Linnean Society. 475 
cients, and his opinion appears to be borne out by the accordance 
of the root with the description given by Dioscorides, by the striking 
analogy of the Arabian synonym koost to its Greek and Cashmeer 
appellations, and also by the commercial history of the drug. 
The roots, which are possessed of a strong aromatic and pun- 
gent odour, are collected in large quantities, principally for export- 
ation to China, where they are held in high repute, as an aphrodisiac, 
and are also burnt as incense in the temples. The quantity annu- 
ally collected varies from 10,000 to 12,000 khurwars (of 96 seers, 
or 192 lIbs.,) or about 2,000,000 lbs. weight. At Canton the price 
per cwt. is 2/. 7s. 5d., while the cost at the depdt in Cashmeer is 
only 2s. 4d. 
The plant is not held in much repute as a medicine by the Cash- 
meerians, who are only astonished at the estimation in which it is 
held in other countries; nor do they apply it to any other use than 
that of protecting bales of shawls from the attacks of moths : por- 
tions of the stem are, however, suspended from the necks of children 
to avert the ‘ evil eye,” and to expel worms. 
The plant is regarded by Dr. Falconer as constituting the type of 
a new genus of Cynaree, which he has named in compliment to the 
present Governor-General of India; and as it was discovered during 
a journey in Cashmeer, commenced under Lord Auckland’s auspices, 
and as it yields a valuable product, the application of the name be- 
comes more appropriate from the useful direction of his lordship’s 
views in promoting botanical investigation in India. ‘The Auck- 
landia is a gregarious plant, growing in great abundance on the 
moist open slopes of the mountains which surround the valley of 
Cashmeer, at an elevation of from 8000 to 9000 feet above the level 
of the sea, but like some. other plants of that region, it is extremely 
local, being confined to the immediate vicinity of the valley, although 
the Rheum emodi, Aconitum heterophyllum, and Rhododendron antho- 
pogon, with which it is associated, are extensively distributed over 
the western Himalayas. The genus is nearly related to Saussurea, 
and is chiefly distinguished by the rays of its feathery pappus being 
disposed in two rows, and cohering by twos or threes at the base. 
The following is the author’s character of the genus: 
AUCKLANDIA. 
Capitulum homogamum. Antherarum caud@ \anato-plumose. Pappi 
setacei lamelleé biseriales, plumosz, basi ternatim quadriternatimve 
cohrentes, in annulum deciduum concrete. Achenium glabrum. 
Herba orgyalis, radice perenni ramosd crassd, caule erecto simplici 
sulcato glabro folioso, foliis sublyratis margine setaceo-dentatis supra 
glabris atrovirentibus subtus glaucescentibus venis puberulis, capitulis 
numerosis terminalibus aggregatis, floribus atropurpureis. 
Sp. A. Costus. 
December 1.—Mr. Forster, V.P., in the Chair. 
Mr. Gould, F.L.S., exhibited a specimen of a nondescript Lizard 
from New Holland, remarkable for the extreme aculeation of its 
scales. 
