442 PROCEEDINaS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1881. 



East Indian species performed the locomotive feat recently noted 

 by Dr. Watt, and which from its remarkable nature has hnd a Avide 

 publicaHon. It was leported as the ob'^ervation of Dr. Watt that 

 a seed fallino- on and beconrino; attached to the coriaceous leaf 

 of a Memecylon, would send out its radicle, which, curving down, 

 formed a flattened disk by which it attached itself to the leaf. 

 But, as if it knew that a leaf could not permanently supi»ort a 

 perennial plant, the cotyledons were lifted and turned to the other 

 side, when the end with tlie disk moved to another place, and in this 

 way, the seed traveled to a more favorable spot. Without reflecting 

 on the observation, Mr. Meelian believed it should be repeated in 

 order to be sure of no mistake. In all plants in our country 

 which fastened to an object through a disk at the end of a rootlet 

 or tendril, as in Ampelopsix and Bignonia capreolata, the attach- 

 ment was made while the disk w-as forming. A disk once formed, 

 did not reattach itself to an object when removed from the original 

 spot. In like manner the cotyledons, once removed from the 

 endocarps, would have no viscidity with wdiich to form a resisting 

 power while the disk was unfastening itself from its undesirable 

 location. There was, however, so much of singular behavior in 

 the Mistletoe family that further observations were very desirable. 



Dr. Geo H. Horn observed that the Mistletoe which was para- 

 sitic on the "Mesquite" in Arizona {Phoradendron Calif orni- 

 cumf)^ had flowers and fruit together in the autumn. 



Mr. Geo. W. Holstein observed that this was also the case with 

 the species {Phoradendron Jiavescens?) which grew on the elms 

 in Texas. 



DimorphUm in a Willoiv. — Mr. Thomas Meehan called atten- 

 tion to branches of a willow on the table, presented by a member, 

 Mr. Edward Potts, which were gathered by his brother from one 

 plant in the Adirondacks. Besides the certaint}' tliat they were 

 from one plant, for which Mr. Potts was willing to vouch, he 

 observed tliat the buds and other points indicated a community 

 of origin. But while the normal leaves were broadly ovate — 

 about two inches long by over one broad — the leaves on the other 

 branch, though quite as long, were not over a line wide. The 

 species so far as one could judge of a willow having mere leaves, 

 appeared to be Salix reticulata. Dimorphism in foliage, is not 

 uncommon in many trees, but it was worth noting that change by 

 gradual modification was not the law in these variations. The 

 change of one form to another quite dissimilar, was usually made 

 b}' a wide leap, without any intemiediale changes, and he believed 

 this to be the rule in specific as well as individual dcA^elopment. 

 It was nothing against the doctrine of evolution that there were 

 " missing links." 



Occurrence of the same species of Protozoa on both sides of the 

 Atlantic. — Mr. Ryder remarked that during his sojourn at Cherry- 



