LINNEAN SOCIETY OF LONDON. XXIX 



of any male individuals or flowers. Dr. Ferd. Miiller, in his * Plants 

 of Victoria,' vol. i, p. 89, mentions also a similar case of a female 

 Dodoncea in the Botanic Garden of Melbourne. Gasparini, on the 

 other hand, in the Rendiconto of the Academy of Naples for May 

 1862, gives an account of a series of observations tending to disprove 

 the ripening of perfect seed in Hemp without fertilization, although 

 he still beUeves it to take place in the Fig. A very curious discovery 

 of Mr. Salter's, of which I hope he will give us a detailed account 

 at our next Meeting, of the formation of poUen-grains within the 

 ovules of a monstroiis Passijlora ccendea, may have some bearing on 

 the present question. But the study of monstrous formations re- 

 quires particular caution as to the generalities deducible from them ; 

 and parthenogenesis must, I think, now be considered as proved in 

 the vegetable as well as in the animal kingdom, in so far as negative 

 observations can be proved. In theory nothing can be said against 

 it but that it is exceptional ; but so also is propagation by division, 

 only much less in degree. 



There are many other points in the life-history of organized 

 beings, to the awakening interest in which I had wished to call 

 your attention, such as metamorphism, mutual dependence, dimor- 

 phism, monstrosities, hybridism, and others ; but I have already 

 attained the full limits which time assigns to these observations, 

 and in conclusion can only trust that the few words I have said 

 may indicate to our younger members how many and how varied 

 are the biological subjects of promising interest open to their re- 

 searches after hidden truths. At the same time my long experience 

 may give me a right to remind them that systematic and descriptive 

 accuracy must never be neglected, as that alone gives fixity to ob- 

 servations and experiments in Natural History, however careful 

 they may be in other respects. 



OBITUAEY NOTICES. 



The Secretary then read the foUowiag Notices of deceased 

 Members. 



Jean Baptiste Amici, a celebrated optician and astronomical 

 observer, was born at Modena in 1786, and died there on the 5th of 

 April of the present year. After filling the Chair of Mathematics 

 for several years, he was appointed, in 1831, Director of the 

 University of his native place, and subsequently became Director 



