50 PROCEF.BINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



bark ; that Calamodendron was probably a gymnosperm, and allied to Sigilla- 

 ria; that altliough Sligmaria may not always show medullary rays, the distinct 

 separation of the wood into wedges is an evidence of their having existed ; 

 that the difference in minute structure between Sigillaria and Stigmaria in- 

 volves no serioiis diiBculty if the former be regarded as allied to Cycadacece ; 

 and further, that we do not know how many of the Stigmarice belong to Sigil- 

 laria proijer, or Favularia, or to such forms as Claihraria and Leioderma, 

 which may have been more nearly allied to Lepidophloios ; that the fruit figured 

 by Goldenberg as tliat of Sigillaria is more probably tliat of Lepidophloios, or 

 may be a male catkin with pollen ; and that he has found Tri]onocarpa 

 scattered round the iv\xn\soi Sigillaria, and on the surface of the soilia which 

 they grew. He agreed with Mr. Carruthers in regarding Mr. Binney's Sigilla- 

 ria vascularis as allied to Lepidodendron. Professor Morris thought that 

 Claihraria and Lepidophloios ought to be discriminated from the Sigillarice, as 

 being rather more nearly allied with Cycadaceous plants, especially the former. 

 He pointed out the manner in which certaui vascular bundles communicating 

 between the centre of the stem of Sigillaria and allied genera and their bark 

 might be mistaken for medullary rays. 



LiTEEAEY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF MaKCHESTER. Ordinarj/ 



Meeting, December 2Sth, 1869.— J. P. Joule, LL.D., F.R.S., etc., President, 

 in the chair. " On Pollen, considered as an aid m the Differentiation of Spe- 

 cies." By Charles Bailey, Esq. Having recently examined the pollen of 

 several thousand species of plants, I am led to think that the characters pre- 

 sented by these grains might prove useful as a means of differentiation in allied 

 species ; the following notes are thrown out as indications of some of the more 

 noticeable distinctions to be drawn fi-om a careful comparison of these organs, 

 and they may serve to draw the attention of others to the matter. 1. Form. 

 It has long been noticed that certain types of pollen are characteristic of the 

 Natural Order to which the plants which produce them belong, as for instance, 

 the peculiar pitted polyhedral pollen of the Caryophyllaeets, the spherical spiny 

 pollen of the Malvacece, the large triangular pollen of the OnagracecB, the pe- 

 culiar pollen of the Coniferce, or the elliptical pollen of the Liliacea and other 

 monocotyledonous Orders ; in fact, most Orders possess a type sufficiently 

 marked to be characteristic of each. This statement, however, must be ac- 

 cepted with limitations ; the Composites, for instance, have tliree or more well- 

 marked types, represented by the beautifully sculptured pollen of the Chicory, 

 the minute oval spiny pollen of the Asters, Calendulas, Cacalias, etc., and an- 

 other form wholly destitute of spines, as in the Centaur ea scabiosa. There 

 are, besides, other Natural Orders where similar variety occurs. But diffe- 

 rences of form are met with in plants of the same genus, by which the one 

 species or the other is readily mai'ked off by its pollen ; thus the pollen grain 

 of Anemone sulphurea is roundish, but that of A. montana is elliptic ; the 

 pollen of Aronicum Doronicum is much more elongate than that of A. scorpi- 

 aides ; and while the grains of Ranunculus philonotis are round and yellow, 

 those of R. platanifolius are ellijitic, white, and smaller. 2. Markings. A 



