866 



" Oh, green is the turf where my brothers play, 

 Through the long bright hours of the summer day ; 

 They find the red cup-moss where ihey climb, 

 And they chase the bee o'er the scented thyme." 



Proceedings of Societies, 8(c. 



Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 



Tliursday, January 13, 1853. — Professor Balfour, President, in the 

 chair. 



The following donations were announced to the Society's library 

 and herbarium : — From Dr. Royle, — his Papers on the Identification 

 of the Mustard-tree of Scripture, and on the Hyssop of Scripture ; 

 from Professor Treviranus, of Bonn, — his work ' De Compositione 

 Fructus in Cactearum atque Cucurbitacearum ordinibus;' Account 

 of the Cultivation of the Victoria regia in the garden of the Hon. Ed- 

 ward Chitty, Kingston, Jamaica, from Dr. M'Nab ; British plants from 

 Mr. Moore, of the Chelsea Botanic Garden, and Mr. Parker, Torquay. 

 The Prospectus of Willkomm's work on the Flora of Spain, South- 

 west of France, Corsica, and the Balearic Isles was laid on the table 

 by Dr. Balfour. 



Dr. Balfour noticed the following donations, recently made to the 

 Museum of Economic Botany at the Botanic Garden : — From Henry 

 Bains, Esq., Museum, York : Sections of a tree-fern twenty inches in 

 circumference, and of Urtica gigantea, from New South Wales ; woody 

 substance (supposed to be the work of an insect) taken from the cen- 

 tre of a log of purple-wood of Guiana ; fruit of the grapple-plant 

 {Uncaria procumbens), from the Cape of Good Hope ; Poly porous 

 from the willow, with brooches made from it, exhibiting a shining, 

 velvety appearance ; opalized specimen of Dacrydium Uredo, from a 

 tree of ten feet in circumference, said to be imbedded in basalt, in 

 the Macquarie Plains, Van Dieman's Land ; also the following micro- 

 scopical preparations : — Bract of Poinsettia pulcherrima, showing the 

 arrangement of the cells, containing red colouring matter ; specimens 

 of spiral fibres from spiral vessels, some of them composed of seven 

 fibres, united so as to form a band, such as occurs in Pleiotracheae ; 

 section of the silicified wood of Dacrydium Uredo, showing the disk- 

 bearing woody tubes. From Miss Neill, Gayfield Square : Specimens 



