413 
The following Gentlemen were elected Ordinary Fellows 
John Muir, D.C.L., Oxon. 
William Turner, M.B. 
W. Lauder Lindsay, M.D., F.L.S. 
The following Donations to the Library were received : — 
Proceedings of the Royal Horticultural Society. Yol. I., No. 20. 
— From the Society. 
The Eruption, in May 1860, of the Kotlugja Volcano, Iceland. 
By W. Lauder Lindsay, M.D., F.L.S. 8vo. — From the 
Author. 
London University Calendar. 1861. 8vo. — From the University. 
The Polar Regions. By Sir John Richardson, LL.D. Edin- 
burgh, 1861. 8vo. — From the Author. 
Illustrations of the Genus Carex. By Francis Boott, M.D. London, 
1858. 2 vols. folio. — From the Author. 
Bombay Magnetical and Meteorological Observations. 1858. 
Folio. — From the Indian Government. 
Monday , 18 th February 1861. 
The Hon. LORD NEAYES, Y.P., in the Chair. 
The following Communications were read : — 
1. On the Embryology of Asteracanthion Yiolaceus (Linn. 
Sp.) By Wyville Thomson, LL.D., F.R.S.E., M.R.I.A., 
F.G.S., &c., Professor of Natural History in Queen’s Col- 
lege, Belfast. 
Early in December of the present winter, several specimens of 
Asteracanthion violaceus (L.) were procured, in the peculiar preg- 
nant condition described by Sars. The disk was raised into a hump, 
and the rays drawn together at the base, to form the u marsupium” 
for the protection of the young. All the eggs or embryos in a single 
marsupium were at the same stage of development. In the least 
advanced, the eggs were undergoing the later stages of yelk-segmen- 
tation, while in others this process had been completed. In other 
individuals the embryos were partially or fully formed. A speci- 
men, in whose pouch the mass of eggs w^ere least advanced, was 
