PROCEEDINGS 01<' iSKCTlOX D. 321 



8.— THE INFLUENCE OF TEMPERATURE ON THE 

 SENSITIVITY OF PLANTS TO POISONS. 



By Prof. A. J. Ewart, Ph.D, D.Sc. 



9.— RATIONAL AND NATURAL SELECTION. 

 By Prof. G. C. Hend'Crson. 



10.— PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS ON THE DEVELOPMENT 



AND STRUCTURE OF THE MALE SPORANGIUT^ IN 



CERTAIN CYCADS. 



By Edith M. Kershaw, M.Sc. (Manchester), {Mrs T. G. B. Osborv,). 



11.— SOME REMARKS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE 

 SPOROPHORE IN AGARICINEAE. 



By Prof. T. G B. Oshorn, M.Sc. {Manchester). 



12.— AUTOPARASITISM OF CASSYTHA MELANTHA R.Br. 



By A. D. Hardy, F.L.S., State Forests Department, Melbourne. 



(plate IX.) 

 In the following notes it is proposed to show, among other things 

 that the plant Cassytha melantha R.Br.^ is sometimes parasitic upon 

 itself — not as one individual upon another, nor under the conditions 

 referred to by Goebel^ and others, as seen in the development of the 

 seed, but in the sense of one part of a plant attacking and drawing 

 nourishment from another portion of itself in an irregular — not to say 

 abnormal — way. 



The genus Cassytha includes eleven species, nearly all endemic 

 Australian plants. The genus has foliar organs poorly developed or 

 absent, and except in flower and fruit structure (whence comes its 

 technical association with the Laurels) it most nearly resembles the 

 better known genus Cuscuta of the family Convolvulacece. 



Two native species of Cassytha command attention in the field, 

 but in different locaUties. These are the robust C. melantha attached 

 to large shrubs and small trees, and the smaller, slender Cuscuta-like 

 C glabella which favours the lowly shrubbery of the Sandringham flora. 



6117. L 



