46 
any complaints as to the inefficiency of the storm warnings 
had been received from the masters of coasters, and con- 
sidering the amount of capital and number of hands 
employed in the trade, and the fact that they had no 
powerful organ to advocate their views, he thought that 
their interests deserved consideration, and feared that they 
had been overlooked. The saving of life should, especially 
at present when so many complaints are current about the 
deficiency in the supply of seamen, be a great object, even 
if such saving were effected by empirical means. Mr. 
Heelis had no confidence in the prospect of improving the 
meteorology of the coast by observations inland. He rather 
advocated the improvement of the land meteorology by 
observations on the coast; and he had noticed a decided 
improvement of late in the storm warnings. Having been 
engaged in a yachting cruise on the Cornish coast during 
the months of August and September last, he had paid a 
good deal of attention to the signals, and had never seen 
them hoisted without the forecast being speedily verified. 
Mr. Binney, F.R.S., stated that Professor H. R. Goeppert* 
the renowned German botanist, had lately described a fossil 
plant under the name of Aphyllostachys Jugleriana, which 
he classed in the group of Galamarien, and stated, with 
some degree of doubt, that it probably belonged to the 
lias formation of Hanover. The specimen had been in his 
possession fifteen years, and he says, “ In spite of the lively 
interest which it created on nearer examination, still its 
relation to other plants of the former and present world 
remained doubtful, so that I often laid it aside for time 
to give me further information. Since this hope has so far 
not been realized I do not fail in making it public at last, 
with the wish that others guided by deeper insight may 
succeed better than I have done in its explanation.” The 
author alluded to the resemblance of the fossil to the fructi- 
