PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES* 
483 
Society’s herbarium, the following may be noticed :—Dr. Greville, Dr. Balfour, 
Mr. Brand, Dr. G. M’Nab, Mr. Babington, Mr. James Ward, Mr. Shuttle- 
worth, Mr. Leighton, and Professor Henslow. The Society return their thanks 
generally to the Foreign Members, for their valuable and useful collections, 
characterised not only by the excellence of the specimens, but by the admirable 
manner in which they were preserved. We are glad to find that the Committee, 
in the proper discharge of their duty, have come to the determination that 
when a parcel, on inspection, is found to contain specimens not available for the 
Society’s herbarium, or for the purpose of distribution, they will be under the 
necessity of returning them, or preventing their being reckoned in determining 
the number of specimens to be sent in exchange. This resolution is adopted in 
consequence of the imperfect manner in which some of the specimens forwarded 
to the Society were dried, being totally unfit for examination. 
The Committee notice with pleasure the commencement of a correspondence, 
with the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, the Botanical Society of 
London, and the gentlemen who superintend the Ordnance Herbarium of Belfast, 
who, as public bodies, have been placed at the head of the list of those entitled 
to participate in the distribution. The Committee state, that the Society is ready 
to enter into correspondence and an arrangement for the interchange of specimens, 
with any Society or other body engaged in the formation of a public herbarium ; 
and this they intend should be equally available to Societies of established 
reputation abroad as to those of this country, beyond which it has not as yet 
extended. The library has received many valuable additions, chiefly by donations. 
The Committee mention particularly Mr. Christy, as the most extensive con¬ 
tributor; by his liberality the Society has been put in possession of about 
seventy volumes of scarce or standard botanical works, which were presented 
along with his herbarium. The proposal for the union of the Botanical Society’s 
herbarium with that belonging to the University has been favourably entertained 
by the patrons and the senatus, and the arrangements for effecting the desired 
union have been nearly brought to a close. By these means a cordial co-operation 
will be established and maintained between the University and the Society, and 
the efforts of both directed to the formation of one herbarium, as perfect in all 
its departments as the resources of both can supply. Catalogues of plants found 
in particular districts, marked in the way recommended by the Society, have 
been presented by the following gentlemen :—Neighbourhood of Bath, by R. C. 
Alexander, M.D.; neighbourhood of Chippenham, Wilts, by R. C. Alexander, 
M.D., and Mr. C. E. Broome; Worcestershire, by Mr. Edwin Lees; within 
fifteen miles of Aberdeen, by Mr. George Dickie. The report states that in 
connection with this subject, Mr. Brand has for some time been engaged in 
VOL. iv.— no. xxxm. 3 R 
