114 REPORT 1869. 



On some curious Fossil Fungi fro^n the Black Shale of the Northumherland 

 Coal-field*. By Albani Hancock, F.L.S., and Thomas Atthet. 



In this paper the authors described some small lenticular bodies found in the 

 black shale at Cramlington, Newsham, and in other localities in the district ; and 

 from the internal structure, which is well preserved, they conclude that these 

 bodies are Funf^i, related to the curious Indian form Sclerotium siipitahim, of 

 Berkeley and Currey. This relationship is likewise shown by the general form 

 and surface-characters. 



Five species were described under the following' names : — Archagaricon bvlhosum, 

 A. glohuliferum, A. radiatuni) A. dendriticum, A. conglomeratum. 



On the Occurrence of Rapistrum rugosum, All., in Surrey, Kent, and Somer- 

 setshire. By W. P. HiBEN, M.A. 



This plant the author first noticed on the 24:th of June, 1800, in Surrey, near the 

 river Thames, below Barnes. On the 8tli of Jul}' he also met with it in tlie Isle of 

 Thauet, gro'wing in corn-fields, in company with Siiiajiis arvcnsis, L., and other 

 common weeds. Again, in a letter to Mr. Berkeley, dated the 18th July, Mr. 

 Broome wi'ites from Batheaston, in Somersetshire, " Hajnstrum rugosmn, Koch, 

 turned iip here the other day in some abundance in one place, and I have since 

 seen it in my own meadows." 



On examining the plant, the cruciform flowers, with teti-adynamous stamens, 

 refer it to the natural order Cruciferte. Then the transversely 2-jointed fruit, with 

 the upper joint indehiscent, brings the genus into the tribe Cakilinese, which 

 limits the plant to about 40 out of the 1200 species or more that are contained in 

 Cruciferse. Further, the indehiscent and not verj- small lower joint of the fruit, 

 the conduplicate cotyledons, and the yellow flowers, bring the plant into the genus 

 Hapistruin, Desv. The nearest allied British genus is Cramhe. 



The upper joint of the fruit of this plant is hairy, globular, and without two horns 

 at the top, and is provided with meridional ribs like those of a mellon, except that 

 they are interrupted and rugose ; and the lower joint is oblong, in the form of an 

 inflated pedicel, unlike the upper joint, and nearly as long as the fruit-pedicel. 

 These characters refer the plant to the species R. rugosum, All., H. hirsutunt, 

 Host. Mapisfrxm contains eight weU-defiued species, all of which occur in the 

 countries on the shores of the Mediterranean sea ; most of them occur in Algiers, and 

 several in the Mediten-anean islands. H. rugosum has the widest distribution of all. 

 The author has seen specimens in the Kew herbarium from Constantinople, Syria, 

 Austria, Switzerland, and Algiers, from several places in Germany and France, and 

 from the islands of Sicily, Corsica, Tenerifie, Madeira, Canaries, and Azores. 



On iJie Relative Value of the Characters employed in the Classification of 

 Plants. By Dr. Maxwell T. Masters, F.L.S. 



This paper was devoted to the consideration of some of the means employed by 

 botanists in elaborating the "natural" sy.stems of classification, and to the estima- 

 tion of the relative value to be attached to those means. The characters treated of 

 were the following: — 1. Characters derived. from the relative frequency of occur- 

 rence of a particular form, or a particular arrangement of organs ; 2, developmental 

 characters, wliether " congenital " or " acquired ; " 3, teratological characters ; 

 4, rudimentaiy characters ; 5, special physiological characters ; 6, characters de- 

 pendent on geographical distribution. 



To arrive at an estimate of the first class of characters, the plan followed in the 

 paper was to enumerate, in the case of any particular " cohort " or " alliance," all 

 the main points which had been employed by various authors to characterize the 

 group in question, or to distinguish it from its allies, and to arrange them according 

 to tlie frequency of their occurrence in the several families, placing those characters 

 first which occurred most frequently, and afterwards, in order, those that occurred 

 less often. It this way it was shown that those characters which are most im- 



* Published in extenso in ' Annals and Mag. Nat. Hist.' for October 1869. 



