424 Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 



of a bright red colour, a pod very like the capsicum. The sloe-trees 

 grow along the river-side, and are of that half-cultivated variety which 

 attains the height of 20 or 30 feet, is straight and wants spines. The 

 trees were closely tangled along the river-side for the distance of about 

 1 00 yards, all covered with this strange monstrosity. On examining 

 the pods a little more closely they proved to be carpels disdaining 

 their usual tardy progress into a drupe, and hurrying into a pseudo- 

 legume. On cutting them open they exposed usually one, some- 

 times two abortive ovules, attached to a sutural placenta. 



M A little further on I saw several trees of Prunus Padus, covered 

 with long clusters of bright green unripe pods of a similar kind. We 

 well know that the Rosacece are very prone to eccentricity with regard 

 to their carpels, and to see one tree in that condition would not sur- 

 prise me, but why all the individuals of Prunus spinosa in that neigh- 

 bourhood should have gone wrong, and especially why the other 

 species should have joined them, I am at a loss to conjecture." 



Dr. Balfour suggested that these teratological appearances might 

 be caused by the attacks of insects, and that they pointed out the 

 connection between Rosacese and Leguminosae, two orders which are 

 chiefly distinguished by the position of the odd sepal. 



A paper was read, " On the Plant Morphologically considered," 

 by the Rev. Dr. M'Cosh. In this paper the author endeavours to 

 show that the plant consists of three homotypal parts, the root and 

 its subdivisions, the stem and its branches, and the leaf, with its veins. 

 He dwelt in an especial manner on the venation of the leaf, which he 

 considers as representing the mode in which the tree ramifies, as well 

 as the angles at which the branches are given off. In the case of 

 woody plants he conceived that the petiole of the leaf may in such 

 cases represent the trunk. Thus the Beech, the Portugal Laurel, &c, 

 which have little or no petiole, send off branches from near the root, 

 while the Sycamore and Cherry, which have distinct petioles, have 

 long unbranched trunks. He thought that this did not apply, how- 

 ever, to herbaceous plants, and he was not prepared to carry out his 

 views in the case of Palms and other woody Monocotyledones, which 

 he had not had an opportunity of examining in a normal state. The 

 angles, also, at which the veins are given off, he considered as repre- 

 senting generally the angles of the branches. 



Prof. Balfour was not prepared to enter into Dr. M 'Cosh's views 

 fully, although there were many plausible statements made by him. 

 Dr. M'Cosh did not appear to apply his views on the same principle 

 throughout. There could be no doubt that there were normal angles 

 at which branches and veins were given off, but it was not an easy 

 matter to get what might be called typical forms. He hoped that 

 Dr. M 'Cosh's remarks would lead to an investigation of the subject. 

 Prof. Fleming remarked that he was ill qualified to offer any remarks 

 on the interesting paper which had been read, because he had long 

 been in the habit of restraining his imagination in all scientific in- 

 quiries. This paper he considered an imaginative one — a hunting 

 after resemblances and overlooking differences, so as to give results 

 by no means to be depended upon. The leaves were organs differing 



