Linnccan Society. 193 PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. LINNiEAN SOCIETY. February 5. — ^Edward Forster, Esq., V. P., in the Chair. Read, a paper entitled " A Note upon the Anatomy of the Roots of Ophrydecer By John Lindley, Ph. D., F.R. and L.S., Prof. Bot. University College. The object of the author in this paper was to show that salep, the prepared roots of certain Ophrydece, is not a substance consisting principally of starch, as is the common opinion among writers of the present day, but is composed of a bassorine-like matter, organized in a peculiar manner. After stating the opinions of recent authorities, the author gives the results of his own microscopical examination of the tissue of re-cent and prepared roots, by which it appears that the tubercles of Ophrydece universally contain large cartilaginous nodules of a muci-laginous substance, not coloured by iodine, and a small quantity of the grains of starch, lying in the usual manner in the parenchyma which surround the nodules, and readily susceptible to the usual ac-tion of iodine. The tubercles of many South-African Ophrydece pre-sent when dried the appearance of bags filled with small pebbles, as if the epidermis had contracted over hard bodies in the inside. If a fresh root of Satyrium pallidum be divided transversely the cause of this appearance is explained, for with its soft parenchyma are mixed tough nodules, clear as water, and often twenty times as lafge as the cells which surround them. These nodules are easily separable, are tough like horn, and on being sliced appear to be perfectly homo-geneous. They are scarcely soluble in cold water; when boiled they become tumid and partially dissolve into a transparent jelly. If ex-posed to the air they rapidly dry and become brown. The aqueous solution of iodine has no sensible effect upon them in their natural state. On charring slices of some salep procured at Covent Garden, a coarse preparation of wild Ophrydece, the author found that the no-dules apparently homogeneous were composed of extremely minute transparent cells, filled, as he supposed, with a secretion of the same refractive power as themselves, and adhering naturally to each other firmly ; the double walls of the cells and intercellular spaces being only made apparent by the charring process. The author explains the error of those who have considered salep to consist chiefly of starch, by allusion to the mode of its preparation. The tubercles Ann, Nat. Hist. Vol.3. No. 16. May 1839. p
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