1904.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 48 1 



May 17. 



The President, Samuel G. Dixon, M.D., in the Chair. 



Thirty-six persons present. 



The deaths of Maxwell Sommerville, a member, May 5, and of 

 Henry M. Stanley, a correspondent. May 10, were announced. 



The Publication Committee reported that a paper entitled "New 

 Polychaeta from California," by J. Percy Moore, had been offered for 

 publication (May 16). 



Summer Activity of Some Spring Flowers. — Dr. Ida Keller re- 

 marked that the suddenness with which the first warm days of spring 

 call into bemg the so-called "spring flowers" is a yearly repeated 

 surprise, and although the following summer months are characterized 

 by conditions far more conducive to vegetative activity, we are accus- 

 tomed to find the plants which were conspicuous in April, May and 

 June sinking gradually into insignificance. Their time of active ser- 

 vice seems, therefore, to be confined within narrow limits. 



The slightest acquaintance with the laws governing plant physiology 

 leads to the conclusion that the complex structures thus quickly appear- 

 ing are in reality the result of the usual slow and elaborate processes 

 of the various phases of metabolism, and indeed close observation 

 shows that at least some of our well-known species are busily at work 

 during the entire summer, preparing with great care and circumspec- 

 tion for the sensational outburst of the vernal season. 



No better illustration of this point could be found than the May- 

 apple. It is interesting to dig in the soil about these plants in July or 

 early August. Close to the surface the trowel is impeded by a network 

 of tough stems. Instead of growing upward, these formidable struc- 

 tures run parallel to the surface, or they run diagonally downward, 

 or perhaps they may even point vertically downward, in defiance to 

 the laws of geotropism. The stems are anchored in the ground by 

 rather stout roots which come off at various points, and each stem is 

 terminated by a large bud. Lateral buds are also to be found. At 

 this time of the year the overground portion is in a process of slow de- 

 composition. The decaying leaf-stalk gives no evidence of this under- 

 ground activity, as a result of which we have great patches of Podo- 

 phyllum early the following year. 



While making these observations she had also noticed the False 

 Solomon's Seal. The flowering plants of the season had produced 

 fruit, but there were also many younger plants which had not yet 

 reached the flowering stage. On none of the plants were long under- 

 ground stems visible, but their rhizomes were all well supplied with 

 31 



