others, and surrounds the 

 base of the spike in E. uniglumis, E. Watsoni, and E. raulticauhsj but 

 this is not the case, neither is it larger than the others, in E. palus- 

 tris. 



2. The stigmas are two in all except E. multicaulis, which possesses 

 three. They have not been seen in E. Watsoni ; but the lenticular 

 nut renders it nearly certain that they are two in number. 



3. The nut is more or less compressed, but variable in shape in all 

 except E. multicaulis, in which it is acutely triangular and top-shaped. 

 In E. palustris it is roundish, with or without a slight narrowing or 

 stalk-like point at the base ; in E. uniglumis it is pear-shaped ; in E. 

 Watsoni it is oblong, but a little narrowed at the base ; in all of them 

 it is smooth, with the exception of E. Watsoni, where its surface is 

 closely punctate- striate throughout. 



4. The nut is shorter than the hypogynous bristles in E. palustris 

 and E. uniglumis, equals them in E. multicaulis, and exceeds them in 

 E. Watsoni. 



5. The sheath surrounding the base of the stem is transversely 

 truncate, but having a very obtuse point on one side in all except E. 

 multicaulis, where the point is acute. 



