278 



nate with the first. The spadix at the lower end showed the appear- 

 ance of the adhesion of a second spadix. This specimen was from 

 the garden of Dr. Neill, Cannonmills Cottage. 



2. A monstrosity of Antirrhinum majns, presenting a regular flower 

 formed by fi\^e personate petals with gibbous bases. 



3. Monstrosity of white Digitalis, showing the terminal floret com- 

 posed of several united, and expanding before the other flowers in the 

 raceme. There was thus a mixed inflorescence, partly definite and 

 partly indefinite. 



A letter was read from Mr. Wyville Thomson, Lecturer on Botany, 

 King's College, Aberdeen, in which he states : — " A few days ago, 

 walking along Dee-side, about seven miles above Aberdeen, I was 

 much surprised to see Prunus spinosa (common sloe) covered with 

 large handsome fruit, of a bright red colour, and a pod very like the 

 capsicum. The sloe-trees grow along the river-side, and are of that 

 half-cultivated variety which attains the height of twenty or thirty 

 feet, is straight and wants spines. The trees were closely tangled 

 along the river-side for the distance of about a hundred yards, all 

 covered with this strange monstrosity. On examining the pods a 

 little more closely, they proved to be carpels disdaining their usual 

 tardy progress into a drupe, and hurrying into a pseudo-legume. On 

 cutting them open, they exposed usually one, sometimes two, abortive 

 ovules, attached to a sutural placenta. This was odd enough ; but 

 imagine my surprise when I came to several trees of Prunus Padus, a 

 little farther on, covered with long clusters of bright green unripe 

 pods of a similar kind. We well know that the Rosaceae are very 

 prone to eccentricity with regard to their carpels, and to see one tree 

 in that condition would not surprise me, but why all the individuals 

 of Prunus spinosa in that neighbourhood should have gone wrong, 

 and especially why the other species should have joined them, I am 

 at a loss to conjecture." Specimens of the monstrosities in both spe- 

 cies were exhibited, and were presented to the museum at the Botanic 

 Garden. 



Dr. Balfour suggested that these teratological appearances might 

 be caused by the attacks of insects, and that they pointed out the 

 connexion between Rosaceae and Leguminosae, two orders which are 

 chiefly distinguished by the position of the odd sepal. 



The following paper was read : — 



* Some Remarks on the Plant, Morphologically considered ; by 

 the Rev. Dr. M'Cosh, Brechin.' " According to the common idea, 

 the plant is composed of two essentially distinct parts — the sleui and 



