PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY. 1 :''- r > 



Dr. D. H. Scott said he rose to propose the thanks of the Society to 

 Lord Avebury for what they must all feel had been an extremely in- 

 teresting address. He was sorry to think that Lord Avebury's presidency 

 would now end, but he was quite sure they would all agree with the 

 President's remarks as to his successor, Sir E. Ray Lankester. The 

 subject chosen was not only remarkable in itself for the interest attaching 

 to it, but Lord Avebury spoke upon it with an authority possessed by 

 no one else — they all knew his books on seedlings, so closely related with 

 the subject of his address, and there was simply an infinity of points of 

 interest which had been touched upon, as they would realise even better 

 when they came to read the paper in print. The study of seeds was of 

 great botanical importance from many points of view, and he had him- 

 self been particularly interested in their early history. He did not 

 think anything like all the categories of seeds enumerated seemed to 

 have been represented in the Palaeozoic floras. They did not, for 

 example, find there the very small seeds like those of Poppies or Orchids, 

 which did not appear to have been elaborated then, which was curious 

 because the sporangium from which the seed was presumably derived 

 was of comparatively small size ; the fleshy, drupe-like seeds of the 

 Cycad type were, however, very characteristic of Palaeozoic times. 

 The work of Mr. Clement Reid had been attended with remarkable 

 success in identifying the plants of the Glacial and Post-Glacial periods 

 by means of their seeds, results which had only been obtained by very 

 minute study. The glimpses which they got all through the address of 

 the innumerable adaptations for the dispersal of seeds were always very 

 fascinating, and although there were persons in the present day who 

 sought to minimise the importance of adaptation, he had always thought 

 it was the great point of Darwin's theory that it alone afforded an 

 explanation, other than a supernatural one, of teleology. He had much 

 pleasure in moving that the best thanks of the Society be given to 

 Lord Avebury for his address, and that he would allow it to be printed 

 in the Journal of the Society. 



Mr. Wynne E. Baxter had much pleasure in seconding the resolution, 

 especially as it gave him an opportunity of expressing the pleasure all 

 felt to see the ex-President amongst them again. Lord Avebury was 

 almost the oldest Fellow of the Society, and his engagements were 

 certainly as numerous as most. He thought, therefore, they would 

 understand that their President had had great difficulty in being able to 

 come to their Meetings, and they were all very much obliged to him for 

 coming as often as he could. He hoped that his lordship had yet many 

 years of health and usefulness before him. 



Dr. Scott having put the resolution to the Meeting, it was carried 

 unanimously, with applause. 



The President said he was very much obliged to Dr. Scott and to 

 their Treasurer for their extremely kind remarks. Dr. Scott had made 

 some very interesting suggestions with regard to the older plants, but 

 it should be remembered that it was the parasitic plants which had the 

 small seeds, and it seemed quite natural that in the Carboniferous periods 

 there should have been no seeds adapted to birds, because there were no 

 birds till long subsequently. He thanked the Fellows of the Society 

 very heartily for their resolution. 



