SCIENTIFIC SUMMARY. 
183 
thus prepared by Mr. English, and now in the Museum at the Royal Botanic 
Garden, were exhibited to the meeting. 
Distribution of Aster salignus . — Miss Beever records the occurrence of 
this plant on the shore of Derwent Water, where it was collected by Miss 
Edmonds, in 1868, in flower. This plant also occurs near Cambridge, and 
in several places on the banks of the Tay, between Dalguise and Seggieden. 
In one locality below Perth, Dr. White remarks that it is associated with 
several introduced plants, such as Linaria repens, Petasites alba, Sanguisorha 
Canadensis, Mimulus luteus. Crocus vernus, and Narcissus Pseudo-narcissus, 
which are all more or less common, and well established, along the banks of 
the river. In France, Aster Novi Belgii seerns to hold the same place as 
A. salignus does in Britain — that of an exotic plant, well established on the 
banks of several rivers, as near Strasbourg, Laugre, and Lyons.” 
The Lichen Flora of Greenland has been explored by Dr. Lauder Lindsay. 
In a paper read before the Botanical Society of Edinburgh (January 14), Dr. 
Lindsay states that his attention has been drawn to the lichen flora of Green- 
land by being requested in the winter of 1867-8, by Mr. Robert Brown, to 
examine and determine the lichens collected by him in West Greenland in 
the course of the West Greenland Exploring Expedition of 1867. On 
studying, in connection with the determination of the species so submitted, 
the literature of Greenland lichenology, he was surprised to find that there 
was no recorded modem list of the lichens of that country. Accordingly, he 
had drawn up a list of all the lichens which to the present day had been 
found, or recorded to have been found, in Greenland, compiled from all the 
sources of information accessible to him. The list included 268 species 
and varieties. 
Tinting Vegetable Tissues. — At the meeting above referred to. Dr. W. R. 
M^Nab described the results of his recent attempts at staining tissues with 
various dyes. He mentioned a large series of experiments he had made by 
staining certain microscopical structures with acetate of mauvine and Beale’s 
carmine solution. He showed that by means of staining, the high powers of 
the microscope can be used to bring out points of structure not easily demon- 
strated without being so treated. The process of staining does not seem to 
be attended with any great difficulty, and the author believes that very 
important results may be obtained by careful study of its action on ger- 
minating plants. 
Greenland Diatomaeece. — Professor Dickie, who has recently examined the 
collection made by Mr. Robert Brown, says that all the species were British 
with the exception of Hyalodiscus subtilis, originally described by the late 
Professor Bailey, from Halifax ; found also on the shores of North-West 
America, and now on the shores of Greenland. 
Death of two eminent Botanists, Von Martius and Schnitzlein . — Dr. Philipp 
von Martius died at Munich on December 13, 1868, at the age of seventy- 
five. He w'as born at Erlangen, and prosecuted the study of medicine at 
that university, and was a contemporary of Theodore Nees von Esenbeck. 
He was for a long time Professor of Botany in the University of Munich, and 
director of the Botanic Garden. He is well known for his large and splendid 
work on Palms, and his works on the geography and natural history of 
Brazil. He published a Flo7'a Brasiliensis, and numerous other works and 
