TOL. LIX.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 660 



LI. Transit of Fenus over the Sun, observed June 3, 176Q, by Alex. Aubert,* 

 in Austin Briars, London, 3 Seconds of Time East of St. Paulas, with a 

 Cassegrain Reflector of J. Short, having a Metal. of 2 feet focal Length, and 

 magnifying about 110 Times, p. 378. 



External contact at 7^ 8™ 13* mean time. 



Internal contact at 7 26 45 interval IS"" 32'. 



At 7'' 26™ 45' Venus appeared in contact with the sun, and about 6* 

 after Mr. A. saw the sun's limb compleated. The clock, could be depended on 

 to less than 1 second, having been compared with a number of equal altitudes of 

 the sun, some days before and after the transit. 



LIJ. Some Account of an Oil transmitted by Mr. George Brownrigg, of North 

 Carolina. By Wm. IVatson, M. D., R. S. S. p. 379. 



Dr. W. here lays before the e. s. some pods of a vegetable, and the oil 

 pressed from their contents. They were sent from Edenton, in North Carolina, 

 by Mr. George Brownrigg, whose brother. Dr. Brownrigg, is a worthy member 

 of the E. s.; and are the produce of a plant well known, and much cultivated in 

 the southern colonies, and in the American sugar islands, where they are called 

 ground nuts, or ground pease. They are originally, it is presumed, of the 

 growth of Africa, and brought from thence by the negroes, who use them as 

 food, both raw and roasted, and are very fond of them. They are therefore 

 cultivated by them in the little parcels of land set apart for their use by their 

 masters. By these means, this plant has extended itself, not only to the 

 warmer American settlements, but it is cultivated in Surinam, Brasil, and Peru. 



The plant, which produces these, has been mentioned, and described, by the 

 botanical writers of the later times. Ray, in his History of Plants, calls it 

 Arachis Hypogaios Americanus. It is the Arachidna quadrifolia villosa of 

 Plumier. Sir Hans Sloane, in his History of Jamaica, calls it Arachidna Indise 

 utriusque tetraphylla. Piso and Marcgrave both mention it among the Brasilian 

 plants, under I he name of Mundubi. Linnaeus has constituted a genus of this 

 plant, of which only one species is as yet known, under Mr. Ray's generical 

 name of Arachis. 



This plant, with a very few of the trifoliate tribe, has the property of burying 

 its seeds under ground, which it does in the following manner. As soon as the 



* Alex. Aubert, Esq. r. a. s., of Highbury-House, died in Nov. 1805, in the 76th year of hit 

 age. He wa.s also vice-president of the Society of Antiquaries, and governor of the London 

 Assurance Company. Mr. A. was not unskilled in other sciences, but he was more parlicuiarly 

 attached to that of astronomy, and he possessed one of the neatest private observatories, and collections 

 of instruments in any country. For his particular suavity of manners too, and elegant gentlemanly 

 deportment, Mr. A. was very generally admired. 



VOL. xn. 4 Q 



