VOL. III.] Proceedings of Societies. 8'' 



o 



them being' in possession of a more or less elaborate mechanism 

 whereby the pollen was brought in contact with the stigma of the 

 same flower, it was logical to suppose that this mechanism was of 

 some service. Attention was called particularly to the Onagraceae, 

 in many of which the flowers, even those with large and showy 

 corollas were fully fertilized, while the bud was still firmly closed. 

 Numerous instances were given of adaptations for self-fertilization. 



Hybrids produced by the crossing of two distinct species rarely 

 persisted in nature, and had not been enough studied. Closely re- 

 lated plants were often much more difficult to cross than more dis- 

 tant ones, the explanation is of course a purely mechanical one, to 

 be sought for in the tissues of the respective plants. In one of the 

 plants here shown, QLyiothera ovaia, which is invariably fertilized in 

 the closed bud, the calyx-tube is from three to six inches in length, 

 and the length of pollen-tube necessary to reach the ovules is an 

 obvious factor in their fertilization. The consistency of the tissues 

 of the stigma has also to be considered. 



The term " cross-fertilization " has been very loosely applied in 

 botany. Many use it indiscrimately to signify the crossing of the 

 flowers in the same plant equally with the crossing of plants diverg- 

 ent for many generations. The first use is a misnomer for each 

 plant if not an individual in the sense in which we ordinarily use in 

 speaking of animals, is but a compound entity springing from a 

 single germ. 



In the fertilization of flowers by insects, the speaker said that ob- 

 servers preoccupied with the idea that "self-fertilization is injurious 

 or destructive" had overlooked the importance of thrips, aphis and 

 minute larvae, which often cover the stigma with the pollen of the 

 same flower. 



The speaker was assisted by Mr. C. C. Riedy in showing under 

 the microscope peculiar forms of pollen and the emission and en- 

 trance of pollen-tubes. 



April 26, i8g2. Miss Eastwood in the chair. 



The following were elected to membership: Miss Kate Howell, E. 

 P. Lynch, Mrs. E. W. Caswell, Miss Ottilie Schiicking, Joseph 

 Nordman, Miss Belle Ryan, Miss Edith Fassett, Miss Florence 

 Lane, Miss Emily G. Britton, Mrs. Rowena C. Gray, Luther Bur- 

 bank, J. Preuss, Mrs. A. B. Rice, Miss Agnes Regan, Miss Nettie 

 Wade, Miss K. T. Callahan, A. L. Mann, B. L. Robinson. 



