607 



head ; and in many places it has been more abundant than even the 

 buttercups and daisies. In one station (previously unrecorded ?) it 

 has flowered to an extent that has attracted the attention and excited 

 the fear of many of the neighbouring farmers ; this is in meadows 

 adjoining Oaksey Park, in Wiltshire, and two miles from the Kemble 

 Station, on the Great- Western Railway. An eye-witness informs me 

 that it occurred abundantly over one hundred and twenty acres of 

 meadow, and that one piece, of sixteen acres, was entirely covered 

 with it. The soil is described as " sandy loam mixed with clay, and 

 abundantly saturated with water." In this meadow a considerable 

 proportion of the flowers were pure white. 



Mr. SmiWs Division of Ferns. 



The President exhibited a series of the rhizomes of ferns, in refe- 

 rence to Mr. Smith's having lately employed that part in the forma- 

 tion of a dichotomous division of the order. He stated that he had 

 long since given the subject a careful investigation and consideration, 

 and had published in the ' Phytologist,' no less than seven years ago, 

 a summary of his views, as follows : — 



" Ferns, in common with other vegetables, possess organs subserv- 

 ing two different purposes ; — the preservation of the individual and the 

 preservation of its kind." " In ferns, it will be at once seen that the 

 roots tend to the preservation of the individual, so also does the stem : 

 under all its names of root, rhizoma," cormus, " underground stem, 

 caudex, trunk," runner, " &c., the discerning mind recognizes the 

 same organ under a variety of forms. The fructification is obviously 

 a provision for the preservation of the kind, and it may be remarked 

 that it never appears in any degree to subserve the preserva- 

 tion of the individual, but rather tends to its exhaustion and 

 impoverishment." " I am inclined to think the first class of organs 

 has not received that consideration to which it is entitled ; and I 

 could wish to see characters carefully drawn from the direction and 

 form of the rhizoma^ the attachment and vernation of the fronds, and 

 the presence, situation or absence of distinct articulation of the sti- 

 pes.'''' " In Polypodium vulgare the joint is at the junction of the sti- 

 pes with the rhizoma. I find that every discoloured frond falls off" at 

 the slightest touch, leaving a round scar on the rhizoma." — Phytol. ii. 

 275. 



It would probably be asked, why, being aware of both the existence 

 and the importance of these characters, he did not adopt them ? The 

 reply is sufficiently obvious, — because he found so great difficulty in 



