NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 4G5 



December 1. 

 The President, Dr. Ruschenberger, in the chair. 

 Twenty-seven members present. 



Quercus heterophylla. Referring to former remarks on this 

 oak, Mr. Thomas Meehan exhibited some leaves almost entire, 

 and some with lobes like the Bartram oak, which he had recently 

 gathered from a tree of the water oak in Mississippi. There were 

 on the same tree, bnt beyond reach, leaves resembling in outline 

 those of the willow oak. As indicated by Mr. Burke in regard to 

 the Quercus heterophylla of New Jersey, and which the evidence 

 already adduced showed were but Quercus aquatica, this last spe- 

 cies in its home in Mississippi was readily distinguished by the 

 habit of the tree. It had a tendency to branch low, forming a 

 somewhat spreading head, just as the white oak does, in which 

 there is little distinction between the main stem and the leading- 

 branches ultimately, while the Quercus Phellos had a more slender 

 twiggy habit, and the distinction between the main trunk and the 

 branches were carried forward to old age. 



Sabal Palmetto. Mr. Meehan remarked that this palm was not 

 confined to sandy land near the coast, but extended along the 

 whole line of the Big Black River in Mississippi, at least two hun- 

 dred and fifty miles above New Orleans, where it was found in 

 immense quantities in swamps. It was only seen in these places, 

 and often entirely in water, with, in some cases, two or three feet 

 of the trunk out of water. It must also be much hardier than 

 people supposed, as at Grenada, a little below which he had seen 

 the palm growing, the thermometer sometimes falls to 10. 



Swamp trees. Mr. M. further remarked that some years ago 

 he had called attention to the singular fact, that what we know as 

 swamp trees did not grow in swamps because they preferred these 

 wet places, but, as if nature had so ordained in order to clothe 

 these wastes, the seeds will only sprout in wet places or verj T 

 moist soil. When such trees find themselves in dryer situations 

 they thrive much better than in the wet places, where only the 

 -<eeds will grow. This is further illustrated by the Magnolia gran- 

 diHora in Mississippi. The tree is found as a general thing on 

 low bottoms, or along the line of water-courses favorable to the 

 germination of the seeds. Here the best trees seldom exceed from 

 thirty to fifty feet high. The loose soil of Mississippi is, however, 

 continually changing; and a swamp to-day may be high and dry 

 ground a quarter of a century hence. So the Magnolia grandi flora 

 often found itself in quite comfortable quarters, and in such cases 

 grew as tall as the loftiest trees say from fifty to seventy feet 



