364 



|pr0tcebm§s of S^cutits. 



Beitish Association for the Advancement of Science. — Meeting afc 

 Liverpool, 1870. 



The following botanical communications were read. 



Section D. Biology, Department of Zoology and Botany. Septemher Vlth. — 

 Professor Balfour presided. — I. Colonel Grant, " On the Vegetable Products 

 of Central Africa." II. Professor Archer, " Notes on the Changed Habit of 

 Lotus corniculatus under cultivation." A very common plant in cultivation 

 in the Slietland Isles is a shrub (one plant observed was nearly four feet high) , 

 perfectly hard-wooded, and producing uo seeds. It is cultivated by cuttings 

 throughout the islands, and is a common window-plant ; the leaves have two 

 or three pairs of pinna;; the centre of the stem is very much like box- wood. 

 All the botanists present united in thinking that the leaves exhibited were 

 not those of L. corniculatus, but probably of some species of Vicia. [Was it 

 Coronilla Umerus /]. III. Mr. T. Gibson, " Parasitic Habits oi Pyrola rotundi- 

 folia." The writer believed Pyrola rotundifolia, media, and maritima to be 

 varieties of the same species produced by soil and situation, and by the plants 

 with which they are associated. A careful and persevering examination failed 

 to detect any instance in which the P. rotundifolia was not growing m imme- 

 diate proximity with Salix repens ; and if not actually parasitic upon this 

 plant, the writer believes it to have a remarkable sympathy with it in the 

 choice of its habitats ; the fibres of the roots are often yards in length, and 

 from the extremities the young plants spring up. A plant springing from a 

 single root will often cover a space several yards in circumference. In only a 

 few instances, however, did he find the roots in actual contact with those of 

 the Salix, and the parasitism was rather inferred than actually demonstrated. 

 IV. T.Gibson, "Abnormal Petals of Sanunculus aquatilis." V. A. W. 

 Bennett, " On Protandry and Protogyny in British Plants " (see pp. 315-321). 

 VI. Dr. Parry, " The Desert Flora of North America " (see pp. 343-347). VII. 

 Professor M. A. Lawsou stated that he had this autumn again visited the Isle 

 of Skye, and found Ribes spicatum, Robson, first noticed there by him in 1868 

 (Journ. of Bot. vol. VII. p. 110) abundantly; he distributed some specimens. 



September 20th. — Professor Rolleston presided. I. Professor A. Dickson, 

 "On the Embryo of the Date-Palm." II. E. J. Lowe, "On the Abnormal 

 Forms of Ferns." III. Mr. Tyerman, " On tlie Growth of Lodoicea Seycliel- 

 larum.'" IV. J. Price exhibited germinating leaflets of Cardamine pratensis, 



September 21st. — T. M. Hall, " On the Abnormal' Growth of Ferns." 



Section C. — Geology. — Sir Phihp M. de G. Egerton, Bart., in the chair. 

 September Ihth. — I. W. H. Baily, " Report on the Fossils of Kiltorcan." These 

 were of Devonian age, and consisted of specimens of Falceopteris hibernica, 

 Sch., and abundant remains of Sagenaria Bailyaiia, Sch. Mr. R. H. Scott 

 stated that Professor Heer had determined the specific identity of fossils, from 

 Bear Island, with those described by Mr. Baily. II. W. S. Mitchell, " Fourth 

 Report on tlie Bagshot Leaf-beds." III. W. C. Williamson, " On the Organiza- 



