15 



ton, Esq., for which very acceptable present to the cabin- 

 ets, the thanks of the Institute were tendered by vote, on 

 motion of Mr. J. Upton. 



December 11, 1851. 



Evening Meeting. — Rev. John Lewis Russell, Vice-Presi- 

 dent, m the chair. 



The black wart of the plum and the gum of the peach 

 were introduced as subjects for discussion, in which 

 Messrs. Russell, King and Manning participated. It was 

 shown that the wart had become very injurious to the cul- 

 ture of the plum, and that no effective cure or preventive 

 had been ascertained. The unsightly aspect it produced 

 invited the free use of the knife without remedying the 

 evil. Was it the work of insects? This was not proved 

 from their presence, for the presence of the weevil of the 

 fruit in the tissue of the wart only showed it to be a con- 

 venient place to deposit its egg, mistaking its soft and 

 pulpy tissue for the fruit itself. The white worm or grub 

 was the larva of the weevil, or a small wasplike fly, which 

 sometimes issued from the wart, was a species of ichneu- 

 mon-fly infesting the body of the grub. Nor was the fun- 

 gus theory tenable, as the Sphssria morbosa, Schweinitz 

 which caused the polished granulations on the outer sur- 

 face of the indurated wart, was merely indicative of the 

 death of the tissue and a sequence of such a condition. — 

 Other species of fruit trees were attacked in the same way, 

 viz : the beach plum, Prunus maritima ; and the choke 

 cherry, Cerasus Virginiana. The subject was referred to 

 further investigations. 



Mr. Russell off'ered some interesting remarks on the 

 flora of the vicinity of Brattleborough, Vt., especially of the 

 Cryptogamic plants found by him on Mine Mountain. — 

 This elevation lies on the Easternside of Connecticut River 

 in New-Hampshire, and rises in a bold, abrupt and 

 highly picturesque manner in the rear of West River 

 Mountain. Mr. R., in company with a friend, found sev- 

 eral lichens growing upon its sunny rocks, which elicited 

 his surprize. Of these he particularized Parmelia Fahlu- 

 nensis, P. dendritica, P. omphalodes var. panniformis, P. 



