412 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 



October 5. 

 Dr. LeConte, Vice-President, in the chair. 

 Twent.y-five members present. 



The following papers were presented for publication: 



"On North American Nocture." By Aug. R. Grote. 



"Notes on the Noctuidae, with descriptions of certain new spe- 

 cies, No. II." By H. K. Morrison. 



"Description of a new species of Bird of Paradise of the genus 

 Ptiloris, in the collection of the Academy." By James A. 

 Ogden, M.D. 



Observations on Lilies. Mr. Thomas Meehan remarked that 

 some bulbs of Lilium pardalinum, received last spring from Dr. 

 W. P. Gibbons, had the scales articulated in the middle. The 

 upper portion of the jointed scale fell off easily at the slightest 

 touch, giving the blunt ends of the remaining portion the appear- 

 ance of grains of Indian corn as they were arranged along the 

 rhizome. Dr. H. N. Bolander has since informed him that it was 

 a common characteristic of this species. It does not, however, 

 appear to have been noticed by monographers of this genus. He 

 had since found that the eastern Lilium snperbum had the same 

 character. It was, however, by no means regular. Some bulbs 

 would have a large number of articulated scales, while others had 

 but a few here and there; and they were as likely to be found 

 among the inner as the outer scales. The scales of Lily bulbs 

 were but the dilated and thickened bases of ordinary leaves. 

 There were no articulations in the normal leaves, and it was diffi- 

 cult to trace any morphological relationship in these scale joints. 



Another observation he had made on the failure of some bulbs 

 of Lilium canadense to produce seed. He had received a few 

 years ago some bulbs of this species from Mississippi. The 

 flowers proved so remarkably large and beautiful, much superior 

 to those of the northern plant, that he was in hopes to increase it 

 b} r seeds, but not one seed-vessel formed though a quantity of 

 L. superbuni growing near them set every flower. Supposing 

 that this might be a case where fertilization from other flowers 

 might be a benefit, pollen was applied from others of the species 

 but all of the same Mississippi plants, with no better results. He 

 wished to call particular attention to this little fact, because he 

 believed that physiological agencies in fertilization and reproduc- 

 tion were often lost sight of in the discussions relating to the con- 

 nection of flowers with insects in this matter. Some remarkable 



