Otago Institute. 737, 



a leafless parasite, consisting of thin reddish thread-like stems with 

 prettv little pink flowers. 



The seeds of mistletoe, on the other hand, are quite incapable of 

 growing in the soil. They are eaten by birds, and pass undigested 

 through their alimentary canal. If they are dropped on a tree they ger- 

 minate in duo course, and the radicle attaches itself to the bark like a 

 little cushion, from the centre of whicli a conical mass of cells penetrates 

 the tissues of the host as far as the wood-cells. Round this central cone 

 the host-plant each year builds a rampart of new wood-cells, so that the 

 mistletoe becomes, as it were, naturally grafted into the host. Its 

 sucker, being in contact with the core of the plant, absorbs the unassimi- 

 lated sap of the latter, and therefore the mistletoe has to do its own 

 digestive work, and developes green leaves for the purpose. 



The specimens referred to in the paper belonged to the yellow mistle- 

 toe {Loranthus flavidus), and were parasitic on the white birch {Fagus 

 sokmdii) ; they were found at Lake Wakatipu by Miss Marchant. The 

 mistletoe, instead of having one point of attachment, as is commonly 

 supposed to be the case, was attached along the stem of the host-plant 

 like a large dodder by means of numerous cushion-like discs, but these 

 sent no suckers through the bark, and seemed to serve mainly as clasping 

 organs. A somewhat similar instance is described and figured by Chatin 

 ('• Anatomic Comparee des Vegetaux "), of a species of Brazilian Loran- 

 thus parasitic on a Citrus, but in this case the clasping discs developed 

 piercing suckers. 



Specimens of Loranthus and Tupeia from the Town Belt 

 were also exhibited, 



Mr. G. M. Thomson also drew attention to the numerous 

 forms of Fungi to be found at the present season of the year, 

 and exhibited several species. 



One of these, Aseroe rubra, developes underground like a small 

 potato, and when mature it bursts from its coat and stands up from 

 the soil like a crimson star-fish with five to eight radiating arms. 

 The centre is filled with a gelatinous mass containing innumerable 

 minute spores, and the whole has a most offensive smell, like putrid 

 carrion. It appears to be very attractive to flies, which light on its disc, 

 and must almost inevitably carry off and thus distribute the spores. 



Another interestirig species shown, of which great numbers appear 

 every winter on the bank in front of the Middle District School, in Arthur 

 Street, is a large toadstool belonging to the genus Boletus, one of the 

 PolyporecB. This toadstool is, like so many others of the family, very 

 excellent eating, and appears at a time when mushrooms are difficult to 

 obtain. 



Mr. Hamilton laid on the table a copy of a list of the 

 described genera and species of New Zealand Flowering- 

 plants, arranged in alphabetical order, and gave a description 

 of the plan on which the list had been compiled. 



Dr. T. M. Hocken exhibited a photograph of a curious nest 

 found in an almost inaccessible position on the Eock and 

 Pillar Eange, and described its unusual construction. 



No one present was able to make any suggestion as to the kind of 

 bird the nest was made by. It was suggested, however, that possibly it 

 might be an old nest of the great extinct eagle {Harpagorms) . 



47 



