Botanical Suciety of London. 139 



any other teeth than the two which give the peculiar character to 

 the animal. Prof. Owen considers that the whole of the anterior 

 part of the jaws was sheathed with horn in the same manner as the 

 Chelonians, and this is the more interesting from the other analogies 

 presented with the Chelonians. It ajipcars indeed throughout, that 

 this singular animal united the character of the Lacertians, Chelonians 

 and Crocodilians. The second species described was named D. tes- 

 iudini/ormis, and differed from the former in its greater resemblance to 

 the Chelonians. A third species, D. strigiceps, is chiefly remarkable 

 for the singular position of the tusks, placed far back behind the orbit 

 of the eye. The nearest analogue of this singular genus is the Rhyn- 

 chosaurits of the new red sandstone of England. An unexpected 

 point of structure exhibited in these animals is the existence of tusks 

 like those of mammalia, exhibiting no mark whatever of the pre- 

 sence of a succession of teeth, which in all other reptiles known 

 invariably exist. The tusks of the Dicynodon were probably used as 

 weapons of offence and defence, and the habits of the animal seem to 

 have been marine. 



BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 



Jan. 3, 1845.— J. E. Gray, Esq., F.R.S. &c., President, in theChair. 



Mr. S. Gibson presented a specimen of Scirpus aciculuris (Linn.) 

 with much longer stems than ordinary ; the culms formed a dense 

 tuft about 14 inches high. 



Mr. Fitt presented specimens of an CEnanthe commonly considered 

 CE. pimpbielloides by the botanists of Norfolk. It is the (E. Lache- 

 nalii (Gmel.) of Babington's ' Manual,' and the species confused 

 with or mistaken for the true pimpinelloides by most other English 

 botanists since the time of Hudson. 



Four of the specimens were selected for the Society's herbarium, 

 as showing variations from the normal character of the root. Some 

 of the tubers were branched ; some approximated to those of Smith's 

 " peucedanifolia " in being thicker and shorter than ordinary. On 

 one specimen the external fruits in the umbellules are very slightly 

 contracted at their base ; the ridges being confluent and forming a 

 ring, much like the callous base of the fruit in the true pimpinelloides. 

 The specimens were located from salt-ditches near Yarmouth. 



The Secretary called the attention of members to a series of spe- 

 cimens of Dryas octopetala (Linn.), which had been sent to the So- 

 ciety some years ago by Mr. Tatham from ArnclifF Clonder, York- 

 shire. The sepals or lobes of the calyx varied considerably in length 

 and breadth ; on one specimen the length was scarcely twice the 

 breadth, while in another the length was four times the breadth. 

 The convexity of the base of the calyx also varied much. He re- 

 minded the meeting that Mr. Babington had described a second spe- 

 cies of Dryas (D. depressa,Bah.) found in Ireland, and distinguished 

 from the well-known Z>. octopetala by exactly the same characters 

 which these specimens proved to be within the range of variation of 

 the true D. octopetala. He had not seen any example of the D. t/e- 



I, ^ 



