Geological Society. 511 



was shown to be quite a different plant, by specimens laid before the 

 Society. < 



Mr. Hewett Watson called the attention of the Society to a series 

 of specimens in illustration of the three species of Gblnanthe described 

 by Mr. Ball, in the ' Annals of Natural History,' under the names of 

 pimpinelloides, LachenaUi, and silaifoUa. Mr. Watson stated that 

 these species had been confused and misnamed by Hudson and 

 Smith, and that most succeeding botanists had in consequence been 

 misled about them ; the error and confusion being greatly increased 

 by the want of root and fruit on specimens collected for herbaria. 

 He considered that Mr. Lees was the first English botanist -who 

 correctly understood the true pimphielloides. Mr. Babiugton next 

 rightly determined the LachenaUi; and lastly, Mr. Ball, contrasting 

 these two plants with the peucedanifolia of Smith, showed clearly 

 enough that three indigenous species had been confused into two 

 only, on account of no single botanist being sufficiently acquainted 

 Avith all three. .Specimens sent to the Society by the Rev. A. 131oxam, 

 Mr. Lees, Mr. G. S. Gibson and Mr. Thwaites, with others collected 

 by Mr. Watson himself, illustrated the three species clearly ; except 

 that the early radical leaves and perfectly mature fruit of Smith's 

 peucedanifolia were still wanting. Mr. Watson, however, suspected 

 that Mr. Ball's name of silaifoUa was equally incorrect as Smith's 

 name oi peucedanifolia, and not knowing any other described sjjecies 

 to which Smith's plant could be referred, he adopted the name of 

 GCnanthe Smithii ; to be temporary or permanent, as occasion might 

 require. 



The following is an abbreviation of the specific characters proposed 

 for the species : — 



1. (E. pimpinelloides, Linn. Tubers oval or subspherical, con- 

 nected with the stem by a slender peduncle. Fruit cylindrical, 

 about as broad as the calyx, callous at the base, not contracted, 



2. (E. LachenaUi, Gmel. Tubers elongated and slender, clavate, 

 fusiform or subcylindrical, gradually enlarging from the base of the 

 stem, without any distinct peduncle. Fruit oblong or turbinate, 

 broader than the calyx, contracted, and without callosity at base. 



3. (E. Smithii, H. Wats. Tubers short and thick, clavate, fusi- 

 form or oblong, sessile at the base of the stem. Fruit cylindrical, 

 scarcely so broad as the calyx, callous at the base, not contracted. 



GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



May 29. — The Rev. Professor Sedgwick read the conclusion of 

 his " Memoirs on the Geology of North Wales." 



June 12. — The following paj^ei's were read : — 



1 . "On Fluorine in Bones, its Source and its Application to the 

 ascertainment of Geological Time." By INTr. J. Middleton. 



The author having analysed and determined the amount of fluoride 

 of calcium in recent bone, in that of an ancient Greek, of a mummy, 

 and in the bones of fossil vertebrata from the Siwalic hills, found 

 the proportions increase according to the age. He instituted a se- 



