were invisible to him. The representation appeared of the natural size, and the outline of the whole person of the spectator was most correctly pourtrayed. To prove that the shadow seen by each individual was that of himself, we resorted to various gestures, such as waving our hats, flapping our plaids, &c. all which motions were exactly followed by the airy figure. We then collected together, and stood as close to one another as possible, when each could see three shadows on the disc; his own, as distinctly as before, while those of his two companions were but faintly discernible.

"As the autumnal day was fast declining, and we had a long walk before us to Braemar, we were forced to hurry down the rugged sides of Loch Etichan; and, being consequently soon enveloped in the mist, we lost sight of the atmospheric phenomenon, but not until it had been distinctly visible to us for about a quarter of an hour."

EDINBURGH, 4th Dec. 1830.

Description of several New or Rare Plants which have lately flowered in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, and chiefly in the Royal Botanic Garden. By Dr GRAHAM, Professor of Botany in the University of Edinburgh.

Banksia speciosa.

10th Dec. 1830.

B. speciosa; foliis linearibus, pinnatifidis, lobis triangulari-semiovatis mucronatis, subtus niveis, obsolete nervosis; calycis laminis lanatis; stylo pubescente; folliculis tomentosis.-Brown.

Banksia speciosa, Br. Trans. Linn. Soc. 10. 210.

DESCRIPTION.Trunk erect, branched; branches spreading, towards their extremities densely covered with snowy tomentum. Leaves (14 foot long, 14 inches broad) scattered, linear, attenuated at the base, and very slightly at the apex, truncated, pinnatifid, nerved and reticulated, co.. vered on both sides, when young, with short dense white tomentum, which is beautifully snowy below, when old naked bright green and shining above; segments alternate, triangular, ovate along their upper edge, mucronate, the mucro projecting forwards, Spike (44 inches long, 34 broad to the extremities of the styles) terminal. Flowers in pairs along the rachis, forming double lines, which are much crowded together, expanding from below upwards, every where yellow, except the stigma, which is red. Calyx (11⁄2 inch long) 4-parted, woolly on the outside, the woolliness increasing upwards. Anthers subsessile, in the oblong hollow extremities of the calyx, linear-lanceolate. Style longer than the calyx, curved upwards, pubescent, filiform, tumid near the extremity, tipped with the red subacute somewhat angled Stigma.

This very handsome species produced a fine head of flowers in the greenhouse of the Edinburgh Botanic Garden in October 1830, the plant being about five feet high.

Bolivaria. Diandria, Monogynia. Jasmineæ.-Calyx 5-10partitus, persistens. Corolla inferior, infundibuliformis, 5fida, staminifera. Capsula gemina, circumcissa.

B. trifida; foliis linearibus, trisecto-pinnatifidis, integrisve.-Schlechtendal. Bolivaria trifida, Schlecht. in Linnæa, 1826, p. 209.

DESCRIPTION.-Stem erect, slender, woody, with long, lax, slender, straggling, green, subglabrous, furrowed branches, which are opposite below, but dichotomous at the extremities. Leaves lanceolato-linear, glabrous, mucronate, entire or trifid at the apex, opposite, sessile, semiamplexicaul and subdecurrent, deep green, and, as well as the branches, sprinkled with minute, white, slightly elevated scales. Flowers solitary, terminal, or solitary in the terminal cleft of the branches. Calyx 5-7-parted, persisting, green, segments erect, subulate, ciliated at the base. Corolla (6 lines long, above 8 lines across when fully expanded) yellow, funnelshaped, shining and rather paler on the outside, tube cylindrical, scarcely so long as the calyx, limb 5-7-parted, longer than the tube, segments elliptical, imbricated, reticulato-nerved, naked, but not shining on the inner surface, throat and inside of the tube hairy. Stamens 2, adhering to the inside of the tube, free above the throat, and projecting in the centre of the flower, shorter than the corolla; filaments yellow, glabrous; anthers yellow, incumbent, oblong, attenuated at both extremities, slightly notched at both, especially the lower, attached to the filaments towards one end, lobes bursting along the edges, rather distant from each other, the intervening space being green; pollen globular, yellow. Pistil single; style as long as the stamens, compressed laterally, slightly clavate, nearly colourless, glabrous; stigma green, capitate, large, grooved in the form of a cross on its upper surface; germen superior, smooth, cbovate, channelled on both sides. Capsule didymous, large, membranous, thin and dry, smooth and shining, lobes obovate, circumcised, unilocular, each 4-sided. Seeds erect, 3-gonous, rounded on the back, flat by mutual impression on the two sides, covered with a thick cellular arillus, nucleus white, compressed, obovate, exalbuminous, covered with a thick colourless testa, radicle inferior, projecting, straight, blunt. Mr Cruckshanks obligingly communicated seeds of this plant several years ago from the neighbourhood of Mendoza. It flowered for the first time in the greenhouse in July last, and has continued to flower almost constantly ever since.

The genus was named by Schlechtendal, with the following observation : "Genus in honorem Liberatoris, qui scientiis omnibus, scientiæque nostræ amabili Americam aperuit, diximus." He describes two species, Bolivaria integrifolia and B. trifida. Dr Gillies has among his specimens what he considers a third. The flowers are much larger than either in B. integrifolia or our plant; but it seems to me doubtful whether it is really specifically distinct from this last. Dr Gillies has distributed specimens under the name of B. decemfida. From what I have observed in B. trifida, and in Dr Gillies's specimens of B. decemfida, I suspect the divisions of the calyx and corolla vary considerably. I fear we are all apt to erect varieties into new species, in genera in which we have not long had many species in cultivation, and with the tendencies of which, therefore, we are but imperfectly acquainted. Calceolaria bicolor has either an erect nearly simple stem, with narrow pointed leaves, or a procumbent greatly branched stem with broad blunt leaves, according to the poverty or richness of the soil in which it is made to grow. These two forms are exhibited in the Botanical Magazine and Botanical Register of this month, and may be seen in twenty examples at the Botanic Garden; but my acute friend Professor Lindley, not adverting to this circumstance, nor to the fact that the specimens of Ruiz and Pavon grew in dry stony ground, in the very spot from whence the plants now in cultivation were obtained, has unfortunately described the latter form as a new species, under the name of C. diffusa.

Browallia grandiflora.

B. grandiflora; caule diffuso, ramoso; foliis ovatis, acutis; pedunculis axillaribus unifloris, vel in racemis terminalibus dispositis; ramulis calycibusque adultis glabris.

DESCRIPTION. Annual. Stem herbaceous, diffused, branched, smooth, green, purplish below; branches spreading, smooth and shining, scattered. Leaves ovate, acuminate, attenuated into a petiole, smooth and shining, the middle rib and converging veins prominent below, and channelled above. Peduncles straight, single-flowered, axillary, and longer than the diminished leaves near the termination of the branches, or collected into lax terminal racemes, when young glanduloso-pubescent. Calyx 5-cleft, smooth, or, when young, glanduloso-villous, many-nerved, nerves branching; segments unequal, spreading, linear, channelled. Corolla hypocrateriform; tube longer than the calyx, slightly inflated towards the top, and compressed vertically, glanduloso-villous, greenish-yellow, marked, as well as the calyx, with dark streaks; limb plicate in the bud, when expanded flat, white, or very pale lilac, with a yellow throat, yellow on the outside, bilabiate, the upper lip linear and emarginate, the lower much larger, semicircular, formed of four united obcordato-cuneate lobes, each smaller than the upper lip. Stamens didynamous, adhering to the inside of the tube, the two longer closing the throat of the corolla with the upper part of their filaments, which is bent down, flattened and hairy above, their anthers included, having one perfect and one abortive lobe, divaricated, compressed, and opening along their upper edge; filaments of the shorter stamens flexuose at the top, filiform and smooth, their anthers bilobular, both the lobes perfect, divaricated and compressed, bursting along their upper edges; pollen and anthers of all the stamens yellow. Germen ovate, and slightly compressed, pubescent, bilocular, bivalvular, the dissepiment proceeding from the centre of the valves across the shorter diameter of the germen; seminal receptacle large, central, covered with numerous ovules. Style filiform, glabrous, longer than the shorter, shorter than the longer sta mens, tortuose at the top. Stigma quadrangular, peltate, green, obscurely 4-lobed, having two depressions or cells in the upper margin, where the anthers of the longer stamens are lodged, and two obscure depressions on the lower side, where the anthers of the shorter stamens appear to be placed.

I am indebted to Dr Hooker for the description of the style and stigma, and for some observations regarding the anthers, for the style was lost in the only flower which I reserved for dissection, when the specimen was sent to him to be figured in the Botanical Magazine. The anthers on the longer and shorter stamens appeared to him to be alike, reniform, and 1-celled; but I am quite certain that the above description of what I saw is accurate: the appearance probably varies from abortion, and in different stages of evolution.

We received this plant from the Botanic Garden, Glasgow, in October last, having been raised there from seeds collected by Mr Cruck shanks near Yazo, in the valley of Canta in Peru. It is now (December) flower... ing very freely in the greenhouse, and probably will be found to bear cultivation as a very ornamental annual in the open border.

Conobea alata.

C. alata; caule erecto, alato; foliis lanceolatis, amplexicaulibus, serru latis, breve pubescentibus, pedunculo axillari solitario subcymoso multo longioribus.

DESCRIPTION. Root creeping. Stem (24 feet high) erect, glabrous, shining, 4-sided, 4-winged, wings undulate, and sparingly ciliated. Branches decussating, spreading wide, similar to the stem. Leaves (10 inches long, 2 broad) opposite, spreading horizontally, acutely serrulate, lanceolate, attenuated and entire towards the base, at their origin dilated, and stem clasping, much veined and reticulated, soft, and on both sides covered

with very short pubescence, bright green above, somewhat glaucous below, middle rib very strong, and with the veins prominent below. Peduncles axillary, opposite, 4-sided, closely applied to the upper surface of the leaves, and (including the pedicels) about a fifth of their length, pubescent, bracteate, trifid, the lateral branches again dividing in the same way; pedicels like the peduncle, but less distinctly angled. Bractea lanceolate, entire, acuminate. Calyx green, oblique, 5-ribbed, 5-toothed, pubescent on the outside, persisting. Corolla (8 lines long, 4 across) yellow, bilabiate; tube elongated, compressed laterally in its lower, vertically in its upper half, nearly thrice the length of the calyx; upper lip bifid, revolute, lower lip spreading forwards, plicate, trifid, revolute at the apices, all the lobes rounded; two very prominent ridges, very hairy, and somewhat orange-coloured, extend backwards into the corolla from the central lobe of the lower lip. Stamens didynamous, included; filaments glabrous, yellow, adhering to the corolla for about half their length, connivent; anthers bilobular, lobes divergent; pollen white. Pistil as long as the stamens; stigma bifid, white, lobes broad, revolute, upper surface pubescent; style straight, white, filiform, glabrous, marcescent; germen ovate, green, glabrous, 4-valved, bilocular; ovules very numerous, attached to a large central receptacle, a transverse section of which presents a kidney-shaped surface in each locula

ment.

This plant was raised in the garden of P. Neill, Esq. at Canonmills, from Mexican seeds communicated by Mr D. Don as a species of Conobea, and flowered in the greenhouse in September.

Loasa incana.

L. incana; suffruticosa, suburens; caule suberecto, ramoso, foliisque sparsis, petiolatis ovato-lanceolatis, inciso-serratis, incano, scabro; pedunculis simplicibus oppositifoliis.

DESCRIPTION. Suffruticose. Whole plant, particularly the stem, densely covered with harsh barbed white hairs, and a few stinging hairs interspersed. Stem round, much branched, branches scattered, spreading. Cuticle papery, and peeling off in the dried specimen. Leaves scattered, petioled, spreading, ovate, acute, hispid on both sides, veined, incise-serrated, veins and midrib prominent below, channelled above. Flowers opposite the leaves, solitary, peduncled. Peduncles spreading, about half the length of the leaves, round. Calyx green, spread wide, segments ovato-acuminate, 3-ribbed, undulate, reflected in their sides, persisting. Corolla white, 10-parted, uniseriate, alternate, segments alike, the larger segments spreading, cucullate, nerved and veined, longer than the calyx; the smaller segments nearly glabrous, slightly ciliated, concave within, nectariferous, each having near its rounded apex three erect dorsal filaments as long as itself. Stamens numerous, nearly as long as the longer segments of the corolla, and lodged within them till the pollen is ripe, when they become erect, free, unconnected with each other, mostly perfect, with simple, colourless, slightly flattened, glabrous filaments, and greenish-yellow, oblong, bilocular anthers, erect, bursting along the sides; 10 barren, 2 within each of the shorter petals, spreading and flattened at the base, there ciliated, each having a reflected lip at the apex of the petal within which it is placed, and above this extended into an erect filament, nearly as long as the fertile stamens. Style erect, simple, shorter than the stamens, tapering, nearly smooth towards the top. Stigma capitate, small, lobed, smooth. Germen top-shaped, inferior, green, unilocular, with 3-4 parietal receptacles, alternate with the teeth, covered along their edge with numerous ovules. Capsule opening by 3-4 teeth above the level of the calyx. Seeds obovato-oblong, minute, brown, pitted, embryo straight.

This plant was raised from seeds communicated in spring last from Yazo, valley of Canta, in Peru. Mr Cruckshanks only observed one plant, low and branching, with the branches much entangled. From this he also most kindly presented me with a well dried specimen, from which,

rather than from our plant (we raised but one), which is still small, it appears to flower very freely. With us it flowered in the greenhouse during October and November, and even now (7th December) there are buds which may possibly expand.

Lophospermum erubescens.

L. erubescens, foliis triangulari-cordatis, grosse inæqualiterque serratis (melius, inæqualiter inciso-dentatis), pubescentibus, calycis segmentis oblongis mucronulatis, filamentis simplicibus.-D. Don.

Lophospermum erubescens, D. Don, Sweet's Brit. Fl. Gard. N. S. fol. 75. (on Helianthus petiolaris), Note.

Lophospermum scandens, Bot. Mag. 3037-8.—Sweet's Brit. Fl. Gard.

N. S. t. 68.

DESCRIPTION. Plant herbaceous, scandent chiefly by the petioles. Stem round, brownish-green, in a very luxuriant state pushing roots from near the base, cuticle smooth, or somewhat cracked. Branches round, opposite, villous, purple at the base, young shoots green. Leaves (5 inches from the base to the apex, rather more across) numerous, opposite, petioled, deltoideo-cordate, acute, incise-toothed, villous on both sides, bright green above, paler below, 3-nerved, the lateral nerves branched, slightly reticulated chiefly at the margins, teeth mucronate. Petioles purple, villous, as long as the leaf, stout, round, scarcely channelled above, twisting. Peduncles axillary, solitary, single-flowered, ebracteate, as long as the petioles, erect, straight, green, villous. Flowers spreading horizontally. Calyx foliaceous, 5-parted, persisting, segments (1 inch long, inch broad) subequal, the upper rather the shortest and broadest, ovate, acute, prominent at the edges, veined, pubescent within and without, sometimes becoming purple, entire or rarely auricled at the base. Corolla (nearly 3 inches long, 2 inches across) rose-coloured, pubescent every where on the outside, campanulate, slightly turgid below; tube elongated, slightly curved downwards, dilated, nectariferous, and nearly colourless at the base, darkest on the upper side, within freckled with rose-colour, and having yellow pubescence towards the insertion of the stamens; limb spreading, 5-parted, segments rounded, subequal, the lowest the smallest, the two upper the largest; from the base of the lower segment upon each side, a straight ridge, covered with erect yellowish hairs, extends to the insertion of the two longer stamens. Stamens 4, didynamous, as long as the tube, from the base of which they arise; filaments compressed, and adhering for a little way to the corolla, and there closing the tube, coarsely pubescent where they become free, at this part purple on the back, beautifully sprinkled with rose-coloured spots or streaks, from which springs glandular pubescence, especially on the sides of their upper half, straight, diverging slightly, connivent towards their extremities; anthers large, bilobular, glabrous, lobes parallel in the bud, afterwards divaricated, bursting along their sides; pollen white, granules small. There is a minute, abortive, fifth stamen, between the two shorter perfect ones at their origin. Pistil as long as the stamens; stigma simple, bent nearly at a right angle with the style, colourless, pointed; style straight, filiform, smooth above, sparingly provided with glandular pubescence in its lower half, base persisting; germen seated upon a prominent white glabrous and shining receptacle, densely covered with erect colourless glandular hairs, bilocular. Unripe capsule crown-shaped, green, colourless at the base, somewhat compressed and furrowed laterally, covered with glandular pubescence, undulate, terminated with the persisting base of the style, included within the calyx. Ovules numerous, imbricated, tubercled, stipitate, erect on two large central receptacles, winged all round; wing radiated, emarginate, somewhat ragged in its edge; nucleus pendulous, pointed below, albumen large, embryo straight, central.

This beautiful creeper was raised by P. Neill, Esq. in his garden at Canonmills, from Mexican seed last spring. It flowered in his stove in the