128 LINNEAN SOCIETY OF LONDON. 



very short-lived, and drop off as soon as the young leaves have 

 expanded. Such cases are so numerous that it is hardly necessary 

 to quote any illustrations. Indeed, in many of the lesser-known 

 genera this early fall of the stipules leaves it doubtful whether they 

 occur or not. On the other hand, there are cases in which 

 protective stipules are even more persistent than the leaves to 

 which they belong. In such cases, however, they protect, not 

 their own leaf, but that of the following year. In the species of 

 Helianthemum which have no stipules, the bases of the petioles are 

 dilated, and protect the young buds ; while in those species which 

 have stipules the petioles are not dilated, but are even narrowed 

 towards the base. The same rule applies in other groups also, and 

 I conclude, therefore, that the presence or absence of petioles in 

 such species has reference to the protection of the huds, this being 

 in some sense effected by the stipules, in others by the dilated bases 

 of the petioles. 



March G. — Mr. W. Carruthers, F.R.S., President, in the chair. 

 — Mr. S. Lithgow was admitted, and Messrs. J. Lowe, E. R. Waite, 

 and G. F. Elliott were elected Fellows of the Society. — A paper was 

 read by Mr. D. Morris "On the Production of Seed in certain Varieties 

 of the Sugar-cane, Saccharum officinarum." It was pointed out that, 

 although well known as a cultivated plant, the Sugar-cane had 

 nowhere been found wild ; nor had the seed {caryopsis) been figured 

 or described, it being the generally-received opinion that, having 

 been propagated entirely by slips or cuttings, it had lost the power 

 of producing seed. Spikelets, however, received at Kew had been 

 carefully examined, and the seed found, which was now for the 

 first time exhibited by Mr. Morris. He anticipated that by cross- 

 fertilization and selection of seedlings the Sugar-cane might be 

 greatly improved, and much importance was attached to the subject 

 as it opened up a new field of investigation in regard to Sugar-cane 

 cultivation. — A paper was read by Mr. Spencer Moore " On the 

 true nature of Callus. Part I. The Vegetable Marrow and Ballia 

 callitricha." It was shown that the callus of sieve-tubes of the 

 Vegetable Marrow gives marked proteid reactions, and since it is 

 dissolved in a peptonising fluid, there can be no doubt of its being 

 a true proteid, and not a kind of starchy mucilage, as is usually 

 supposed. The " stoppers " of Ballia also yield proteid reactions, 

 but inasmuch as they resist gastric digestion, the substance 

 cannot be a true proteid, and may perhaps be allied to lardacein. 

 Mr. Moore maintained the view of Russow, Strassburger, and others, 

 that callus is deposited upon the sieve to be correct in the case of 

 the Vegetable Marrow; since a peptonising fluid clears the sieve- 

 plates, and leaves them in their pristine condition, which would 

 not be the case if callus were formed by a swelling-up of the sieves. 

 A discussion fullowed, in which Dr. F. W. Oliver, Dr. D. H. Scott, 

 Prof. Reynolds Green, and Mr. George Murray took part. 



March 20. — Mr. W. Carruthers, F.R.S., President, in the chair. 

 —Mr. G. F. Scott Elliott was admitted and Mr. H. E. Milner 

 elected a Fellow of the Society. — The papers read were entirely 

 zoological. 



