XX. Trans. Acad. Set. of St. Louis. 



monly accepted view that the elements of the solar systems 

 have always been heated to an intense point and are in pro- 

 cess of cooling, and presenting a mathematical discussion of 

 the theory that the solar bodies have at first been aggregates 

 of cooled, slightly phosphorescent matter which has become 

 heated through the shrinkage of the mass, under the influence 

 of gravitation, up to a critical point, beyond which cooling 

 must result. 



Professor C. M. Woodward presented informally the results 

 of a mathematical analysis of the phenomena in a theoretical 

 gaseous sphere. 



A paper by Professor Pammel, entitled Anatomical charac- 

 ters of the seeds of Leguminosae, chiefly genera of Gray's 

 Manual, was presented by title. 



Dr. C. H. Hughes and Mr. J. E. Huiskamp were elected to 

 active membership. 



April 3, 1899. 



President Engler in the chair, seven members and two 

 visitors present. 



A paper by Mr. Stuart Weller, entitled Kinderhook faunal 

 studies. I. The fauna of the Vermicular Sandstone at 

 Northview, Webster County, Missouri, was presented in 

 abstract. 



Mr. Trelease exhibited a plaster cast of a gigantic cactus 

 monstrosity from Mexico, known as the Rosade Organo, and 

 presented to the Missouri Botanical Garden by Professor 

 Frederick Starr, who reported that this was here and there an 

 abundant growth on the common organ cactus from Aguas 

 Calientes southward. The speaker exhibited a large number 

 of comparable cactus monstrosities from the living collections 

 of the Missouri Botanical Garden and the collection of Dr. 

 A. A. Kleinschmidt, President of the Cactus Association of 

 St. Louis, and a similar deformity of one of the cactus-like 

 Euphorbias of the African region, calling attention to the 

 fact that these unusual growths, which are occasional in most 

 of the genera of Cactaceae, are of the same general character 

 as the fasciations and similar deformities of plants belonging 



