34 
privet, would flourish here with due care. On the lawns of the 
Pavilion and in the Steyne Enclosures a few tufts of the magnificent 
Pampas grass, and some groups of Yuccas, might be introduced with 
striking effect. In places not adapted for grass plots or shrubs, the 
ivy borders and screens so extensively used in Paris, and beginning to 
be resorted to in London, might be usefully employed to cover or hide 
unsightly objects. 
In the enumeration of trees and shrubs, those had been men- 
tioned which might be obtained at cheap rates, and, being thoroughly 
hardy, could be cultivated at as moderate an expense as those already in 
Brighton. Probably some contributions from our country neighbours 
might be looked for in aid of a real effort to improve the town. The 
cost of the improvement would be very trifling. Even a five pound 
note now and then, if coupled with good instructions to those who had 
the care of the town trees and grounds, would do something ; and 
private persons could doa great deal by setting in order their own 
house plots and the squares and crescents bordering on the thorough- 
fares. To go in for tropical plants and expensive beds of shrubs 
requiring an imported soil, as they did in London, would involve great, 
and not justifiable outlay, : 
Marcu 25RD. 
MICROSCOPICAL MEETING.—SUBJECT, “SPORES.” 
Dr. Dawson, in introducing the subject for the evening, ‘‘ Spores,” 
said he considered the.spore of a fern was really a seed, and wished the 
members would pay a little attention to the determining a point not yet 
sufficiently made out, viz,, ‘‘ What a Spore really was?” If this were 
settled it would materially help in unravelling the assumed extra- 
ordinary generation of ferns, as held by some authorities. 
_ A seed contained all that was necessary for the development of 
the future plant, except air and water. With this idea he boiled 
powdered asbestos in fuming nitric acid and then washed it carefully 
Se 
