130 PROCEEBIl^GS OF SOCIETIES. 



where he had collected it in August last, growing in three different places, and 

 remarked that while it was recorded as found in low woods in America, in 

 Scotland it always occurs on moist, turfy, more or less exposed cliffs, at a con- 

 siderable elevation. Lastrea Fillx-mas, one of our commonest Ferns, was 

 gathered in a single spot by Mrs. Roy, of Royston Park, Owen Sound, near 

 her residence. LittoreUa lacustris, a plant common enough in many of our 

 Scotch lakes and streams, was collected for the first time in America by Mr. 

 Macoun on an island in Gulf Lake. VL " Report on the Open-air Vegetation 

 at the Royal Botanic Garden." By Mr. M'Nab. Prof. A. Dickson demon- 

 strated some of the stages in the development of the embryo of Zostera marina, 

 and exhibited under the microscope specimens of the embryos of grasses as 

 well as those of Zostera, and made some remarks upon the scutellum, cotyledon, 

 adventitious roots, and other parts connected with them. He particularly ex- 

 plained the beautiful embryo of Zostera in the embryo-sac with its pyriform 

 suspensor, and pointed out the light that was thrown by this embryo on that 

 of grasses. Miss Beaver, of Coniston, sent a list of the rarer plants found 

 near Clapham, in Yorkshire, by Miss Mariner. Mr. M'Nab exhibited a head 

 of female flowers of Pandanus odoratissimus, produced in the Palm-house at 

 the Royal Botanic Garden. The plant has prodxieed female flowers for several 

 years, but never more than two heads at a time, while this year nine have been 

 developed. They are globular at first, and elongate as they arrive at maturity. 

 He also exhibited a portion of the spadix of Arenga saccharifera, also now 

 flowering in the Palm-house. This palm is 68 feet high, and has three large 

 clusters near the summit. 



RoTAL HOETICULTTTEAL SOCIETY. — March 2»(?,1870. — Scientific Committee : 

 W. W. Saunders, Esq., F.R.S., in the chair. Dr. Masters exhibited, on the 

 part of Messrs. Downie, Laird, and Laing, a number of grafted Abutilons, 

 showing the effect of stock on scion, and scion on stock. Thus, A. megapota- 

 micum (green) grafted on A. Thonisoni (variegated) had become variegated like 

 the stock ; A. Thomsoni grafted on A. megapotamicum had caused the produc- 

 tion of variegated shoots from the originally green stock ^s well as from the 

 scion; A. Thomsoni grafted on A. megapotamicum, and then pinched back, 

 had the effect of inducing the buds on the stock to break ; and these two pro- 

 duced variegated leaves. Another green Ahutilon, " Due de Malakuff," grafted 

 on A. Thomsoni, also became variegated in consequence. So that the variegated 

 plant, whether used as a stock or as a scion, has the faculty of imparting its va- 

 riegation to the leaves and buds subseqviently produced. Great interest was 

 manifested in these specimens, and Dr. Masters called attention to the remark- 

 able experiments of M. Van Houtte, where the variegation ceased after the 

 accidental removal of the variegated graft, and to a paper of Professor E. Mor- 

 ren's, lately published, recording several cases of this kind and also to the circum- 

 stance that the mere insertion of a detached leaf of A. Thomsoni into a sUt in the 

 bark of a green Ahutilon was sufficient to inoculate the latter, even though the in- 

 serted leaf speedily perished. Dr. Masters stated that, at a future meeting, he 

 would direct attention to other recorded cases of this interesting phenomenon. 



