282 PKOCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



some places. Altlioiioli not notiopcl in any list of Greenland plants, 

 it oceurred on pieces of lava brought from Greenland as ballast, and used 

 in the Botanic Garden for rockwork. G. pntinosa, Wils. ms., was de- 

 tected in Dr. Greville's herbiirium. It was collected in 1847 in the 

 King's Park, Edinburgh (see Journ. Bot. Vlll. 205). G. anodon, B. and 

 Seh., was first discovered in Britain by Mr. W. Bell, on Arthur's Seat, in 

 18(i9. G. orbicularis, B. and Sch., was first detected in Britain by Mr. 



Sadler, on Arthur's Seat, in the same year. J. Birkbeck Nevins, " On 



the Changes which occur in Plants during the Ripening of Seeds." This 

 paper consisted of a number of unconnected remarks on changes in tiie 

 direction of the pedicel after the expansion of the flower. In Digitali-H 

 and other Scroplmlarinece the seed-vessel becomes erect, otherwise the 

 seeds would fall out before they are ripe ; Lim.osella is an obviously ex- 

 plicable exception. In plants such as Cari/ophi/llacece and liuninicnlaceee, 

 which flower during summer, the pedicel is usually erect. In Helhboras 

 it is drooping after flowering, the persistent floral envelopes protecting 

 the fruit. The same thing is observable in many autumnal flowering 

 plants, such as Tagetes, where the involucre in the drooping inflorescence 

 roofs over, as it were, the fruits. The author concluded by propounding 

 his views as to tlie morphology of Cruciferous fruit. The replum and 

 placentas he regarded as a continuation of the axis bearing two terminal 

 leaves, which, becoming reflexed, adhere to the axis, and are, in fact, the 

 valves of the capsule ; when the ca|)sule ripens the adhesion relaxes, and 



the leaves uncoil. Professor Wyville Thomson remarked that the facts 



detailed in the paper were familiar enough as a matter of description, but 

 were interesting in a teleological point of view. He doubted whether the 

 explanation of the fruit in Vrucifvrcc would find much acceptance amongst 



botanists. Professor Thiselton Dyer, " On the Minute Anatomy of the 



8tem of the Screw-pine {Vandanus utilis)." Except that the tissues are 

 less indurated, the general structure of the stem and the arrangement of 

 the flbro-vascular bundles resembles that met with in Palms. The 

 bundles, however, are somewhat remarkable, from containing vessels 

 which belong to the scalariform type. In a transverse section these 

 bundles are seen to become smaller towards the circumference and more 

 condensed, forming a well-defined boundary to the narrow cortical portion 

 of the stem. The Ijundles are, however, continued through the cortical 

 portion, but are reduced to little more than a thread of prosenchyma. In 

 the cortex there are numerous large cells, containing raphides ; these also 

 occur in the rest of the stem, but are less frequent. Crystals of another 

 kind are found in connection with the fibro-vascular bundles. These are 

 contained each in a squarish-shaped cell, forming part of a string or 

 chain. A number of these strings are distributed round the circum- 

 ference of each fibro-vascular bundle; they are especially abundant in its 

 cortical continuation, as they do not suffer a degradation proportionate 

 to that of the other constituent tissues. This peculiar arrangement of 

 crystal-bearing cells seems probably unique. The crystals are four-sided 

 prisms with pyramidal apices. They are almost certainly composed of 

 calcium oxalate, though they are too minute and isolated with too much 



difficulty to allow of their satisfactory examination. Professor Dickson 



was much struck with the peculiar arrangement of the bundles in the dia- 

 gram ; proscncliyma mixed with vessels was shown both upon their inside 

 and outside. He was doubtful as to Professor Thiselton Dyer's cxplana- 



