NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. XI 



vegetative force developed to the check of the reproductive, 

 involving a retrograde movement on the part of the whorls. 

 Such a movement is well illustrated in the case of the daisy, 

 another composite flower. In the double-flowered daisy there 

 is a conversion of the perfect (bisexual) florets of the disc into 

 the imperfect (pistilliferous) florets of the ray. In the sunflower 

 there had been a conversion into an entirely vegetative condi- 

 tion, and this was especially interesting as showing that the 

 whorls of the inflorescence are really circles of modified leaves. 

 In the double cherry the stamens are converted into beautiful 

 flat petals ; and the pistil, composed of two carpels, is reduced 

 to two simple green leaves — one of the clearest proofs we can 

 find of the leaf-type of the floral organs. Professor Henfrey 

 mentions that in the Legumhioscv the parts of the flower are 

 often degraded from a higher to a lower whorl,— stamens, pistils, 

 &c, appearing as green leaves, as may frequently be observed 

 in the flowers of the clover. With regard to the cause of such 

 abnormal forms, Mr. Somerville remarked that it is well known 

 that a rich soil has a tendency to effect a change from repro- 

 ductive into vegetative organs, thus illustrating the view of Mr. 

 Herbert Spencer that partial starvation is more favourable to 

 reproduction than a state of abundance. 



Rev. A. S. Wilson, M.A., B.Sc, made some remarks on the 

 heliotropic movements of the sunflower, ox-eye daisy, coltsfoot, 

 and other plants. 



Mr. D. A. Boyd exhibited specimens of the following plants 

 from Noddsdale, Largs, viz.: Vaccinium Vitis-Idcea, L., bearing 

 conspicuous clusters of its bright red berries; Equisetum Tel- 

 mateia, Ehr. ; Encalypta ciliata, Hedw., in fruit; and Bryum 

 alpinum, L., in fruit. He also showed specimens of Hirneola 

 Auricula- Judaz, Berk., from West Kilbride. 



Mr. Peter Ewing stated that when visiting Ben Lawers he 

 had frequently observed an alpine grass which did not corres- 

 pond with the description of any of the forms known to occur 

 on that mountain ; and although specimens had been submitted 

 to not a few botanists acquainted with the Flora of the Scottish 

 Alps, the plant remained undetermined. During a recent visit 

 to Glen Shee, Mr. Ewing again observed this grass on Glas 

 Tulchan, one of the mountains in that district ; and his interest 

 in its re-discovery having been awakened, he sent specimens 

 to Mr. A. Bennett, F.L.S., who pronounced them to be Festuca 

 rubra, L., sub-var. barbata, Haeck. This form may readily be 

 distinguished from var. grandiflora, Haeck, to which it bears 

 some affinity, by the copious woolly down on the glumes, which 

 renders them lanate rather than pubescent. The glumes are 

 also ovato acuminate, while those of var. grandiflora are lan- 

 ceolato-acuminate. A series of specimens of both grasses, from 

 the districts mentioned, was exhibited by Mr. Ewing. 



