LINNEAIS" SOCIETY OV LONDON. 3 



embedded in their trunks sevea or eiglit feet above the ground, 

 and in one, on the north side of the churchyard, I saw Hints at 

 least twelve feet above ground. 



The circumstances led me to suppose that the stones and 

 fragments of tile had been originally pressed into the roots when 

 these were in a soft and spongy state below ground, and that they 

 subsequently emerged with the growth of the tree. 



The examples at Syndale are, however, as far as I know, 

 unique, and if trees can enclose stones in such quantities, and 

 retain them within their substance so tenaciously, we have trans- 

 porting agents capable, under certain conditions, of distributing 

 terrigenous material over sea- beds to an extent not hitherto 

 appreciated. 



JVIy thanks are due to Mr. C. Gordon Neame, of Copton Manor, 

 for his valuable assistance in enabling me to secure the specimens 

 referred to. 



The President contributed some remarks upon the interest of 

 this exhibition. 



Dr. A. B. Eendle, F.R.S., showed a specimen of heather 

 (Erica cinerea) found near Axminster in which the flowers were 

 replaced by dark red leaf-buds of about the same size as the 

 flowers. One side, or about half of a clump of heather was 

 affected ; the other side bore normal flowers and the two sorts 

 were not mixed. The red leaf-buds, which occupy the position 

 of flowers, consist each of a number of short, strongly ascending 

 leaves closely arranged in superposed whorls of four ; the four 

 lines have often a strong spiral twist in the upper part of the bud. 

 The leat'-arrangement therefore resembles that of the flower, not 

 of the foliage leaves which are in whorls of three. The leaves 

 of these special buds also differ in form from the foliage letives 

 in that they are upwardly concave with a bluntly keeled back 

 recalling the sepals of a typical flower. They are 32 or more in 

 number, and thus considerably out-nuiuber the parts of a typical 

 flower (24 including bracteoles). The tip of the bud was always 

 damaged, but in many of those examined a shrivelled or more or 

 less misshapen pistil or its parts were present, and sometimes 

 below this semifoliaceous stamens were found. The appearance 

 suggested insect injury, but Mr. C. 0. Waterhouse was unable to 

 find any animal organism ; he pointed out, however, that the 

 appearance suggested the work of a Phytoptus, which in the 

 normal course of events would have already deserted the buds. 

 Dr. Rendle has, however, been able to find no record of Phytoptus 

 in connection with our heather. The specimen is of interest as 

 resembling a teratological form of Erica cinerea described by 

 Maxime Cornu in 1879, where the flowers were replaced by 

 vegetative buds apparently very similar in appearance to those on 

 our specimens, but in which the arrangement of the foliage leaves 

 was maintained (the leaves being in rows of six), while the bud 



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