^6 PEOCE£Dr>'&S OP THE 



June 17th, 1897. 

 Dr. A. GtrN'THEE, F.E.S., President, in the Chair. 

 The Minutes of the last Meeting were read and confirmed. 



Messrs. Willoughby Gardner and Walter S. Eowntree were 

 admitted, and Mr. Arnold T. Watson was elected a FeUow of 

 the Society. 



The Secretary read the text of an Address of Congratulation 

 to the Queeu on the attainment of the Sixtieth Tear of Her 

 Eeign. On the motion of the President it was unanimously 

 resolved by the Pellows present, upstaudiug in their places, that 

 the same be forthwith presented to Her Maje^st}-. 



Dr. D. H. Scott, F.E.S., exhibited original preparations by 

 Prof. Ikeno and Dr. Hirase, of Tokio, Japan, illustrating their 

 discovery of spermatozoids in two Grymuospermous Phanerogams, 

 namely GinJcgo hiloha and Cycas revoluta {cf. Bot. Centralblatt, 

 Bd. Ixix. nos. 1-2, 1897, and Annals of Botany, June 1897). 

 The slides showed the spermatozoids while still in the pollen- 

 tube, before the commencement of active movement. In the 

 case of GinTcfp one section showed the two male generative ceils, 

 closely contiguous and enclosed in the pollen-tube. The general 

 structure resembles that in many other Conifers at the same 

 stage, e. g. Juniperus virginiana and JPinus sylvestris (Stras- 

 burger. Hist. Beitrage, iv. pi. 2). In Ginkgo, however, each 

 generative cell showed a distinct spiral coil, situated in each cell, 

 on the side remote from its neighbour. 



Another preparation of Ginkgo showed a series of sections 

 across the micropyle, passing through a polleu-tube and its 

 generative cells, the plane of section being in this ca;e approxi- 

 mately parallel to the surface of contact of these two cells, 

 through which four of the sections passed. In the two terminal 

 sections of this series the spiral coil was clearly shown, con- 

 sisting of about three windings. The spiral is connected with 

 the nucleus of the cell, but whether it is itself of nuclear or 

 cytoplasmic origin is not certain. 



In the preparation from Cycas revoluta, several pairs of gene- 

 rative cells were shown ; in some cases the poUen-lube enclosing 

 them was intact. The spiral coils in some of the generative cells 

 were surprisingly clear, consisting of about four windings. A 

 distinct striation was visible in connection wita the coil, probably 

 indicating the presence of the numerous cilia described by the 

 Japanese discoverers. 



The facts admit of no other interpretation than that given by 

 these authors, namely that in both Ginkgo and Cycas each 

 generative cell gives rise to a spiral spermatuzoid; the latter by 

 its own movements (actually observed by Dr. Hirase m the case 



