MEETING OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 307 
page 15 of the current volume, on his views of the genus Brainea. 
To what I there stated I have but little to add. The different views - 
taken by pteridologists seem to arise chiefly by some giving preference 
to the principles of the Linnean School, while others to those of Jussieu; 
by the former, Brainea is correctly placed in alliance with Gymnograms, 
and by the latter with Sadleria. 
In my ‘ Ferns British and Foreign,’ I have endeavoured to show the 
principle on which I founded my views, the relative value of the dif- 
ferent organs employed in the classification of Ferns, and the conclu- 
sions I have arrived at after a study of the subject for above forty 
years, assisted by an extensive Herbarium* of my own, ample oppor- 
one thousand living species under my supervision for a number of 
years. The study of these materials has led me to arrive at affinities 
in many cases different from that held by other pteridologists; and 
with the explanation given in that book it does not seem necessary to 
enter further into the subject at this place. 
In my original article at page 15, in speaking of the Darwinian 
theory, the word not has been omitted, either in the MSS. or by the 
printer, and the statement consequently conveys a meaning contrary 
to what I intended, and so may have caused my views to be misunder- 
stood. The sentence should be, “then the stia stem of 
Brainea should not be compared with humble Gymnograms.” 
ew, September 14, 1866. 
BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF 
SCIEN 
The British Association met at Nottingham on the 22nd of August 
and following days, under the Presidency of Wm. Grove, Esq., Q.C., 
the famous physicist. In his inaugural address he exhibited in a 
triumphant light the progress of science, the subtlety of its observa- 
tions, the grandeur of its discoveries, and the wide view which they 
open out into the realms of nature and her laws, their harmonious 
operation, their marvellous unity and system, the prodigious scale of 
the forces they engender, and the mode in which the greatest variety 
of effects results from the simplest principles. 
* Now in the British Museum. : 
x 
