60 
PROCEEDINGS OF THE 
lobium angustissimum of Curt., that, that species furnishes a 
variety with leaves still more narrow and stem feeble, which 
has been designated by the name of Epilobium Dodoncei by 
Allioni, of Epilobium Lobelli by Villars, of E. Halleri by 
Retz ; and in later periods by E. angustissimum, E. alpinum 
by Sering. 
And with respect to the E. rosmarinifolium, Haenke, I beg 
leave to remark that it is a species totally distinct from his 
homonym, the E. rosmarinifolium , Pursch. This last is in 
fact a North American plant, discovered in 1810 in the envi- 
rons of Philadelphia, and since by Bigelow, who calls it E. 
lineare ; some few years still later in a hundred places south- 
west of that city, in the territory of Boston. Nuttall has 
found it, and has given it the name of E. squamatum. 
MARCH 16 th. 
J. E. Gray, Esq., F.R.S., President in the Chair. 
Previous to the meeting, Mr. D. Cooper delivered his se- 
cond lecture on Botany. After which the following remarks 
were read from J. Riley, Esq., of Nottingham, in a letter 
communicated to the Secretary : — 
I remark in the Literary Gazette of 24th February, that a 
Paper was read at the meeting of the Society “ On Hybridity 
inFerns,” communicated by M. Martens of the Royal Academy, 
Brussels. He states as a “verified fact” that a Hybrid 
Fern has been raised at the Botanical Gardens, Louvain, so 
as to leave “ no doubt” on the subject, — and draws his con- 
clusion that therefore Ferns ought to be classed amongst 
those plants which are endowed with sexual organs — and he 
states hybrids to be caused by the “seeds” of one species 
being fecundated by the “ active powder” of a neighbouring- 
species. The whole of these conclusions I do “doubt,” and 
I hope to state to you in a rather clearer light the true state 
of the matter. 
I think your Society will scarcely allow that “seeds” 
when arrived at maturity, can be fecundated, or that the 
“ powder” on the under surface of the fronds of the Gyrnno- 
