86 
REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 
ing close upon the ground amongst hushes and brakes, which I have 
shewed unto divers surgeons of London, that have walked thither 
with me for their further knowledge in simples, who have gathered 
this kinde of mosse, whereof some have made them liat-bands, girdles, 
and also bands to tye such things as they had before gathered, for 
which purpose it most fitly served; some pieces whereof are six or 
eight feet long, consisting, as it were, of many liairie leaves set upon a 
tough string, very close couched and compact together, from which is 
also sent certain other branches like the first; in sundry places there be 
sent down fine little strings, which serve instead of roots, wherewith 
it is fastened to the upper part of the earth and taketh hold likewise 
upon such things as grow next unto it. There spring also from the 
branches bare and naked stalks, on which grow certaine ears as it 
were like the Katkins or blowings of the Hasell Tree; in shape, like a 
little club or the reede Mace, saving that it is much lesser, and of a 
yellowish white colour, very well resembling the claw of a wolfe, 
whereof it tooke his name; which knobby katkins are altogether 
barren bringing fortlie neither seed nor floure.” He also informs us, 
that “Being stamped and boyled in wine and applied, it mitigateth 
the paine of the gout. Floting wine, which is become slimie, is 
restored to his former goodness, if it be hanged in the vessel.” 
Ger. Em., pp. 1562-4. The catkins which he mentions are the male 
flowers of the plant, and produce a great quantity of spores, the 
existence of which appears to have been unknown to him. Johnson, 
“Useful Plants of Great Britain,” states that “The spores are 
collected in considerable quantities for the manufacture of fireworks, 
being so extremely inflammable that they burn with a kind of explosion 
when brought into contact with flame. This powder is likewise sold 
in the druggist’s shops for preventing excoriation in young children, 
and for rolling pills in to prevent them sticking together. It is known 
as Lycopodium or Vegetable Sulphur, and under these names is 
imported in considerable quantity from the northern part of Europe, 
where it is more abundant than here.” The medicinal properties of the 
plant have been extolled by our older writers, from Gerarde down to 
Dillenius, but the plant holds no place in the British Pharmacopoeia. 
The spores of this plant are so repellent of moisture that if scattered 
over the surface of water in a basin a stone may be picked from the 
bottom without wetting the hand. Lightfoot, in his “Flora Scotica,” 
says that “ The Swedes make mats of the club moss to rub their feet 
on.” Newman, in “The Phytologist,” i, p. 5, seems to discredit this 
statement. He says, “ If this be true, it is remarkable that the fact 
should have escaped the notice of such observant men as Linmeus 
and Wahlenberg.” Mr. J. B. Stone, however, assures me that he saw 
such mats made of Lycopodium clavatum and offered for sale, during 
his last journey through Norway.—J. E. Bagnall. 
BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND MICROSCOPICAL 
SOCIETY. —Geological Section. —January 27tli.—Mr. R. W. Chase 
in the chair. Mr. Clias. Elcock, of Belfast, exhibited seven type slides 
of foraminifera—two of fifty different species each, four of different 
species each, of different orders— Miliolidce , Hyaline , Porcellanous , and 
Layena; one of thirteen different species of the Arenaceous order; 
