Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London - University Library

40 PROCEEDINGS OE THE
Sir DiETKiCH Beaxdis, K.C.I.E., F.R.S., F.L.S., exhibited specimens
of Gelsemium eler/ans which Mr. Smales, Deputy Conservator
of Forests, had sent him from Upper Burma. It is known there, as
well as in China, as a most deadly poison. Mr. Smales writes :
" Very deadly creeper ; decoction of roots kills instantly, leaves
also fatal." The alkaloid seems to be similar to strycliniue and
gelsemine, the product of species of Strxjclinos and of the North-
American shrub, Gelsemium sempervirens, both of the Order
Loganiacese.
He also exhibited a most remarkable specimen received from
the Tharaundi Forests in Lower Burma : a hollow cylinder, about
12 inches high and just under 3 inches in diameter, of a soft but
tough white leathery substance, which had grown as the lining of
a Bamboo-joint. This was identified by Mr. G. Massee, F.L.S.,
from the presence of characteristic conidia on the inner surface of
the cylinder, with Polyporus anthehninticus, Berk., which forms
thick irregularly-shaped masses on old Bamboo culms near the
ground. An analogous case, to which Mr. Massee drew attention,
is that of the Pohjjiorus which grows on Samhucus nvjra, the
mycelium of which is often found in the white pith of the Elder,
sometimes entirely displacing the pith.
Colonel Geobge Colomb sent for exhibition a fragment of a
branch of a Thorn, which had been given to him by Mr. Thorns,
gardener in Hyde Park. This branch shows the mischief done to
thorns near London by larvae which had been identifi:ed as those
of the Wood Leopard Moth, Zeuzera yEsculi, Linn. The House-
Sparrow was stated to destroj^ numbers of the perfect insect on
their emergence. Further remarks were contributed by Dr. D.
Sharp, the Chairman, and Mr. E. M. Holmes.
The following papers Avere read :
1. "The Anatomy and Development of Comt/s infelix, Embleton,
aHymenopterous Parasite of Lecanium hemisplicericum." By Alice
L. Embleton. (Communicated by Dr. D. Sharp, F.E.S., F'L.S.)
2. "Notes on the Transition of Opposite Leaves into the
Alternate Arrangement : a new Factor in Morphologic Obser-
vation." By Dr. Percy Groom, F.L.S. (See p. 48.)
—
June 18th, 1903.
Prof. Sydket H. Vixes, F.E.S., President, in the Chair.
The Minutes of the last Meeting x^ere read and confirmed.
Messrs. Albert "William Bartlett, John Clayton, and David
Thomas were elected, and Messrs. E. A. Nexxell Arber and George
Wallace Eustace were admitted Fellows of the Society.
A volume of portraits of eminent men of science, compiled
by Dr. E. C. A. Prior, about 1854, was presented to the Society by