258 The Great Gulf. [Sess. ^ 



Plate XXIL, Fig. 2. Moss Campion (Silene acaulis). Note the compact 

 " cushions " or " hummocks." 



Plate XXIII. Loiseleuria procumbens. Portion of plant showing dense 

 mat growth. 



Plate XXIV., Fig. 1. Dryas octopetala in flower and fruit. Portion of 

 a large plant. The under sides of leaves are conspicuous — whiteness due 

 to a covering of fine hairs. 



Plate XXIV., Fig. 2. Saxifraga stellaris. Eosette plant. 



At this meeting Miss Beatrice Sprague made a communica- 

 tion on " The Flora of a Shingle Island." Miss Sprague's 

 paper will be found in full at p. 290. 



Dr Watson also contributed a very interesting and in- 

 structive paper on " Fungus Diseases of Trees." 



111.— TEE GREAT GULF: 

 An Interesting Point in Evolution. 



By Mr J. J. MACDONALD. 



{Read Jan. 2J,, 1906.) 



To enable the human mind to grasp and memorise a mass of 

 facts which otherwise it would be impossible for it to do, it 

 has been found necessary from the earliest times to adopt 

 some system of classification of such facts, whereby they might 

 be pigeon-holed in the brain, as it were, ready and accessible at 

 any time when required. No doubt in very early times this 

 classification was of an elementary character. As time went 

 on, however, and human knowledge increased, it became 

 necessary to adopt more thorough and more complete classifi- 

 cations. We find, therefore, that all knowledge came gradually 

 to be divided into departments, which were again divided and 

 subdivided as was found most convenient and useful. A 

 distinction was thus early drawn between plant and animal 

 life, giving rise to the sciences of botany and zoology. 



For long ages the classification of plant life was little studied 

 and less understood. Indeed it is not till we come down to com- 

 paratively recent times that we find any serious thought given 

 to the matter. It is to Linnaeus, the great Swedish botanist, 



J 



