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Proceedings of Societies. 



the wax with which its berries are coated. The wax is yellowish green, 

 emitting a fragrant balsamic odoar not so unctuous as bees' wax, nor so 

 brittle as resin, sinking in water, whereas bees' wax swims, sp. gr. 1-015 ; 

 fusing point, 110°. The wax is obtained by boiling the berries in water. 

 The plant is common all over the hills overlooking the innumerable bays 

 and harboars of the Nova Scotian coast, but I do not know that the pro- 

 duct has been made an object of commerce here. Some years ago Pro- 

 fessor Simmonds called attention to the desirability of encouraging the 

 production of Myrtle wax, and gave in the " Pharmaceutical Journal, vol. 

 xiii. p. 418," very full details respecting the wax-yielding Myrtles of 

 Soath Africa, and the mode of manufacturing the product. The species 

 which is cultivated at the Cape as the best South African one is Myrica 

 cordifolia. Professor Simmonds speaks of our American Myrtle wax 

 {M. cerifera) as identical commercially with that produced at the Cape. 

 Aconsignment of Cape w:ax (2561 lbs.)yieldedaclearprofit of L.54:, 4s. 5d., 

 after payment of all expenses, collecting, shipping, &c. Should any 

 manufacturer in Britain feel an interest in the matter, I will be happy to 

 furnish such additional information as may be procurable here. In 

 " Annales des Sciences Naturelles 1855," it is stated that the European 

 Myrica Gale yields a little wax. The Myrica cerifera, like its African 

 congener, is a coast plant. I never saw it in Upper Canada ; but Professor 

 Gray gives a station on Lake Erie. On the Halifax hills it is a small 

 spreading bush, three or four feet high, forming a close brush. At this 

 season the stems are leafless, but the withered leaves scattered about still 

 retain their fragrance, 



V. Note on the leaves of Ulex ( Whin). By Professor Lawson, Dalhousie 



College, Halifax. 



The seedling Ulex has at first no spines. The young stem is clothed 

 with leaves — from twelve to twenty in number — these are shortly petiolate 

 and trifoliate, consisting each of three small elliptical hairy articulated 

 leaflets. When the stem, becomes five or six inches in length (usually) 

 the trifoliate leaves cease to be developed, and spines are then produced. 

 We thus see that in Ulex the perfect leaves appear during the early period 

 of the plant's development, while in the Australian Leguminosm, their 

 production is delayed till the maturity of the plant. Ulex^ however, is 

 truly a plant with compound trifoliate leaves, not simple-leaved, as stated 

 in many works. The above facts were ascertained from observing the 

 development of some seedlings of the whin raised by Mrs Lawson in a 

 flower-pot, from seeds brought from Ireland by Dr Dickson, Dean of the 

 Medical Faculty of Kingston. 



VI. Notice of Mosses found in the neighhourhood of The Burn^ near 

 Brechin, Forfarshire. By Mrs M'Inroy. Communicated by Mr 

 John Sadler. 



Mrs M'Inroy gave a list of mosses to be met with in the neighbourhood 

 of The Burn, so far as at present known. The greater proportion are to 

 be found within the policies, and principally on the banks of the North 

 Esk, which flows through the grounds. The list contains 144 species, 

 but Mrs M'Inroy states that she believes this by- no means exhausts the 

 mosses of the place. 



The following note to Professor Balfour from Dr John Kirk was read : — 

 " I enclose two pods of a tree nearly allied to Bauhinia or Copaifera^ 

 but of a new genus. Perhaps you may succeed in growing it. As yet 



