1 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



the lateral shoot in most cases, if not always, being the 

 smaller of the two. This reproductive power seems to prevail 

 more among the Opliiiiridce than the Asteriadce, the members 

 of which appear to be more subject to an abnormal number of 

 rays. U raster ruheiis is perhaps the species most subject to the 

 renewal of parts. In the case of the specimen exhibited, which 

 had a lateral branch springing from one of the rays, Mr. 

 Robertson remarked that although it was no unusual thing for 

 this species to have lost limbs reproduced, yet he had never 

 before noticed a lateral branch on the rays, or a tendency to 

 it, in O. albida. It did not appear certain that a part of the 

 ray had at one time been broken off, but rather that there 

 had been an injury at the point of division, which had induced 

 the growth of the additional branch. If this had been so, we 

 should have expected to find the normal ray longer and stronger 

 than the new branch, which, however, is not the case ; but 

 there may have been some defect in the injured ray that 

 allowed the new branch to acquire dimensions equal to those 

 of the original ray. 



The following papers were read, viz. : " Domestic Habits of 

 Butter-fish," by Mr. W. Anderson Smith, Corresponding Mem- 

 ber;* "The Disappearance of the Chough in the Stewartry 

 of Kirkcudbright," by Mr. Robert Service ; f "Notes on the 

 Neuroptera of Argyllshire," by Mr. James J. F. X. King;t 

 "Notes on Pedicellariae," by Mr. David Robertson, F.L.S., 

 F.G.S. ;§ "The External Configuration of Plants in relation to 

 Wind-Pressure and Water Currents," by Rev. Alexander S. 

 Wilson, M.A., B.Sc.l 



Transactions, i. 137. t Id , i. 117. : Id., i. 103. § Id., i. 132. ! Id., i. 174. 



