452 Entomological Society. 



Mr. Hindis affects a specimen of Anagallis arvensis, resembling one 

 described by M. Moquin-Tandon as found by M. Gay, in which an 

 increased development of the exterior circle is accompanied by dimi- 

 nution in the interior ones : the effect produced is stated to be very 

 unequal in different flovi^ers, but the more the calyx is enlarged, the 

 more the interior cii'cles are contracted. The second case is the well- 

 known wheat-ear carnation, Dianthus Caryophyllus imbricatus, L., 

 which is noticed as probably affording the best example of the mon- 

 strous multiplication of a particular circle. A third case occurs in 

 a capitulum of Matricaria, in which the bractese, consisting under 

 ordinary circumstances of paleaceous scales, are enlarged into full- 

 sized leaves, completely deforming the flower : the rose-ribwort is 

 noticed as a phsenomenon of the same kind. Fourthly, Mr. Hincks 

 mentions a monstrous variety or highly developed form of Convallaria 

 multiflora, cultivated at Kew, which he presumes to be the var. 

 bracteata of De Candolle and Duby : in it the number of flowers 

 usually reaches five or six, and each of them proceeds from the 

 axilla of a small leaf on the pedicel. And lastly, the author notices 

 under this head a case of abortion or atrophy affecting the leaf of 

 a fern cultivated by Messrs. RoUeston, by which in one instance the 

 whole side of a frond, and in another the secondary veins with the 

 parenchyma at both sides are entirely suppressed ; a phsenomenon 

 which he has also observed in Scolopendrium officinale. 



Read also the commencement of a paper " On the Influence of 

 the Dew-point on the Temperature of Plants," by D, P. Gardner, 

 M.D., of Hampden Sidney College, Virginia, communicated by the 

 Secretary. 



December 7. — R. Brown, Esq., V.P., in the Chair. 



Read, " On the Structure of the Nut known as Vegetable Ivory," 

 by Daniel Cooper, Esq., A.L.S. 



Read also the conclusion of Dr. Gardner's paper " On the In- 

 fluence of the Dew-point on the Temperature of Plants." 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



August 2nd, 1841.— John Walton, Esq., V.P., in the Chair. 



Mr. S. Stevens exhibited a number of minute British Coleoptera 

 recently captured in Kent, including specimens of a species of Mi- 

 cronyx Schonh., a genus not hitherto recorded as British, but which 

 Mr. Curtis had described as a species of Pissodes (P. pycjmccus). 

 Mr. Curtis still however considered his Insect as distinct, being 

 smaller than Mr. Stevens's specimens ; but Mr. Walton stated that 

 he possessed specimens smaller than any of Mr. Curtis's. 



Mr. F. Parry exhibited two cases of splendid insects (chiefly non- 

 descripts) from the Himalayas. 



Mr. Westwood stated that three specimens of Carahis Schonherri 

 were taken on Ben Lomond in 1822 by A. Melly, Esq., in whose col- 

 lection he had recently observed them. Mr. White also stated that 

 there was a specimen in the British Museum cabinet, taken on Ben 

 Lawes by Dr. Leach, which had also been supposed to be this species. 



