Shells from the Australian Seas in the Collection of Mr. G. Angas;" and by Messrs. H. and A. Adams "On New Species of Shells, chiefly from the Cumingian Collection."--Mr. A. Newton exhibited the body of a Great Auk obtained from the Penguin Islands, near Newfoundland, from a deposit of guano.-Mr. L. Fraser exhibited an extraordinarily large skull of a Gorilla from his collection.

November 24th, 1863.

Professor Tennant exhibited a fossil egg of the

pyornis maxima,

stated to have been obtained from a depth of forty feet in some iron mines in Madagascar.-A letter was read from Dr. Shortt, relating to a singular habit of the Frugivorous Bats of India, which were stated to have been witnessed in the act of catching fishes out of a tank.-The Secretary exhibited a sample of a naturally-variegated sheep's wool from Ohio, forwarded by Mr. J. P. Hazard, through Mr. C. R. Weld.-An extract of a letter addressed by Dr. George Bennett to the Secretary respecting the Kagu of New Caledonia, was read to the meeting.-Mr. Buckland made some remarks on the mode of treating a living Porpoise during its conveyance to the Society's Gardens.-A paper was read by Dr. Bowerbank, F.R.S., on the genus Spongilla, in which full descriptions of twenty-one species of that genus were given. Mr. H. W. Bates read some notes on a Collection of Insects obtained in Madagascar by Mr. Caldwell, and entered at some length into the question of the origin of the peculiar fauna of that island.-Mr. A, R. Wallace read a communication on the birds of the islands of Timor, Flores and Lombock, and on the relations of the fauna of these islands to India and Australia.-A paper was read by Mr. Spence Bate, giving descriptions of some new Australian Crustaceans, collected by G. F. Angas, Esq., amongst which was a very beautifully coloured new form, allied to Hippolyte, proposed to be called Angasia pavonina.Communications were also read from Mr. J. Y. Johnson, on a new flexible Coral from Madeira of the genus Juncella; and by Mr. Arthur Adams on a new genus and twelve new species of Mollusca.

December 8th, 1863.

Mr. W. K. Parker read a communication on the systematic position of Chauna chavaria, as evidenced by the skeleton of a specimen that had recently died in the Society's menagerie. Mr. Parker con.

sidered this form to be most nearly allied to the Spur-winged Geese (Plectropterus).—-Dr. P. L. Sclater read a note on the breeding of Bennett's Cassowary in the Society's Gardens in the past summer.Mr. A. Newton read some notes on the mode of nesting of the Green Sandpiper (Totanus ochropus), relating to its now well-ascertained habit of breeding upon trees, sometimes at an elevation of thirty feet above the ground, and generally selecting for this purpose the deserted nests of other birds.-Mr. A. E. Knox made some remarks on the supposed date of extinction of the Mole and the Weasel in Ireland.-Dr. Crisp read a paper on the visceral anatomy of the Screamer, in which he pointed out several abnormal structures in the intestinal canal of this bird.-Dr. Crisp also made some remarks on the anatomy of the Porpoise in relation to its treatment in confinement, and exhibited some Entozoa (Filaria sp.) from a Monkey (Macacus cynomolgus).—Mr. G. F. Angas read a paper on the Land Shells of South Australia, containing the results of his own observations and discoveries in that country.-Two papers were read by Dr. L. Pfeiffer, containing descriptions of fifteen new species of LandShells, from the collection of H. Cuming, Esq., and descriptions of ten new species of Land-Shells, from the collection of G. F. Angas, Esq.-A letter was read from Mr. W. H. Pease, relating to certain corrections which he wished to make in some of his former communications to the Society.-Mr. L. Fraser exhibited a Leopard's Skin from Japan, and the Skin of a Gorilla from Benguela.

LINNEAN SOCIETY, (Burlington House, Piccadilly).

(1.) On an Indian species of the genus Euptelea, Siebold and Zuccarini. By Dr. Hooker, F.R.S., and Dr. Thomson, F.R.S.

This species has been found amongst Griffith's collections, now in course of distribution at Kew. Dr. Thomson regarded the genus as allied to some of the apocarpous Thalamifloral Orders, and especially to the tribe Wintereae of the Magnoliaceae.

(2.) On the Plants of the temperate regions of the Cameroons range and of the islands in the Bight of Benin, collected by Mr. Gustav Mann. By Dr. Hooker, F.R.S., V.P.L.S., &c.

This remarkable Florula included 237 species, all found above 5000 feet elevation in Western tropical Africa, and might therefore

be supposed to afford a fair idea of the general characters of the vegetation of that hitherto totally unknown region. Upwards of half the species were new, but singularly enough, included but one new genus (of Primulaceae). The temperate types were almost unexceptionably of European genera, and European or Abyssinian species; a few others were Madagascan and East African, and still fewer South African. The discovery of a Podocarpus in the Peak of the island of St. Thomas, annulled the observation of Robert Brown, that Coniferæ are absent in West Tropical Africa.

Twenty-seven of the species were European, the most remarkable of which, in point of distribution, were :

Not one of these would have been expected to occur under the Equator in Tropical Africa.

(3.) Contributions to the Cryptogamic Flora of the Atlantic Islands. By William Mitten, A.L.S.

November 19th, 1863.

The following papers were read :—

(1.) Upon the structure and mode of Dehiscence of the Legumes of Pentaclethra macrophylla. By Prof. Oliver, F.R.S. The valves became very strongly involute, in the direction of their length, on drying, owing to the contraction of longitudinal, anastomosing bundles of prosenchymatous tissue, disposed on their outer surface. The contraction was in the direction of the length of the cells. The tissue was hygroscopic, and gained when wetted about one-sixth of its length. The contractile tissue of the legumes of Phanera, Crotalaria, Platylobium, Lathyrus, &c, was compared with that of Pentaclethra. In Lathyrus the contraction was in the direction of the breadth of the hygroscopic cells, as might be easily shown, and its amount measured, by cutting two strips out of a valve, one in the

direction of the length of the obliquely disposed hygroscopic cells, the other at right angles to it, and soaking them in water. The increase of the latter amounted to about one-twentieth of its length.

(2.) A letter from W. Archer, Esq., F.L.S., to Sir W. J. Hooker, giving an account of some very remarkable Tasmanian Tree-ferns, with many crowns.

(3.) Memorandum on a presumed case of Parthenogenesis in Xanthoxylum alatum, R., by Daniel Hanbury, Esq., F.L.S.

December 3rd, 1863.

The following papers were read :

(1.) "On the Palms of Western Tropical Africa," by Gustav Mann and Dr. Wendland. Communicated by J. D. Hooker, Esq., M.D., F.R.S., V.P.L.S.-The following new genera were described, viz. :-Podococcus, Phytelephantopsis, Laccosperma, Ancistrophyllum, Eremospatha, and Oncocalamus.

(2.) "On the species of Mitride found in the Seas of Japan," by Arthur Adams, Esq., F.L.S., Surg. R.N.

December 17th, 1863.

Dr. Aitchison on the " Botany of the Jelum district of the Punjab." -W. Mitten, Esq. on a new genus of Hepatica.-Dr. Welwitsch on the species of Cissus growing in Benguela, West Africa.

XXIII.-MISCELLANEA.

1. ANDERSSON'S NEW REVIEW OF THE SALICES.

Dr. N. J. Andersson of Stockholm, a very able Botanist, and Curator of the Museum of the Academy of Sciences of Stockholm, has just completed a systematic review of the extensive genus Salix, based on a study of the species contained in the principal Herbaria of Europe. Having been engaged for seven or eight years on this difficult group, and being fully alive to the extreme disposition to vary amongst the species, the result of the labours of so careful and excellent a botanist is looked forward to with much interest, all the more from the genus being at present in a state of utter confusion. The species have been largely reduced, and thrown into groups of re

eognizable value; these are, 1. POLYANDRE (all tropical); 2. DIANDBE, containing the vast majority of species; and 3. MONANDRA, consisting of S. purpurea and its allies, which may be referable to one type. The Polyandra resolve themselves into distinguishable groups, with geographical limits, viz. Indicæ ; Orientales; Africanæ ; Americanæ. The Diandra presents four groups, characterized by modifications of the pistil, viz. Microstylæ, Stylopoda, and Macrostyle. Each of these again contains minor groups of species, which groups may be considered single types; thus under

Such an arrangement appears practical, and will probably allow of greater precision in the circumscription of the species, and their determination afterwards, than any hitherto proposed. It will be observed that the forms of the style and stigmata are presumed to be pretty constant; a fact which, coupled with that of the genus being constantly diœcious, suggests the possibility of the various forms of the stigma being favourable to impregnation by special means. Experiments and observations on this point would be very curious; as also on the facility with which the groups thus characterised hybridise.

The monograph has been presented to the Royal Academy of Stockholm, and a synopsis of the species will appear in A. De Candolle's "Prodromus."

2. IS THE COMMON LING A NATIVE OF AMERICA?

Mr. C. J. Sprague (Boston Nat. Hist. Soc. Proc. 1862, Feb., and 1863, May) endeavours to show that it is improbable that Common Ling (Calluna vulgaris) discovered, in 1861, in Massachusetts, is really native in America. It has been stated, that De la Pylaie was an authority for its occurrence in Newfoundland, but Mr. Sprague can find nothing of De la Pylaie's in print referring to the plant. Mr. Durand, a competent botanist, tells him that the Massachusetts Ling is a peculiar form, and unlike that of Western Europe, differing in its larger and more globular flowers. Had the evidence attributed to De la Pylaie borne investigation, or had there been sufficient evidence of the nativity of the plant elsewhere on the Ame