266 



Dr. Matthews said there were some subjects which were utterly above dis- 

 cussion, and this appeared to be one of them, because it was a statement of 

 facts — not theories — and facts of a most useful kind. 



Mr. Ingpen said that, although the subject was such an extremely abstruse 

 one in theory, its practical applications were very pretty and interesting ; 

 he expected to be able to show these at a future meeting. He hoped, there- 

 fore, that meanwhile the members would endeavour to bear the facts in 

 mind. 



The President said that, difficult as mathematics might be, the English 

 language was said to be more difficult still, and he thought, therefore, that 

 they might well congratulate Dr. Abbe upon his complete mastery of it. 

 A vote of thanks to Dr. Abbe was then put and carried unanimously. 



Mr. T. C. White, in communicating some remarks upon Drosera rotundi- 

 folia, apologised for the meagre facts he was about to bring before the 

 meeting, explaining that his action only sprang out of a desire that any 

 matters which arose out of the excursions of the Club should be brought 

 under the notice of the members generally. Those who went on the 

 excursion to Keston were rewarded by finding the Drosera rotundifolia. 

 Owing to the unfavourableness of the season, it was very backward, and the 

 plants found were very small, but he brought some home and had examined 

 them for the purpose of ascertaining what was the mechanism of the 

 tentacles. When he first got them the leaves were small, and of a pale 

 green colour, but he found that as they grew the red tints spread over them. 

 The first thing that would strike the observer would be the curious circum- 

 stance that when an Aphis was placed upon the leaf the tentacles curved 

 themselves over upon it until at last the whole leaf became closed over it. 

 The tentacles appeared to be of two kinds (drawn on board, and described as 

 the drawing progressed), the longer ones had globular summits, and the centre 

 of the globule was composed of red granular matter, and it seemed as if it 

 was this globular matter which was sticky. By taking one of the tentacles 

 and examining it he found that it contained some spiral vessels, which after 

 running in various directions converged and ran down to the leaf. Were 

 these the means by which the nutriment was conveyed down the leaf to 

 nourish the plant ? The next thing which struck him was that there were 

 also upon the leaf a number of things like stomata, standing up from the 

 surface in such a way that at first sight they might be taken for abortive 

 hairs. On examination he thought that they were really stomata, although 

 he found that there were other stomata as well as these upon other portions 

 of the leaf. 



The President invited remarks upon the subject. He had not examined 

 the leaf, and therefore could not speak from observation, but he should 

 think, on general principles, that the spiral vessels had nothing to do with 

 the nutriment of the plant, because all spiral vessels, so far &a he knew, 

 were found to be filled with air. 



Mr. T. C. White said if they were not for this purpose, he could not see 

 why they ran down the stem. 



