Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 07 



BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. 



May 11, 1848. — Rev. Dr. Fleming, President, in the Chair. 

 The following communications were read : — 



1. " Remarks on Marine Vegetation in Estuaries," by the Rev. 

 Dr. Fleming. 



The author called attention to the condition of the roots of the 

 Algae, as organs of adhesion and not of nourishment, and, conse- 

 quently, that when other circumstances are favourable, marine 

 plants may be absent simply for want of a soil. He gave as in- 

 stances, a bank on which Ulva latissima grew wherever there was a 

 cockle, to which it adhered, in the absence of any other support. 

 On another bank a single but remarkably large plant of Fucus vesi- 

 culosa was attached to a stranded root of a tree, no other point of 

 support existing on the surrounding sandy moving surface. He 

 next adverted to the disappearance in succession of the Algae in pass- 

 ing from the sea through an estuary into a river, remarking that 

 Fucus serratus and F. vesiculosus cease to grow before F. canalicu- 

 lars, while F. vesiculosus advances farthest into the brackish water, 

 and may even be observed, in different states of development, in the 

 grassy marshes covered only by the spring tides. He described the 

 influence exerted by the brackish water in rendering the fronds of 

 Fucus nodosus much narrower, diminishing the size and number of 

 the bladders, and changing its colour into a paler hue. In the Fucus 

 vesiculosus, the bladders by degrees disappear, and a cellular mass 

 occurs along the middle ; or the leaves become narrow and plain, 

 and it assumes the appearance of Fucus ceranoides, while the colour 

 passes into a dingy yellow. 



Dr. Fleming concluded* his remarks by recommending the careful 

 study of all the changes which marine plants undergo when passing 

 under the influence of fresh water, so as to determine the range of 

 variation of particular species, and thereby assist the labours of the 

 systematic botanist, and check the too frequently hasty discrimina- 

 tions of the palaeontologist. 



2. " Description of a new species of Fern from Tahiti," by Dr. 

 Greville. This beautiful species, which has been named Antrophyum 

 Grevillii (Balfour MSS.), was picked in the island of Tahiti by Dr. 

 Sibbald in 1846. The full description will be published in these 

 ' Annals '* and in the Society's Transactions. 



3. " Supplement to the Synopsis of British Rubi, No. II.," by 

 Chas. C. Babington, Esq. This paper will appear in these ' Annals 'f 

 and in the Society's Transactions. 



4. " Notes of a Botanical Visit to Ben Wyvis, Ross-shire, in 

 June 1847," by R. M. Stark, Esq. 



After detailing the route from Aberdeen through Strathpeffer, the 

 author mentioned a few of the plants met with on the mountain, 

 which, from its great extent and situation, rendering it difficult of 

 access, he considered would scarcely repay the trouble of the bo- 

 tanist. He found it destitute of the more interesting alpine plants, 

 with the exception of Arbutus alpina, which covered the projecting 



* See p. 10 of the present Number. f See p. 32 of the present Number. 



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