900 



Mr. M'Nab stated that R. ciliatura was in flower in the Royal 

 Botanic Garden. 



Mr. M'Nab showed a flowering plant of Begonia argyrostigma in 

 which the leaves, at the upper part of the stem, exhibited no white, 

 scaly markings ; and their under surface was of a pale, greenish pur- 

 ple. The leaves on the lower part of the plant showed the usual 

 markings, and the usual dark colour on their under surface. 



Mr. Matthews exhibited a new form of dissecting microscope, made 

 by Pellisher, of London. 



Mr. G. Lawson exhibited a specimen of Oxytropis Uralensis, col- 

 lected by Mr. A. Buchan, on the West Lomond Hills, Fife, where he 

 discovered the plant several years ago. 



Remarks on British Plants. 



A paper intituled ' Remarks on British Plants,' by Charles C. 

 Babington, M.A., F.R.S., F.L.S., was read. 



The author stated that since the publication of the third edition of 

 his ' Manual of British Botany,' his attention had been directed to 

 several groups of plants, either by the discovery of new native speci- 

 mens, or by finding that he had taken an erroneous view of them in 

 that work ; and that he purposes giving a series of papers to the 

 Society, embodying the results of his recent observations. 



In this paper he commenced with the genus Thalictrum, of which 

 he described T. minus, T. flexuosum, and T. saxatile. He considers 

 T. majus as not a good species, but as being formed out of larger 

 states of each of these three species. He gives revised characters, 

 dwelling particularly on the presence or absence of leaves at the 

 lower joinings of the stem, the nature of the vaginal portion of the 

 petiole, with its auricular appendages, the direction of the subdivi- 

 sions of the petiole, and of the branches of the panicle, and the form 

 of the carpels 



The next genus to which he called attention was Polygala, of which 

 he described P. vulgaris and its varieties, depressa and oxyptera, P. 

 calcarea and P. uliginosa. He thinks that, in this genus, attention 

 should be paid to the mode in which the leaves are arranged, and to 

 the appearances caused by the different lengths to which the stems 

 extend each year. 



The paper was illustrated by specimens from the Edinburgh Uni- 

 versity Herbarium. 



