Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 65 



by Mr. M'Nab. The author stated that he had been long in the be- 

 lief that the transmission of fruits and seeds in a fit state for germi- 

 nation would be better accomplished by being packed in soil than by 

 any other known method. This experiment was fully tested by him- 

 self during 1 834, when he brought over the seeds of many of the 

 rarer American oaks and other trees in boxes filled with soil, while 

 portions of the same kinds of seeds packed, both in brown paper and 

 cloth bags, were in many instances totally useless. 



4. " On a variety of the Orchis mascida (O. speciosa. Host), found 

 in the county of Wicklow," by Mr. D. Moore of Glasnevin. This 

 communication consisted of parts of two letters from Mr. Moore ad- 

 dressed to Mr. N'Nab : — 



"27th May 1852. — I have just been looking over a proof figure 

 of Orchis speciosa. Host. It was discovered by me and another per- 

 son last year in the county of Wicklow, where I went again a few 

 days ago and found two more plants. Koch makes it a variety of 

 O. mascula, which it probably ought not to be kept separate from ; 

 the difference being more in appearance than in well-defined cha- 

 racters. It is however a noble-looking plant, growing nearly 18 inches 

 high." 



"28th May 1852. — I herewith send you one of the smallest spe- 

 cimens of the Orchis speciosa, Host, which I will thank you to show 

 to Dr. Balfour. Some of the flowers in the rachis are imperfect, 

 wanting the labellum. The specimen figured had also imperfect 

 flowers, which vould appear to be characteristic of the species. I 

 confess I cannot find good characters to distinguish it from O. mas- 

 cula, though it differs so widely in general appearance." 



In regard to the Orchis, Dr. Balfour read the following oommuni- 

 cation from jVIr. Babington : — 



" I see that Mr. Moore has sent you a paper upon the supposed 

 Orchis speciosa of the county of Wicklow, and that it is to be brought 

 before the Botanical Society on Thursday next. He has been so 

 good as to send me a specimen of the plant, and I have informed him 

 very recently that I could not concur in the opinion that it is the 

 (). speciosa of Host. I believe it to be nothing more than a very 

 luxuriant state of the O. mascula. A few days since I found two spe- 

 cimens, exactly corresponding with the Wicklow plant, in the wooded 

 part of the Devil's Ditch, in this county of Cambridge. They pos- 

 sess the remarkable size of Mr. Moore's plant, and the rather acuter 

 segments of the perianth, such as he finds on his specimens. The 

 i true 0. speciosa (which is itself only a variety of the O. mascula) 

 ci has very much more attenuated segments of perianth. It is figured 

 by Reichenbach in his recent elaborate volume upon the Orchid acese 

 (forming * Icon. Fl. Germ.' vols. xiii. & xiv.), and I have lately re- 

 ceived a plant which is much more like it than is the Irish plant, from 

 Mr. Keys of Plymouth. Our English O. mascula is noted by conti- 

 nental botanists as an obtuse-petaled form of the species. Mr. Moore's 

 plant is far nearer to the continental type of the species. 



5. " On Plants observed in Westmoreland and Cumberland in May 

 1852," by Mr. James B. Davies. 



Ann. ^ Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. x. 5 



