136 PEOOEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. [Tu?nll. F^rriS^ 
In the new genus Flemingites, described and figured by Mr. Carru- 
tbers in Vol. II. of the ' Geological Magazine ' for October, 1865, 
tbere are two kinds of sporangia, those in the upper part of this long 
and slender cone being something like the sporangia of the Lepido- 
dendron, but arranged in whorls, and probably filled with microsporeSy 
whilst the lowest scales supported sporangia, containing macrospores. 
This the -author gathered from much more perfect specimens than 
those which Mr. Carruthers had to work upon. Most certainly the 
little flattened discs which he described as sporangia, are found on 
scales at the base of the cone, and not in the middle or upper portions 
of it, as many of the author's specimens clearly prove. When Pro- 
fessor Brongniart's paper is published and di'a wings of his specimen 
are given, we shall be better able to understand the relation of the 
genus Flemingites to Lepidodendron. 
Microscopical and Natural History Section of the Manchester 
Literary and Philosophical Society. 
January 4,th, 1869. — J. B. Dancer, F.E.A.S., President of the 
Section, in the chair. — Mr. Spencer H. Bickham, jun., and Mr. James 
Higgin were elected members of the Section. — Mr. A. G. Latham ex- 
hibited a beautiful set of microscopic slides, and read a short paper 
in illustration of the various organs and orders of Fungi. The paper 
was accompanied by Tulasne's fine work, entitled ' Selecta Fungorum 
Carpologia,' and was further illustrated by a set of Cooke's " Fungi 
Brittanici exsiccata." — Mr. Thomas Coward exhibited specimens of 
the following Willows from the Tyrol, considered to be hybrids, and 
of the supposed parent species : — Salix macrophylla, Kerner, between 
S. grandifolia, Sering, and S. Caprea, L. Salix calliantha, Kerner, 
between S. purpurea, L., and S. daphnoides, L. Salix spuria, Schleich, 
between S. arbuscula, L., and S. helvetica, Schl. Salix Huteri, Ker- 
ner, between S. helvetica, Schl., and S. hastata, L. Also three very 
distinct forms of S. nigricans, Sm. — A selection of Proteaceae, princi- 
pally from Drummond's Australian Collections, referred to by Meisner 
in De Candolle's Prodromus, was also exhibited as illustrating the 
combination of great variety of form, especially in foliage and fruit, 
with a well-defined ordinal character. It was suggested that the 
varieties of our common indigenous plants were still worthy of the care- 
ful examination of botanists, especially in relation to those physiological 
aspects to which attention has been directed by Mr. Darwin's inquiries 
and reasonings respecting the propagation and permanence of aberrant 
organic forms.' — Mr. Charles Baily distributed specimens of Scripus 
parvulus R. and S., collected by himself, in August last, at its newly 
discovered station in Wicklow. The plant grows in abundance near 
the harbour of Arklow, at the mouth of the river Ovoca, on large 
sandy flats, which are covered by each tide. Very few plants were 
met with in flower, and not a single specimen in fruit, and the plant 
is propagated by minute pear-shaped underground buds, whose taper- 
ing ends are somewhat recurved. Mr. Bailey pointed out the specific 
