ME. W. M. WEALE OX SOUTII-AFBICAtf OKCMD3. y^l3 



Note on South- African Orchids. By "VV. Mansell Weale. 

 (Communicated by Sir J. Lubbock:, Bart., M.P., and abridged.) 



[Read December 19, 1878.] 



According to the observations of Mr. "Weale made on living plants 



m South Africa, he finds that structurally Mystacidium and Poly- 

 stachya do not agree in those generic characters pointed out as 

 characteristic of them by botanists. Thus Mystacidium in the 

 fresh state and with the parts in situ shows that the so-called two- 

 legged caudicles are essentially free and not adherent. By slight 

 manipulation with a horse-hair or fine pin, the two pollinia are seen 

 twisted round and widely separated — a position unattainable had 

 the caudicles been united as represented in Harvey's ' Thesaurus 

 Capensis,' and moreover under the circumstances the pollen never 

 "would have fertilized the plant. In the case of Polystacliya, of 

 the four pollen masses said to be grouped in pairs, the fresh plant 

 shows that each waxy pollen mass is partially cleft, not divided, 

 and is attached by a very short caudicle to an ovate viscid diskr 

 common to the two pollinia. 



On the Absorption of Rain and Deyf bythe Green Parts of Plants*. 



By the Eev. George He^low, M.A., F.L.S., F.G.S. 



[Read November 7, 1878.] 



1. Introduction. 



Tiie subject of this paper has been a matter of controversy for 

 150 years ; but it is hoped that at last the question whether 

 moisture of any kind is absorbed or not by the aerial parts of 

 plants will be set at rest for ever, and answered in the affirmative. 



The many and varied experiments I have made, extending over 



some years, have convinced me that such is the case ; and they 

 corroborate entirely the conclusions of M. Boussingault and other 

 modem physiologists. M. Boussingault's researches have pro- 

 ceeded simultaneously with my own, but quite unknown to me, 

 until they appeared in the ' Annales de Chimie et de Physique ' 



* This paper as originally written embodied an historical resumi of experi- 

 m ents and views on the subject, extending over the last 160 years. I had also 



own 



•• frwyj. many mute Ul I1IV VWJJ CA^wiuicuio **«.•** %»«.~ — ~ - - —— 



te *t. As, however, the conclusions had been to some extent anticipated by M. 

 Boussingault and others, agreeably to the recommendations of the Council, I have 

 omitted nearly the whole of the historical part and recast the experimental, re- 



taining a few only of each series of my experiments. 



