460 



Professor Simpson remarked that the changes in Fungi may resemble 

 the alternation of generations, so evident in the animal kingdom, as 

 noticed by Steenstrup and others. In the Medusae there are remark- 

 able changes of form ; and there is also the separation of buds, resem- 

 bling the splitting of the vinegar-plant. 



Mr. Embleton remarked that in the neighbourhood of Embleton, in 

 Northumberland, every cottager used the plant for the purpose of 

 making vinegar. 



3. Professor Simpson communicated the results of some experi- 

 ments, made by himself and Mr. John Stewart, relative to the growth 

 of alpine plants, after having been kept artificially covered with snow 

 in an ice-house for many months. Seeds and plants, when kept in 

 this way during winter, and then brought into the warm air of sum- 

 mer, germinate and grow with great rapidity. Mr. Stewart had also 

 made experiments with animals ; and he found that the chrysalis so 

 treated produced a moth in eleven days after being brought into the 

 atmosphere, while other chrysalides of the same moth did not do so 

 for three to four months afterwards. In arctic regions the rapid 

 growth of plants during the short summer was well known. Professor 

 Simpson alluded to the importance of similar experiments being made 

 on the different kinds of grain. He referred to the rapidity of harvest 

 in Canada and other countries, where the cold lasted for many months ; 

 and he was disposed to think that if grain was kept in ice-houses dur- 

 ing winter, and sown in spring, there might be an acceleration of the 

 harvest. He considered the subject deserving of the attention of agri- 

 culturists, for a saving of a few weeks in the ripening of the crops 

 would be of vast consequence in Britain. Moreover, there might be 

 less necessity for exposing the crops to the variable springs of this 

 country, for the sowing might be retarded. Professor Simpson is still 

 carrying on his experiments. He hoped to communicate further 

 results at a future meeting. 



The subject gave rise to some discussion, in which Mr. Embleton, 

 Dr. Greville, Mr. Ivory, and Mr. Evans took part. 



4. ' Notice of Plants found near London ;' by Mr. G. Lawson. 

 Having, in September last, spent a day in botanizing the neighbour- 

 hood of Wandsworth, Wimbledon, Putney, and Battersea (in Surrey), 

 Mr. Lawson found a few plants which, although probably introduced, 

 were worthy of notice, as not having been previously recorded in the 

 localities. He exhibited specimens of the following : — 



Anacharis Alsinastrum, Bab. Found in ditches at Wandsworth 

 Common, where it was intermixed with Potamogeton densus. 



