2 Proceedings, 



occur in two complete circles. In other plants, again, the 

 leaves are arranged in whorls round the stem at regular 

 intervals. In treating of the relations existing between 

 plants and insects he pointed out that the pollen-grains 

 contain grape-sugar, which the plant absorbs. The nectar 

 thus stored attracts insects, which in their turn assist in the 

 fertilization of the plant. He referred to the apparent faculty 

 possessed by plants of developing different kinds of buds, 

 almost as they please. In a state of high cultivation plants 

 sometimes may be said to make mistakes — as, for instance, 

 when a stamen becomes converted into a petal. The nitrogen 

 found in plants, in starch, glucose, &c., may be said to be of 

 no use to the plant itself, serving only to supply food for the 

 support of animal life. Thus plants may be said to act as 

 cooks in preparing inorganic matter for the use of animals. 

 Plants will often readily accommodate themselves to changed 

 circumstances ; the Crab, the Sloe, and other plants that 

 have been brought under cultivation afford remarkable 

 instances of this. They resemble man not only in this 

 capacity for adaptation, but in the whole course of their lives 

 — their gradual growth to maturity, their decay, their liability 

 to illness or disease and recovery from it when wisely treated, 

 and in many other points of what may fairly be considered as 

 their characters. Some of these characteristics m the exer- 

 cise of which plants more or less resemble man were dwelt 

 upon in detail by the lecturer. 



Evening Meeting. — February 11th, 1881. 



Mr. J. J. Gill read a paper, entitled ' The Potato Disease,' 

 from which the following is extracted : — 



Probably the Potato plant has always been subject to the 

 ravages of particular kinds of fungus, and in this it in no 

 wise differs from other members of the vegetable kingdom. 

 That fungoid disease is no novelty is attested by the fact that 

 geologists have discovered specimens of fossil vegetables 

 which have evidently suffered from the ravages of fungus 



