180 TRANS. OF THE ACAD. OF SCIENCE. 



May 19, 1862. 



The President, Dr. Engelmaun, in the chair. 



Five members present. 



Letters were read fiom the Royal Hort. Soc. London, Sept. 12, 18G1 ; 

 Sachsische Gesellsch. d. Wiss., Leipzig, Aug. 1, 1861 ; British Museum, 

 London, Nov. 28, 1861 ; Schweizer. Polytech. Schnle, Zurich, Oct. 1, 

 1861; Bataafsch. Geno<ts. Picef. Wis., Rotterdam; Dr. Fred. Von Hage- 

 now, } 1S61 ; Nat. Hist. Soc. Noithumberland, Duiham, &.c, New- 

 castle, Eng., Oct. 15, 1861; Naturtiist. Verein in Augsburg, Nov. 30, 

 1861 ; Geolog. Soc. London, Nov. 6, 1861 ; Natmf. Geselbch. Basel, Nov. 

 8, 1861 ; Soc. Geogr. Imp. de Ru«sie, Jan. 12 & 22, 1862 ; Eds. N. Edin- 

 buigPiiilos. Journal, Nov. 25, 1861, severally acknowledging receipt of 

 No. 4 of Vol. I. of Transactions ; also, from C. H. Hitchcock, transmit- 

 ting his Geolog. Report of Maine. 



The following publications were received : 



Sixth Ann- Rep. Maine Board Agri., with Scientific Reports, from C. 

 H. Hitchcock. Ainer. Jour. Science, May, 1862, purch»sed. Canad. Nat. 

 & Geol., Montreal, Vol. VII., No. 2, from ihe Montreal N. Hist. Society. 

 Geol. Survey of California; Address by the Superintendent, J. D. Whit- 

 ney, Mar. 12, 1862; Lect. on Geologv, deliv. before Leg. Calif., Feb. 27, 

 1862, by J. D. Whitney; Report of Prog. Geol. Survey, San Francisco, 

 1862, from the Author. Atti della Soc. Acclim., Palermo, T. I., No. 6--7, 

 1861, from the Society. Meteorology of Storms, Espy, 1850, from Mr. 

 G. C. Broadhead. 



June 2, 1862. 

 The President, Dr. Exgblmann, in the chair. 



Five members present. 



A letter was read from Director W. Haidinger, Vienna, ac- 

 knowledging receipt of publications sent. 



The following donations to the library were received : 



Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. History, April & May, 1862, from the Society. 

 Bull, de la Soc. Imp. zool. d ? Accliinatation, Paris, No. 3, 1862, from the 

 Society. 



Dr. Engelmann exhibited several drawings illustrating the structure of 

 the fruit and seed of the genus Ribes. His investigation of what consti- 

 tuted the pulp of the Cactus fruit (see p. 166) had induced him to exam- 

 ine the juicy fruits of allied families. It seemed strange that the struc- 

 ture of the gooseberries and currants, so common everywhere, had not, 

 as far as he could ascertain, attracted the attention of vegetable anato- 

 mists. The only allusion he found to it was in Schleiden's Grundziige 

 (ed. 3, p. 40^), where it is said, that the pulp of the berry of Ribes seemed 

 to be toimed by the dissolution of the ceils which originally constituted 

 the testa itself. Dr. E. found this pulp to consist of the arillus and of the 

 modified epidermis of the testa. 



The arillus of Ribes is a fleshy or juicy dilatation of the funiculus ; in 

 the currants, at least in R. rubrnm, it is very short, cup-shaped, lobed, 

 often obcordate, and embraces the base of the seed ; in the gooseberries 

 (R. grossularia and R.hirtellum were examined) it is much larger, as high 



