1880.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PIIILADELPiriA. 351 



petal-bearing flowers were as perfectly fertilized in the iinexpanded 

 corollas as were tlie cleistogene flowers. But he was prepared to 

 expect different results elsewhere. 



September 28. 



The President, Dr. Ruschenberger, in the chair. 



Thirty-four persons present. 



The following papers wei'e presented for pul)lication in the 

 Journal : 



" The Parasites of the Termites," liy Jos. Leidy, M. D. 



" Remarks on Bathygnathus horealis," l)y Jos. Leidy, M. D, 



October 5. 

 The President, Dr. Ruschenberger, in the chair. 

 Thirtj'-two persons pi*esent. 

 The death of James C. Fisher, M. D., a member, was announced. 



Sexual Variation in Castanea Americana, Michx. — Isaac C. 

 Martindale stated he had recently visited Pitman Grove, Glou- 

 cester Co., New Jersey, in order to examine some chestnut trees 

 growing there, and remarked that it was well known there are 

 but two species of chestnut trees in this country, the chinquapin, 

 Castanea pmnila^ found occasionally in New Jersey, and abund- 

 antly further south, and the common chestnut, Castanea Ameri- 

 cana. The chinquapin attains the height here of ten to tweh'e 

 feet, being a shrub rather than a tree. In Mar3^1and, Virginia and 

 North Carolina, it often reaches four times that height, and be- 

 comes nearly a foot in diameter. It is from those States that 

 most of the chinquapins found in our markets come. The burs 

 contain but a single nut, and it quite small, but as a cluster of 

 five or six together is not unfrequent, nearl^^ as many chinquapins 

 may be found on a branch, as chestnuts on the common chestnut 

 trees. The leaves of the dwarf chestnut, as it is sometimes called, 

 are woolly underneath, even in their mature condition, while on 

 the other they become green on both sides as they reach full size. 



A peculiar feature in the flowering of the chestnut, namely, that 

 the trees bear two sets of flowers, was pointed out b^^ Thomas 

 Meehan, of the Oardener''s Monthly, a close observer of vegetable 

 growths, more than a year ago. His observations are recorded in 

 the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila- 

 delphia, for the year 1879. It may not be difficult for any one to 

 recall the manner of the infloresence, which consists of the 



