266 
W. C. Thomson, another missionary, was the first who procured 
flowering specimens of the plant. Some of these had been given to 
the author by Mr Baillie, and from them, along with the legume 
and seeds, the characters of the plant had been drawn up. The 
plant belongs to the natural order Leguminosse, sub-order Papilio- 
naceee, and tribe Phaseolese, and appears to be a new genus to which 
the name of Physostigma (<pvc raw, to inflate) has been given, from 
the peculiar inflated appearance of the stigma. To the species the 
name of venenosum has been given, in allusion to its poisonous quali- 
ties. The genus is nearly allied to Phaseolus, from which it differs 
in the stigma, and in the long, grooved hilum of the seed. In the 
last character it approaches Mucuna. 
Physostigma venenosum is a large twining plant, with a thick 
stem, and pinnately-trifoliolate leaves. The inflorescence is nodoso- 
racemose, the flowers being curved, and of a pale pink colour, the 
stamens 10, diadelphous, the style bearded at its upper part, and the 
stigma covered with a remarkable crescentic ventricular sac. The 
legume is 7 inches long, of a brown colour, containing two or three 
dark-brown seeds, with a long, deep hilum. 
The paper was illustrated by drawings, executed by Dr Greville. 
The following Donations to the Library were announced : — 
Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Seances de l’Academie des 
Sciences, Nos. 21—24. 4to.- — From the Academy. 
Transactions of the Pathological Society of London. Vol. X. 1859. 
8vo. — From the Society. 
Monthly Notice of Astronomical Society. Vol. XX., No. 2. 
8vo. — From the Society . 
Journal of the Geological Society of Dublin. Vol. VIII., Part 2. 
1859. 8 vo. —From the Society. 
Instructions and Chart for Observations of Mars in right ascension 
at the opposition of 1860 for obtaining the measure of the 
Sun’s distance. By G. B. Airy, Esq., Astronomer-Royal. 
8vo. — From the Eoyal Astronomical Society. 
Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India. Vol. II., Part 1. 
1859. 8 vo. — From the Indian Government . 
