68 



THE NATUBALIST. 



daries, extent, geology, scenery, and physi- 

 cal geography, of the New Forest, and then 

 proceeded to an examination of its botany. 

 After noticing briefly the plants recorded 

 by various authors, and remarking on the 

 little attention which the district had 

 received from botanists, he stated that the 

 number of species known to inhabit it now 

 amounted to 723, of which number he had 

 himself collected 530. Having divided 

 the flora of the Forest into three groups — 

 the plants of the heaths and moors, those 

 of the woods, and those of the streams and 

 water courses — Mr. Trimen enumerated the 

 more important species in each division, 

 and showed specimens of many of the plants 

 he mentioned. Amongst these M^ere speci- 

 mens of Gladiolus illyricus (Koch), a very 

 handsome plant, only discovered native 

 of this country in the New Forest a few 

 years ago. The author then gave a sketch 

 of the flora ot the sea-coast, and of the 

 cultivated parts of the district, and re- 

 marked on the few species found in those 

 localities. The flora was then considered 

 whole, and shown to contain many 

 species of both the east and w^estof England, 

 which are not usually found in the same 

 district. The western type of vegetation 

 was seen to prevail however, and this was 

 considered to be due to the damp humid 

 climate. Numerous species, rare in the 

 south of England, but common in North 

 Britain, were mentioned, and their growth 

 traced to the barren nature of the soil. 

 After alluding to the influence of the geo- 

 logical formation of the Forest on its flora, 

 the author concluded his paper by urging 

 collecting botanists to compile complete and 

 accurate lists of the plants of a district, in 

 preference to hunting for varieties. The 

 paper was illustrated by a map of the 

 Forest, and by numerous dried specimens 

 of plants. 



11. Contributions to the Flora of 

 Otago (New Zealand). By Dr. Lauder 

 Lindsay. — No. 2, Kare Cryptogams. — In 

 this paper the author gave an account of 

 some rare plants belonging to the natural 



orders Musci, Hepaticse, and Algae, which 

 had been collected by him in New Zealand. 

 Most of them had not been previously 

 gathered in that country. 



III. Under the Snow, or the Flowering 

 of Plants in Closed Cases. By N. B. 

 Ward, Esq. 



IV. Eeport on the Flowering of Plants in 

 the open Air at the Eoyal Botanic Garden. 

 By Mr. M'Nab. Mr. M'Nab enumerated 39 

 species of plants which had come into 

 flower in the open air from 10th March 

 till 12th April. 



Mr. Sadler exhibited specimens of 

 Dicranodontium asjjerulum of " Mitten's 

 Musci Indici," collected at Mains Castle, 

 New Kilpatrick, by Mr. W. Gait. 



Dr. John Anderson, Calcutta, sent photo- 

 graphs exhibiting the condition of many 

 of the trees in the Botanic garden there 

 after the late cyclone. 



VII. MEETING, 



The society met on Thursday. 11th May, 

 in the new Histological Class-Eoom, at the 

 Eoyal Botanic Garden — Dr. Dickson, pre- 

 sident in the chair. The following additions 

 to the University Herbarium were noticed: 

 — 220 species of European mosses, named 

 by Dr. Schimper ; specimens of Orthodon- 

 Hum gracile and Grimmia trichophylla, 

 collected bj^ Mr. Eobinson, Frodsham. The 

 followinc^ donations to the Museum were 

 announced : — From Charles Lawson, Esq. 

 Cusco maize, from Peru ; from Dr. Alex- 

 ander Dickson, birch and willow wood 

 aff'ected by Peziza cericginosa, and assuming 

 a green colour. The following communi- 

 cations were read : — 



I. On the Morphological Constitution of 

 the androecium of Mentzelia, and its analogy 

 with that of certain Eosacese, by Dr. Alex- 

 ander Dickson. The author gave the results 

 of his investigations of the development of 

 the stamens in Mentzelia aurea. From the 

 fact of the greater number of the stamens 

 not appearing until after the development 

 of the carpels, as well as from a considera- 

 tion of the peculiar arrangement of the 

 stamens, he believed that here the androe- 



