1879.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 1G7 



whole mass of flowers which give so much charm to a chestnut 

 tree fall off without any influence whatever on the fruit production 

 of any trees in the vicinity, as the female flowers are not in bloom 

 till these showy early ones have fallen, and depend on the second 

 crop of male flowers for fertilization. 



For what purpose is this immense mass of bloom with its result- 

 ant pollen created ? Mr. Median believed that modern teleology 

 based on the selfish idea that acts of each individual are solely 

 for its own good, or the good of its immediate descendants, was 

 wrong. The animal world, in the shape of insects perhaps, or in 

 any other way, could be no more said to be created for the vege- 

 table, as fertilizers of flowers, than were plants for them. It is a 

 popular saying, that mouths were not created before something 

 was prepared to put into them ; and scientifically this might be 

 reduced to the proposition, that plants may be made to behave 

 and to produce, for ends having no relation whatever to their own 

 individual wants, but that all things might be made to work to- 

 gether in harmony for some universal good. 



Mr. Red field asked whether it might not be that chestnut woods 

 in more southern latitudes, and with female flowers more advanced, 

 could receive the pollen from the precocious flowers of these 

 northern trees ; and, in view of the accidents liable to such a dis- 

 tant transmission by the winds, nature provided this immense 

 superabundance to make the cross-fertilization more certain? 



Mr. Meehan replied that he could not say ; but if an answer to 

 his questions were to be met by any of the prevailing theories on 

 the necessities or utilities of cross-fertilization, he would like to 

 ask what was the use of odor in the event of Mr. Redfield's ques- 

 tion being answered affirmatively ? The male flowers of the sweet 

 chestnut were remarkably odoriferous. A fair sized bunch in a room 

 would give fragrance to a whole house. Where would be the use of 

 adding this powerful odor to flowers in mere arrangements for 

 cross-fertilization by the aid of winds ? 



The following paper was ordered to be printed : 



