KEPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 



67 



Deux Ascensions Scientifiques au Mont 

 ■Blanc, leurs resultats immediats pour la 

 MeteoroLogie, la x>hysique du globe et les 

 sciences naturelles, par. Chas. Martins, 

 Prof, d'histoire naturelle a Montpellier, 

 :&c. (Paris, J. Claye, 1865.) 



Anything from the pen of Prof. Chas. 

 Martins is sure to recommend itself to 

 'the enquiring naturalist, and the little 

 brochure under consideration is no excep- 

 ■ tion to the rule. With the purely physical 

 •portion of the article, it would be out of 

 'our province to meddle — indeed it is not 

 'so much a critiq[ue as a simple notice, that 

 j we purpose to lay before our readers. Prof. 

 [■Martins first gives us a clear and succinct 

 account of the great scientific ascent of 

 iMont Blanc, by H. B. de Saussure, in 

 1787, and its results, on the scientific 

 world generally, and then compares these 

 results with an ascent made by himself in 

 company with Auguste Bravais and Auguste 

 Lepileur, commencing on the 31st July 

 1843, marshalled by the three well-known 

 guides M. Couttet, J. Mugnier, and Theod. 

 ■Balmat, and thirty -five porters to carry the 

 various scientific apparatus to be used. 

 pBesides a variety of physical observations 

 made during the journey, some confirming, 

 'others correcting those of De Saussure and 

 others, he gives us a list o^ the plants 

 which have been found at the various times 

 D-rowino- at the Grands Mulcts. These 

 number eighty- two species, of which, 

 twenty-four are phanerogams ; tv/enty-six 

 mosses ; two hepaticse ; and thirty lichens. 

 h. list is famished of the Phanerogams, as 

 under, viz : — 

 Draba fladnizensis. Wulf. 

 v. frigida. Gaud. 

 Pardojmine bellidifolia. L. 

 C. resedifolia. Saut. 

 Silene acaulis. L. 

 iPotentilla frigida. Vill. 

 \Phyteuma hemisphericum. L. 

 ^yrethrum alpinum. Willd. 

 mJrigeron uniflorus. L. 

 Eaxifraga bryoides. L. 

 !?. groenlandica. L. 



S. muscoides. Auct. 



S. oppositifolia. L. 



Androsace helvetica. Gaud. 



A. jouhcjcens. D.C. 



Ociitiana verna. L. 



Luzula sjjieata. D.C. 



Festuca Halleri. Vill. 



Poa laxa. Haencke. 



P. ccesia. Sm. 



P. alpina var. vivipara. L. 



Trisetmn subspicatum. P. Beauv. 



Agrostis rupestris. All. 



Car ex nigra. All. 



In a few weeks these plants accomplish 

 all the phases of their vegetation — and^yet 

 they serve for the nourishment of one of 

 the Eodents, Arvicola nivalis, Mart, the 

 only mammal which is to be found at so 

 great an elevation on the Alps. 



We should have been glad to enter more 

 into the details given by M. Martins, but 

 as our space is limited we must forbear. 



Qxh of Sotuixt^. 



Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 



XXIX SESSION — VI. MEETING. 



The society met on Thursday, 13th April, at 

 5, St. Andrew Square. — Dr. Alexander Dick- 

 son, president in the chair. The following 

 donations to the University Herbarium 

 were announced : — From Professor Clos, 

 Toulouse, plants from the south of France ; 

 from Plenry Trimen, Esq., rare plants 

 from the New Forest, Plampsliire ; from 

 F. Faylor, Esq., specimen of Hypericum 

 undulatum, from near Plymouth ; from 

 T. B. Flower, Esq., Bath, specimens of 

 Ononis reclinata, collected in Jersey ; from 

 Mr. Roy, Aberdeen, specimens oiPolytrizhum 

 sexangulare ; from Dr. Lauder I^indsay, 

 specimens of Gnmmia ptychophylla, and 

 Sphoeria Lindsayana, from New Zealand. 

 The following communications were read : 

 — I. An account of the Flora of that part 

 of Hampshire called the New Forest. By 

 Henry Trimen, Esq. The author com- 

 menced by describing the situation, boun- 



