82 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



about by the winds and waves, and insects would disappear from 

 the planet : 



Or fasten the seeds of plants, hide them away in the select situa- 

 tions in which insects deposit their ova ; and plants in their turn 

 would in the end become extinct. 



At some future day, when the envelope of ova shall have received 

 more attention from naturalists, the ovum alone may probably be 

 found to point out, witli very considerable accuracy, the geographical 

 distribution." 



Professor Gray made some critical remarks, suggesting that 



The problem of determining the geographical distribution of a spe- 

 cies from the condition of its ovum or seed might be expected to tran- 

 scend human powers in any supposable state of our knowledge of the 

 latter, even if the principle announced were theoretically admissible to 

 the full extent. Aptitude for dissemination was one element, but only 

 one out of several. That it was by no means always the determining 

 element, at least in the vegetable kingdom, might be inferred from the 

 fact, that, while as a whole the seeds of the vast order Compositae 

 were endowed with unusual facilities for dispersion, the species on the 

 whole were not at all remarkable for wideness of range, but rather the 

 contrary ; and, wliat seemed more paradoxical, Dr. Hooker had shown 

 that (at least in some parts of the southern hemisphere) those Compos- 

 itaj provided with a downy pappus, like that of Senecio, were in gen- 

 eral more restricted in their actual geographical range than those des- 

 titute of a pappus. The vast genus Senecio has a downy pappus in 

 all its species ; but although the genus is cosmopolite, the species ap- 

 pear to be more than usually restricted, each to one district. 



Professor Bowen made some observations upon Instinct. He 

 remarked that there are three distinct questions concerning 

 this faculty, which need to be carefully distinguished from 

 each other. 



1. What are the characteristics of Instinct ? 



2. What is the relation of Instinct to Intellect properly so called, — 

 that is, to human Intellect, — and is the difference in kind or only in de- 

 gree ? 



3. Whether Instinct and Intellect are ever conjoined, or found to 

 exist together in the same being, either in the brute or in man. 



