NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. lv 



although on the Continent it is sometimes not uncommon, and its 

 distribution is very wide. It has also been taken in North America 

 at Mount Washington, New Hampshire. Mr. King stated that the 

 specimen exhibited had been captured by him last summer by beat- 

 ing firs on the banks of the Denough River at Killarney. 



Professor F. 0. Bower, D.Sc, F.R.S.E., F.L.S., exhibited a fine 

 series of Photographs illustrating vegetation in Ceylon ; and in the 

 course of some descriptive remarks he stated that many of the most 

 striking features of woodland scenery in that island are due to the 

 presence of plants which have been introduced and have now 

 become thoroughly acclimatised. 



Professor Bower also showed some examples of apospory in ferns, 

 illustrating a direct transition from the asexual to the sexual 

 generation without the intervention of the spore. 



Mr. George Russell showed several species of Pitcher-plant 

 (Nepenthe*), and drew attention to the differences which exist 

 between pitchers formed respectively on the upper and lower leaves. 

 He also exhibited two pitchers of Nepenthes Hookeriana, Low, 

 growing one within the other, and read some notes descriptive of 

 the interesting genus to which these plants belong.* 



Professor D'Arcy W. Thompson, B. A., F.R.S.E., Corresponding 

 Member, addressed the Society on "Museum Methods." He referred 

 to the small value which many extensive Natural History collec- 

 tions possess for purposes of reference through being rendered mere 

 store-houses of specimens. To enable the educative value of such 

 collections to be fully realised, the specimens should be so arranged 

 as to afford a view of the life-history of each group. By such an 

 arrangement, a visitor, in passing from case to case, would be able 

 to acquire much information regarding the habits, as well as the 

 form, of typical species in the various divisions of the animal 

 kingdom. On the Continent, the establishment of local museums, 

 illustrating the Fauna and Flora of a particular district, has 

 afforded a strong incentive to the popular study of Natural History 

 which has not yet been provided in this country. 



Rev. David Landsborough, Corresponding Member, read a paper 

 on " The Jay and Starling in Ayrshire." f 



* Transactions, vol. ii„ p. 303. t Ibid., p. 298. 



