216 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OP 



hybridization. The cliief mixtures were generally russets with 

 ligliter apples. He exliibited one which had been sent by Mr. J. 

 J. Thomas, of Union Springs, in which the upper half was russet 

 and tlie lower of some green kind. In this case, however, it was 

 clear that the russet was formed V\y some element of destruc- 

 tion in tlie epidermal cells. In the bark of most trees suber 

 cells had in each tree a specific form of dcA^elopment, and were 

 generally very uniform in their conditions of growth. They 

 usuall}' destro^'ed the bark as they grew, and generalh' in some 

 one regular direction, and this gave the characteristic fissures 

 to the bark of trees, and not mere mechanical expansion, as 

 was popularly supposed. It was not always regular, however, as 

 in the plane tree it was erratic, and thus the bark peeled otf with- 

 out an^' regular plan, and in the most unexpected places. The 

 skin of the apple was but modified bark, and in the epidermis were 

 cells sul)ject to the same laws of development as in bark. In 

 the beech onl}^ a very thin film was subjected to the destructive 

 agency of the suber cells, changing the color of the young green 

 shoots to an ashen-gray in age, without an3-deep rifts ever appear- 

 ing. In the apple, both in the bark and fruit, the cells proceeded 

 in much the same way, erratic sometimes as iu the beech, and 

 acting on the thin external membrane as in the beech or plane. 

 The russet appearance followed this action in the apple and pear. 

 Very often it appeared near the stem cavity. Frequently on the 

 same tree there would he large numbers russetted in this way, as 

 well as man}' without. The variable nature of the russet growth 

 was more frequently seen in the pear than in the apple. He had 

 seen in these kinds in some seasons and places all 3'ellow, the half 

 or more covered with russet in others. 



He had never seen the peculiar condition of the parts exhibited 

 in Mr. Tliomas's specimen before, but it was evident that all the 

 phenomena pointed to some similar external cause, and that cross 

 fertilization had nothing to do Avith these dimori)hic cases. 



Mr. M. also exhibited another specimen similar to the one pro- 

 duced last year, from the tree at Kittaning, Pa., which bore fruit, 

 without the production of calyx, corolla, or stamens. The upper 

 portions of the series of the embryonic leaves which form the fruit, 

 were more free than in that exhibited last year, affording a better 

 illustration of the morphology of the parts. 



Blinduei<s of Salmon Dr. A. G. Reed made the following 



remarks regarding the cause of blindness of the salmon: In the 

 month of August, 1873, I ascended the Tobique River, of New 

 Brunswick, to its head-waters, for the purpose of salmon fishing, 

 and thence descended the Xipisiquit River, where I found the best 

 salmon fishing in the province. 



While on the Tobique River my Indian guide captured a large 

 salmon so easily that it attracted ni}' attention, when he told me 



