187 



'Proceedings of Societies:' — Botanical Society of Edinburgh and 

 Tyneside Naturalists' Field-Club, 



Under the head ' Miscellanea' are given Records of Localities, by 

 Mr. John Ball; an Extract from the 'Linnasa' touching M. Milde's 

 observations on the germination of Equiseta; and another from the 

 Bonn Transactions on certain malformations occurring in a cultivated 

 specimen of Primula sinensis. The following paragraphs are inte- 

 resting : — 



Germination of Spores of Equiseta. — M. Milde "found that the most 

 successful method of sowing them was to scatter them on the surface 

 of water, taking care that they were not submerged ; when they have 

 sprouted they sink to the bottom, where earth must be placed to re- 

 ceive them. They must be sown while fresh from the capsules. The 

 growth of the proembryo takes place very slowly, for spores sown in 

 the middle of March only produced a mass of about six or seven cells 

 in a fortnight, and the full size was not attained in less than two 

 months ; about the middle of May the antheridia, resembling those of 

 the ferns, as described by M. Thuret in the ' Annales des Sciences,' 

 were observed. At the end of four months the proembryo had not 

 increased or altered, and the so-called ' ovule ' of Suminski was sought 

 in vain ; but after the middle of July ten of the proembryos underwent 

 a change ; one of the sides of the proembryo acquired an inflated, 

 thick, oblong form, attenuated at the apex, sometimes two-lobed; this 

 organ equalled the whole proembryo in magnitude ; nothing remark- 

 able appeared in its internal structure, but the bud of the stem of the 

 Equisetum seemed to be about to be formed in it. If this be the case, 

 which was not decided at the period when the author's notes were 

 published, these organs would seem to be the ' ovules.' " 



Monstrosities of Primula sinensis. — These " consist chiefly of re- 

 versions of the parts of the flower more or less into the condition of 

 leaves, but in the place of the carpels were found minute, imperfectly 

 formed buds, with two or three leaves, and the place of the free cen- 

 tral placenta was occupied sometimes by a circle of leaves, and some- 

 times by a collection of leaf-like organs bearing imperfect ovules on 

 their edges." 



Notice of Hooker'' s ' Journal of Botany and Kew Garden Miscellany^ 



No. 29, May, 1851. 



The papers in this number are intituled : — 



' On the Character of the South Australian Flora in general ; by 



