366 Botanical. 



and the drawings full of character and interest. The Government 

 has granted L. 1500 to assist in defraying the expenses of the pub- 

 lication. " In consequence of this/' says the editor of the Magazine 

 of Natural History, " an arrangement is being made with the intend- 

 ed publishers (Smith and Elder, Cornhill,) by which the public will 

 obtain the work at one-fourth or fifth of the actual cost price, the 

 Government grant defraying the whole expense of engraving the 

 plates." 



BOTANICAL. 



Botanical Society of Edinburgh, May 11, 1837- — Professor 

 Graham in the chair. The following members were elected : — Re- 

 sident, Mrs Michael Percival, Mr Thomas Dickson, Mr James Ha- 

 milton, Mr James Nairne, Dr Silas Palmer, Mr George Trusted. 

 Non-Resident, Mr J. S. Bowerbank, London ; Mr Alfred White, 

 London. 



Specimens from Dr Salter were presented. Donation to library, 

 " Pugillus Plantarum Indise Orientalis, composuit G. A. Walker- 

 Arnott," — from the Author. 



Dr Balfour read some extracts from a letter from Mr Gardner, 

 at present in Brazil, received along with the first invoice of Plants 

 sent home by that gentleman. 



Dr Balfour then read a communication on Botanical Prosody, in 

 which he endeavoured to show that botanists in general did not pay 

 sufficient attention to the proper pronunciation of the terms which 

 they used. Whilst he allowed that in some cases the quantities of 

 botanical names were arbitrary, he proved that in others these could 

 be easily ascertained by a reference to classical authors ; and in il- 

 lustration of this, he adduced a number of instances, quoting the 

 authority for a different pronunciation from that usually given to 

 them. 



A paper by Dr Walker- Arnott was read, containing observations 

 on the British Cichoracece, with an arrangement of these according 

 to the system adopted by Lessing in his " Synopsis Generum Com- 

 positarum." Dr Arnott expressed his belief that all our Floras 

 would ere long follow Lessing's arrangement of the Compositai, and 

 adopt his generic characters, and for this reason strongly recom- 

 mended the study of his Synopsis, along with the fifth volume of 

 De Candolle's Prodromus, in order to obtain a competent knowledge 

 of this difficult tribe, and the value of the different parts in generic 

 characters. Various species of Apargia, Leonlodon, Hieracium, and 

 Crepis were especially noticed, and many interesting observations 



