294 PROCEEDINGS OF tHE ACADEMY OP [1886. 



other flowers. The stamens were not liberated naturally till the 

 flower had lost all attractions for insects, and the act of 

 liberating and scattering the pollen gave the pistil its first chance 

 for pollinization. The great probability is that in the majoiity of 

 instances the flowers are self-fertilized. 



On rarallelism in Distinct Lines of Evolution. Exhibiting 

 some oak and chestnut leaves, Mr. Meehan remarked that the 

 fact and the theory of evolution are distinct lines of thought. 

 There seems no difficulty about the fact. That one form may 

 and has been born of a pre-existing, and often very distinct form, 

 cannot be disputed. What induces this change is another matter. 

 It is here that science desires more light. A popular belief is 

 that change of circumstances leads to change of form. This 

 theory is embodied under the word " environment." In other 

 words, plants, in their changes, are the " creatures of circum- 

 stances." In some sense .this must be true. A seed will not sprout 

 unless there be a necessary " environment " of heat and moisture, 

 but this is not the sense in which " environment," as the term is 

 here used, is generally'- understood. If one were to say that under 

 a torrid temperature, endured for ages, a light-skinned, fair-haired 

 Caucasian, might have descendents that were like woolly-headed, 

 dark-skinned negroes, it would come nearer the general understand- 

 ing of the term " environment," than some would limit it to. The 

 speaker's observations and studies had led him to what might, 

 perhaps, be regarded as the minority view. Circumstances 

 " environment " seemed to have no further influence than to 

 incite to action a change already ripe for development. In a 

 paper read before the Amet'ican Association for the Advancement 

 of Science, 1874 (See Proceedings Hartford Meeting, p. 6, Natural 

 History), he presented a number of facts to show that "change 

 by gradual modification is not the universal law." New forms 

 "jumped " into existence, and frequently these new forms were 

 diverse from each other, under precisel}^ the same " environment " 

 so far as human knowledge had j-et reached, as had been the sur- 

 rounding circumstances of the parent form. Since that time he 

 had contributed numerous observations to the Proceedings of the 

 Academy and elsewhere, confirming these views. 



To-night he would offer to the Academy some thoughts in a 

 new line, but confirmatory of the same views. He exhibited some 

 different forms of the American Quercus Prinus the chestnut 

 oaks, and a dwarf species from China, Quercus Chinensis of 

 Bunge. Also some specimens of various forms of Castanea Vesca 

 the chestnut, and of Castanea pumila, 3Ix., the chinquapin. It 

 would be conceded by any evolutionist conversant with plant 

 forms, that the chestnut and the oak are not remotely descended 

 from the same parent. We may suppose, for the sake of argument, 

 that " use or disuse," or some other item in the general catalogue 

 of " environment " had affected some portion of the structure of 

 the original parent, and resulted in a slight modification, leading 



