NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 277 



tliese glands, three spurs and their petals, giving the flower the 

 appearance of an Aquilegia. Since that time Dr. Maxwell T. 

 Masters, .in the April 12tli issue of the Gardeiwr^s Chronicle^ 

 notices the receipt of a Phaiiis Wallichii in which there had been 

 produced three spurs and regular petals, looking, Dr. M. says, 

 rather like those of a gladiolus than of an orchid. This confirma- 

 tion of the views, suggested in the observations referred to, indi- 

 cate that we were on the right track as regards idea of the floral 

 structure. 



3Iovemenfs in Stigmatic Loheii. Mr. Meehan further remarked 

 that at former meetings he had brought to the attention of the 

 Academy, that though it was long known that the flattened lobes 

 of the pistil in Mimxilus would close on being touched, as rapidly 

 and in the same manner as the leaves of tlie Dionsea muscijnda, 

 it did not seem to have been noted that the power was possessed 

 by many other genera of Scrophulariacsea, and he had recently 

 recorded the fact that the power extended to Bignonia in an 

 allied natural order. It would be as well to call tlie attention of 

 the Academy to the fact that in the current number of the Lon- 

 don Journal of Botany^ Mr. Kitchener has a note on the move- 

 ment in Mimulus, regarding it as an arrangement to render the 

 fertilization of the plant, by its own pollen, highly improbable. 

 If it were not for the closing of the lobes on the entrance of an 

 insect, pollen would be deposited Avhen the insect makes its exit ; 

 but the closing of the lobes on the entrance prevents this. On 

 the other hand, when the pollen covered insect enters another 

 flower and touches the open pistil it receives and closes on foreign 

 pollen. As the common trumpet flower of our gardens, Bignonia 

 radicans, is easy of access, he hoped that the members interested 

 in this branch of science would make personal observations the 

 coming season. 



May 13. 



The President, Dr. Ruschenberger, in the chair. 



Twenty-eight members present. 



The following paper was presented for publication : 

 " Observations on Nests of Sayornis fuscus." By Thos. G. 

 Gentr3^ 



Prof. Cope exhibited and described some extinct turtles from 

 the Eocene strata of Wyoming. One of these was named 



Trionyx heteroglyptus, Cope. 



Carapace broad, flat, concavely truncate behind. Free portion 

 of costal bones short. The last pair of costal bones are in con- 



