BULLETIN 



OF THE 



TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB. 



Vol. VII.] New York, April, 1880. [No. 4. 





^2, Proceedings of the Torrey Club.— The regular monthly 



meeting of the Club was held at the " Herbarium," Columbia College, 

 Tuesday evening,- April 13, the President, twenty-eight members, and 

 eight visitors being present. 



Mr. Leggett announced the death of Mr. C. F. Austin, an es- 

 teemed member of the Club, and called attention to the destitute 

 condition of his family; On motion it was resolved to ])urchase 

 from the widow a set of the Musci Appalachiani and Hepaticae 

 Boreali-Americanae, 



Mr. Britton of the Herbarium Committee announced the receipt 

 from Mr. A. Brown of 250 specimens of ballast plants, collected in 

 New York city and vicinity. 



Prof. D. S. Martin exhibited and remarked upon a section of 

 the trunk of a tree fern. Remarks upon the structure of the same 

 were also made by Mr. Jos- Schrenck. 



Prof. A. Wood exhibited the fruit of Rhus divej'siloba^ T. & G,, 

 from California, and of Sapindus marginatus^ Willd., from Southern 

 Kansas — the latter being a hitherto unreported habitat for this plant. 



Dr. Kunze exhibited a specimen of Eucalyptus globulus^ consist- 

 ing of leaves and flower buds, and made explanatory remarks thereon. 



Mr. Gerard exhibited a monstrous specimen of Sophora Arizonica^ 

 Wats., from Texas, in which the peduncle was flattened and spread 

 out in a fan-like manner at its extremity. 



Mr. Bicknell read a paper entitled " Notes on the Flora of River- 

 dale, N. Y." 



Prof. D. S. Martin read a communication from Mr. Jno. M. 

 Batchelder, of Boston, on the "Influence of Electricity upon the 

 Growth of Plants." The author sowed '* pepper-grass " seeds on 

 cotton floating on the surface of distilled water contained in two 

 tumblers. One of the tumblers was insulated, and in it was placed 

 a coiled copper wire the other extremity of which communicated 

 with a revolving belt. Both tumblers were placed under the same 

 conditions of light and heat. It was found that the electricity 

 retarded both the germination of the seeds and the subsequent 

 growth of the plants to a remarkable degree. At the conclusion of 

 his experiments Mr. Batchelder discovered that while the roots of 

 the plants in the non-electrified water were growing normally, those 

 submitted to the action of electricity were twisted and coiled in an 

 intricate manner among the fibres of the cotton. 



Prof, A. Wood read a paper on " Some Points in Botanical Ter- 

 minology " wherein he advocated that the terms ordinarily in vogue 

 to designate the venation of leaves should, for philosophical reasons, 

 be discarded ; and that in their stead should be substituted the 

 term " midvein " for the principal axis of venation, or prolongation 



