17G 
REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 
Wednesday five members went to Kirby Muxloe, examining the ruins 
of the castle and surrounding district, and two others visited Syston 
for the purpose of procuring a number of specimens of Petasites vul¬ 
garis. At Kirby were found Lilium martagon , Polygonum Bistorta , 
Vinca minor, Myosotis collina, Ac., growing in various parts of the old 
inclosure and about the ruined walls; several of them perhaps relics 
of a garden all traces of which are now lost under a uniform green 
turf. Rooted in the foundations of what was once a wall, and hanging 
far over the weedy moat, was a large bush of Cornus mascula , with a 
stem three or four inches in diameter, and the branches loaded with 
the curious umbels of young fruit. This shrub is not a native of Britain, 
but was introduced from Europe about three hundred years ago, and 
is described and figured by Parkinson in his “ Theatrum Botanicum,” 
published in 1640. This also is probably a descendant of what was 
planted long ago as a choice novelty. On the banks of the moat were 
Lunularia vulgaris, Neckera complanata, Barbula fallax, and other 
hepaticae and mosses. The party who went to Syston brought back 
a number of flower-spikes of Petasites, all of which proved to be the 
sub-male form. The sub-female, however, which is said to be com¬ 
paratively rare, has been found in several districts of the county. 
The Evening Meeting was devoted to the exhibition of specimens and 
to general discussion; there was no paper. The following objects 
were exhibited :—By Dr. Finch, several admirable slides of the Bacilli 
of Anthrax and Tuberculosis, mounted by Dr. Buck, and well shown 
by Mr. Garnar, with a power of about eight hundred; by Mr. E. F. 
Cooper, F.L.S., slides of the male and female flowers of Petasites 
vulgaris, and a specimen of the rare Lamium intermedium, new to this 
county; by Mr. W. A. Yice, fruits of Liriodendron, Catalpa, Juglans 
nigra, Laurus Sassafras, Platanus, &c. ; a bunch of the remarkable 
epiphyte, Tillandsia usneoidea, from the West Indies, looking like a 
mass of tangled twine; two kinds of American oak-galls, one a single 
cell, the other an aggregate of cells ; and specimen plates of Mr. F. W. 
Kirby’s new Text Book of Entomology, published by Swan Sonnen- 
scliein and Co., which was particularly interesting to the members, 
Mr. Kirby being a Leicester man; by Mr. W. E. Grundy, capsules of 
the cotton plant, Gossypium; ripe fruit of the castor oil plant, Ricinus 
communis; and well mounted slides of the peristome of Milium hornum, 
and several algae; by the Chairman, fresh flowers of the curious 
umbellifer, Dondia Epipactis; the summer snow-flake, Leucojum 
(Bstivum; and the wild cowslip grown in good garden soil, showing the 
large clusters of flowers and the tendency to proliferous growth which 
is a common effect of cultivation on this plant; dried specimens of 
the large common sea weeds Fucus vesiculosus, serratus, and nodosus; 
Laminaria saccharina and digitata; also of Polysiphonia fastigiata, 
showing under the microscope the peculiar and elegant structure of 
this genus ; and the floating gulf weeds Sargassum vulgare and bacci- 
ferum; also a series of marine shells, Oliva, Conus, Murex , Trochus , 
Cerithium, Cyprcea, Ac., showing the characters which distinguish 
mature from young shells, the marks indicating periods of growth, 
the peculiar nature of porceilanous shells, and the difference between 
the entire mouth of the herbivorous species and the canaliculated 
mouth of the carnivorous ones. The Society having decided to apply 
under the new rules of the British Association for recognition as a 
Corresponding Society, the Chairman urged upon the members of 
the section the necessity of earnest work, especially upon local 
zoology and botany, in order to maintain the position and reputation 
of the Society. 
