164 Mr. F. Campbell-Bayard's Report of the 



agency of thrushes, who swallow the fruit and deposit the un- 

 digested seed on branches. 



There is a form of parasitism which has been called symbiosis, 

 a kind of partnership from which both plants derive an advan- 

 tage. The lichens are an example of this. They were formerly 

 considered to be a distinct class, but have now been shown to be 

 fungi enclosing alg£e. The roots of some trees and flowering 

 plants are found to be covered with the mycelia of fungi. These 

 act as an absorptive apparatus, and water and mineral salts are 

 caused to pass from the ground into the epidermal cells of the 

 root, and thence into the axis, branches, and leaves. 



I am indebted for a great deal of this paper to the ' Natural 

 History of Plants ' of Prof. Kerner, of Vienna. It is a book 

 which will well repay a careful study, and will convince the 

 reader that botany can no longer be regarded as "a dry subject." 



120. — Report of the Meteorological Sub-Committee for 1894. 



Prepared by the Hon. Sec, Francis Campbell-Bayard, 

 F.R.Met.Soc. 



(Read February 19th, 1895.) 



The arrangements for observing the daily rainfall round 

 Croydon have been successfully carried out on the same plan as 

 heretofore, but on a greatly enlarged scale, and with, it is hoped, 

 greater efficiency. The number of stations contained in the 

 monthly sheet has been increased by 14, filling up several gaps 

 in the list of places, and consequently making the printed 

 returns more and more representative. Two stations have 

 disappeared through the removal of the observers, namely, the 

 College, Caterham Valley, and Foxgrove, Beckenham, the record 

 of which latter station commences with the year 1868. Through 

 the courtesy of Mr. Bicknell, the observer at Foxgrove, Becken- 

 ham, a complete copy of this valuable record has been supplied 

 to the Hon. Sec. The places of these stations have been taken 

 by Abinger, which appears to have a peculiarly heavy rainfall, 

 and West Molesey, both of which stations are very welcome. 



The monthly sheets contain all the records which are received 

 by the Sub-Committee, and the stations of which the records have 

 been tabulated number 66 as against 63 in the last report, and 

 the observers number 54 as against 53 in the last report. 



Appendix I. to this report contains the tables of daily rainfall 

 issued monthly, and of which a sufficient number have from time 

 to time been pulled for the use of the Club ; and Appendix II. 



