Linnaan Society. 451 



been partly eaten by the ants, he opened it and found a perfectly 

 formed foetus, measuring an inch in length, attached to a yolk-bag 

 three-quarters of an inch long. On the 21st of October Mr. Ord 

 examined one of a number of eggs which he had removed from their 

 deposits on the* 24th of September, and found it to contain a living 

 young, not quite so large as that last mentioned, and having a much 

 larger yolk-bag ; and on the 1st of December he took up all the eggs 

 of which he had any knowledge, none of which (although some were 

 still living) were sufficiently matured for exclusion ; a circumstance 

 which he attributes to a deficiency of the usual summer heat and to 

 severe early frosts. Of the four young ones hatched, one escaped ; 

 and the remaining three hybernated with the adults, reappeared in 

 the spring, and lived in the garden for several years. 



November 16. — E. Forster, Esq., V.P., in the Chair. 



Read, " Descriptions of some Vegetable Monstrosities," by the 

 Rev. William Hincks, F.L.S., F.R.S.E., &c. 



In this paper, which is a continuation of one read before the So- 

 ciety towards the close of the year 1839, Mr. Hincks arranges the 

 monsters described by him under the several heads of adherences, 

 transformations, and increased or diminished developments of par- 

 ticular parts. 



The adherences comprise, first, a case of the union of five grapes 

 into one fruit in so complete a manner as to render it probable that 

 the flowers were also united ; secondly, an instance of cohesion be- 

 tween four peduncles of Centaurea moschata, without fusion of their 

 capitula ; and thirdly, the common case of adherence of two flowers 

 of Fuchsia fulgens. The latter is introduced for the purpose of re- 

 marking how frequently, when the usual number of organs in a circle 

 results from the suppression of certain parts rudimentally present, 

 the same cause which produces adherence with the nearest flower, 

 also developes all the rudiments, and thus increases the number of 

 parts. On the other hand, in cases of union by fusion, that is, where 

 the united flowers form one enlarged flower, Mr. Hincks observes, 

 that one organ at least is generally sacrificed at each point of junc- 

 tion. 



Of transformations Mr. Hincks notices two : first, a terminal bud 

 of an Azalea, gathered about the period when the plant ceased to 

 produce blossoms, which is partially converted into a flower, the 

 leaves nearest the centre being imperfectly changed into stamina, 

 and surrounded by many of petaloid aspect, while the outer leaves 

 differ from the ordinary appearance only in having a little colour ; 

 the organs are not arranged in circles, and one leaf only, and that 

 among the most remote from the centre, assumes the form of a pi- 

 stillum. The second transformation described occurs in a specimen 

 of Gentiana campestris, in which all the parts of the flower are con- 

 verted into leaves, which are somewhat petaloid and crowded into a 

 rose-like tuft : this kind of transformation is similar to that described 

 and figured by M f De Candolle in Trifolium repens. 



The first case of increased or diminished development noticed by 



2 G2 



