909 



Seventeenth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement 



of Science. 



(From the 'Athenaeum,' dated July 10th, 1847). 



Mr, a. Henfrey read a paper on the Structure of the stems of 

 Monocotyledons, in which he came to the conclusion that these stems 

 do not increase by additions to the centre as is ordinarily thought, 

 but, from the structure of Sparganium and other plants, he believed 

 these stems were truly exogenous. 



Dr. Lankester did not think it would be advisable to give up the 

 terms exogens and endogens, although the distinction on which they 

 were originally founded appeared to be erroneous. He was glad to 

 find that Mr. Henfrey's researches confirmed the view of the forma- 

 tion of wood that he had maintained before the Association some 

 years ago. 



A paper was read from Dr. Iliff ' On some Experiments on the 

 Koots of the Canna Indica with reference to their Value in an econo- 

 mical point of View.' — The Dean of Winchester has succeeded in 

 cultivating the Canna Indica in the open air ; and upon this fact Dr. 

 IlifF recommends its cultivation in this country for the purpose of 

 procuring arrowroot. 



Dr. Lankester stated that as the value of arrowroot starch was 

 not greater as an article of diet than potato starch, and as its yield of 

 starch did not appear to be so great as that of the potato, it was clear 

 there would be little national advantage from such a proceeding. 



Prof. Allman made some remarks on certain peculiarities he had 

 observed in the stomates of Ceratopteris thalictroides. He also de- 

 scribed at the same time a new genus of fresh-water Algse. 



Mr. Thwaites communicated a paper ' On the Structure of Diato- 

 maceae,' in which he stated that he had observed a conjugation of 

 the frustules precisely similar to that which had been observed in the 

 Desmidieae and some of the Oscillatorise. 



Prof. E. Forbes remarked this fact was of the utmost importance 

 to systematic natural history, as it at once settled the disputed posi- 

 tion of these beings in the organized scale, and placed them among 

 plants. 



A paper was read from Miss Twining ' On the British Flora com- 

 pared with other Countries.' 



Capt. Widdrington requested that persons travelling in the Tta- 

 VoL. II. 5 X 



