LIXyEAN SOCIETY OF LOXDON". 1 3 



The following were notninated as Auditors for the Treasurer's 

 Accounts to the '2dth April, and were elected by show of hands : — 



For the Council : Mr. James GtROVES and Dr. A. B. Rexdle ; 

 For the Fellows : Mr. Joiix Hopkixson aud Mr. Leslie B. 

 Hall. 



The first paper was by Mr. E. A. Buniaud, F.L.S., on " The 

 Ori<j;iu of the Garden Red Curraut." 



The author stated that until recently the Eed Currant was 

 regarded as descended from li. rahrum. Ed. Janczewski, how- 

 ever, showed in 19u7 that II. vahjarc of Laiiuirck was the species 

 chiedy concerned, and in his collection of garden varieties 44 were 

 derived from li.vuJt/are, 1 from li. ■petni'tim, and 4 from li. ruhram. 

 Three of these last weie unnamed varieties from Lithuanian 

 gardens. The writer has collected 70 varieties from Europe and 

 America, and considers Janczewski has under-valued the impor- 

 tance of li. ruhrum. The influence of li. ■petrceum can also be 

 traced in many varieties. The lied Currant has beeu cultivated 

 from the early 15th century, and was at first pure li. vulgare ; for 

 100 years no variations were recorded, li. petrceum was intro- 

 duced into gardens in 1561 by KoniMcl Gesner, and a few years 

 after Camerarius mentions the " old " red aud a new variety 

 " baccis rubris majoribus." 



li. ruhrum seems to have come into Currant history at a later 

 date. A large fruited variety, called by Janczeuski it. vuhjare 

 macrocarpum, was introduced in 1840, and is considered by him a 

 nuitation or giant form of li. vuhjare. The origin of this varinty 

 is uncertain, but neither in size of fruit nor m other characters 

 does it exceed forujs of li. petrceam which have been found 

 wild. 



The author considers that inter-hybridisation of the three 

 species — li. vulyare, B. rubrum, and li. jietrcmm — is sufficient lo 

 account for the numerous varieties of tlie Eed Currant as grown 

 in gardens of to-day, and the supposed effects of cultivation need 

 not in this case be invoked. 



Mr. F. -X. Williams, F.L.S., from his own recent study of the 

 British forms, supported Mr. Bunyard's conclusions. 



Dr. J. C. Willis, F.L.S., then introduced the subject of the 

 Dispersal of Organisms, as illustrated by the floras of Cevlou and 

 New Zealand. 



He stated that in two recent papers on the flora of Ceylon, and 

 in a forthcoming one on the flora of New Zealand, he h:id brought 

 forward conclusions on geographical distribution which, if accepted, 

 ■will remove that subject from the immediate realm of evolution, 

 and show that it may be largely studied by arithmetical methods. 

 Once a species is evolved, its distribution depends upon causes 

 which act mechanically. As all families and genera behave alike, 

 it seems to him that one cause only must be responsible for their 



