984 



Edinburgh. From W. L. Lindsay, M.D. : Eighty-two specimens of 

 dyes, manufactured from various lichens. 



New Species of Caulerpa. 



A paper by R. K. Greville, LL.D., ' On New Species of Caulerpa,' 

 was read. 



The author made some introductory remarks on the family of Cau- 

 lerpeae, which has been placed near Vaucherieae ; although it has 

 scarcely any affinity with the latter family. Caulerpeae apparently 

 occupy a place among the Algae ; but their relations do not appear to 

 be determined. The plants grow between high and low water, send- 

 ing their roots into the sand. They are of a grass-green colour, tough, 

 flat or cylindrical, spreading on the sand by means of surculi, and 

 rooting as they go on, sending down tufts, which resemble in appear- 

 ance the roots of grasses. The plants have no continuous cavity 

 inside. Their interior is composed of large, anastomosing fibres, with 

 granules and an enormous quantity of starch-grains. Their fructifica- 

 tion has been described and figured by Montaigne, in the ' Ann ales 

 des Sciences Naturelles,' tom. ix. The spores are described as cili- 

 ated, like those of Vaucheria. Dr. Greville made remarks on the dif- 

 ferent species of the genus Caulerpa ; and he described the following 

 new species: — Caulerpa asplenioides (from St. Thomas's, West Indies), 

 C. laxa, and C. fissidentoides (from Wright's East Indian collection). 

 The paper was illustrated by specimens and drawings. 



Myosotis alpestris, Tliymus Serpyllum, and T. ChanKsdrys. 



The third part of Mr. C. C. Babington's paper, intituled * Remarks 

 on British Plants,' was read. 



The author first noticed Myosotis alpestris of Schmidt, which he 

 now considers to be identical with M. suaveolens of Kitabel, and 

 not, as conjectured by him in his ' Manual,' a mere mountain variety 

 of M. sylvatica. M. alpestris is distinguished from M. sylvatica by 

 the attenuated base of the calyx, and the absence of a keel in the fruit. 

 He next alluded to the British species of Thymus. There are two 

 British species, he stated, included under the name of Thymus Ser- 

 pyllum ; one being the true species ; and the other, the Thymus Cha- 

 maedrys. They are distinguished chiefly by their habit, and therefore 

 require to be in a growing state in order to be satisfactorily determined. 

 In T. Serpyllum, there is a difference between the flowering shoot and 

 that which is intended to extend the plant. Quite prostrate and root- 

 ing shoots are produced each year, which grow from the end of the 



