100 Miscellaneous. 



100 Shares of L. 25 each, (to be paid, if desired, in two half-yearly 

 instalments,) which will be applied exclusively to the purchase of 

 Books, Specimens, and Cabinets, to lay a broad and solid founda- 

 tion for a worthy Museum and Library. The Property thus acquir- 

 ed will be vested in the Shareholders ; and will not, unless specially 

 conveyed by donation, form part of the general property until the 

 funds shall be sufficient to pay off the shareholders. The dupli- 

 cates will, at first, be distributed among the shareholders only, and, 

 in addition to the ordinary privileges of personal admission to Hous- 

 ed Collections, Museum, Library, and Meetings, they will be en- 

 titled to give a certain number of free admissions daily to Strangers. 



Tamus communis. — This is, perhaps, one of the most common 

 plants in Somersetshire. On the south west border, near the Bris- 

 tol Channel, it lines almost every hedge for miles around. On com- 

 paring its characters with other dioecious plants, I have been sur- 

 prised to find its near identity with Dioscorea; so much so, indeec", 

 as to make it a point of discussion, Avhether it and D. cajanensis 

 can, with propriety, be arranged in different genera, or even in dis- 

 tinct species. It is also very like D. brasiliensis and D. sativa; 

 and, from the similarity in their fructification, foliation, and farina- 

 ceous root, it may well be termed the European yam. The root I 

 have found to be very acrid, viscous, and replete with starch ; and 

 is with the berries, very largely and successfully employed by the 

 country people in chilblains, rheumatism, and as a suppurative ca- 

 taplasm. — Thomas Hancock. 



Silene maritima. — I have discovered what I believe to be a new 

 locality for this plant. In August last, while in Somersetshire, I 

 found on the banks of the Bristol Channel, between the towns of 

 Watchet and Minehead, an abundance of it in a state of flowering : 

 in fact, the whole shore was almost overgrown with it. Although 

 a maritime plant, it appeared to predominate in gravelly soils, and 

 bearing no definite number of flowers on the panicles; — fully justify- 

 ing Dr Hooker's observation, as to its intermediate gradations into 

 S. inflata. — Thomas Hancock. 



P(sonia officinalis. — This plant, regarded as having been intro- 

 duced into England, has been found by my friend Mr Rootsey, in 

 an excursion which I made with him last year near Bristol, growing 

 apparently wild, in a thicket of bushes near that city. — Thomas 

 ■Hancock. 



PRINTED BY JOHN STARK, OLD ASSEMBLY CLOSE, EDINBURGH. 



