xviii Minutes of Proceedings. 



Dr. Marloth exhibited and described a specimen of the so-called^ 

 Candle-bush. 



Mr. Peringuey exhibited a snake commonly called the egg-eater, 

 which was caught at Admiralty House, in the act of swallowing an 



Mr. Fisk said that the late Mr. Oakley had one of these snakes in 

 captivity for some time, and he had seen the shell after ejection by 

 the snake : it was a harmless snake, but had the manner and 

 appearance of a venomous one. 



Prof. MacOwan called attention to the deaths of three distinguished 

 scientists who had taken considerable interest in S.A. Botany : Dr. 

 A&a Gray, father of American Botany, Dr. Georg Winter of Leipzig, 

 and Dr. Hugo Lojka of Buda-Pesth. 



Dr. Asa Gray, the patriarch of American Botany, who had for 

 many years accepted and studied out botanical specimens from this 

 country, died December, 1887. 



Dr. Georg Winter of Leipzig, one of the most indefatigable of 

 modern mycologists, who had been engaged upon a new edition of 

 Rabenhorst's Fungi of Europe, took much interest in S. African Fungi, 

 described and figured many of them. He died August 16, 1887, at 

 a comparatively early age. 



Dr. Hugo Lojka of Buda-Pesth, Hungaria, a well-knoAvn lichen- 

 ologist, had for several years been engaged in the study of Cape Lichens. 

 His death on September 10, 1887, seemed to have stopped further 

 investigation, but fortunately his work is being carried on by Dr. 

 Stitzenberger of Konstantz, who will probably in the course of the 

 next two years bring out a descriptive catalogue of all known lichens 

 of Africa from the Algerian coast right away to our southern Cape 

 of Good Hope. 



The Rev. Professor Foot then read his paper on " Conservation of 

 Energy in its relation to Mind." 



In the discussion which ensued Messrs. Fuller, Gill, Peringuey, 

 Guthrie and Beck took part, and the thanks of the meeting were voted 

 to Professor Foot for his paper. 



Dr. Gill asked that the next meeting should be held at the Royal 

 Observatory, instead of at the usual place, as he would contribute 

 a paper on the application of Electricity to Astronomy, and the 

 necessary experiments could more easily be performed there. 



The President gave a short account of the Comet now visible and> 

 of its future path. 



