238 Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 



many fungi in peculiar circumstances presented most remarkable 

 forms. He instanced the so-called genus Myconema of Fries, as well 

 as the genus Ozonium. Even some of the Agarics present anomalous 

 appearances, such as the absence of the pileus, &c, in certain in- 

 stances. The remarkable appearances of dry-rot in different circum- 

 stances are well known. Although syrup when left to itself will un- 

 dergo the acetous change, still Dr. Greville was satisfied that the 

 presence of this plant promoted and expedited the change. 



Professor Simpson remarked, that the changes in Fungi may re- 

 semble the alternation of generations so evident in the animal king- 

 dom, as noticed by Steenstrup and others. In the Medusae there are 

 remarkable changes of form, and there is also the separation of buds, 

 resembling the splitting of the vinegar-plant. 



Mr. Embleton remarked, tbat in the neighbourhood of Embleton 

 in Northumberland, every cottager used the plant for the purpose of 

 making vinegar. 



3. "The Results of some Experiments relative to the Growth of 

 Alpine Plants, after having been kept artificially covered with snow in 

 an ice-house for many months," by Prof. Simpson. Seeds and plants 

 kept in this way during winter, and then brought into the warm air 

 of summer, germinate and grow with great rapidity. Mr. John 

 Stewart had also made experiments with animals, and he found that 

 the chrysalis so treated produced a moth in eleven days, after being 

 brought into the atmosphere ; while other chrysales of the same 

 moth did not do so until three or four months afterwards. In the 

 Arctic regions the rapid growth of plants during the short summer 

 was well known. Professor Simpson alluded to the importance of 

 similar experiments being made on the different kinds of grain. He 

 referred to the rapidity of the harvest in Canada and other countries, 

 where the cold lasted for many months, and he was disposed to think 

 that if grain was kept in ice-houses during winter, and sown in spring, 

 there might be an acceleration of the harvest. He considered the 

 subject deserving of the attention of agriculturists, for the saving of 

 a few weeks in the ripening of the crops would be of vast consequence 

 in Britain. Moreover there might be less necessity for exposing the 

 crops to the variable springs of this country, for the sowing might be 

 retarded. 



Professor Simpson is still carrying on his experiments ; he hoped 

 to communicate farther results at a future meeting. 



4. " Notice of Plants found near London," by Mr. G. Lawson. Mr. 

 Lawson spent a day in botanizing the neighbourhood of Wandsworth, 

 Wimbledon, Putney, and Battersea, in Surrey, in September 1851, 

 and found a few plants, which, although probably introduced, were 

 worthy of notice, as not having been previously recorded in those 

 localities. He exhibited specimens of the following : — 



Anacharis Alsinastrum, Bab. Found in ditches at Wandsworth 

 Common, where it was intermixed with Potamogeton densus. 



Trifolium ochroleucum, L., Wandsworth Common. This species 

 is admitted by Mr. Watson as a native in the Thames province. 

 (Cybele, i. 263.) 



