The monthly meeting was held in the Hall, 5 St Andrew Square, Edinburgh, on Tuesday evening, the 7th ult.; Mr Dunn, President, occupied the chair. Mr John Sadler delivered a lecture on the "Fungi." This division of the vegetable kingdom, he remarked, contained 6000 genera and 25,000 distinct species known to botanists. They were wonderfully diverse in appearance and very widely diffused, every organic substance, animal and vegetable, living or dead, being liable to their attacks. After a full and clear statement of the results of scientific research into the physiology of the more prominent and interesting of the various classes into which they are now divided, the lecturer proceeded to describe a number of the Mushroom or Toad-stool species, 700 of which were indigenous to Great Britain: these included the edible kinds, which were not only palatable but wholesome. They were, however, so far as our present knowledge goes, remarkably few in number, the great majority having been proved to be very poisonous; and while no absolute rule could be laid down for distinguishing them, he had found that the dangerous ones when tasted caused a burning sensation to the tongue; and in urgincr upon gardeners the importance of giving attention to the subject, counselled them to exercise great caution, as fungoid poison was both insidious and fatal.

The lecture, which was listened to with the greatest attention, was illustrated by a number of specimens, a series of beautifully executed diagrams, and a few wax models.

A communication was read from Mr Hugh Dickson of the Belmont Nurseries, Belfast, stating that specimens of Dracaena indivisa and Araucaria excelsa, 10 feet and 8 feet in height respectively, in the open air, had been killed by the frost, while a plant of Chamaerops excelsa, so far as could be seen, was uninjured, though the thermometer had been down to zero.

Mr Alex. Macmillan, The Gardens, Broadmeadows, Berwick, sent for exhibition cut blooms of 39 distinct varieties of Chrysanthemums, and 26 trusses of Zonale Geraniums: they were all in fine condition, and admirable examples of good cultivation. Of these the finest were:

Chrysanthemums

Boadicea, rose and cream, incurved petals; Rival Little Harry, golden amber; Hereward, purple, back of petals silvery; the Globe, blush, incurved; Bed Dragon, chestnut Bed, tipped with yellow; Mount Etna, white, rose tipped; Undine, cream, tipped with lilac; Chang, orange red, back of petals yellow; Alma, rosy purple, incurved; Meteor, orange yellow; Fingal, rose violet; Princess of Wales, pearl white, tinted rose; Countess of Granville, pure white; Duke of Edinburgh, rose lilac, light centre, incurved; General Bainbridge, dark amber, gold centre; Guernsey Nugget, pale yellow; George Peabody, pearl white, back of petals lilac, incurved; Emblem, rosy purple, incurved.

Geraniums

Pirate, dark scarlet; Henry Jacoby, very dark crimson ; Lady Byron, rosy pink, white eye; John Gibbons, orange scarlet; Mr Gladstone, scarlet, shaded with purple; Mrs Vickers, salmon, white eye; Walter Scott, bright crimson; Captain Holden, bright crimson; Little Carr, crimson scarlet; the Shah, scarlet, dark venation; Lizzie Brooks, salmon scarlet, white centre; Mrs Pearson, cerise scarlet, salmon eye.

Mr L. Dow sent a specimen of Swedish Turnip with blanched leaves, treated in a similar way to Sea Kale, which was said to be an excellent substitute for that vegetable.

It was intimated that papers would be read from Mr John Caie, The Gardens, Inverary Castle, on "The Arrangement of Trees, Shrubs, and Climbers in Pleasure Grounds," and from Mr Burns, Thingwall Hall, Birkenhead, on "Acclimatising Plants".