30 Gelehrte Gesellschaften. 



ago, and since then Witt rock, have instanced what they have deemed 

 sexual difFerences between the conjugating cells, though most later writers 

 rather ignore essential physiological distinctions. Mr. B e n n e 1 1 has directed 

 his investigations chiefly to the genera Spirogyra and Zygnema, and from 

 these he supports the inference of the above-mentioned authors. He finds 

 there is an apjoreciable diff'erence of length and diameter in the conjugating 

 cells , that deemed the female being the larger. The protoplasmic contents 

 he also finds pass only in one direction, and change first commences m the 

 Chlorophyll bands of the supposed male cell, with accompanying contraction 

 of the protoplasmic material. The genera Mesocarpus , Staurospermum, and 

 the doubtful from Craterospermum have likewise been examined, and though 

 showing differences, yet on the whole substantiate the view above enunciated 

 of cell sexuality. 



Sitzung vom 6. December 1883. 

 Sir John Lubbock, Bart. , President, in the chair. — H. H. M a h a - 

 rajah of Travancore, and Mssrs. C. A. Barder, E. Bostock, H. 

 Friend, J. Hannington, J. S. Hicks, J. Richardson, R. Täte, 

 and H. T i s d a 1 1 , were elected Fellows of the Society. — Mr. B. üaydou Jackson 

 exhibited a specimen of „Mexican whisks", knowu also in the 

 London market as „Chien-dent", whieh are novr imported in considerable quantity 

 from the vicinity of LaPuebla, in Mexico. Itisbelieved to be derived from an 

 Andropogon, but is in bulk coarser than the similar material from Southern 

 Europe, from Andropogon Gryllus, and finer than the species of Panicum 

 used in India for brushes. — Mr. Arthur Bennett exhibited a specimen 

 of Carex liger ica, gathered by Mr. Cunnack in Scilly. Mr. B e n n e 1 1 

 also drew attention to same masses of agglomerated larch leaves , found in 

 the Shropshire Meres, and known locally as „vegetable hedgehogs". — Mi-. 

 Charles D a r w i n 's paper on Instinct was then read. 



Sitzung vom 22. December 1883. 

 Alfred W. Ben nett, h'. L. S., in the chair. - Messrs. N. Cantley, 

 W. Dobson, F. G. Smart and the Rev. R. T h o m , were elected Fellows 

 of the Society. — A paper was read by Mr. F. 0. Bower, ,0 n the 

 Structure of the stem of Rhynchopetalu m montanum". The 

 plant is a native of Abyssinia, growing in districts 11000 to 13000 ft above 

 the level of the sea. It diifers from its ally Lobelia in being perennial. 

 Internally it is succulent when young, but the surface becomes scarred as 

 the leaves drop oif , and exteriorly is hardened by a thick corky deposit. 

 Rhynchopetalum, the author shows in detail, has certain peculiarities in the 

 arrangement of the tissue of its leaf bundles , since the cortical system 

 does not consist of branches of bundles of the leaf-trace, but are cauline 

 bundles , in this respect differing widely from such forms as Lathyrus, 

 Casuarina, many Begonias etc. Rhynchopetalum, moreover, has the 

 cortical bundles running obliquely, and forming a regulär four-sided 

 meshed network related to the leaf bases and bundeis of leave-trace. In 

 these respects it approaches Cycas , but in the latter the bundles of the 

 accessory cortical System are not so regulär, and are almost vertically 

 arranged. Some Cycads and Rhynchopetalum also agree in the exterior 

 appearance of their stem, so that palaeontogists might be deceived in their 

 judgment, if two well-preserved specimens were examined by them. — 

 A paper onthe Organs of Secretion in the Hypericaceae, by 

 Mr. J. R. Green , was read. He concludes , Ist, That the view advocated 

 by Link, Martinet, and De Bary of the lysegenous origin of the reservoirs 

 of ethereal oil in these plants is the correct one. 2nd, That there exists in 

 many parts of these plants a series of ducts or passages, differing only 

 slightly from these reservoirs, the differences being that they are not 

 globular and isolated , but are generally connected more or less intimately 

 with each other, and that their secretion is not a clear ethereal oil, but a 

 viscid or resinous liquid ; the points of agreement being those connected 

 with their development and function. 3rd. That at least, in some species, 

 there is also a series of schizogenous ducts confined to certain portions of 

 the phloem, 4th. That the dark glands, which have been described, are in 



