Linncean Society, 



235 



Baron Jacquin possessed an amiable and obliging disposition, 

 and was distinguished for his urbanity and kindness, especially to 

 strangers ; and few cultivators of science visited the Austrian capi- 

 tal without partaking of his good offices and hospitality. He died 

 at Vienna, on the 10th of December, in the 74th year of his age. 



The President also announced that seventeen Fellows and four 

 Associates had been elected since the last Anniversary. 



It was then moved by the President, and unanimously agreed to 

 by the meeting, That the cordial thanks of the Society be given to 

 Dr. Boott on his retirement from the office of Secretary, for the in. 

 cessant attention which he has shown to the duties of that office, and 

 the ability, zeal, and urbanity with which he has discharged those 

 duties. 



At the election, which subsequently took place, the Lord Bishop 

 of Norwich was re-elected President ; Edward Forster, Esq., Trea- 

 surer ; John Joseph Bennett, Esq., Secretary ; and Richard Taylor, 

 Esq., Under-Secretary. The following five Fellows were elected 

 into the Council in the room of others going out; viz. Thomas Bell, 

 Esq., George Loddiges, Esq., Gideon Mantell, Esq., LL.D., Richard 

 Horsman Solly, Esq., and Sir George Thomas Staunton, Bart. 



June 2. — Mr. Forster, V.P., in the Chair. 



Mr. George Francis, F.L.S., exhibited a portion of the trunk of 

 the Lepurandra saccidora (Graham Cat. Bomb. PI. p. 193.), from 

 Western India, of the bark of which sacks and bags are made. 



Mr. Rauch exhibited a specimen of the fruit of Salisburia adianti- 

 folia, which ripened last year in the Imperial Gardens at Schcen- 

 brunn, near Vienna. 



Read, " On the reproductive Organs of Equisetum." By Mr. 

 Joseph Henderson, Gardener to Earl Fitzwilliam, at Milton Park, 

 communicated by the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, F.L.S. Mr. Hender- 

 son's observations were made on Equisetum hyemale and other spe- 

 cies, and embrace the entire period of development of the sporae and 

 of the thecae containing them. The theca is in the first instance 

 filled with cells of extreme tenuity, in the interior of which the 

 sporae afterwards take their origin. After the appearance of the 

 sporee the containing cells gradually become thickened, and sepa- 

 rate from each other; and at a still later period their walls are 

 marked by spiral sutures, by means of which they are subdivided 

 into two narrow bands with broad and rounded ends. As the sporae 

 approach maturity these bands separate at the sutures, and the con- 

 taining cell is thus resolved into its component parts, the supposed 

 filaments and antherae of Hedwig. The sporae, when ripe, have a 

 double membrane, which is rendered evident by the addition of 

 tincture of iodine. In the immature state of the thecae, up to the 

 time when the spiral lines become distinctly marked on the integu- 

 ment of the sporae, they form transparent membranous reticulated 

 bags, the meshes of which have different directions in different 

 parts. When the sporae have attained their full size, a new deposit 

 of vegetable matter is added, and spiral vessels are formed within 

 the flattened cells of which the membrane is composed, and the 



